Doing Something Fun!

Just for fun in the firebox I decided to go with stone as opposed to brick. I have a partial roll of the Magic Ston sticker stuff, so this was a great opportunity to use it up.

For those of you who have not worked with the Magic Systems products before, here's how they work...

1. Paint the area you are going to cover with what you want to be your grout color. Let dry.

2. Cut out enough length of the sticker to fit the area. I like to remove the stone or brick stickers before I apply them to the surface - it is much easier. Affix your sticker to the area, making sure to firmly press down all of the lines.

3. Mix your mortar with enough water to achieve an oatmeal type consistency. If it's too dry add more water in tiny increments. If it's too wet you're screwed........  nope, just kidding. Just add a little more mortar mix a bit at a time until it thickens.

***Side note - the Magic Systems kits come with an assortment of colored powdered mortar mix. It is also sold separately. Don't get tricked into spending a bunch of money on this stuff. Regular powdered sanded or un-sanded grout mix from the hardware store is exactly what this stuff is. It is a fraction of the cost of the stuff sold for miniatures. One box should last you a lifetime of mini projects. Buy a light color - you can always add acrylic paint to the mix to achieve the color you want. Want a rougher surface - add some sand.***

4. Using a rough paintbrush, dab out a fairly thin layer to cover all of the stickered area.

5. Gently peel back the sticker paper and see the pattern left behind. You can gently smooth rough edges or pat down for a smoother look,

6. Let dry. Once dry, you can paint with color washes or sponge on more texture to achieve the look you want. In my case, I wanted my firebox to look as though it had been cleaned and painted for use as decor only. That is why the stones and grout are the same color. If I had been using it for a "real" functioning fireplace the grout and stones would have more contrast.

I like the stuff, it's easy to use and kind of fun. It goes a lot quicker than egg carton stones, but I like doing those as well. In other words, what is six to one is half a dozen to another...

I didn't care for the brownish tone once I'd held it up against the fireplace, so I just coated over it with a lighter grey. I also added some of the ceiling paper scraps to the niche and gave that a couple coats of white. I'm thinking I'd better not attach it to the house just yet. I'll have to fiddle with the roof, and that is not nearly next on the To Do list.

I've also been working on the inside trim - did I mention that there is a lot of fussy work on this project? I certainly need to work on my "fitting molding together nicely" skills. Oh well, in the end it is supposed to be a little shabby. More on the interior transformation later...

One last thing... Do something that makes you really happy today! Sometimes the "have to's" make us forget that life is to be lived and enjoyed!

Finding My Joy!

What a productive day! I woke up early, the sun was shining, and the ideas were just flowing!

I sort of followed the instructions on the Sugarplum, but had to skip and deviate a little because of the modifications I'm making. For example, step # 4 says to add the second floor, and since I am omitting the second floor I just skipped that step. Step # 5 was to add the little partial wall strips to the sides of the back opening. I decided to wait on these so that getting inside to work on the fireplace and trim would be easier.

I did follow steps 1 - 3, attaching the front and side walls to the floor. With patient fitting and trimming, it all went together like a hand in a glove. While the glue dried on the three walls and floor, I covered the bay window in wallpaper (scrapbook paper) and attached the interior window frame. It wasn't too long before I was able to attach that to the structure.

While all of that was setting up I started to play around with the fireplace. Since it's a soap shop converted from and old historic home, it will not really be a working fireplace. I just want it to look like it has been freshly cleaned so that it can be used for display purposes.

The kit makes it so that the chimney butts up right against the house. This doesn't really give it much depth or appeal either inside or outside the house.

I decided to give it a more realistic and dimensional look by building a box around the chimney. This way, I could create a fire box for the fireplace and take advantage of what was meant to be the upstairs hearth, turning it into a display niche.

I created boxed in areas for the fire box and the niche. I'll add brick or stone to the firebox and some embossed paper to the niche. This will make them much more interesting to look at!

I'm working on a hearth made out of marble stationary and some mat board. There will be some tricky cuts to make - I'll need to make slits for the wall and get it to sit nice and flush to the floor. Then I'll decoupage the paper and hope it looks like smooth marble. Hopefully, I'll like the way it looks in the end.

