Bathroom and Music Room: The Dollhouse Saga

The room partition has been cut and set temporarily in place. The far room is the music room and the near room is the bathroom. I had thought about putting a set of French doors in the music room. I am kind of rethinking that as I want to put in a couple overstuffed chairs so it is a comfortable room. Let me know what you think.

The main room on the bottom floor is ready for the wainscoting to be glued in place. I tested all the outlets and they are a go!

Lastly, I went to Home Depot and bought the last three jars of sale sample paint they had. They were only 98 cents each. The fourth jar is what they are keeping in stock and that was $3.99. Still a really good price.

Small steps forward.

Peldyn

The Dollhouse Saga: The Farmhouse Sink

I had purchased this farmhouse sink years ago on eBay. When I received it I was surprised at how short it was. Shorter than my kitchen table. The husband put some wood on the end of each leg to make it taller, but it just looked clunky. Sorting through my trim stash I found a piece of eyelet. The blue on it went nicely with the rug but wasn’t too much blue. So I hand stitched up a little skirt for the sink 

Funny how my pincushion was the right height to prop the sink up while the glue was drying. Next I will have to see if I can repair the little chip from my cats knocking it out of the dollhouse.

Peldyn

The Dollhouse Saga: Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky

Things always take long than you expect them to. I had hoped to get the wainscoting done last night, but was too tired and also needed more cereal boxes. Yes, you heard the right. Cereal boxes. I take them apart, cut off the flaps, then cut into strips. The backing is 3” wide and the detail strips are 3/4” wide.You just glue down the strips where it looks good to you. If you don’t want the joins to be seen, fill in with a bit of glue, smoothing down over the top. Paint, then cut to fit your windows and outlets. Not hard, just a little painstaking. I sometimes need to use a little tape to keep the narrow strips in place while cutting. Tape on the slick side so it doesn’t pull off paper. Yes, that is because I ripped some off lol. Trying to decide now if I like it how it is or if I want to put a small square in between all the strips. 

I might be able to get these painted tonight. Or not. 

Peldyn

The Dollhouse Saga: Lights for the Hallway

Another decision that is bugging me. What to do about lights in the hallways. I have a couple choices, so let me know what you think. 

Also, I found an adorable doily in my mom’s fabric stash. I am thinking of having it be the rug in the blue room.

The Dollhouse Saga: Front Door

Before I could put the floor down in the entryway I had to remove the old door frame. It didn’t have a door and the replacement I bought did not fit in the old frame. So using a hammer I gently tapped at the frame from the inside. Luckily it only broke along a join do I can cut the fancy stuff off the top and add to the new door frame. I also need to build trim for the new French doors and for the bay window. It is always something! Lol

The frame will be painted grey and maybe the door I will paint white. Especially since I am adding white gingerbread trim all long the eaves.

Peldyn

The Dollhouse Saga: So Many Little Things

I never realized home many small touches go into making a house a home. Rugs, carpets, wall paper, curtains, etc. There seems to always be something that needs done. The floor in the upstairs hallway was completed, as was some of the wallpaper. That made me wonder if I need to paint the stair treads white or put down  a runner. Going through my trim collection, I think I found the right ones to use. The bannister is almost ready to install. That is painted white.

Then I was arranging furniture in the Cafe/Sitting area so I know where to put the electrical outlets. I also figured out where I want the sconces on the wall over the fireplace. I hate drilling, but that is the best way to hide the wires.

Last but not least, a friend sent me an adorable little chair with a kitty. That will look perfect in the upper hallway or music room.

So excited to see progress finally being made.

Peldyn

The Dollhouse Saga: Making Bedding

Making tiny bedding sounds like fun. Yes it is, but it is also painstakingly tedious. Any mistakes are magnified on such a small scale. I followed tutorials from Pinterest to make this sheet and comforter set. Just need to make the pillows and maybe a tiny crocheted blanket for the end of the bed. Here is the link to my Pinterest board full of mini things

https://pin.it/3SCCf4f

The Dollhouse Saga: Making a Fern

The front entry to the dollhouse needed something. A table, a plant? I had a lovely table and a vase. So flowers? Plant? Fern! I had  leaves from some fake flowers I plan to use in the garden. Would they do? Hmmm a bit... big.

So what to do? I took scissors and started snipping. 

Looking more like a fern. I also needed to glue some wire to the back of the leaves. I wanted to be able to position them more naturally. I used floral tape to cover the wire and clamped them in place after gluing.

Finally complete! It looks more really and natural now. The perfect addition to the hall. Now I must get that wallpaper and the floor done!

The Dollhouse Saga: A Matter of Scale

I have touched lightly upon this subject before; items sold that are not the scale they are listed as. When planning and buying items for your dollhouse it is important to make sure the scale is appropriate. My dollhouse is 1:12 so all items need to be that scale to fit. If an item is advertised as 1:12 then one would assume that it would be the right size. This is not always so. Especially with inexpensive items that are imported. I have three items pictured that I purchased because they were stated to be 1:12. The bottle, lamp, and sewing basket are all off. The sewing basket especially as the scissors in it are the equivalent of being almost two feet in height and the bottle nearly three! The lamp is so thick that it does not sit properly on any of the side tables. So what can you do? Ask for actual measurements. Know your scale. If it is a really good price, it is probably cheap and not to scale. Caveat emptor.

The Dollhouse Saga- Repairs

Worked on repairing the electrical today. Also decided I need to run more copper tape in the 2nd floor room on the right. I haven’t started working on that room other than decide it will be a music/common room. I don’t know if I am going to split it like the rooms on the left or if I am adding more windows. I would like to add a set of French doors and put in a balcony. That would be a heck of a lot of work though. I may change my mind. I do that often.

The Dollhouse Saga- Painting Furniture

The past couple days I have been working on getting the bedroom furniture painted and stained. One room will have hickory furniture and the other will have light yellow. I have been painting small flowers on the yellow furniture and also making bedding for the beds. I hope to have the bedding done in a day or two and I will make sure to post pictures then. 

The Dollhouse Saga- Catch-up Edition

Since my last post about the dollhouse, I have gotten quite a bit accomplished. The floor is done downstairs and part of upstairs. New decisions made as to windows and doors, wallpaper, paint, furniture. My main stumbling block right now is I don’t have the money for supplies. So that means doing what I can with what I have until I can but what I need. So here is a photo dump of the past month and a half