A Step Up...

I finished putting together and painting the steps this morning. I cut pieces to cover the end from 1/32" bass. When I finished, they looked a bit bare, so I added some double bead molding to the sides.

Whilst those were drying, I finished the front door all except the handle. It had to be lifted a bit to fit the hole that was in the kit's wall. I simply raised it about 1/2" with a block of wood.

I went and looked and our real front door is like that. I never really thought about that step going into the house.

Tessie was trying to fool Spike into thinking that there was a house behind the door.....He didn't bite on that one.

When I put the front steps in place I decided to just run some molding up the sides of the base in a few places. I am still debating what to do with the space in between. I suppose I could faux paint some bricks. I am thinking that most of it will be hidden by landscaping. I don't know if I want to go to all of that trouble when the work won't be seen.

As it is, I still have to shingle the roof, put molding around the top and edges, landscape, put in curtains and build a swing. Tessie is not compromising on that. She knows that I am going to take back the wicker that is there now because it really belongs in the greenhouse. I guess I had better get back to it. There is more to do than meets the eye.

See you tomorrow.

Starting Up The Steps.....

Now, about the steps....The porch was missing the front steps, if it ever had any. I don't know if that kit came with them. I decided to take the easy way out. I have been wanting to experiment with this method for a while now.

I noticed that 3/4" cove molding in real life is about the same size as a stair step in miniature. If there is a shortcut, I will take it as long as it looks good.

I cut three strips of cove the width of the opening in the porch rail. I dry fitted them in place and they were meant for this particular application. With Tessie's approval, I carried on.

Next I took the bottom two and ran glue along one of the narrow edges of one of the pieces of cove. I butted that against the second one and put them in the gluing jig.


I let them dry...That's the hardest part. Waiting for the glue to dry.

Then I flipped them over and glued the third one to the first one, forming the two steps. Again, the jig. Again, I let it dry. Almost instant front porch steps, but I wasn't finished.

Next I cut two pieces to simulate the treads. I cut them about an eighth of an inch larger on the front and sides.

Here you can see the unfinished steps. The treads haven't been glued in place yet. They still need a bull nose edge on three sides and I will paint them before putting them on.

I also still have to cut a piece to cover either end of the cove so that they will look solid.

I think that this same method would work for interior stairs if the cove was glued to a base, corner edge to corner edge. That's an experiment for another day.

Tessie is quite pleased. She has been running up and down, as has Spike. I am not sure why they both get so excited about stairs. Maybe it's because she doesn't have any in her house and she has to spell herself from first to second floor and back. I would think that it would be easier that way....She says it takes lots of extra energy to do it. And "In Spiderwort Manor, there will be stairs connecting alllll of the floors!"

I am not so sure that I like that long drawn out all. It sounds to much like the house is getting taller and taller as she plans.

I am going now and finish the real world chicken veggie soup and biscuits that I am making for dinner. Tomorrow I will have the finished steps for you.

See you then.

The Six Year Old Doesn't Like Lots of Black...

Yesterday Karin Corbin told me to get out my knives and files and get to work. She was right. I didn't do a lot. I may do more, but just rounding some corners and filing down a couple of place made quite a change.

The six year old mind changer got up this morning and decided that she(I) didn't like the black around the windows and door, or for that matter, the bands around the porch posts.

I got to work and erased them with more of the Trail Tan. I did keep the black door. I still like that part.

After doing those changes, I watched "Sixteen Blocks" with Bruce Willis and laid the rest of the floor. Someone asked the other day what I was using. It is more of my trusty "woven wood" blinds. Unfortunately, I am almost out and they no longer make them out of the luan mahogany. They now make something similar out of bamboo. I may have to try those one of these days. Those would take more work though. I think that they are tougher and wouldn't cut so well with scissors. In answer to the other question that was posed, I didn't stain them. They are that color when you get them.

