A few weeks ago, when Geoff helped me cut holes for the dormers I’m adding to the Gull Bay, I had him cut rectangles. The Houseworks front-opening Victorian, which I have in my stash, uses the same kind of dormer and it comes with a rectangular hole, so I figured that was the way to go. But after the holes were cut I changed my mind and decided a peaked hole would be better to add in more light.
I taped the dormers in place and stuck a pencil through the window holes to draw around the inside of the dormer roof.
Then Geoff helped again with the jigsaw. He said I should learn how to use it, but he does *such* a good job…
With that taken care of, I got started on shingles. On my puzzle house I stained the shingles with Minwax Ebony and really liked how they turned out, so I planned to do the same with the Gull Bay. Fortuitously, my Ebony stain can was almost empty. When I went to the hardware store to buy more, I saw two new Minwax colors on the shelf – “Classic Gray” and “Weathered Oak”. Something about the “new color!” burst on the cans compelled me to buy them. (Marketing!!)
Here are swatches of all three – Ebony at the bottom, Classic Gray at the upper left, and Weathered Oak on the right. Once I saw them there, I really liked how the gray looked with the yellow paint.
I started by staining the roof. This is kind of unnecessary since the roof gets covered up with shingles, but I always do it on the change that a tiny bit of roof will show through somewhere.
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
