A RED DOOR

A Red Door

A STONE HOUSE WITH A RED DOOR
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Here is the ARTHUR with a new Red Door!
and that's not all!
This is what I have been working on for the past few days and what an exercise in patience and discovery it turned out to be!  I had been collecting egg cartons for quite a while with the intention of perhaps doing a brick building of some sort and had even considered doing the ARTHUR  in brick.  But I know 'ME'  better than anyone, and I know how bored I would become as I am very impatient.  Janine said that I like to race to the finish line and she wasn't far wrong, I admit.  I also know that trying to stick to a straight line for a course of brick-laying is crucial.  Crooked drives me CRAZY and I know that it would be too much of a challenge at this point when I was trying to get the 
'MOJO 'BACK! 

I figure that I have only so much MOJO allotted to me and I didn't want to run out of it while doing brickwork.  I chose to do stone in a random pattern making it rough and irregular using a tutorial of VICTORIA MINILAND'S  and some of my own ideas to execute the job.
What you see is NOT FINISHED!  but its a start. Keep in mind that I was making this up as I went along, and now having gotten to this point, I HAVE TO keep going with it.  I should mention as well, that the roof is only hanging on by a thread.  It is here just for the pictures as it is easier to build the inside with the roof unattached.  So if you think that the roof looks like it is caving in, 
it is.

(Uh Oh!,... a wee bit blurry )
***
This is the stone work prior to grouting it!
 I was pretty happy with the facade up to this point as the stones were not too shiny and there was some great texture in the rocks that I liked.  I had sealed the egg carton with Matt Mod Podge and left it to dry overnight, then came the nightmare on Elm Street....

I knew that grouting the stones was going to be trouble!  I had 2 tubs of  DRYDEX spackling compound, of course one had to be dried out, but the other one was fresh.  It starts out pink and then changes color as it dries so you know when it has fully cured.  So, I dipped in with my fingers and began to fill the 'inbetween' spaces of the rocks.  This was not the worse thing that I have done but it was very annoying.  Before the grout could completely set up I had to remove the excess with a  very wet cloth and rub and rub and rub, to get it off the stones.  If I hadn't sealed it as well as I did then the water would have turned the stones to oatmeal.  It was challenging, let me tell you!

(ARTHUR with a face only a mother could love)

A close up of the stones with the grout drying up
fast! 

So after it was done, I needed to seal the grout!  I used Matt Mod Podge and some black water color paint mixed in to give it a grey cast and proceeded to paint over the stones.  (see photo below)  Why I did this was to grey up the grout, what I SHOULD HAVE DONE WAS ADD THE COLOR TO THE GROUT NOT THE SEALER!  The way I did it muted all the great color that I had so painstakingly applied to the rocks in the first place!  Now everything was too greyed washed out and not as interesting as it used to be.  Get ready, I am about to cry.....
WHAAAAh!!!!

Then if that wasn't bad enough I tried to bring some life back into the rocks by using the regular Mod Podge that is SHINY and now I don't like it!
I am going to have to go back over all the stones and try to fix what I messed up.
MOVING ON
I had already removed the scroll work over the front door after I had decided to do the stone.  I just didn't see how I would be able to build around it without it looking funny.  I decided to use some planks that I found in my collection of wood.  It is the Greenleaf flooring and it is YUCKY as wood floor unless you are looking for real shabby and slivers in your feet.  I cut three pieces to act as a rustic surround for the door frame and I sealed and stained it over and over trying to determine what to settle on.  Okay, I will go for this!  Sort of a bleached out pickled wood.  I found the lion earring that I had made into a door knocker; at least 12 years old by now!  Blue tacked it onto the door to see if I would like it there permanently.
Hey!
Not bad!
Rummaging around I found the lion head architectural piece that again was 12 years old. I decided that it would be nice above the door.  I tacked it on and when I was happy, I traced around it and then cut the rocks out and away so that it would lay flush against the wall.
Watch Out!...

 I AM ON A ROLL!

I have been wanting to try out Dale Fluty's crackle tutorial for some time and as I like old and worn  and because I am leaning now towards a cottage close to the water where the wind and rain would be instrumental in the aging process, I decided to try it out.  If I wasn't happy I could always repaint.  As per Dale's instructions, begin with a darker undercoat of paint.  I used one of my favorite browns
Delta Ceramcoat  Brown Iron Oxide.  It looks like dark rust.  I chose this color mainly because it is the color of the wood door surround and it shows though the pickled stain kinda reddish even with the grey wash on top of it.  I was making a stab at continuity and had my fingers crossed that this would turn out okay.  I'm putting my faith in you DALE FLUTY DOLLHOUSE DESIGNS. 
I brushed on the base coat of the brown iron oxide color and let it dry and then used the blow dryer to speed it along.  I want to crackle something, NOW!

Here is what it looked like right after painting.  

Dale said to use school glue and paint it onto the surface of the project and then add your second coat of a lighter color while the glue is still tacky.  I did this too.  I used another Delta color called
"MUDSTONE ".  I think the trick is getting an even coat not too thick or too thin so that you get an even coverage.  I laid way too much glue on and got lumps in the corners of the shutter and then I had to pick them out!  I gave the surface a shot of heat with the blow dryer too, I am tooo  impatient.
LO AND BEHOLD, CRACKLE BEGAN TO APPEAR!
Now this was quite fine crackle and I wanted a bit more but it works!  A big plus was that I wanted to age the finish with a bit of sanding and because the glue is layered in between the paint, it sands easily and the base coat peeks though just the way I wanted!
HOORAY FOR DALE !
AND HOORAY FOR ME!

Check it out!

So this is what the windows now look like and I am very pleased with the results.
The stone walls look not too bad with the color of the shutters and as I said earlier, I shall touch up the color of the stones a little further along.  The rock over the window was/ is a header stone and runs the width of the window but you can't tell because it is all one grey tone.  I want it a wee bit more noticeable.
I wasn't going to paint the door until much later on, but things were going so well that I bit the bullet.
Because the interior is going to have red walls, I wanted the entry to reflect what was going to be happening inside.  This, by the way is NOT THE WAY I USUALLY WORK.
I usually start with the interior and work out.  This is totally backwards for me.
I also chose red because the whole building was Dull.  Let's face it grey looks GREY!
I did not want to be thinking of this house as BLEAK and BORING.
I love REd and a Red door would be fun., and if I didn't like it I could blame Dale Fluty! hahahh
(just kidding Dale)

I LIKE IT

elizabeth