Finally... back to work on the house!

I finally managed to steal some time to work on the house again. After spending most of the afternoon putting up my daughter's new blinds, I basically locked myself in my bedroom, and spread crafting stuff all over the floor... and gaurded the door from my daughter fiercely. My hubby helped on the door guarding duty, and the house and it's build is still a suprise. I didn't take the pictures until after the evening's crafting, so it isn't an as-I-go thing, but they still show pretty much what was done.

First, I finished sanding the other piece I needed for the first framework build, and put a coat of white acrylic on it as a primer. Then, while that was drying, I got out the polycrylic I bought, and put two coats of it on the hardwood flooring. You can see in this first picture by the flash glare that it made it a lovely color, and made it nice and shiny and sealed. I also put two coats on one side of the inside window trim to give it a slight shine. I figured there was no good reason to gloss the other side, as it will need to adhere with the glue to the wall. I also painted the outside of the two walls (now that the second one's primer was dry) the light pink color I had planned. It took 2-3 coats until I was satisfied with color and coverage. The ground floor room of both inside walls was painted the darker pink accent color I picked. I also painted the ground floor room walls of the room divider. The dark pink took 3 coats to get it even slightly the right coverage, but the color definitely works out. I also glued on the inside window trim for one of the downstairs windows, and weighed it down for quite a while to make sure it was secure.

It doesn't appear by the pictures that I did a whole lot, however, all that took a few hours to get just right, so I do feel like I'm finally getting somewhere on the project... or at least the pile of wood in my closet is getting more colorful. *hehe*



As for a picture of my daughter's new blinds, that will have to wait until Monday, because it's too dark to get a good picture of them.

Mini break and pictures

My wrist got SO sore from all the furniture the other day, that my husband said I wasn't allowed to work on miniatures for a few days. I've had it in a brace, and it's starting to feel better finally, so I should be able to get back to work on it in a day or two.


I did go hunting down some stock photos from some of the things I mentioned in my furniture blog - the car, barn, and the playground furniture so I could at least show what they'll look like.

I've also noticed I actually have acquired a couple of followers, so *wave* hi!

Updating .. arrivals and doll hunting

Well, the woodcraft order that included the fireplace finally arrived. Some of the pieces seem to be a bit large, but most can be fairly easily altered to a smaller scale (like the floor lamp, just needs the stand cut down a little).. and the grandfather clock and fireplace don't look like they'll be too out of place.. have to do some dry-fitting to see.

Have been trying to hunt down "playable" dolls for the house. The family of 1/2 inch scale dolls, or, really, all the dolls I've found are non-posable. I tried some of the mini dolls my daughter has laying around... somehow I've managed to keep her from suspecting - I think - by "borrowing" a doll or two overnight and returning them to her in the morning. The only ones I found that are a really close fit are the "playmobil" dolls - although their buns (the adults) are abit big for some of the chairs. Keeping them in mind and continuing to hunt...

Just posted the pictures from the first major bit of painting and stuff this past weekend. I added them to the post, probably all out of order, but the thought is there. Also added a picture of the "stock" photo of the finished house to the introduction page.

The Rest of the first week..

Well, beyond getting about one half of a piece sanded each night, I didn't have a lot of time to work on it this past week. The parts I ordered from miniatures got here, and I got a little bit more building research done, but that's about it. Slightly upset because a couple of the woodcraft models I ordered, that included a little fireplace, and the kid's playground equipment, haven't arrived. I was really hoping to finish the fireplace in the room it's going to end up in so it looks more like a "real one".. but so far no word from the company. grrrr.

