'Twas a productive evening

 I still have a couple of small brick projects for this house (chimney, built in porch planter) but the actual house exterior all has brick now. I even used rows of brick to trim the floor edges of the rooms that would have an exterior wall. I need to dig through my wood to find something to trim out the attic floor and master bedroom floor/wall edges.

The side bay window trim didn't survive demolition so I need to make that yet. The bay roof needs to have black splotches addes, too. The main roof needs shingles. Plan A is to make them out of black cardstock. Since I already have the card stock, that is the most economical. I've shingled a half scale house with cardstock so it should work on a one inch scale house.

After all of that work is finished I will have to make a decision about the attic. Will it be all attic, will it have a sewing room? I don't know yet.

Now that most of the brick is on, I have to say that I would do it again with the same product. It cuts easily, sticks well with contact cement, and looks good, too. Plus it makes this house look completely different from any other one I've done. It only took a bit more than one roll to do this house. I am amazed at how different the house looks now from how it started - and it isn't even finished yet.This is a fun project!

Tiny changes

 No, the roof isn't really finished. I slapped on a quick coat of black so I could get a better idea of what the finished house will look like. I didn't get anymore of the brick done but I worked a bit on the porch roof and the one on the bay window. I also decided to make the front door solid blue. That was a good choice. It looks so much better.

 The door hardware was the next step. I found a gold snowflake sticker and cut the side "rays" down to turn it into a starburst. I added a gold bead doorknob and now it's the perfect mid century modern finishing touch. The inside knob has a regular backplate but looks good, too.

With this much finished I am getting anxious to get the rest of the brick done. I'm really happy with this house so far. The bonus of the day was finding a chart for mid century exterior house colors. A dark red like this brick with a blue very similar to the one I've chosen was one of the color combos on the chart. Win!

I'll be back tomorrow with another update - same Bat channel, same Bat time! LOL

Final(?!) Details

 I made the small black bench and the light fixture this evening. The bench was made with scraps from my wood bin and painted. It fills the area under the window beautifully. The light fixture was made from a suction cup and the hook that came with it plus a small square of cardboard. Some tacky glue, super glue and a bit of paint and it no longer looks like a suction cup. I probably need to make one for the upper porch, too.

 I need opinions on the bench. Should I leave it as is or give it a worn finish?

My final project for the evening was the nightstand lamp in the master bedroom. I used part of a wooden chess bishop, two black metal jewelry findings and a bit of paper for the shade inserts.

I love that I can look at this house and see the areas where I've really grown as a miniaturist. Each project looks that much more real, takes that much more research, shows that much more growth. I've been "playing with dollhouses" on and off for almost 30 years. I guess it's about time I made progress, lol.

Wishing you the best of weekends, my blogland friends!

The roof is finished!

I have minor details to add - a lower porch bench, a lamp in the master bedroom, more family photos, etc. - but the house is essentially complete. Even though the roof seemed like it took forever, it was definitely worth doing. It didn't cost me anything but time to do and gives the house just the look I'd hoped for.

Here's a reminder of what the house would look like if I'd followed the directions. I'm so glad that I didn't. ;-) Now that I see the chimney, though, I'm reminded that I really need to put one on, and on the other half of the roof. More on that later, I guess.

All in a day's work

The corrugated cardboard is in place for the whole roof and I have two adjoining sections of the roof tiled. That's all I got done in between church, making dinner, doing laundry, gathering eggs, making "granola" bars (nuts and seeds rather than granola), and a custard. That's still several hours of work - just the large area alone has 235+ tiles. The smaller area went pretty quickly. There's one more large chunk but it's much smaller than the front. Hopefully, I can finish the roof this week. Then I have a few more interior details and it will be finished. Well, as finished as a dollhouse ever is. ;-)

Have a wonderful, blessing filled week, my friends.

Down to the details...and the roof

 This is how the house looked after a couple of hours of play last night. After church today I got back to it.

 The master bedroom has louvered doors into the room. The doors were cut from pieces in a mixed bag of trims from Hobby Lobby. The doors are fixed in place but at least give an illusion of privacy.

 I made window boxes for the two end windows. The boxes are made of cardstock with the Houseworks "iron" for trim and mounting brackets. I used a mix of mosses and silk and plastic flowers and plants to give the boxes the full to overflowing look I wanted.

 Several months ago, my husband and son were going through all the computer stuff we'd collected over the years. They found several mice (mouses?) that no longer worked. Son pulled the track balls out of them to see if I could use them. I didn't know what I'd do with them at the time...

 ...but they made great topiaries for the balcony. The console is the bottom half of a Michael's hutch and the chair is an altered rocking chair. The Persian cat was a thrift store find.

 The small balcony has pots overflowing with greenery and the lower porch has a yellow rose topiary in a stone urn (Dollar Tree plastic trophy cup painted with the paint I used for the house) and the large rooster moved outside. He's just too large for the interior of the house but he works well for porch decor.

In his place on the console are a leaning mirror (I took care of the blobs of wax after the photo was taken) and a jar of wild flowers - tiny dried flowers from the last bouquet hubby surprised me with.
I need more artwork and other items to personalize it for the family who lives in the house. Photos and other little details will make it look like a home. I don't think I've ever taken this long with a project but the delays are paying off. When I'm not able to work on the house, I spend time researching the French country look I'm aiming for. I'm very pleased with the results so far.

