Aging the Mouse's Manor

 I want a good bit of age on this house,
 starting with the front door...

 I wasn't too thrilled with the door provided in the kit, it's pretty flimsy.

I purchased a different door with a bit more heft and substance.

Using an acrylic paint, in the color I love, ( my real house is this color) I carelessly painted on one layer, deliberately missing some spots.

I added a burgundy red atop the green on much of the door.

I've sanded the entire door, paying special attention to the edges. I want a worn and shabby old door.

I painted a wash of dark walnut stain over the entire door and frame and quickly wiped it off, this left dark creases in the cracks and corners.

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I brushed on water based varnish is some areas and wiped if off in others, remember, I do not want a pristine door.

 OLDE OLDE OLDE

The addition of hardware: The door knocker is an old earring. I think that is appropriate for the house of a  mouse.

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I will use stone and plaster around the front door.

 Now I'm moving on to the windows.

  As with the door, I did not like the flimsy, cheap looking windows that came with the kit. I purchased  the windows for the turret from Ebay and doctored them up a bit.

  These are the nice windows

Here are some fine old windows after being aged.

 I replaced the acrylic window "glass" with wavy old glass,here is how:

  now this is really a neat trick it is, the best bit.

Using a brush-on glaze, paint a thin layer between each little pane and WOW! You have wavy, bubbled, old glass!'

 

Isn't that COOL??!!

I think my windows are looking very medieval.

 Now I can continue to mortar those bricks around the windows.
For the bay windows on the other side of the house I am making leaded windows...  from another great tutorial I found on Pinterest.

 I can't take credit for these clever window tricks, they come from miniaturist  tutorials that I find online.

 The idea here is to make this look like a manor house that is around 500 years old for the purpose of this new book series.
The inside of the house will have beamed ceilings and old fireplaces, cracked plaster and creaky floorboards.
I will, however, furnish the house with  more "modernized" furnishings.. around 1880's, because that is the time period for this set of stories. My mouse lives in a VERY OLD MANOR HOUSE.
  Next I will show you what I've done to the timbers and the area around the front door.
  This is too much fun!