I am working on a house that I have been planning for months. I saw this building on a pinterest site when I was looking at children's book illustrators for putz house inspiration. I read about Maud and Miska Petersham and vividly remembered their illustrations from several books from my own childhood, specifically, Tales Told in Holland. The book is available as a free download on Project Gutenberg so I think (I hope) it is ok to post the photo without violating copyright rules.
The original building called the St. Joris Doelen Guild House in Middleberg, Netherlands was built in 1582 as you can see on the front of the building. It was destroyed during World War II, but the facade was rebuilt in 1969. I just love this illustration. Maud and Miska Petersham altered the buildings around it but were very faithful to the building itself. Below is a photo of the building as it looks now.
As you will see, my design alters much more than they did. I am making much narrower windows so I have some space for the shutters. I am going to skip the little dormers on the roof as they are pretty complicated. There is a statue on the top of the facade of a horse rearing up - not happening on my house. I just can't manage that. There are 2 crests on the front lower section that I might I will ignore or at least simplify, but I hope to include the date. The things that look like arrows on the top facade are medieval crossbows, I think. I may leave them out.
This is the base front piece which provides support and goes under the facade. I cut out the windows on this layer and then glued the facade on and used the under layer as the guide for the windows.
The front facade before it was glued on and the windows cut out.
Below is a better view of the top part of the facade and the template I used to cut it out.
Above are the front and back pieces. I have glued the front facade and side facades on. The flaps seen under the stepped gable ends will fold back and support the roof.
I made a door that flips open so you can slide an LED tea light in the back to illuminate the house. The door will be installed with brads after I've done all the painting on the house.
This view shows the front door that will be glued on to give it more definition. I haven't decided if I want to do half shutters like the windows on the original building or the illustration. I also have not decided about shutters on the first floor windows - they are no longer on the building.
Anyway, that's where I am on my current little house. I will keep you informed as I progress. I am excited about this house as it's been stored in my imagination for months. It's fun to bring it to life.
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