SSSSSSSNAKE!

This is my sweet little Nugget, the great and mighty hunter! Protector of our back yard.


Yesterday he found a BIG snake that looked like THIS! I had to chase him away from it with a broom! Nugget was determined to save me and would not leave the snake alone!


The snake was all coiled up, flaring his nasty nostrils and shaking his tail at us! Thankfully, neither one of us was hurt. That snake is still out there somewhere... SSSSSSCARY!

I went to Starbucks yesterday morning to get more coffee stirrer sticks. I took some of the things I have made with them to show the manager. He gladly refilled my cup of sticks. Thank you Starbucks! :D


This is one corner of the real Starbucks coffee shop interior. I love the colors, the art on the walls and this chair!


When I got home, I realized that one of the fabrics I bought for my coffee shop is very similar to this. I've started making a little sofa. I plan to make a chair (or two) also.


Hope you have a great day! I've got lots of WORK to do!

There is still time to enter my 500+ followers give-a-way! The winner will be chosen tomorrow morning!

Today's Experiment

Today I am experimenting with this recipe: Torn toilet paper, wallpaper adhesive and sand. I mixed these three things together to make a paste like paper mache.


I crumpled some aluminum foil, added my "paste," covered it with wax paper and rolled it out flat with my rolling pin. I want to have one side textured and the other side smooth.


Now I wait. I don't know how long this might take to dry? Days maybe? I don't know if it will even hold together?


What I am hoping to do is take the dried "paper" and cut it into what I hope will look like cement blocks or stone. I may need to add glue to the recipe or use a different kind of paper?



Here is another recipe I may try. I didn't have all of the ingredients needed for this one today.

I'll let you know if this works? If it doesn't, I will show you that too. :}

Room to Work

Yesterday I brought my saw horses in from the shed and set up a table so I would have room to work on the coffee shop. I need a BIG place to spread things out!



I started laying out the design for the clerestory windows. There is a still a lot of planning, measuring and cutting to do! I'm just getting started.



Thanks to everyone who has entered my give-a-way! There are so many! I can't wait to see who wins! I will draw the winning name on Sunday morning. Click here to enter. :D

Hope you have a great day!

Thanks GOOGLE!

Troy mentioned the other day that I might need to consult a structural engineer to build my clerestory windows. This morning I opened Google to search for help. This is today's photo!

Google is featuring Ludwig Mies Van Derh Rohe to celebrate the 126th anniversary of his birth. The Washington Post has an article about "Mies" also.

While searching I found this architectural design photo of his Farnsworth house.

Did you know that the Brinca Dada Emerson Dollhouse was inspired by Mies designs?

Even LEGO recreated one of his houses!:D

Not only am I inspired, I am now more informed!

This image from Treehugger.com will help me construct my windows!

Hope you enjoy celebrating the wonderful designs of this great modern architect. Happy Birthday Mr. Mies!

Colors and Texture

These are three of the colors I'll be using for the coffee shop. "Celery Bunch," "Fudge Truffle," and "Pineapple Upside Down Cake." The celery will be used inside. :D



The 2 ounce bottles of acrylic craft paint aren't large enough to paint a entire house. These 8 ounce jars of custom mix paint cost about three dollars each. It's a good deal.

I tried Sandie's stucco technique again this morning. I ran out of Kleenex (thanks to being sick) so I used one layer of a torn paper towel.



The paper towel is too thick and doesn't look the right scale. A single layer of facial tissue works much better!

I'm practicing on the WalMart rippled wall. I thought maybe adding the stucco would hide the ripples. That didn't happen but I did learn something.

I'll go get some more tissues today as well as another piece of foam core and try again. Office Depot has the nicer foam board. I can get into a LOT of trouble in that store. I'll need to stay focused!

I want to welcome ALL of my new followers and thank everyone who has entered my give-a-way! You have until Saturday to join! :D

Hope you have a lovely day!

Raising the Roof

Instead of using the interior loft that came with the kit I've decided to add a second floor apartment above the coffee shop. The entrance is on the right.

I will be using the deck from the garage as a pattern for an outside staircase. Sometimes it pays not to finish projects. :D Especially if you decide to use parts of them for something else!



I cut another corner window downstairs in the coffee shop. The floor/ceiling is just taped up for now. I will need to figure out how to run the lights before I finish that. It's not level now but it will be. I hope...



This is another view with the second floor addition. Here the back wall is 6" tall. I came up with an idea to remedy that.



I plan to raise the roof 3" at the back to match the front of the shop, making it level. I can't have my apartment dweller bumping her head on the ceiling! I think adding clerestory windows to the sides and back wall will take care of that?



This is how the front corner will look. I will frame out the corner windows. This side is made using the WalMart foam core. See the ripples? I need to cut a new wall with the "good stuff."



Pay no attention to the piles of fabric behind this. When you are on a roll, you don't stop and take time to clean up! LOL

As you see, I've created at LOT more work for myself! I think it will look great, if I can do it?

Hope you have a beautiful day!

100 Abandoned Houses

100 Abandoned Houses

Doesn't this house remind you of Brae's Haunted Heritage House? :D This post by Shelter has photos of 100 houses that have been abandoned. I see several that I would love to restore or build as dollhouses!

Speaking of abandoned houses. This one has been sitting in my living room, just like this, for over one year! Parts of my conservatory kit are propped up on top.

I have made yet another design change to my current project. I know it's a stretch, but I may use these conservatory parts to build a second floor studio apartment above the coffee shop? It would have an outside entrance and patio.

I'll be measuring again today to see how I might accomplish this. I hope I can do it, because I really like the idea. I promise to have something to show you tomorrow. It may not be much, but it will be something!

