The Mous House

Hark,
I always thought it would be cool to have a mouse door in the hallway. A few weeks ago I ran into a photo on Pinterest, so I opened it. Holy Cow! was there a plethora of entries. It was a reminder because I had my own ideas. I wanted a Gothic door with a small window. But I still needed motivation. Well, I found some old slats for wooden blinds. These were high-quality wood and the right thickness. I no longer had any excuses. Off to the design shop. An arc here and a line there with a little nameplate thrown in an I had it.
I tried a few iterations of a nameplate and settled on this. I moved the doorknob from the left to the right. I started out with too many letters and trimmed that down.

And now for a little stroke of genius: Glow in the Dark paint. Yep, I just poured some in each window with a dropper and I had that “at home after hours” look.
Boy, these will make some great gifts. I’m going to send them out to those who I know will appreciate them. I needed some instructions on what to do with the door when you pull it out of the package. Well, I will write something up:

My only mistake was not sending some kind of adhesive with the doors. I thought they would work with two-sided foam mounting tape. It lifted the door off the surface and made it look unnatural. If it looked unnatural, one could come to the conclusion that maybe a mouse really didn’t live there. I can’t live with that so I sent them out without the foam tape and unfortunately nothing else.

Well, a week goes by and I really don’t hear much. As I expected, brother-in-law Mark is the first to get back to me. I get a text, ”OK...the “MOUS” is in the house.”
Yippee!

This magic bean is beginning to sprout.

Next up is a text and photo from nephew Greg with the following: “Thank you and installed—girls think a mouse is going to walk out of it at any moment—didn’t want it upstairs— added a door handle.”

So far so good!

Next up is my nephew Jeff and his text: “I got your mous house. Send flavored paper next time.”

So far, it has been worth it!

So I might have to make a few more of these doors. They need hinges so I will add those. Although I like “E.J. Mous” I might have to give Mr. Mouse a name with a little more depth. How about a name with a great deal of depth.

I have some little ladies looking for evidence of someone really living at the "House". It appears that I will be going back to the machine shop to design some tools that can be left in front of the door with a few sesame seeds. I'm thinking an old-school brass mallet with a toothpick handle. Add a touch to stain and a dip into the lacquer and I think I will have it. Unfortunately, I will have to deal with the swallowing hazard because my training falls more in that venue than carpentry.