Got to Admit It's Getting Better....

My apologies to the Beatles...but I am liking the roof line more and more.

I cut the two pieces for the left side this morning.  Now I am thinking of taking it a bit further.

As you can see in this photo, there is a very sharp drop off on the middle section.

I am thinking that it would look better with a  more gradual curve.  What to do?

See the slanted line on the right side?  There is also one on the left, but it is harder to see.

I made a bit of a blunder, but it will be  covered with shingles so it doesn't matter.  I put the pattern piece wrong side up on the wood...That is the other side of the wood that you see at the left.

Anyway, I am thinking that I will cut those two pieces off and add a third triangular piece between the two.  Thus making the slope more rounded.

Here's a photo of a roof that I took up in Carmel CA in April.  I admired the rounded peak on the front bay of the house.  I also like the moss covered shingles...I don't know if I will go that far, but this will explain what I mean.

I also really like the chimney on this house...And the garage....and the yard...and the garden....

OK.  I like the whole thing.

I have Witches today, so I probably won't get a lot more done until later today....Just thought I would drop in and show you were the cottage is going.

So far, Zar is distracted from the Steampunk sink.  He is too worried about the roof falling in on him whilst he is using the current bathroom...Did I mention that he has plans for the tub and toilet also?  I think he is getting altogether too enthuesteastic about the bathroom.  "Zar, just keep your mind on the roof for now!"

See you tomorrow.

Under the Influence....

I had to go to Walmart this morning for a few things...I hit the paint department and found these. Paint chips and sample bottles.

I don't usually use house paint on minis. Too thick. I am going to try them on this, because I like the colors. They are pretty close to the colors that now want on the weaver's cottage.

I may still not like the housepaint, but it is worth a try.The colors are pretty close to the last house that I showed you yesterday.

I had another idea that I may try. Since the paint chips are so big, two of them will cover the windows that I don't want in the second story. The seam in the middle can be covered with half timber....Hey! It's worth a try. I will let you know if it works.

This is the other half of the house from yesterday. See why I cropped this side off...It's the messy part of the yard. Hoses, some kind of twig star and a very faded American flag don't make as pretty a photo as the cropped one. I did want you to see the bay on the window and the slanted roof above.

Here's another one in shades of gray. On this one you can see how the half timbers are blended into one another, instead of being sharp corners.

This one is called "The Honeymoon Cottage". They have covered most of the front yard with tile. I am not crazy about that, but I suppose it is practical. I do like the raised planters along the fence with the topiary roses.

Here's another view. I think that the gate, made from a single french door curved at the top, would be really pretty in a mini situation. I felt like an intruder, while taking the photos, but I really did want some that weren't pictured in the books.

Books? We will get into that next. Today, I have vacation laundry to do and cats to pet. I was missed...

See you tomorrow.

Four Houses and Zar...

Some of you asked what happened to Zar and why didn't he go with us? This is why. April came over the feed the cats and squirrels. Amare came along. Zar and Amare get along famously.

Zar rides Amare's favorite stuffed horny toad and Amare eats the remote control to the TV. They have a great time together. Zar likes to have some "man time" once in a while....No Tessie. He gets to have some fun. Thus the stay at home.

We got home between three and four. Since then, I had a Big Mac and edited some of the photos.

Now, down to a few photos. I have to say that they are influencing the weaver's cottage....It may just turn into a Carmel Half Timber....Fairytale Style.

This first one is by another architect. I am not sure who, but I love the light green moss that grows on some of the roofs there. For some reason, it is mostly growing on the front section of the house. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that there is a darker green moss growing on the portion behind the chimney.


This one shows you why you shouldn't take photos of houses through the windshield when it is drizzling rain. I liked this one because of the rocks on the walls. It reminds me of my Buttercup book shop and its rocks on the walls. It appears that the chimney is above the rock section. I would love to see the inside. I suspect that there is a corner fireplace of some kind under there.

This one is one of the Comstock houses. Pretty plain for his design, but I suspect that it has been altered over the years. Note the painted shingles on the peak of the front of the roof. Love the red door with the pale yellow exterior. By the way, the name of this one? The Doll's House... The shapes of the roof sides are just slightly curved.

There are three "layers" to this one. the front part is a very narrow addition. The second segment is behind that and goes out to the right with a pitched roof. Behind that is the main house. It's roof has a slightly different pitch to the nearer one. You can see that it is curved down behind the peak of the front one if you look carefully.

Last, but not least, this is one that I really like. Another Comstock. I will show you a couple more photos of this one tomorrow.

Can you tell that I am a fan of these houses? If not, I will tell you. I am a fan of these houses!!!

We had a two and a half hour layover in Los Angeles, coming home, so it has been a long day.

See you tomorrow, with more.

This Old House......

Walter was my driver this morning. We wandered up and down streets looking for the fairytale houses. Found a few.

I would scream "Stop!" or "Back up!". He would do it. It was great fun. After he got the hang of it, he found a few of the cottages too.

This first one was being worked on...Unfortunately the builders left the ugly scaffolding in front.

The people that own it must have gotten tired of caring for the garden. The whole front yard was paved and there was a new garage built to the right. Very pretty house, but with the exception of the trees and flowers close to the house, no interesting landscaping.

This one is of the same era, but by a different designer. It is being worked on also.

They did a little better at adding a garage(right side front). It has all kinds of interesting details. I love the triple window on the ground floor. The gate to the left leads to....Nowhere. The little gate post with the oval window in the center is just for "cute". There is an arch behind it, but no real purpose that I could see....Maybe there is a door on the other side and they keep garden tools inside? The corner posts were all heavier at the bottom than the top. Almost Frank Lloyd Wright style.

