I have added a little timber capping to the chimney and have started on the trim under the eaves. The chimney needs some more paint work at this stage, it's all too creamy, lol.
The chimney is looking a little better now, so I've begun painting the cladding in Antique White, with a light sanding in between to make it look a little more weathered and shabby.
Now it's time for the front pathway in the courtyard. I decided to do "crazy paving", made from egg cartons torn into rough shapes. I painted the pathway with grey paint first and then glued the egg cartons "stones" onto the path like putting together a puzzle.
When the glue was dry, I started painting the stonework in dark greys and browns.
Like the chimney stones, I sealed the "stones" with ModPodge, and then (when dry), I will grout the stones.
For a bit of detail on the sewing room gable, I made a little vent out of balsa offcuts and cardboard. I made the inside piece out of a rectangle of cardboard cut to size, with regular slits cut almost to the edges. I then inserted the tip of a scalpel into the bottom of each slit and eased it up to look like the vent edges.
Oh my gosh, the number of times I repainted this front door is embarrassing!! I knew I wanted a weathered, shabby chic look which is quite easy to achieve with sanding and rough painting... but I could NOT decide on a final colour! Lucky for me, each layer of paint colour just adds to the patina, LOL. I think I have finally settled on this pretty grey-blue. I will paint the door handles to age them too, so they won't be so shiny and new-looking ;-)
Here, the doors are in place, and the grout has dried on the crazy paving. I've cut faux grass inserts from a roll of artificial moss from Spotlight, and the pre-made picket fence is from eBay. The moss was a little thick, so I peeled the black foam backing off it, before gluing it to the foam board base.
The awning over the front door is glued in place with hot glue. I went through a couple of different covers and colours for the awning before deciding on this paper, which I ModPodged to seal. I trimmed the edges with pinking shears.
At this point you can see that I've also painted the roof shingles - I forgot to take a photo! There was a lot of fluffing about with colour washes and I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm running out of time to do much more so it will have to stay as it is for now :-)
Now I've taken a piece of fern garland I bought from Alpha Stamps (they don't appear to sell it any more, which I am really bummed about) and hot glued it across the awning. I also had some shrubs I bought from Minimum World which I added to the grass. I think it's starting to look good!
Here you can see I have glued the timber framing to the base and have puttied the joins on the corners. It just needs some paint - although I am yet to decide on a colour, lol. I have added some scenic scatter around the edges of the grass (and in spots across the roof tiles) to resemble moss.
As a little treat, on the corner of the awning I added a tiny birds nest with eggs, which I found in an Etsy shop :-)
Caroline uses a wonderful-looking (and cheap!) faux greenery garland as her vines, but despite extensive searching, I couldn't find anything similar here in Australia. I made the vine on this side of the cottage from a branch trimmed from this garland from Spotlight, which I bought on sale.
You can also see below, that I finally decided on a French grey-blue paint for the timber base trim :-)
Oh my gosh, just a few final touches, and the outside is almost done!!
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