If You Give A Mouse A Kitchen...

They'll bake you delicious cheese muffins and bread!

Vera In Her New Kitchen

Virgil In His New Kitchen

But how did these kitchens come about? Well let me tell you...

Each kitchen began as a simple plywood pop out. What better way in a compact cottage? Both Vera and Virgil don't need much. Not even a fridge, really, as they enjoy their cheese room temperature or cooked into delicious dishes. So a small stove and cooktop, a roomy farmhouse sink, a little counter space, some modest storage and a few open shelves will do.

They began as many of my projects do, in Cricut Design Space. Using measurements from a quick sketch on graph paper, I made up the kitchen's components using shapes. Employing the ease of faux drawers and doors, I made a simple front panel and support pieces, drawer and door fronts and framing, and an oven front panel with door, drawer and control panel. These were cut by the Maker from 2mm Cricut chipboard. The countertops were made from 1/8" thick basswood, cut using the mini table saw, as it is slightly thicker and stands up better to stain and faux paint treatments.

I added simple hardware to the cabinets. To the ovens, I added "glass" for the doors, handles and knobs, and before I lost access to the oven interiors, I gave each a special feature: oven lights and delicious cheesy breads being baked. I cut racks for each oven, again with the Maker, and added oven lights using 12 volt screw base bulbs and plastic holders from my stash.

I made the cheesy bread and cheese muffins using Paperclay, and then gave them a baked look by dusting them with chalk pastels in yellow ochre and burnt orange. The glistening egg wash on the breads is yellow label Mod Podge. Simple but effective! You should smell them! Yum!

How about the sinks? Remember a few weeks ago I told you I'd had my first noob blooper on the 3D printer? Talk about being humbled...
I only had to make a simple design in Tinkercad - a straightforward box with a recess and a drain hole, really. That all went fine - I'd done it tens of times for all the stuff in my Shapeways store. Bringing it into the 3D printer's slicer program even went off without a hitch. Using the sample roll of red PLA that came with the printer, it was successful the very first time!

Two versions, testing wall thickness

Test fit success

Then look what happened when I attempted to print it in white...

That's Not Good!

Perplexed, I pulled out the packaging. To my shock, it was something called PETG, not the PLA I thought I'd ordered. I was about to learn something new. Well, a couple things, actually.

1. Amazon searches don't always yield the results you expect. It may include things you did not intend. Buyer beware, read all of the info, especially when you're a newbie using a product with lots of technical information. I did not read far enough, and inadvertently ordered the wrong stuff.

2. Aside from PLA and ABS, there is another filament that 3D printers use called PETG. It looks very much like PLA, and will come up in Amazon searches when you type "PLA". But it's properties are very different than PLA. When you begin to learn to use a 3D printer you will have to learn new terms such as "squish" and "skirt" and also know what temperatures both the extruder and the print bed have to be. It is specific for each type of filament you are using. PETG requires a MUCH higher temp, and when it is not set in the slicer program, the filament will not adhere to the bed, or itself. If you use PLA settings for PETG, you will get the results you see pictured above. Who knew? I know now!!!

Two Prime shipping days later, I had the real white PLA and the results were much, much better! Ta-Da! Farmhouse sinks for Vera and Virgil!!!

Four sinks in comparison

Successful white PLA farmhouse sink!

Now back to the good stuff... I made Virgil's countertop in faux butcher block by scribing boards into the wood with a stylus tool. Vera's is a type of solid stone made by using two yellow tones of paint, one creamy white and some acrylic glaze pounced on with a paintbrush. The tiles were made using illustration art board cut with the Maker. They were painted, glazed and left chunky and rustic - perfect for mice cottages. The corner shelves were made with illustration art board, too. The bottom ones have hanging pegs which are so useful in compact kitchens.

You can see that the light fixtures for this end of the cottages have been added. In addition to the oven light, there's an overhead light above the sinks and on either side of the kitchen, sconces. I made mat board plaques for the back of each sconce to add another layer of detail.

And with all of the lights on...

Vera and Virgil are thrilled with their new kitchens and couldn't wait to try them out! They are looking forward to move in day when they'll get to equip them with everything a mouse needs for cooking and baking. Vera is busy making curtains and aprons, and Virgil has begun to plot out the vegetable garden.

