Making a list and checking it twice

I realised this morning, while in bed and contemplating my day, that part of the problem I have with my HBS Creatin' Contest 2015 build is that there are so many unknowns: things that I'd always just assumed would make themselves clear as I went along.

And which (alas) didn't, so I ended up wandering round in circles not knowing what to do next or which decision I needed to make first. Which led to me just putting the whole thing in the 'too hard' basket (literally, as it turned out) for rather too long.

So this morning I tried another approach. And returned to my long neglected Pinterest board that I'd set up for the build, adding some more pins of things I liked that might help inform my decisions.

(Luckily I gave myself a time limit, which meant I was able to extract myself from that particular rabbit hole before the whole day disappeared down it with me).

I printed off my favourite options, pulled out a notebook, pen, scissors and tape and sat myself down in front of the carcass. Made a page for each decision I had to make. Then listed (and sometimes drew or pasted in) the options,

and remembered how much I hate logic puzzles. (You know the ones: the farmer, the fox, the goose and the beans and a rowboat that only fits two of them at a time. Or the five houses one...) Because this, it turns out, is very much a logic puzzle.

('If the rafter are brown, how high off the ground is the structure?')

I decided I needed to stop for lunch before I tied my brain into complete knots and had the urge to return the build to the top of the fridge for another indeterminate length of time.

A few things became clearer over lunch (e.g. The rafters could be one colour inside and a different colour outside. If I have no copper tape, and the dolls' house shop possibly isn't open until after Christmas, I probably need to just use wire. If I use wire then the structure should be elevated so I can hide wiring underneath... Actually, even if I did use copper tape, isn't there a wire that goes from that to the transformer anyway?)

And I realised I needed to return to the drawing board. Literally: if I had a drawing of the options I was stuck on then it might help clarify things.

 And so starts the new plan of attack...