If you talk to any realtor, they’ll say this cottage is move-in ready.

• Friends and fairies will love this exclusive home, tucked among the ferns
• Freshly painted inside and out
• Brand new green roof
• Window treatments included
• Stone facade so *no one* can blow your house down

Here’s the scoop.  My teenage son, a huge Halloween fan, loved creating a ‘spooky village’ when he was young. Over the years, we purchased foam crafting kits, balsa wood trees and this cute little house pictured below.

He painted the house black and grey and affixed ‘haunted house’ decor. The house went on display in his room for the month of October, along with the other assembled kits.  Then as quickly as it began, it ended.  Last year he said, “You’re free to get rid of it all, Mom.”

The foam houses made it into the shrubs at Halloween providing hide and seek entertainment for the day-care kids next door.  I couldn’t bring myself to toss the house, though.  Where he saw trash, I saw potential.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been rehabbing the balsa house, taking it from spooky to kooky, fairy style.  My hands are a wreck from all the painting and glueing, but my heart is happy and whole.  I’d forgotten how relaxing this creative process is.

Three coats of paint

While waiting for layers of paint to dry, I looked at cottages on the net. I liked the idea of a thatched roof and a stone facade. It would be fun to add a small window box  too.

As always, I try using the materials at hand. I like the challenge. Some of the building materials came from the garden. I pulled the rest from “the drawer,” that special place in the kitchen where items of interest lie in wait.

Fairy house remodel

First up, some trim from an old pair of sandals. They were the perfect size for the pitched roof. In the center is a bottle cap, layered with an amber gem. The gem and the curtain lace were once wrapped around a gift from Boomdee. Next, I glued tiny pebbles to the facade and added a front door. I fashioned a door from the outer bark of a sword fern. The tiny handle is a seed.

Using a small scrap of paper and some double-sided tape I made quick work of the planter box. All it needed was a few snips of purple Statice and a window to call its own. Dried moss keeps the house warm and dry. Liberal use of glitter adds the sparkle that fairies know and love.

Please pop in tomorrow for the full reveal: the fairy house is move-in ready, with all sorts of little extras to make a house a home.