Hope you have a great day!

Days Like This

I love this photo. My son captured this beautiful sunrise at Daytona Beach Florida. I've seen many mornings like this and there is no place I would rather be.

I am going back to work today. For better or worse. I have used up all of my sick days. Now I'm cutting into my vacation time. I want to save a few days for a trip "home" so I can enjoy more mornings like this!

Fabrics and a Dream

I started out this morning at Completely Coastal, browsed through Maya's lastest posts and somehow ended up at Spoonflower Fabrics. I had not seen this site before. It is wonderful! Especially for all of you "mini modern" lovers. They also have a blog.

I am feeling much better today. :D I had a wonderful (fever-induced?) dream today. I was laying on the soft sand under the sea looking up at the surface of the water with the sunlight pouring in. Have you ever done that? I mean, been under water and looked up at the surface? It is the most amazing view you will ever see!



In my dream I could breathe under the water. I stayed there a long, long time and just watched the clouds and fish float by. I found beautiful things down there too. Sterling silver forks, irridescent flowers, a brightly colored living, breathing coral reef with little seahorses swimming along...

I really didn't want to wake up! Maybe I should take an underwater photography class or scuba lessons? Maybe I'm VERY homesick for the beach? Maybe I'm just delirious, who knows, but it was a great dream!

Hope you enjoy visiting Spoonflower and may all of YOUR dreams come true!



Photo above taken at Blue Springs Park, Orange City FL

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I have finally decided on a color for the exterior of my coffee shop. It's called "Pineapple Upside Down Cake" by Glidden. Don't you just love the names they give colors? :D


The other colors you see will be inside or for trim. I hope Home Depot can do some good color matching for me? The green is a bit more limey than this photo shows.

I haven't finished sealing the walls. The first one turned out fine after the second side was painted with Gesso and weighed down. I made the left corner window larger and may add more windows? Still thinking about that...


I just called my boss to let him know I am STILL running a fever and won't be into work again today. My doctor called in an antibiotic for me yesterday. Hopefully, once I get started on the medicine this nasty virus or whatever I have will GO AWAY!!!

Thanks for all of your well wishes and helpful comments on my last post. I love Sandra in Sydney's ideas for doing stucco. Thanks Sandie!

"For a stucco finish I've had good results in 1:12th scale using facial tissues (one ply at a time) and painting it on sort of roughly to the surface; also by mixing talcum powder into the paint to make a gloopy mix and dabbing it on with a coarse brush then giving it extra texture if desired with the ends of the bristles of another coarse brush."

I tried the tissue idea. I just painted a piece of foam core, lay the tissue on the wet paint and lightly dabbed it with a stiff brush. You do have to be careful not to "dab" too much. Great results!

Hope you have a lovely day! I will be popping out from under the covers now and then to see what everyone is doing. :D

Wavy Wall

I painted one side of one wall with Gesso this morning. I'm pretty sure that this is the WalMart foam board. It might work for smaller projects but I don't know about this one?



I turned it over and tried to weigh it down flat. The paper on the outside corner of the doorway cracked. It's not that noticeable, but I don't like it.



I'm going to Gesso the other side, let it dry and then put some heavy books on top. We'll see how it goes.... I may end up having to cut a new wall with the "good stuff?"

I'm not getting much done around here even though I stayed home from work yesterday. I still have chills and a fever! Guess it's time to call the doctor? I'll do that later. Promise.

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for the give-a-way! You have until April 1st to enter. :D

500! 500 Followers! Give-A-Way!

I am so excited! There are now 500 followers of my little blog! Thank you to everyone who joined recently and to those who have been with me from the beginning! I truly appreciate your comments, friendship and faithfulness.



My give-a-way gift will be the Mini Town Loft Kit from Miniatures.com. No surprise, right? I hope you don't mind hand-me-downs! :D

This is your chance to build your own loft and maybe even have time to enter the contest?

This photo idea from Miniatures.com

Just comment on THIS POST before Sunday, April 1st for a chance to win this great kit! I will carefully repack the complete kit with instructions and send it off to the winner. I would love to see what you do with it!

Thanks again for following my blog. Don't forget to comment here to win! :D

Two Lofts!

This morning I cut out my "second" loft using the original one as a pattern. Casey emailed me some great tips about working with foam core. Thanks Casey! I had two different brands of foam core. The WalMart stuff and some Gator foam. The Gator foam is much nicer.


I'm going to seal the walls with Gesso and then paint them. I hope they won't warp or fall apart! One of the walls will be covered with fabric. I read somewhere that spray adhesive is the best thing to use with foam core.


I just realized that my Starbuck's coffee stirrers are the perfect size for framing the windows. My supply is getting low. I hope they will refill my cup again?! :D

I'm still trying to decide what to do on the exterior. I've cut some of the windows larger than the ones in the kit. I like the idea of corner windows... we'll see?


I doubt I will get much more done today. I've been running a fever all weekend. Not sure why? Nurses don't get sick! I don't get sick! I have NO time in my little world for sick! LOL

Hope you have a good day! I'm going back to bed...

Disqualified?

I will probably be disqualified from the Creatin' Contest. I have decided to use the loft kit as a "pattern" for a new build! This morning I'm working on the roof.



I found this kitchen back splash at Home Depot. I like the wavy pattern and I love the brushed nickle finish! It is black on the under side. Perfect.

Here is how it looks with the skylights cut out.



Next I will cut new walls from foam core. I plan to add more windows upstairs and down. The loft area will stay, but I'm planning to extend it out from the house. I want to make an outdoor seating area with a garden below.

When I'm finished I will still have the original kit! :D

Thanks for following along as I keep changing my mind about things! Hope you have a great day!