As you all know from the last few blog updates, I was not happy that my Hunter's cabin was getting pretty fancy for a rustic weekend retreat. And the kitchen was always too small for large appliances (link to fridge post). I had an oven/stove for the kitchen but it was fairly posh, modern, and large:
Also, I didn't like a stove/oven wedged between the wooden pantry and wall: my maternal instincts were worried my miniature Hunter would accidentally set the house on fire. So I got rid of the stove oven.
But I couldn't find a Coleman style camping grill to replace the fancy stove. So I bought the Hunter a microwave. And then I discovered an electrical grill on Etsy (MiniMonday3 Etsy Shop)! Since there is limited space in the Hunter's kitchen, I had to make a microwave cart to hold both the electrical grill and the microwave!
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I bought a 2" wide lower cabinet base. This also appeased my realistic nature since now my Hunter also had somewhere to store dishes and utensils.
Electric grill barely fit on the base. But now I needed a top part to hold the microwave....
Used some scrap woods and trims to add side supports and a top shelf. Then finished the base cabinet's drawer and cabinet door.
Gave it a nice honey oak stain like the real life microwave cart I had a few years back. Added the electric grill and microwave and put it in the kitchen:
Since the inside was basically done now (few minor details to be dealt with but overall it's finished), it was time to deal with the landscaping and outdoor areas. I know nothing about fishing (or hunting for that matter). But I know that when we've gone to the beach the beach houses have "fishing tables" for guests to clean the fish they have caught. So I decided to make one for my Hunter too. Found this photo to use as a guide and got my scrap woods together:
Spray painted the woods gray and the top piece white and glued them together to create a basic table:
Then I taped my trims together so my drilled/carved holes would all line up:
And accidentally added some holes to my kitchen table too (oops):
Luckily my table is so "well loved" that no one noticed a few extra bits of love. Once the table and trims were glued together I realized Hunter would need a shed for storing various equipment that would/could be needed (chain saw in case a tree fell and it needed to be cut into smaller more manageable pieces; fishing rod; ladder; shovel; etc.). So I made a shed:
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| Made side walls by gluing various wood scraps together |
After gluing my three sides together and beginning to work on the door THEN I remembered that I wanted one side to be "open" so that you could see the shed's contents. So I had to use an exacto knife and cut away part of a wall. All my planning goes out a window once I start playing with minis!
Ready to stain or paint. But whenever I applied my weathering product to the raw wood, the wood would warp so I had to place "heavy weights" (aka salsa jars) on the wood to keep it flat while the stains dried.
Shed after a coat or two of the weathering product and now with a tin roof! Had pewter color hinges but only brass handles so I used a Sharpie marker to darken the brass handle for the shed:
Despite my best efforts the door still warped a bit. But that's ok cuz it's supposed to be a rustic, aged, slapped together in a weekend shed. After I aged the tin roof a bit I moved on to the landscaping:
My Hunter pulls right up to the cabin so I needed to put some gravel down (leaving a marked area for the tires).
A layer of some thick sod material a friend had sent me made the right side of the yard look great. But the left side was a little skimpy and since I'd run out of sod I needed another solution. Plus it was bothering me that this was supposed to be a cabin in the woods and there was only one tree!
So I ordered some more Bill Lankford trees and some low, squishy bushes and glued everything down:
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| Bat motel to help keep the mosquitos away |
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| Glued some birds in the trees |
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| My shed and fishing table right by the hose |
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| An assortment of things stuck in the shed |
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| Every forest needs some woodland creatures running about |
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| Inside the Hunter's coffee mug, video game controller, slippers, and dog wait by the fire |
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| Fly tape and a fly swatter kept handy to keep bugs away |
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| Pantry and cooking area |
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| Basic bedroom set up: Fresh linens out of the trunk and the hunting stuff ready for the early morning |
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| Bathroom, squeaky clean |
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| A little hunting cabin in the woods. |
So now that the Hunter's Cabin is finished, I have moved on to 2 quick little projects of Art Deco shoe shop and a Shop's Windows roombox. And of course, since I thought they would be "quick little projects" they will take me months. LOL
