So far, I think the basement is one of the coolest thing about the Mouse House. I’m particularly pleased with the stone floor.

Making it was fairly easy. First I painted the floor black. Then I tore cardboard egg cartons into small stone shaped pieces and glued them in place. I used pastel chalks to dust color on each stone–red, brown, gray, black and green–then sealed it with mod-podge.

Finally, I made a slurry with cement and acrylic matte-medium and “grouted” the floor, carefully wiping the mess off the top of each stone so essentially this cement filled the gaps. Once this dried, I again sealed it all with mod-podge.

The walls of the basement were a bit of a challenge. At first I attempted to duplicate plaster walls with tissue paper. This resulted in an awful mess.

Brainstorming, I thought I could cover the walls with some sort of rough fabric and paint, so I dug through my stash to find a scrap with the right texture. When I stumbled upon a piece of wool quilt batting the lightbulb went off. I figured if I could glue it on while maintaining its pebbly surface, it could resemble plaster. I concocted a mixture of glue and paint and slathered it over the batting so it became saturated and glued it to the wall.

I was careful not to smooth it too much, so once it dried it was still rough. I’m pleased with the result; after I aged the dried walls with brown and green paint and added rough wood beams across the ceiling, I think it looks very much like a “Michigan” basement.

Joan