And here are the cottages side by side without the second floor and roof. Good thing we're expecting sunny weather in the work room!

After much discussion, the three of us think the next thing to tackle will be the fireplaces. Then the ceiling/second floor can be installed. After that the foundations, then I can attach the structures to the bases. Once that major portion of construction is completed we can discuss second floor ceilings, more lighting fixtures, porch floors and roofing. So, lots of exciting work ahead and many more decisions!

I hope you like the kitchens, too, and are inspired to build something nice for some critters you know!

xo xo,
Jodi

Virgil's Turn

Last week I was able to share the progress on Vera's cottage and was hopeful to get Virgil's cottage just as far. Great News! I did it!!!

Here's where I had left off on Virgil's cottage before turning my attention to Vera's. With all of the major structural changes completed, and with the priming done, I was looking forward to starting the interior and exterior wall finishes. It's the exact same layout of Vera's cottage, only mirrored.

Virgil's Cottage - Pop Outs and Dormers Added

Because new grooves had to be cut into the base for mirroring, and because a new lower groove was added to each side wall (in order to lower the second floor for more head room), the old grooves had to be filled in. Strips of 1/8" x 3/8" basswood were almost a perfect fit. A little glue and a tap or two with a hammer worked like a charm!

Primed and all but one floor groove filled in.

Like Vera's cottage, I used papers from the Oopsy Daisy wallpaper line for Virgil, too - only I went with blue patterns for him. I just love a good gingham and this blue one is adorable! It conveys a relaxed and casual home while the paisley paper seems fit for a gentleman. It elevates the cottage just enough without being fussy. So far, I haven't decided to use the daisy borders in either cottage, but I am keeping the option open. It might work well incorporated onto the furnishings, somehow.

I used a combination of basswood and moldings cut by hand, and mat board cut with the Cricut Maker for the trims on the interior and the exterior. I love the way it all came together, just a little country home to comfortably house a simple country mouse.

I can't finish the trim around the fireplace wall until I get the fireplace finished. I was able to design and cut a unique version for each cottage using Inkscape and the Maker. I hope to have a tutorial in an upcoming post with svg files to share.

I have such a hard time trusting my instincts when it comes to blue paint. I love blue, but it is the one hue that I change my mind on the most. One minute I love how a particular shade is reading, the next I wonder what on Earth I was thinking! That is why I made up the swatch board, hoping it would provide me with some certainty. It didn't stop me from feeling uneasy about my choices all the way through the trim work. I kept telling Russ that I was feeling uneasy about the dark stripes and may have to repaint every detail again. It wasn't until I had all of the paper up, trims on, exterior cladding on and the structure in a test fit that I decided that I really liked the look. Phew!

Here are the pop outs, inside and out. What do you think? The cottage now reminds me of striped pajamas, and to me, that is perfect for a gentle country mouse. I love it!

The next task, and one which I was very much looking forward to after all of that trim work, was the wood flooring. Like Vera's cottage, I used Houseworks Southern Pine flooring. But this time, I stained them in Early American instead of Cherry. It's a little bit warmer and richer, but not too dark for the airy sky blue walls. I used Quick Grip adhesive and was able to position the seams in the back where they will mostly be hidden under the kitchen unit.

Final fit after trimming and glue.

Second Floor Before Stain

And with stain and several layers of Polyurethane.

And the exterior in test fit. As planned with Vera's cottage, I will likely use clapboard siding on the main body. But that's a few steps ahead yet. And this fitting does not include the porch roofs. They'll be one of the final steps.

Now, both Vera and Virgil's cottages are up to the same point in their construction. They are both very happy with the progress and are starting to share ideas with me about the type of furnishings and decor they'd like me to make for them. They sure sound excited!

The next phase will be the electricity, and I'm thinking I'll work on both cottages at the same time. I envision eight to twelve round wire fixtures in each cottage. The wires will be running under the foundation, out the walls, out the roof and meeting at a hub under the house. That means very soon I will have to make decisions about the type of foundation materials I will use. Brick? Rock? Concrete? I just need to make some mock ups and get them on the cottages before I decide. I also have yet to run channels and paper the ceilings. Lots of fun tasks to come and l hope they all go smoothly! But then, we all know how wiring goes, right?!? :O)

Hope your projects are progressing nicely, and I hope to be back soon with more to share on the cottages!

xo xo,
Jodi