Mr Mulpepper's Apothecary - Update

Well I'm here with an update on Mr Mupepper's, the other apothecary in Diagon Alley.  I won't be doing it the same as Slug and Jiggers, that was from my own imagination and nothing like the real one, however, Mr Mulpepper's will be as much like the real one as I can do it and with what I have to work with! ;o) 

So, this is the old Honeychurch shop that I had and stripped back. Firstly, sticking with what you first thought was right...is nearly always the right choice! lol The fascia blue is the wrong blue for the shop and the one I bought purposely, was...worse still I had actually started to paint the top window frames too! The nightmare began with the window frames and the sanding down (again lol) and erm trying to glue them back together! 

Enough of that for now! I glued on the shops' sign etc which I also wanted to change, so it had a little roof over the top of it...the challenge began! I also started to put together the two bottom bay windows and made adaptions to them too. 

I wanted something more fancy for the window frames, but the narrow trim I had (and could only use) was quite thin and I needed more depth so they stood out from the plaster work.  So I used the basic trim that came with the shop and fitted my fancy trim over the top.  

 The basic trim glued on!

 Now the fancy trim over the top with an enhanced window sill too! ;o)

Now it came to that tricky little roof addition...not forgetting the nightmare top window fitment! They took ages, AGES to refit back into the window holes, a couple aren't great...looking at them makes one feel you are on a wonky fair ground attraction! lol 

Arh! Yes, its upside down! lol I did have 2 spare window brackets but they were too small and really needed two per window. So I opted for one large one per window, and as it happened when I rechecked with the real shop, they too had one large bracket! YAY! ;o) 

 Now for adding the tiny roof above the sign......I couldn't have much of a slope!

The roof part added and some trim to embellish it. painted and distressed too. :o) I also drew on grid lines for my brick lines...so that they aligned and were fairly straight.

I decided to glue the door architrave on  before I started on the plaster work...with fine and tight areas it's far easier to have it in situ as you plaster etc.

I had to cut a little niche out of the main door architrave so I could accommodate the window ledge.

I only wanted patches of exposed brickwork, this can be tricky because if you want realistic and straight lines, you do want them straight and the grid lines help...especially when you have two separate segments. 

 With all the brickwork added, I then painted them! Still a way to go yet! 

Here I am starting to apply the plaster. I chose to draw around the bay windows for the basic shape because I didn't want these glued in yet, as you find out later(!) and the fact plaster is also messy work and I much harder to clean off ones painted pieces! 

 Some of the ageing and distress applied to the plaster and brickwork...

The round gap in the plaster (top half) is where my outside light will go. More on that in my next post!

I have added some damp patches, but not much. I may add more when the bay windows are glued in. 

I may need to add a few touch-ins with the plaster and there are a couple of areas higher up that I want to tweak too! 

Testing everything in situ! The bay windows have 2 shelves each (I made these originally and now I've tweaked them so they will refit the windows again).  I am still deciding whether to have these sloping towards the front (like the real shop) or flat! 

I've stripped all the old roof tiles off. I have added bricks to both sides of the roof and the chimney stack. I have also aged the chimney pots...I forgot to take a photo of them! Grrrr! lol I will be adding trim to the sides to finish off the edge. The tiles and lead flashing are on order for both roof's. 

 I needed to tidy and finish off the side of my little sloping roof! 

I have also cut and primed all the interior trims/architrave. These will be painted the aged with that I normally use...I'm doubtful I will have either the blue or plum inside! ;o/ 

I will be using the same trim as the exterior for the interior around the doors and their windows at least. Again, these will be an aged white that I use.

The door window frame that I made, which the acetate will be sandwiched in between the door and frame. It still needs to be distressed and I will make frames for the upper windows too, but without the thin outside frame as the wider and proper architrave will be used for that part.   

Supplies are on order to finish the exterior. I have also bought all the wallpapers and many for other projects too. I've been collecting furniture etc too! Once the exterior is completed, I will make a start on the terrace of shops. I will show an update on this before I start on the latter. ;o)) I will then start the process of popping back to started projects when I am waiting on major or big things to dry. ;o)   

We are having our current kitchen completely gutted and redone in a few weeks...yes,  the real home is still being done too! Can you believe it, that I moved to Norfolk a year ago today! My oh my, what a year! lol ;o))  

I hope you don’t mind my ramblings and madness! :o))

Michelle xxxx