Today, however, I got a good bit more done. My daughter was at grandma's for the day so I was able to pull the whole thing out and happily spread all my crafting tools all over the floor. I finished the sanding and prep on the first four of the first five pieces (and half of that one is done now too)... and started on some painting. Stained the two ground floor rooms on one on the second floor with a double coat, and the color is great. Am going to need to get a clear varnish to give it a shine, but that's easy enough. Got an itty bitty handmade 1/2 scale pink rug in that fits perfectly in what is to be the dining room, so I'm happy. I also discovered a paint mixer that texturizes any color of paint, and painted the "ceiling" of the first floor with a textured white. It looks lovely. Used white acrylic to prime the floor I'm going to be carpeting, as well as the side walls, Then added a second coat of white on the windows part (because the windows inside is going to stay white). Stained some skinny sticks for the baseboards in the same stain as the floors that will stay hardwood, and measured skinny sticks to trim the inside of the windows on the two first walls. After some deliberation, I decided I liked the look of the skinny sticks stained (plus the ease of staining vs. picking out contrast trim colors in each room appealed..) and so I cut, sanded and stained all of the trim for the inside of the windows on those two walls. Of course, one of the two walls with windows in the beginning of the structure is the one I haven't finished sanding, so I didn't actually assemble anything. I am going to assemble in inside trim on the windows before gluing those first two outside wall, the inside support wall, and the ground floor together. Really pleased with how it's coming together, took some pictures as I went, but camera battery died, so I will have to wait to post them. I also had to clean up in a hurry because daughter came home early... thank god I wasn't in the middle of painting!! My husband ran interferance at the front door, keeping her out until I got the room clear of anything possibly incriminating... so far so good on keeping the secret.

Obviously, this is just the first "half" of the Gothic house.. the other kit is still unopened. At this time, my plan is to get these five pieces glued and together, then do all the initial work on the "mirror" house up to the point I'm at in this one, so I can coordinate and paint the interior rooms at the same time. The mirror house will be constructed without stairs (glueing and filling the spots for the stairwells - because who needs that many stairs?!), so that will either complicate or make it easier, I'm not sure which. Also have put some thought into attempting to fill and glue the door on the mirror house, so as to allow the door to only have the front door, and the kitchen to have more wall space, but looking at the kit I'm not sure how feasible it will be. Definitely will keep posted on that. My other recent thought is possibly making the two kid's beds into a bunk bed.. but will have to check on house fit and construction ideas on that one.

Plans and Sanding

Well then.... after a mostly sleepless night filled with ideas and plans for little bitty dollhouse parts... I ended up sleeping in this morning. Went through and dry-fitted the rest of the furniture kit because.. well, putting all those cute little pieces together felt like I was accomplishing something. That, and the scattered boards with half the pieces left in and dry fitted furniture took up all my doll house building board!! So, after putting the little wooden pieces together, cleaning up the random pieces and splinters all over my carpet (they didn't seem to like to stay on the board), and organizing the mini building supplies I had into their discreet hiding spots in my crafting drawers under my desk... I didn't really have the energy to get working on the sanding and prep for the dollhouse. Browsed a local craft store's mini section with my husband, and didn't really see anything of use.. but did get some more colors of acrylic paint, so I'll have some other pastel colors to choose from to decorate the interior. Also found come clear plastic sheets to use as windows for the dollhouse.

The cat has spent most of the day either laying next to my crafting board and randomly knocking over a carefully placed chair or table... or walking over it and knocking as many down as she can. Aparently miniature building gets in the way of her playtime. She seems to be rather annoyed that I took away her new chair playtoys and put them neatly in a box to hide in the closet, and the sheets of dollhouse plywood aren't as much fun. My husband aparently is jealous of my new hobby, and decided he had to get himself a Star Wars model, and a plastic car model to build.. and has been busily gluing things together and mostly ignoring me. (with any luck he won't read this blog anytime soon.. haha!)

Well, tomorrow is another day, and my daughter probably won't be home until late, so I should be able to do some actual dollhouse work tomorrow. Actually having an idea of what furniture I have will help on deciding color schemes for the painting as I build as well, so that's good. I will probably alternate between working on the house and the furniture, because I think I'll paint and finish the furniture to match each room's decor, so the rooms will need to be done first.

Gothic House Introduction

Getting started on my double Gothic House woodcraft doll house kit build. My intention is to build one "normally", and the other in a backwards, mirror, or "inverted" build, so that the two will appear as two halves to a whole. The "backwards" half will omit the staircases, so that only one side of the house has them, and it allows more floor space on the other half.

