The Front

First I had to patch some places on the tree that have been pulled off when I removed the bushes and bird nest. Then I covered the porch with little paper clay stones I made and spackled them. I fit everything into the opening and glued it from the inside.

I made a step out of wooden popsicle sticks and glued it in place. Then I added the finishing glue and spackling trim on the edges to stick it in place.

I also filled in the front with paper clay to match the bark a little better. I'm considering a balcony and cutting a few windows out while it dries. I need to put some better hinges on the door. The cat climbed in and messed the door up playing around.

He thought I made the house for him. Silly cat.

Maybe he knows it's going to be a house for mice.   > ^^ <

Making Floors

I learned about making hardwood floors from my other remodels. First I had to use paper to make a pattern to cut out some card. Then I fitted the card in the space and finally cut and glued popsicle sticks down to the card.

I have a great hand-saving tool for cutting popsicle sticks. It's called 'Super Easy Cutter' by Midwest Products. It saves me from getting hand cramps. That's a lot of popsicle sticks to cut and I used to do it with sharp scissors. I like this tool better.

On a ground floor one layer is fine but on a second story floor, you have to do both sides to get it rigid enough not to bend. So I ran the sticks in opposite ways for each side. I thought about cutting a hole in the floor for a ladder or steps but I know from experience that although it might be cute, mice don't need ladders to climb walls. :)

The first story floor was pretty easy to measure but the second story was nearly impossible to measure so I stacked DVD's into the stump to the height I wanted and started piecing cards to the edges and taping them together until I had the whole second story floor covered. That was my pattern. So I cut out a single card shape and glued sticks to both sides.

Then I glued the first floor in and set a weight on it until it dried. I stacked the dvd's back up to set the second floor in and glued it in too.

The next day they were dry. I haven't decided how I want to finish the interior walls yet but I will probably use sticks on them to reinforce and help prop up the second floor. I might keep everything wood colored.

I have decided to cut out some windows and add some lighting. Next, I'm going to be working on the front.