Seeing RED

 

View from my little bench under the maple tree.

We picked up a variety of sample bottles of stain, applied it to a board and waited an hour or so to see the real colour.

Why does it never look like it does in the can once applied?

It took seven tries and a mix of two stains to find the colour we wanted.

Once we got the colour, we bought 6 gallons of the stain and the mouse-house got her new outfit.

First we stained all the boards.

He's having soooo much fun.

Me...not so much. I'd rather be petting a cat, gardening or walking my dog but I pitched in where I could.

It's hot and ice-cream would be good right now.

Almost there.

Then the battens were cut, stained and we are now adding them to the mouse-house.

We are almost done but I thought I'd show you how it looks so far.

We still have a few to add to the front and sides.

We'll be changing the trim to an off-white colour when we are done the battens.

The main house will be built to the right of the mouse-house

and attached by a breeze-way.

Right now, we live above the double garage.

That's my teeny kitchen window.

 If you have been following along for awhile you are probably wondering when we are building the main house. The plan was to build this summer but we had some delays that were out of our hands and in the mean-time found a design of a home that we liked better than the one we had designed last year.

Different house..different construction company.

So, we will be starting to build in the spring of 2016.

We find the mouse-house to be comfortable, albeit very small, but I think we'll manage awhile longer in this tiny dwelling. The animals are quite settled and don't seem to be bothered by the small space. Well, I'm not sure what Audrey would say about that.

There should be no complaints from them...they run the show.

(above the stairs)

I'm so happy to have come across the house-design that we just found recently because I LOVE it and it has everything my little heart desires.

The other design was lovely but one thing that bothered me was that I could not have a window over the kitchen sink. It just wouldn't work in that kitchen so I settled. :( Not good.

And I was not 100% happy with the front view because of how this design would sit on the lot.

But, I figured I'd get used to it. I settled again. :(

Now I am so excited about this new design and nowhere am I settling. I wouldn't change a thing and love it from the ground up.

 I just need the strength to get through a whole winter

in the mouse-house.

I have days where it bothers me and I get down about it so I need to focus on planning our Spring build.

Mind you, if this winter goes by as quickly as our summer just did, well, I should be fine. :)

It probably won't, though.

So, I have to rely on the fact that I'm strong, durable, resilient, sturdy, well-built :-b with industrial strength and I'm rugged.

In other words...I'm a tough 'ol broad. ;-)

I'll be fine.

hugs, Deb