This one is the only finished one that I will show you today. The visitor's office opens at 10. Then we will purchase a map to the houses.

Walter found this one and it is fantastic. I want to move in here.

If you enlarge the photo and look to the left side you will see a wonderful wave roof! The whole house had this.

The wrought iron gate looks to be hand made. The whole yard was like a jungle. I love the weather worn fence on the left side. The trees behind it were planted so close together that they look like another fence behind the first one.

Here's a view of the front of the house. I imagine that the garage was added later, but whenever it was done, it blends into the house perfectly.

I think that this one is my favorite so far. It is really beautiful.....Much inspiration for mini houses here. And it is done in the same colors as our real house.

Hopefully, we will find the other houses later today with the map. Until then, I will leave you with a friend that I made outside our hotel room. I have no idea what he is, but he is not afraid of people. I am going to have to see if I can find out who he is. For now, he is a mystery.

Time to go find a map.

See you tomorrow.

Day Two, Pebble Beach

That's where Walter is right now.

We went out to breakfast this morning, to Em Le's. It is the second oldest restaurant in Carmel and has the best breakfasts, bar none.

It is in a really neat half timber building, but I don't think it't as old as others. See the picture on the cup.

Sometimes it is embarrassing to have Tessie along. She kept grabbing food off of other people's plates.

She announced, "Hey lady! Those are really good potatoes." Then she discovered a man eating eggs with calamari. "Ick. What are those wiggly things in your eggs, Mister?"

By the time we got up to leave, she had pretty much cleared the restaurant of customers. At least we got out of there before the owner asked her to leave...


On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at what is probably the most famous building in Carmel. This is "Tuck Box". It was designed and built by the same man that built the first Fairy Tale Cottages.(More about those tomorrow.)

I especially like the iron brace that holds up the chimney. Very cool. It's a cafe too, but it wasn't open.

I took a couple of photos of Walter and Tessie in front, but they didn't turn out well.

So when Walter left for Pebble Beach, he dropped Tessie and I off a block or so north of where we had breakfast.

We strolled back at leisure, camera in hand.

Tessie kept wandering off to look at flora and fauna. She made friends with a couple of sea gulls and several dogs along the way, but it was hard to keep track of her. She kept hidding in flower beds and climbing trees.

It's embarrasing to have her keep pulling flowers out by the roots and telling me, "It's OK. They didn't see me." Meaning the owners of the flower beds...

I happily wandered and took photos. This one is a little later than the fairy tale houses. I am guessing 30s or 40s. I loved the Moorish flavor of it. Look at all of the details!Two different chimney styles. I like the dental shape at the bottom of the roof on the side. The different style of windows doors and the balcony all add to the flavor. Now it's a men's store.

This is the last one for today. I found it about a block from the hotel. It is fairly new and sad. The poor little building was empty and had a for lease sign in the window.

Tessie and I discussed it. When we get rich, we think that this would make a perfect miniature shop.

What do you think. Are we right?

The roof on this one was real slate and had different colors scattered here and there. I like the effect.

Maybe I can make a deal with Walter. I can open a mini shop and he can play Pebble Beach every day....I already know his answer..."Wait until we win the lottery..."

I can dream, can't I?

See you tomorrow. With houses.

Carmel, Here I Come!

It must be nice to sleep in, or so Tessie tells us.

Last night, we all went to bed early....Waking up at 3:00 AM to catch a plane is hard to do.

Tessie crawled into my purse, wrapped in one of my socks last night about 8:ooPM. As she did, she announced that she didn't want to get up until the sun came up. She missed a lot.

In fact, she did wake up before we got off of the ground....Just barely.

She condescended to wake up enough to get her boarding pass. I tricked her into thinking that was the reason...She wasn't really awake and I gave her mine. She didn't even look at the name. She just assumed that it was hers.

I could have been nice and let her sleep....Why would I do that? Misery loves company. Granted, I usually get up at 4:30AM, but she usually gets away with sleeping as long as she wants. Unfair practice!
The sun was up by the time we boarded the second plane in LA. When we go by air, she usually misses the whole trip, sleeping until we arrive.

Not this time. She got the window seat and from the start, she was wide eyed.

She is the only person that I know that is fascinated by the people that load the luggage.

Maybe waking her up was a mistake...She was screeching at the top of her lungs at take off. "Where'd they take the ground? You told me this would be just like flying on a broom or a dragon! This is NOT like that at all! It's TOO HIGH!!! I want down NOW!!". On and on it went until we got out over the ocean.

Then there was a complete turn around. She started cooing, "Oh! Pretty boats. Look at the tiny houses... Holy cow! Will you look at all that water!?!"

After that, I couldn't shut her up. I think that what she was doing is referred to in polite circles as babbling....

Anyway, after we checked into the hotel, she pleaded that she was exhausted from all of that flying. I think that she was just tired from all of the jumping up and down and exclaiming over all of the wondrous sights.

As I unpacked, she dragged out a shoe and her favorite sock and went to bed.


We left her in the room and went to lunch. It wasn't even noon.

After lunch, we took the "Seventeen Mile Drive" around the Carmel area. Walter drove, while I acted like Tessie, pointing at houses and OH-ing and AH-ing.

The houses on the drive are not to be believed. There are everything from huge mansions to houses that look like they grew right out of the trees. Hippy style.

We stopped at Cypress Point along the way and I took this photo with Walter's new camera.

To the right, just out of the photo, there were about 20 pelicans perched on the rocks. I missed those. Pretty nice view anyway.

It is three thirty now and we are both ready for a nap. Tessie's right. Going on vacation can be exhausting. I may need a vacation from vacationing when we get home.

See you tomorrow.