The Orchid gets some love!

Even though we are moving at the end of the month, I managed to snag some time to work on the Orchid this week.  Added some window, door and side trim.  I even got the porch started!

I knew from the beginning that I didn't want to use the original kit porch posts.  Something about diecut wood to make square posts just seems ridiculous.  So I bought a pack of Lilliput porch posts to substitute,  Unfortunately, these were too short to use!  Back to the drawing board!

What I came up with was to cut a bit of length off of the bottom of the porch posts-I know.  I said they were too short to start with, so I solve this by making them shorter?!  Yes.  I do.

I used some of the original gingerbread from the kit to make up the difference.  Here's what I did:

The wood wasn't in great shape on the ends, which is fine, because I intended to cut them off.

So I cut off both ends of the gingerbread so they edge was flush with the "post"

Then, (next few steps not pictured) I put the post and the gingerbread up to the house and marked where I needed to cut the kit wood to fit.  I used the left over porch post wood to build of the edges of the gingerbread.  I put a piece on the front and a piece on the back.  Then I painted the whole thing Snow (Titanium) White by Americana.

I sanded the edges smooth, but left the joints and fronts rough to give a worn look.

Then I added some details to the porch posts and the gingerbread.  I painted the rings on the posts Ultramarine Blue by Americana.

And added a little bit of flare detail to the gingerbread, using the same color.

For the porch floor, I scored planks into the wood with my exacto knife after I sanded it all smooth.  Then I washed  and wiped the floor with the white paint, then Grey, and then some dirty water, until I built up a look a liked.  Then I went back over the score lines with the knife, to dig out a bit of the paint.  The final thing to do was scrape a pile of black pastel chalk and then dust it over the top of the floor to give it a dirty look.

Then, painstakingly and with some muttering, I glued it all together.  The door and window trim is  Titanium White and a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Dolphin Grey.

The step will be entirely stone and the foundation will continue around the porch base.  Good thing Brae sent me so many eggcarton parts!!!