The Fairfield: Exterior Trim Finished?

I dragged the Haunted Fairfield out of storage again when inspiration hit.  It's been sitting on my dining table - where I can see it each day - and I've been plugging away at it, little by little.  I think I finally have the exterior trim finally finished?  Apart from gluing on the railing that is, I don't want to do that until after I paint the decking.

I kind of don't want to paint it all now, it looks so clean and nice LOL.  The perfectionist in me is terrified I'm going to wreck it - even though I'm going to be distressing it!

 

I cannot for the life of me decide on a colour for the roof shingles.  I feel like black is all too much, even though I have seen many pictures of black Victorian rooves.  I suspect I will go with a charcoal grey?  I'm also deeply undecided about the colour of the porch decking.  Stained?  Weathered grey? Black?  The porch posts and railings will be black.

I allowed the tiles to deliberately warp to add to the distressing and I will add moss and lichen to them after I paint. Probably some autumn or dead leaves in the gutters too.

Now I need to cross my fingers that the paint colour I choose will look OK!

The Fairfield: A Roof at Long Last

I finally dragged The Haunted Fairfield out of semi-retirement to finish off attaching the roof and applying floorboards to the porch.  I had lost one of the roof pieces so when I found it (whilst looking for semething else of course), I decided to just glue it all together.

I also decided not to use the original pieces that came with the tower and use kraft board instead so that I could bend it into the slight curve it has while gluing it more easily.

I then reinforced the edges and joins with paper tape.

And undercoated it in black.

I was going to move onto the porch but I discovered that I've lost a porch post so I will have to order more.  I can't deal with shingling just yet, so this will probably be put away for another couple of months until I am more motivated lol.

The Cozy Cat Complete: Part 2

 I completed this project in April 2021, after picking it up and letting it slide numerous times!  Although I had a few issues with it, overall I was quite happy with the end product.

I made it for my eldest daughter, who shares my love of books and cats, hence The Cozy Cat!

Street number above the door:

Welcome inside:

I've turned the lights on for you:

The cafe counter is on your left, for your coffee, tea and bakery needs:

And a comfy sofa to relax on is on your right:

There are plenty of books to chose from, including any magical textbooks you may require:

And finally, here is the bookstore cat, Maggie, is making herself comfortable:

The Cozy Cat Bookstore and Cafe Complete: Part 1

 I completed the Bookstore around a year ago, but because I am a bad blogger I never got around to posting it here.

I am pretty happy with the result.  It was made for my eldest daughter and she was pretty happy with it too and that's what matters most!

In this post I will quickly post some photos of the facade, and then the interior, next post.  Please excuse the glare on the photos!

The exterior of the Bookstore:

The Bookstore has interior lights:

The gold signage:

The front doors:

An Open sign in the window:

Cakes and pastries on display in the window:

A peek inside through the doors:

New Build: The Cozy Cat Bookstore and Cafe

This another project that I started over a year ago and then put on indefinite hold for several reasons, not the least of which was that we undertook real life renovations, including replacing the flooring throughout our whole house!

I'm still unboxing my minis and this project probably requires the least mess-making of my current WIPs, ha ha, an important consideration since I have been booted out of my craft area to make way for my husband who is working from home during the Covid-19 lockdown.

This project is going to be for my eldest daughter, who shares my love of books.  And really, is there anything better than a good book and a hot beverage to drink?

The scale is 1:12, and this is the façade of a shop room box I bought on eBay.  The kit came with stairs at the side and a railing along the rooftop, but it won't fit into her bookshelf for display with those on it, so I am omitting them.

So far I have painted the façade Hunter Green, and lined the interior of the box with embossed brick paper.  I've also constructed some bookshelves and painted them black and stained the timber skirting boards.  I'm going for a contemporary renovation of an old building kind of look?

Wish me luck!

Bates House Complete

Well, it may have taken 18 months, but I am finally finished (for now) with the Bates House.  It was constructed from a laser-cut kit I bought on Etsy and I'm not sure of the scale - I think around 1:32 or 1:35?

Anyway, whilst it was easy to assemble, painting and weathering is not my strong suit, and as a result this project had a LOT of stops and starts because I just wasn't happy with how it was coming along!

It all comes with practice though and this is only my second time weathering and landscaping like this so I have cut myself a break and called it done!  It is very overcast and my photos are dull, for which I apologise, but I am keen to get it off my work desk and onto display, lol!

I started with a black roof and then changed it to a red one, as I had seen in many photos of the house from the movie Psycho, however I wish I had left it black in the end?  If I was to start again, I would do the whole thing in shades of grey - including the landscaping - to reflect how I remember it from the original black and white movie.  I think that would have looked cool.

"Mother" in the upstairs window backlit with a nano LED light.  I would use a larger, yellower (warm) white light if I did it again.