Meanwhile, I am taking advantage of the nice warm weather (new record high today of 88 degrees) to spray paint much of the trim I'll need. What you see here is only part of it! There will be much more to come, but this will get me started on the main shop floor.

I am having so much fun with this project so far! I am never happier than when I am in the midst of some tedious little detail. Listening to scary bigfoot encounters or singing along to some happy little tune. I hope you all are also finding your joy today!

Ready To Work - Or Is It Play?

Now that I have sufficiently gotten enough of my To Do List Ta Done, I can go do what I want, which is minis, and do them relatively guilt free. The work room is ready, so now all I need is to make some decisions.

I've had plenty of unfocused ideas swimming around in my head, but still don't have the certainty to go forward with confidence in my choices. So, the best thing to do is just to start doing something and see where it leads me.

Here is what I started working with - a mess of random ideas! Lets just see if a plan begins to form...




I began by choosing the wall coverings. They are wedding themed scrapbook paper that I picked up at Joanne's on my way back from Moab. The book was half price and there were lots of mini scaled patterns, so I'll have lots more choices for future builds too.

I chose a striped pattern as a wainscoting , then a more modern type pattern for the main walls and then a swirly floral type for the upper wall sections. They are all white with silver grey accents, which I wanted so that the patterns don't take over the focus of the shop.





I have a pretty fancy ceiling paper for the main interior roof section, but needed to paint what will be the outside soffits before I can apply the paper. Once I apply, I'll paint a coordinating white so that it is more of a textural element than an eye catcher.





While the paper and paint were drying, I began to think about the type of flooring the shop should have. Since I am going for a little shabby, I thought a whitewashed wide plank wood flooring might be nice. I had about 10 brand new pieces of 1/2"x1/16" boards, but that wasn't going to be enough. I had more of different material, but everything I had was 1/8" thick and that seemed too chunky.

I found a solution: I had more 1/2"x1/16" planking left over from Alki Point, but it had already been stained with the vinegar mixture. No problem. A little sanding and a good coat of white wash and the floor will look just like any old building where different wood floor species was added through the years.

I started by bundling up and taping together 6 pieces at a time. This makes for quick cutting work on large jobs. I calculated that I could get three 4-1/2" pieces from each board with just a little spacing material left over for good measure.

I remember the days when I would have to take my little miter box and hand saw to cut each piece. It is amazing that anything I cut with it ever ended up cut correctly, and if I needed multiples of the same measurement - forget consistency. I am so grateful to have my little chop saw from Harbor freight, It has completely changed my cutting skill to the point where I am not intimidated any longer to take on a project with any kind of cutting involved. And talk about perfect miters! If you don't have one already, do yourself a huge favor and go pick one up. For a tool under $30 with the coupon, you can't go wrong.

I painted both sides of the kit floor to minimize any warping. Just in case any of the cracks would show through the wood floor.








After all of the bundles were cut, I just began laying them in a staggered and random pattern. I applied them to the kit floor with ES6000. I found that I could apply the adhesive using an old paint brush a single row at a time. Then I would "butter" each piece of the wood floor before sticking it down. None of the pieces warped in any way, and I could press them into position very easily. If any excess glue oozed out, it dried quickly and pulling it off was like picking a booger. No glue residue left behind.

The next step was to sand the floor so that it ended up with an even surface. It was a pretty nice day outside, so I just sat on the back patio and sanded away - no mess to clean up inside the house.

In between cutting, gluing and sanding, I kept applying little coats of white spray paint to the windows and doors in the garage. Between the spray paint and ES6000 fumes I must be down a few brain cells!

I needed to add a little depth to the plain basswood flooring before adding the whitewash, I just watered down a little barnwood and painted a bit on.

Now for the whitewash. I'll just thin down some warm white and apply until I get the look I'm after.

It's getting there...

I think that's about all for the day - I am still recovering from the bronchitis and all of the work I've done around the house for the last week. I think I need to eat pizza and fall asleep in front of the TV.

More tomorrow, see you then...