More Facade

The facade saga continues. So much cork. One of the running themes of this build is “I need more”. This time it was more cork. I ran out with one row left to go.

After a quick trip to Micheal’s I was able to finish off the bricks. There are so many places that aren’t quite right, but I’m hoping they can just be chalked up to character. Once all of the brick was in place, it got painted black.

Various shades of grey paint were added to make it look more like stone.

Then came the grout. I used grout left over from a house project. It was so messy, but it makes such a huge difference.

Getting closer to being fully grouted.

Done!

The grout lightened up the color quite a bit, so I added more layers of paint to make it a bit darker and a little grungier. I’m sure this isn’t the last of the paint.

At this point I started cutting plexiglass for the windows. Well, that was my intention. What actually happened was I destroyed a sheet of plexiglass trying to cut it for windows. It just wouldn’t cut as easily as other plexiglass I’ve used. I was so frustrated, so I decided to move on to another project.

So, I decided it was time to cut the cork around the removable wall. I found replacing the blade on my craft knife helped a lot in having a nice smooth cut. I made a bit of a mess out of some of the cuts because of a dull blade. I should be able to fix those areas.

I knew this area would cause problems. The cut goes right through the grout line. I’ll have to try to figure out a solution. I got so frustrated by it all. I just wanted to throw it in the river. At this point I decided I just needed to walk away. I’d take a break and then start fresh in the morning.

This morning I woke up and decided to go get more plexiglass. While at the hardware store I decided to pick up the trim for the frame that will go around the box. After some careful measuring, cutting, painting, and glueing I had a frame. The new plexiglass cut more smoothly. So now most of the windows have glass all ready to install.

Thankfully, today went so much better than yesterday. I no longer want to throw it in the river. I’m in love again.

Last week, while I was working on the grout my dog needed to go out. As I was standing at the back door waiting for the dog to come back in I glanced over at my work area. The way the light from my work lamp was streaming through the windows was almost magical. I’m really looking forward to taking pictures of this build.