More Progress: the Shop Part Three

I've made a few more additions to the shop, though it is still very much in progress. The closer I get to finishing, the longer each step seems to take.

The first thing I did was to finish the sides of the shop with bricks. The last time I posted, I was planning to make the bricks from sandpaper. However, it took me a while to get to the hardware store, and in the mean time I discovered a bit of leftover paper clay in my supplies. Unlike my disastrous first attempt using damp paper clay, this time I rolled out the clay and let it dry to a leathery stiffness before I cut and glued the individual bricks on. This stopped the foam core from warping.  I just cut the bricks by eye, without bothering to measure.

My next step was to add a copper gutter along the side of the shop. The gutter is made of card stock, and the downspout is a drinking straw. I was worried that my copper paint wouldn't stick to the plastic straw, so I coated it with a few heavy coats of primer first. 

 Mom has said a couple times that her favorite part of the project is the little weed growing between the pavement cracks. Once the brick work was done, I wanted to add more weedy grass along the side of  the building. Since I'm trying to do this project using only materials I already own, I had to get creative.  I happened to have a few scraps of fur in my supplies. I cut a narrow strip of fur and painted it green. The paint made the fibers clump together, so I gently combed it out before the paint dried.

I found another little Clive Brooker flower pot in Mom's extra miniatures and couldn't resist using it. The leaves of the plant were made from a coffee filter, and it's "planted" in a removable piece of Styrofoam. I'm not sure how well the coffee filter will hold up over time, so I didn't want to plant it permanently. I don't have a piece of glass (plastic) big enough for the window in my supplies, so I'm stalking the recycling in hopes of finding something.

 These pigeons began as little plastic figurines. I cut off their big bases and repainted them. I've used these plastic pigeons for several different projects. The factory painting is pretty awful, but the birds themselves are nice and delicate.

Last of all, here's a peak at what I'll (maybe) be working on next. I'm toying with the idea of adding an iron railing to the top of building, and covering it with dozens of pale pink roses. These aren't the railing or the roses I'd use, just pieces I had that gave the general effect. If I do add the railing, I'll use a shorter one made of plastic, and smaller, more delicate roses. Two considerations are holding me back. One is that all those roses would be a ton of work, and I really dislike making paper flowers. I can force myself to make them, especially since I love the finished product, but I can't stand the process. The second consideration is that all those roses might distract from the window display. Which way would  you go?Would you add a railing and roses or not?