What was all the fuss about?

After fiddle-fartin' around for weeks, I finally ran out of excuses and put the third floor floor on my dh. Looking at it now, I cannot for the life of me understand why I was so scared to do it. I think I was just scared I wouldn't align the sides right, and that the porches wouldn't line up, but it looks pretty straight and even to me. Of course if it does turn out to be a little off, I can still use the excuse that "it's supposed to look a little creepy and crooked. Or, "I planned it that way. "

At any rate, I don't think anything's off so much that it will bring the construction of the third floor to a crashing halt.* Ah, maybe that's what I'm really afraid of...I see some serious detailed woodwork coming on, and I'm a little scared of that... and shingling the roof...and assembling the stair railings...See? I knew there was a reason I didn't put the third floor floor on sooner...now I have to construct the third floor itself!

P.S... UH OH!!! Just now, looking at the directions...? I'm bleeped. Bleeped-bleepity bleeped. ( And just so you know, that's pretty bleeped.) I might have to call in the infamous team of BB& J for help! ( I knew I shoulda kept that fiddle-fartin' going a little longer...)
* Guess I spoke too soon.

Sheer Genius!

I decided to create an invisible wall that would be a wall, but that you could see thru into Pugsley's room. I suppose I could get one of those wooden room-edge dividers to give viewers the same idea, but this works just as well. I may use the edge wall to separate the living room from the dining room later on...But I think I'm going to just use furniture to separate the two rooms.

Oh. From now on I'm going to use initials for frequently used words... 1. The Gabby House = tgh.....and 2. dollhouse is going to be dh. I realize DH usually stands for dear husband, but I don't have a husband..dear, or otherwise! Finally, 3. my handy men's names = bb&j.

Ok, no more fooling around..it's time to go put the third floor on.

Later same day >>>> I realized I hadn't stained the floor, so I did. I placed it on the second floor, and then noticed that I hadn't painted the edge of the floor that hangs over and you can see from the outside. And wouldn't you know, I didn't have any black paint??? I hadn't glued it down yet any way, so tomorrow I'll get the paint and then glue the third floor floor down. I think I've been dragging my feet for a while. After all, gluing something down is soooo final, especially a whole floor! but I'm starting to warm up to the idea, especially since I'm really happy with the way the second floor finally came together.

Over The Hump!

I haven't been able to do much in the way of serious constructing of my Newport since I have been back working on it again. I wanted to install a couple of walls, but they needed to be shortened, and unfortunately I don't have a saw. I had to wait for 'my handy men' to come over and saw them for me. Today was the day.

By the time I got out to the Gabby House to 'play', it was waay too hot out there, so I had to come back in the house. Bummer. I'm not complaining, tho. The place stays cool well into the afternoon on the hottest days; I should have gone out an hour earlier.

Perhaps tomorrow the third floor will go on. I am really excited!

The photos today show 1.a small section of unpainted wall. It is going to be covered in the flowered wallpaper, but have a hinge on it; it will be a 'hidden' 'secret' door. 2. The bathroom. The 'family' wanted it to look like a swamp (it looks black, but it's really dark green)...and I jazzed it up with the magazine pictures ala Lady Of The Water theme. lol. Note The green wall separating the bathroom and Morticia/Gomez's room. It's the one that needed shortening. It will be glued in permanently. 4.The plastic-see thru wall. It only reaches to the 'tiled' floor(the hallway between Pugsley & Wednesday's rooms.) It will have trim on it to represent a real room wall, but you'll still be able to see thru it into Pugsley's room. Although, come to think of it, has anyone EVER seen Pugsley's room? Unless it was in a tv episode that I wasn't able to get my hands on.
5. Finally, the screen I made out of a weird piece of cardboard and a scrap of mural wallpaper.

Gee, for someone who hasn't had much opportunity to really build anything lately, I sure have been busy!

Slow but steady

I think I mentioned someplace that I sorta, kinda overdid it when I began my foray into the world of miniatures. Let's face it, I was obsessed! I enjoyed working on my Newport, but I made a lot of mistakes because I couldn't be bothered doing things the 'right' way, and rushed thru various projects. Bad move, Caitey!

Oh, I put the structure part of it together correctly, but when I began to think about trims around the windows, flooring, wallpaper, etc., I rushed things, and ended up doing a sloppy job in a lot of areas.

I have since removed the wallpaper in Pugsley's room, and decided to paint the walls while leaving just a tiny bit of wallpaper up. I would have taken it all down, but it would have been too hard to get around the sloppy window trim job I did. Fortunately I can blame it on the Addams Family/ creepy house idea ..."It's supposed to look like that, you know..." ( altho in the T.V show, the Addams house is a very neat, luxurious house. The Movie versions have a lot of dusty floors and cobwebs.) Oh, btw, thee are going to be two different rooms on that side; Pugsley's room will be blue, and Wednesday's room has the pretty flowered wallpaper. I'll be putting in a see-thru/panel wall to separate the two rooms.

I am determined to get the flooring, wallpapers, and door trims finished before the 3rd floor goes down. I found that all that stuff is much easier when you can lay the wall down and do the paper and trim work that way.

I went to A.C. Moore yesterday to get more supplies. My goal for the next few days is to get the second floor finished enough that I can put the third floor-floor on. Then it's back to the actual structure building. I'm ready, but this time I'm taking it slow!

