Vines & Balcony Table...And a Few Other Things

Fair Warning. 

This post began on Monday.  And I got to dollhousing and never posted it.  So it's a bit long.

Vines Part I

Okay... so I spent some of today looking up how to make miniature flowers for the flowerbeds and the possible flower boxes I might have on the balcony railing.

And I'm still not sure what I'm going to do there...but I did get another table made for the balcony.  The first one I made was nice, but it was too tall next to the chairs.

I like it but it doesn't work where I intended it to so I made another one that's a bit shorter, same style, and I think it looks much better as a side table for the mint juleps.  See?

The adorable chair and Mardi Gras beads Keli sent me! Love how they look.

I got the mint juleps from Everyday Gourmet and the other chair from MiniEstates. 

I also sanded down the moss on the roof so it looks a little less green. 

Slightly better.

Keli suggested I age the foundation a bit since it looks newer than the rest of the house.  Since I'd added a poly coating to it after I added the grout I was a bit worried about making the new wash of paint stick.  After a little thought I added some Elmer's glue to the water and paint and that seemed to do the trick.  I did the same thing to the front steps since they looked a little too shiny to belong to this old decrepit house.

The foundation isn't super obvious but it does make a difference when I compare it with the pictures from a couple days ago.

I still need to add some rust to the downspouts and utility boxes but I dripped the glue/water/paint mixture all over them so they look like they've been out in the weather.  You can see that a bit in the picture below.

As you can see I also made the flower beds...  They are deliberately of a size that I can pick up and put inside the house. 

And I've added my vines to the side of the house.  I had to use hot glue to make them stick which is always interesting.  Burnt fingers and strands of glue every-freakin'-where.  I wanted a lot of vines because down south its very easy for them to overgrow.  They'll root in the gutters and climb over the roof sometimes.  I've seen oak trees growing out of gutters.  Down in Orange TX and Southern LA if it's not growing its molding.

Vines Part II

That was how I left it to get some much needed sleep. 

When I woke up this morning, this is what I found.

Yep. That's right. Five pieces of vine on the table, pulled off by a certain Building Inspector who shall remain infamous.  And people wonder why I'm hesitant to make my own paper flowers or put anything like this on the outside of a dollhouse...

This is the reason:

Yes. That is a dollhouse she is inside. 

Husband is ordering me a grill cover to use for protection since I am not up to making another plexi-glass case to protect the vines.  I'll end up covering the house and part of the table each night and using my dictionary and thesaurus to weigh it down.  He thinks she won't be able to burrow or claw through it without us hearing.  We'll see.

I added some rust to the utility boxes and pipes as well as the gutters.  I used my patented glue and cinnamon method with sticky tacky glue since I wasn't trying to adhere to plastic.

Some cinnamon on the ground there... thankfully it blows away easily.

I've also added flowers and bushes to the flowerbeds. 

And made the flowerboxes for the balcony.

They're also removable since I have a cat that likes to attack things. 

I got some adorable little potted shrubs from Brae's store and they look so cute on the front stoop and back steps.  They make me want more flowerpots.

I'm going back and forth on one thing.  Tomorrow, (assuming there is no further destruction of the greenery overnight) I'm going to start putting in furniture and accessories...

Right now the couch looks like this:

Does it look like it needs piping?  To me it looks as if it's in better shape than the green chair did before I added the piping, but I can't be sure.  Opinions?

I'm excited...I'm in the home stretch. I think...  Let's check the list.

Glue in curtains
Roof
Age Roof
Trim (bedroom ceiling and outer walls)
Gutters & downspouts (paint and age first)
Eaves & Age Eaves
Roof of back door
Light for back door
Add flowerbeds & vines.
Add Rust
Add Moss to flower beds & foundation.
Wire living room lamp to battery in table.
Clean up the inside of the opening wall so the raw wood and tape doesn't show.
Finalize furniture arrangement
Add all accessories & stick them down as needed.