There's a mouse loose about the hoose...

At last I can show some pics of Winterberry Hall.  I apologise for the absence,  been hit with some sort of lurgy.  Woke with a raging sore throat, and an uninvited guest - a field mouse!  More on the mouse later.    I've been gargling with salt water, which has helped, and dosing myself up with stuff and feel a little better.  The chronic tiredness is persisting however.   But I have been making slow progress with the Hall.  There is a lot of stuff to be painted, so that is what I concentrated on for a couple of days.  Then the brick template arrived and I could move on.   I know I could have done my own thing, but I loved what Bea had done using the brick work, so had to go with that look. 

And, I hope you'll agree, it was worth the effort of obtaining that mask.  The fireplace will be closed off,  there are a few more layers to be added!    I was going to use a stone floor for the ground floor, but just didn't have the patience.  That is for next time.    There is a tiny bit of finishing off to do on this element, but not a lot.  The floor is some 'aged' paper,  given a few coats of glossy mod podge.  And we have stairs...  plus the inglenook. 

Upstairs there are floorboards, which I got from an online shop: Malcolm's Miniatures   -  a really good online shop for all things miniature.   Oh, they were fast on delivery, which is always a good thing.  These are self stick, and can be trimmed,  and stained.  They were easy to fit, and cut.  

More brick work on show here.   I used a terracotta acrylic paint,  and then some dark walnut TH ink pad, to darken it further, only lightly.   The walls are a soft cream,  I know cos it says so on the tester pot lid!  

There is a very long way to go with Winterberry Hall, lots more pieces to be painted and glued into place, then there is the base to construct.   It will keep me occupied for a while, or that is the plan. 



Now, back to the mouse... which appeared on Monday morning!   I have a feeling that Harvey brought it in from the field at the bottom of the road.   Naturally it looked for somewhere to hide, and kept Harvey very occupied all day!   As was I,  my preference was for the mouse to go back to where he/she came from!   The mouse seemed to like Harvey's meat treats,   I had no traps, and wasn't up to go and get any.   So my hope was that Harvey would do his cat thing and catch it.   After many hours he cornered it in the spare bedroom,  I frankly believed it was 'all over',  for the mouse that is...   but at 3 a.m. there came a rustling, okay it was Harvey making a noise in the hall.  On investigation it was a stand off between Harvey and the mouse - again!   Then Harvey took a swipe at the mouse and sent it tumbling down the stairs,  so...   it landed near the front door.   I managed to catch it before Harvey, and the mouse was put back into the wild, off it went with Harvey in hot pursuit.   No, sorry I wasn't going to stop Harvey, what he was doing was perfectly natural, plus the mouse had outsmarted him all bloody day. 

It is time for me to stop, and go make a cuppa, then sink into my bed.   Thanks for stopping by...