More on 'Emily's Dollhouse'

As promised, here's some more about this fun little house. I decided the front looked kind of bare and so I made shutters for it. I think it looks ever-so-much better!

I just got the furniture placed pretty much where I want it, so I really don't want to take it all out. I am, however, showing a few pieces individually because they are really amazing.

When I started to read the instructions for putting the piano together, I was amazed that they actually include 2 pianos...one is for 'practice.' LOL. I did indeed manage to get one put together,and it's pretty much a rattletrap, but I'm putting the other one safely away, unmade, in it's protective wrapping. I never did like practicing piano!

Cardboard never looked so good...

When I first got interested in this mini/dollhouse business back in 2005, I attended quite a few Shows & sales in the area. One of my purchases was this, "Emily's Dollhouse" by Ilisha Helfman. I paid $95 for the house and all the furniture. and I do mean ALLL the furniture!

For almost two years it reposed in a drawer, still in its original packaging. I finally opened it up about 3 weeks ago. What a treat!

I really felt quite indulged as I took the richly colored parts out. I punched each piece of furniture out and put it together. It all goes together very easily with tab and slot construction. The house itself just folds down flat if you want to put it away, but once you have it up and the furniture made,you really aren't going to want to do that. Where would you put all the furniture then? It all belongs in the house! I actually still have to put the grand piano together...don't know where that's gonna go!

Just so you know, there is a lot more furniture than I show here. This was a photo I took as I was just starting to put it together. If anyone would like to see the whole 'kit and kaboodle', I'll be glad to post a newer, complete photo.

My progress, thus far

Here are views of the interior of the house. (I've only gotten up to the second story.) Since I have begun working on it again, I am taking my time and have been taking the wallpaper down in the blue bedroom, because it was all wrinkly. I may wallpaper it again; I'm not sure. Taking the wallpaper off is hard work, because the leftover glue is gummy, and it doesn't sand off easily.
The little doll in the photo reminds me of Morticia Addams, with the long black dress and sword. ( She and Gomez love to fence. lol.) I am watching a DVD of the original Addams Family t.v, show as well as the two original movies, to get ideas of items to put in the house when it comes time to furnish it. I actually have a THING ( hand coming out of a box that says Home Sweet Home!)

BTW, I am not an accomplished computer user; I haven't quite gotten the hang of posting photos yet. Hey, at least you get photos!

Moving right along...a year later

I was going along like gangbusters...really I was! I had accomplished a lot in the 5 months I'd spent working on my dollhouse. I had finished the outside walls ( two stories ) and fiddled around with the inside a little.

Unfortunately I'd worked sooooo hard on it for sooooo long, that I O.D'd....BAD! Yeppers, one day I woke up sick of it, and soon the poor little creepy dollhouse was abandoned for other interests. I had my handy men move it to another room, thinking it would be easier to work on, but in reality...it was a good excuse to ignore it's existence.

And ignore it I did. I turned my attention to needlepoint, a hobby I had enjoyed in my youth.

Then my daughter moved back in with me to go to a nearby college, and I allowed her to turn the craft area (a.k.a The Gabby House, a small cottage on my property) into her study. By the time she graduated and had moved out with degree-in-hand, I had gotten bored with needlepoint, and was not doing anything resembling a 'hobby' (besides watering the African violets!)

After DD moved out, I aired out The Gabby House, then had the handy men drag the creepy dollhouse out and put it out in the front room, where it could no longer be ignored. It was time to get to work again. After all, it had been 17 months since I'd worked on it!

When I worked on it before, I felt like I wanted to rush, rush, rush to get it finished. BAD MOVE. Especially with a dollhouse, you want to take your time; enjoy the process. It is really a lot of fun. More photos, more observations to come!

BLOG # 4, post #1, or, How I got here today

I love to write about my hobbies. Now, generally I just write in a book-type journal for my own enjoyment, but all that changed when I dscovered online journaling a few years ago. Over the past 3 years I have had 3 different blogs. First I had one about crafts over on Get Crafty, (a verrry coool site for crafters, btw.) I then branched out to Blogger, and started one about needlepoint. That lasted a couple of months. Finally, I tried keeping one about my beloved African violets, but that petered out after only one pathetic post. After that fiasco I thought my blogging days were a thing of the past.

( Right about now you're probably wondering what this all has to do with my creepy dollhouse, aren't you? Well, read the title. I'm explaining to you how I got around to starting this blog!)
Many years ago I got it into my head that someday I would love to build a dollhouse. Not just any dollhouse, mind you, but one that was maybe just a little different, maybe even a little, well, creepy. An Addams Family-esque type of dollhouse. You know, someday .

Fast-forward to 2005. My kids were all grown and gone, I was not working any longer, and I was crafting a lot. One afternoon as I cruised around A.C. Moore I happened to notice a dollhouse on sale and started thinking...I had a 40% off coupon, and the upcoming weekend meant no-sales-tax...that could get me started for sure. And so I took the plunge. I bought that dollhouse, 'The Newport', by Real Good Toys!

Sometimes I get all excited about the possibility of something, and then when the reality actually materializes, I lose interest quickly. I had no idea what to expect with this dollhouse. Would I stick with it? Stay tuned!