Here you can see that I sliced off the corners of the entry way posts. Still no steps. I need to do those, but I need to finish the under porch first and I can't decide what I am going to do with that.

Tessie is letting bunny down to wander around and get acquainted. So far, no big battles between bunny and Spike. I think that she has high hopes of using Spike as a baby-bunny-sitter. I am not so sure that Spike isn't thinking...."Hmmmmm.....Lunch!".

I did get this one photo of the three of them sitting on the edge of the porch. It should be interesting. Unless Baby-bunny turns into one of those Monte Python bunnies with fangs I am going to have to watch them closely. Hey Bunny! Toughen up!!!

I have other things to do besides bunny-sitting.

I am going back to work now. There is still a lot to do to get the porch ready for Halloween.

See you tomorrow.

Porch Progress...

I am slowly , but surely gaining on the orphan front porch. Tessie is still insisting that I need to build a house behind it for her......Not in this lifetime. She is going to be lucky if I put curtains in the windows so that you can't see through to what's behind it.

I experimented with the trim this morning. I like the tan, but I am not sure if I like the severe black accents.

I will leave them for a day or two and see if they grown on me. Of course Tessie likes the black. She says that it will be good for Halloween. I don't really like the square posts, but I also don't really want to tear them out and start over either.

The reason for the black bits of trim is the front door. I always liked the effect of a black front door. I think that it will lend itself to any kind of decorations that I decide to put up for the season. On this photo you can see that I have started laying the floorboards. I should have that finished this afternoon.

I am afraid that Tessie is winning on the porch swing idea. I remember, when I was little, I used to love to sit on the front porch swing at my Grandma Daisy's and read for hours. That was my favorite spot at her house.

We have one on the back porch now. It is almost as good. It doesn't seem like people in Tucson sit out on the front porch. We all seem to like our privacy. It's too bad in a way. You don't see the world passing by when you sit in the back yard.

I do think that I am going to experiment with a porch swing. This porch is large enough that a nice sized one will fit at the left end, facing the door.

Tessie dragged the wicker from the greenhouse into the kitchen, where I was working and, all out of breath, maneuvered it into place. I asked why she didn't just zap it in....Her answer? "Oh! I forgot that I could do it that way." Senility could be setting in.

Working on the floor may be a bit difficult with her sitting right in the middle.....Maybe there is a method to her latest madness. She looked me straight in the eye and said,"If you build me a swing, I won't have to interfere with your floor. I will be up in the air."

I will grant you that this makes sense, but it seems to me it would be simpler for her just to move out of the way. I guess that it's time for another long lecture on logic and the lack thereof in this household.

See you tomorrow.

Orphans and a Storm....

First, the storm part. Mookie is in love with the new vacuum....Widget runs and hides whenever he hears the noise, and Mookie usually ignores it. Not the new one. When I took the photo he was sitting beside it and licking it!

I put it together this morning.....It comes in pieces, with a simple 3 step pictograph of the parts and the only captions on the diagram is the word "snap". Interesting build with lots of pushing here and pulling there. I made a three step process into about ten by the time I finished. If all else fails, look at the rest of the book and on the last page there are written directions.

After I managed to stick the pieces together without too much duck tape or too many rubber bands, I tried it. I am not one to write thank you notes to people like Mr. Dyson.....I am tempted. That thing is really great! It gets into tight corners and sucks up everything but the cat!

It did get some of the cat though. I think that I told you that the old Hoover bit the dust, so the house hasn't had a really good vacuuming since the problems started. This thing sucked up a huge amount of cat hair from just our bedroom. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this. You will think that I am a lousy housekeeper.(OK so I'm not perfect.) That gray ball that you see in the canister is all from the bedroom! I don't think that the old vacuum was working at all!!! Scary! I think that about three more passes over the whole house and we will have all new rugs at this rate.

OK. Now that I have bored you stiff with the vac, on to other things, the orphans. I worked on two of them today.