Busy day. My daughter decided to spend most the weekend at grandma's .. so I had the advantage of spreading out all my wood pieces and directions all over a cardboard box on the living room floor and brainstorming and planning. Getting really excited about this. I dry-fitted a sheet of the 1/2 scale furniture kit I had to get an idea of size and finishing ideas - things like making fabric "pads" on the chairs, and using shiny foil for the mirrors. I have a woodcraft playground set coming as well as a couple of misc pieces of woodcraft furniture - a grandfather clock, fireplace, overhead cupboard. I was sort of hoping the scale would be right for my daughter's miniature "polly pocket" dolls, but it appears the scale is about an inch too small, so I may end up having to splurge on half scale dolls - but I'll wait on that and accessorizing until after it's built and finished. I thought about putting it on a board and getting landscaping stuff - but the storage size of it goes up quite a bit with that, as well as cost... and since it'll be used for play, there's no need to have everything fastened down onto a board... especially when she'll likely have more fun spreading it all over her bedroom floor...

Looking over everything, I have to say I'm utterly glad I started on this NOW... I have the advantage of putting the whole cardboard building surface in my walk in closet (hopefully my husband will forgive me on this one... haha!) and simply working on a little bit at a time with a goal of getting it done by next christmas, or the earliest, her tenth birthday in august. Doing a little dry-fitting and experimenting, I'm very sure I can do the "second" house in the "backwards" or "inverted" build with little to no problem - building the two identical houses at the same time will definitely help there. (I'm building the gothic house for my daughter, and putting all my energy into that, saving the fantasy villa for later, perhaps she'll even want to help on that one.. plus it appears to be a much more difficult puzzle build.) Also pretty sure I won't have any problem hinging the two together and perhaps using some sort of clasp so it can be fastened when closed. I also went craft store shopping, got some tools, and paint, and scribbled a little on the picture on the instructions getting an idea of color scheme. Ordered some miniature carpet, roof "paper" - shingles seem like WAY too much work!- and some 1/2 scale stone walkway I thought would be really nice for the porches. She's a sucker for pink, so I picked a very light pink for the main color, and a bright fuschia for the trim. Will do some of the trim in white, and the bottom of it in black to make it darker and less noticeable. Since it doesn't have interior trim on windows, I think I'll use the skinny sticks to make interior trim and possibly a window sill effect... and while I was measuring and experimenting there.. it occurred to me it would be very easy to take those clear plastic transparency sheets and glue them under the inside trim to make "windows". I'm going to do the ceilings with white paint, perhaps using the texture idea on the drying paint, perhaps not. I'm not going to fuss with wallpaper, the interior walls are too small, but I can do different color paints, and maybe stripes, as long as I paint before assembling. I figure I'll carpet most of the interior, and wood stain a couple rooms - for bathroom / kitchen - because who wants carpeting in there..?! I may even use the skinny sticks as baseboards .. the thought occurred to me they'd make a nice "chair rail" as well..

Ack.. I'm babbling. Spent a lot of time today researching and getting an idea of plans and such, did a little sanding and dryfitting/testing and prep work. I think I drove my husband nuts bouncing ideas off him (while he just nodded and played along .. haha)... finally decided I'd mail you and bounce them off you instead, you have more experience at building and crafting! This weekend, I think I'm going to do a good bit of sanding, organizing parts, and prep work while I wait for the carpeting, and stone work, and a couple extra tools to get here from the miniature company... and then next week I can start on painting and building the frames. Will definitely be using my hubby's digital camera (or recruiting his photo expertise) to document the whole thing - it should be a really neat first build as long as I can be patient and take my time with it .. which I have allowed myself plenty of time to do! Definitely an ambitious first project - but with years of crafting, sewing, puzzling, painting.. and even helping my mom build some miniatures when I was little, I should be okay. (fingers crossed!) The cat seems unimpressed with the current use of the living room floor - I had to move her toys to put the stuff down.. but she'll learn to deal with it.