2018 - end of an era

Like I said in my first post, my grandpa (now chillin' in that donut shop in the sky) built this dollhouse for me when I was about 7, using the outline of my parents' house, a whole lot of Liquid Nail - and according to my dad, a certain kind of wood that apparently CAN'T be sanded. *facepalm* At some point I had figured it was my duty to try to buff out the rough bits on the house, even though I'd long moved past when it would be prudent to do so. I unloaded the furniture and covered the floors, but I still needed to clean up a lot of dust, losing a little bit of the flooring (felt and paper don't really like water no matter how gentle you are.) Then my dad lays the wood trivia on me. ARGH.

So after fixing the slight detour I took, it was time to finish all the furniture, fix the stinkin' doors, and put the finishing touches on the house.

 

Closet doors! I ordered 1 inch window shutters, Dremeled them to size, and painted them.

On the left you'll see the hallway closet and "my bedroom"'s closet.

Here's the secret for the closet doors AND the side and front doors! Tyvek two-sided tape. Flexible enough to hold the doors in place but still open. Strong enough to keep the doors where they're supposed to be. Thin enough to not bulge outside the outlines. No, I'm not being paid, LOL. Just grab some at your local Lowe's or Home Depot (great places for sandpaper, wood filler, tools like scrapers and Dremels, and other items in a pinch. Michael's is fun, but sometimes the creativity exercised in a hardware store is more enjoyable.)

The little plant is from sdk miniatures. The pictures on the wall? Those are the actual framed items that hung when I was a kid. I took a picture of them, edited them down to the right proportion, printed them on sticker paper (available at Meijer and Staples, etc), cut them, and fixed them on the wall. You'll see other pictures/items affixed with the same method. I'm so glad I found a way to reflect my childhood home.

Record player and stereo speakers are TOMY brand, along with the TV in the next picture. I got these from crischarlie on ebay.

I realized, finally, why the living room looked wrong. First, using sticks of wood found at Meijer, I added window frames to the windows. Much more accurate.

Second - I found a macrame hanging plant for the '70s/'80s era I was going for. (Why do you think my parents had shag carpet? Or a record player when I was growing up?) This guy came from HouseofMoss on etsy. With a pushpin, I poked a hole in the wall, then bent off a piece of a paper clip, wrapped the end of the string around it, and stuck it in the hole. Et voila. (Somewhere, my high school French teacher is probably proud.)

My bedroom has two posters that I distinctly remember from childhood. I wanted so badly to get some of the rough lines out of the walls, but according to Dad - that's just not possible. Oh well.

And my brother's room, complete with posters for him, his closet door, and his dresser, which I ended up just biting the bullet and buying as a wood dresser and painting. I believe the dresser came from A Trifle Small again, though her bare wood section has shrunk. I remember ordering and getting an item marked "joujoux.com" at one point, which was awesome, because they don't ship to America! But I think the deal has ended? Which sucks - joujoux's bare wood is GORGEOUS. If you're European, you're in luck. 

So, the dollhouse is finished. It's always good to know when to say stop. Luckily, I've caught the bug, and have begun my second dollhouse - this one from a kit, so essentially from scratch for me. Stay tuned!