I put a couple of coats of glaze on the Sweetheart.(I have to think of something else to call this one. I can't stand the name.) Then I hacked at the timbers and since I couldn't stain them because of the icky purple paint, I painted them brown and did some distressing.

I am still not crazy about how it looks so far, but I am going to have to think on it a bit. Then go at it from another angle. We will get there sooner or later.

I gave up on it and then decided to go on to the porch for a while.

I gave it two coats of Ceramcoat Light Ivory and then decided on Trail Tan and Black for the trim work.

Did I mention that I found two windows and a door that fit it in my stash? I did.

Back when these kits were on the market, a lot of people did them up for holiday decorations. My six year old self likes change, as you know. I am going to do this one in very neutral colors. Then I can change the decorations for whatever season or holiday suits my fancy. I think that I will try to finish it for Halloween. I am having the Wednesday Witches mini group Halloween party on the 28Th.

Tessie is all for me getting it done. She seems to think that it would be a good place for her to be. She said that the gazebo that I did in the birdcage is tiresome and boring.

I have seen her eying the wicker in the greenhouse for the past day or two. I caught her flipping through the pages of a Southern Cookbook that I have....I looked later. She marked the page with Mint Juleps, Pecan Pie, and Crawdads. I am not sure, but I think that the latter is to go in some spell she is working on.

I looked in the kitchen and she was stirring a big pot and mumbling something about "a pretty porch swing". Is there a spell for conjuring up porch swings or is she just hinting that I should make her one? Hmmmmm.....Sometimes her ideas aren't all bad. I need to go think about this.

See you tomorrow.

A New Coat for an Orphan...

First of all, we have a conflict.....Tessie thinks she owns all three of the new structures.....Mookie begs to differ on the white one. At least this gives you some idea about how big the white house is inside. Not very.

See the top floor, how it sits back from the edge? See the unpainted line under it? That's where the floor used to sit. I knocked it out with a hammer and moved it up and towards the front of the building. It covers the area up under the eaves of the porch. Before, that whole area was open. I think that this will work out much better. I will use it as a loft/storage area for whatever kind of goods are carried in the store......If I can ever get the cat out.....

I gave up and went to work on the Sweetheart. I am trying to make it not so sweet. I pried off all of the shutters and window boxes. Whomever built this cottage, used at least three bottles of Elmer's and a couple of Aileen's. Those things were stuck on so well that I wound up pulling a layer of the wall off in a couple of places.

It's just a good thing that I was going to stucco it anyway. That covers a multitude of sins.

I am still trying to decide if I want to keep the little "porch" roof. I usually cut those off, but since it's there, I may leave it. It looks crooked to me though.

Hey! No more purple!!! Yay me!

Tessie is bustling around the inside figuring out where the counters and shelves should be. I have asked several times what kind of shop she thinks it should be. She just raises her head and sights down the length of her nose at me and gives me the look. You know the one....The "Don't ask!" look.

I am not sure that she knows what she wants, but I have the feeling that whatever she decides, it will be labor intensive for me.

She did help with painting the inside walls white, after I knocked the partitions out. Her theory is if it's white, you won't get dirty whilst painting.....Huh? Now brown or black on the other hand.....You get the picture.

So she left me to myself while I painted the outside. I am not going to spend big bucks on these houses, especially this one, since it is a duplicate.

I went into the workroom and dug through the drawer of old odds and sods of paint. I started dumping them into a plastic container and stirred until I got a not unpleasant color.

I wanted some kind of tan....It has green, orange, sandstone, and even a dab of purple in it.

It is a good base. I also found some old bottles of glaze in there. I may have a go at putting some of that on top too. It's one of those things that, if I don't like it, I will just keep messing about until I do.

Right now it is looking a lot greener than it does in real life. It's kind of a khaki color so far. We shall see what happens.

I have to quit for now and get ready to go to Wednesday Witches mini meeting.

See you tomorrow.