In other news, we visited the newlyweds yesterday. They live three hours away so we hadn't been to see them since the wedding. We had a wonderful visit with everyone - including our granddaughters. (I'll take grandchildren however we get them. Becoming an instant grandma to 4 and 6 year old, adorable little girls has its advantages. Namely, lots of snuggles and giggles. :-) ) We headed back home a bit earlier than originally planned as a huge snow storm was moving our way. It held off until late last night and today. Last I looked we were fast approaching 8 inches of snow and it's still falling. We could get up to 15 inches by tomorrow morning. It's absolutely gorgeous, we have plenty of food, and I love being snowed in. I know my kids are all safe and have enough supplies so I'm going to enjoy the next couple of days. We may only be "stuck" for a day but that will be enough to recharge and enjoy time with my husband and daughter #1 who's been visiting for awhile.

Stay safe and warm, wherever you are, and I wish you a wonderful, blessing-filled week!

A Whole Day to Play Leads to Major Progress

 I used diluted acrylic stain to age the plaster and then, instead of the included exterior trim, I used mini tiles (a gift from my very thoughtful husband) to trim the doors and windows.

 The doors are all blue - French Blue to be exact. How appropriate!

 The previous owner of this kit had purchased all of the plastic "wrought iron." I painted all the white pieces black to give my house the look I wanted. The bay window roof is copper with a patina.

 All that's left on the outside is the chimney and roof. What a difference a day makes!

I know that a lot of miniaturists do not put dolls/figures in their scenes because it takes away from the illusion. I fall strongly in the other camp. Almost all of my houses have people - most made by me but some from other artists and a few resin or other manufactured dolls. These are Houseworks dolls. As soon as I saw Joy, the pregnant mama here, I knew I had to have her. She and Joe, little Jamie, and soon to be sibling, look quite happy that their home is nearing completion. It's hard enough to get their toddler to nap on a good day but the construction has really disrupted her schedule. :-)

If it weren't for snow days I'd get nothing done at all...

 School was cancelled again today due to freezing rain and snow. The trip down the hill to take care of the chickens was a slipping and sliding experience, lol. But the day home from work has given me time to get some exterior work on the French Country house done. Here it is after the plaster work and before aging. I used a mix of latex paint, several colors of acrylic paint, gesso, and sand. The house is not as white as it looks in these photos. It's actually more tan than white. The aging wash will give me just the look I want.

This is dry now so I hope to be back with updates later.

One of the first things he said...

When hubby got home this afternoon and saw all that I'd accomplished on the cabin, one of the first things he said was "pioneers wouldn't have been able to afford a glass window like that." Of course, we know that I'd already said that but he didn't, lol. So I fixed it. I turned it into a paned window like I mentioned earlier. I like it better this way...and it's more realistic for a pioneer cabin. They may have had to collect the panes over a period of time but they have them in now. :-)

The exterior is finished

I love how it turned out with the chinking between the logs. I used matte finish fabric paint. The squeeze bottle made it really easy to apply and control. The door was a real pain and I'm still not entirely happy with it but it's finally in. I "aged" the window glass with Gallery Glass paint. There's no way a pioneer family would be able to afford a piece of glass that large. I may divide the window into panes.
James and Rebekah will live here with their infant. The quilt on their bed was a wedding gift. The pie board was made by my friend, Brenda. I need to fill the cupboard and make a pot of stew to hang over the fire. I also want to make some things to hang from the pegs by the door. I want a Bible to place on the mantel and an oil lamp for the table. I think I want a trunk to put under the window (they would have had one for their travels) and I want a cradle for the baby. I'm hoping to put the cabin on a larger board and landscape it. It will have an outhouse, a tree stump for chopping wood and maybe a vegetable garden.

PS I just fixed the curtains. They are level and centered now. Don't know why I didn't see it before. ;-)

I need a couple of opinions

The exterior is nearly finished but I need some opionions. First, should I use the shutters and, if so, what color should they be? I'm leaning towards leaving them off and just using the window boxes. Also, what color should the porch steps be? I've considered concrete (gray with sand mixed in), brick or just stained like the trim (but that seems like too much of a good thing, lol). The shingles will be stained the same color as the trim, I think. There is also some gingerbread trim with the kit. I'm not using the ridge trim but I will probably use the dormer edging.

I need to make some sort of surround so that the mini people don't fall down the stairs on their way to the bathroom at night. I'm also debating whether to do curtains (from the stained glass line down) or roman shades in here. The "carpet" is made from a wallpaper scrap.

All that's left to do in here are the little finishing details - toilet paper holder, towel rack, trash can, etc. And I need to make some sort of shade for the big window in here, too.

The glue isn't dry on the stair rail yet but I love how this turned out. One of those ugly open-backed stair kits came with the house. I did use that but I turned it upside down and used those steps as risers and made my own treads. The spindles are fancy toothpicks painted gold and pinched together at the top. I put a cardboard back on the staircase and covered it with the striped wallpaper. It looks so much nicer than the way it was meant to look.

There was enough of the exterior trim left over to use as baseboard, too, with some to spare. I haven't put any in the kitchen yet - not until I get the cabinets assembled and installed.