Winter Cabin gets some lights!

I’ve been busy working on my winter cabin! The sanding has been relentless, unsure what has been used to stain and finish the piece, but whatever it is, it’s pretty resistant! lol

I’ve managed to remove most of the varnish and get down to the natural wood colour to show some ageing and wear and tear. This is almost done and I have added some further ageing and dirt, I may add some damp areas. A lot of the cabin will have snow on it, so there is not so much of a need to be so meticulous. :o) The inside has been sanded too, and although in the photo’s it still looks rather orange it is rather more subtle in real life…it’s a classic case that the camera does tell lies! :oP

After sanding, I hinged the back...that was another all afternoon job! :oP

I was going to add wood (to look like slats) to the inside walls, but because of the tiny space and so many pieces glued on, I decided to sand the original wood walls and to show wear and tear, I have added a wash of age in places and I may do some more work on this.

I just added a row of boards along the bottom of the walls. This isn’t skirting board, just a bit of detail…this as I say could have continued up the walls, but I didn’t like the look either…so another reason not to have the slats on the walls. 

 The back hinged, sanded and aged...the beginning of some of the work at least.  

After sanding and even more sanding....and ageing. It looks raw when the ageing wash first goes on, but once it's dried I sand it again and it's muted and natural looking. I think I repeated the process a couple of times.    

 Here is the raw looking aged wash applied....

Just after ageing...

Just after the first sanding another wash of age and more sanding. 

Trying the wood for floorboards..

 Here are the floorboards before I cut them to size etc.

I also laid my floorboards. I cut and stained them last weekend and I stained them a very similar colour to the boards around the bottom of the walls. They have been sanded before I stained them. I will gently sand again and apply a layer of natural wax to seal them (and the boards around the walls too). 

I've cut them so they look like realistic floorboards...

I know what I want to do to this tiny cabin, so my next job was to fit 2 of the 3 lights I am having. I don’t like fitting lights at the best of times, let alone when I have a tiny space to work in that has blind spots (I can’t see what I’m doing nor aiming at!) to boot! Lol I first fitted the outside light. I found it hard to find the right lights for this cabin, most lights are for either inside or outside houses and not cabins, etc! I looked at all the LED lights too, again none suitable for a cabin.  I was also looking for a specific style too….I don’t make life easy for myself. :OP I like the existence of lights in a project, even if they are non working ones, after all unnatural light comes from somewhere and not nowhere. So, I persevere with this task. :oP

It took me all of Friday afternoon to fit 2 lights! Yep, just try drilling holes in the spaces I had to and then trying to thread the wires through. Ummm it’s done now and I am pleased. I painted the white wires brown to tone them down and make them blend just a little better. I was going to add ceiling  rafters, but all this work would have never been seen...they would have covered the wires too.

Today I glued the wires to the wall and ceiling using clear bathroom caulking. I first saw this idea when I bought a fireplace with a light fire in it. It advised to fit the fireplace to the back of a wall using the clear caulking, because it wasn’t a permanent fixative, one could easily remove the fireplace to change the bulb (within the fire) and/or check on the wiring. Using the clear caulking will allow me to check the light (I can still actually take it off the wall) and bulb because the wires can be easily removed from the ceiling. 

The simple beam I made to hang the inside cabin's ceiling light to, otherwise it would have nothing to keep it suspended!. If I didn't have this, the wire would have to go though the roof to keep it suspended, and I didn't want that.  

I will have some wire showing, because this is how it's meant to be and it would be far too high up to the ceiling too! lol

All the floorboards glued down..I will wax them tomorrow to seal them.

I have already bought some snow, ice and icicles products, more are on their way and I will buy the remainder after Christmas. I am having 3 snowy projects in total so it doesn’t matter if I have surplus over. :o) Most snow products aren’t that cheap, but some are ridiculously cheap! :o) Many items can be used for other non snowy projects too. 

I have white flocking powder, ultra fine iridescent glitter, Aleene’s normal and glittery snow, and jewellery wire. I also have Scenic Water, Triple Thick Brush-on Gloss and  plain white wax!  You’ll have to wait to see what else turns up in the post! :o)

I have 2 commissions in the pipeline for this little project…it needs a few special things! I have also have 2 other commissions for my Harry Potter projects. :o)

I have also taken advantage of DHE’s 10% off till Monday, so I have bought 3 kits maybe one or two for kit bashes! ;o)  

Have a fun filled Christmas and a great New Year everyone!!

 Michelle xxxx