Shabby Living Room

I am working away on the shabby living room.  I replaced the polka dot chair with the yellow one, even though I loved the polka dot one.  I'll find another place for it.  It just wasn't very shabby.  Anyway, I need to distress the yellow chair and upholster it with something shabby to tone it down.  I also added the shabby curtains.  It softens the room.

  

I made the mirror myself from a mold.  It turned out exactly how I was hoping.  I think the fire place needs a few more shabby things.  It's feeling rather bare.  

More Shabby Bedroom

The shabby house bedroom is coming along.  I love the wallpaper I found for it.  Just a few more molding pieces still need to be placed and it will be finished (structure wise).  I can then start adding furniture.  The only room left to work on is the bathroom next to it.  I will probably finish the attic too, but that shouldn't take very much work.

Bead Board Wall

I started work on the walls in the shabby house bedroom. I will most likely do a pastel yellow of some sort for the other two walls, and do the bead board only the bottom half. I like how it's turning out. I have to play a little with filling in the weird gaps around the ceiling. I'll probably use mat board.

This is my inspiration room.

I have been debating for a while whether I should keep the front door the green color I painted it originally or paint it white. The advantage to having an all white door is that it matches everything. The disadvantage is that it is less of one of a kind house, since I have seen quite a few people with this same dollhouse all painted white. We weren't that far off from that fate though anyway, since everything else was white, so I went with the all white door. I'm glad I did. This wreath I made last night would not have matched the green door. I think the house looks good all white. Maybe that's why so many people have done their's all white. :)

Original door color:

Shabby Bed

I decided to try making a bed that I found a tutorial on at1 inch minis by Kris It took some time, and mine doesn't look nearly as good as hers ended up, but I'm pleased with the overall product. I still have to put a finish paint on it, sand it, and distress it a little (and make a mattress, which she also has a tutorial for), but I think it will definitely be a usable bed in my shabby chic house. Yea!

Blanca's Flowers Have Arrived!

It's a long story involving dogs and more than one package, but Blanca's beautiful flowers have finally arrived. And I'm so happy! I had to wait the whole car ride home from the post office and a few other errands, to open them because I wanted to capture the cute package that they came in. It was very hard not to just open the package immediately. The long wait was worth it! These flowers are so beautiful and they look even more amazing in person. The detail is incredible. You are very talented Blanca. Thank you so much for these wonderful flowers. Now I get to find places to put each of them.

Blanca wrapped the flowers up so cute with this little ribbon...

And this cute little flower box!

They all look so cute on my dollhouse porch. I absolutely love the variety of flowers and how detailed they are. The pictures don't do them justice. Thank you again Blanca. I can't say it enough.

Curtains

I added curtains to the Cherry Cottage Boutique. They are simple, but I'm not that great at sewing so that's just how it's going to have to be. I think they are very cottage boutique appropriate. I love lace also, so I'm pleased for now.

Shabby Couch

So, I made a shabby couch a few weeks back, but I didn't like how it turned out, so I didn't post about it. Needless to say, it has grown on me and I've decided it really isn't that bad. That means I can share a picture of it. I may re-do the ruffles at some future point (that's the part bugging me most, among other things), but until then, I think it's okay to display as a place holder until I possible find something better to replace it, or I adjust the things that bug me. Now to make some shabby pillows for it. :)

Giveaway!

If you want to enter this fun giveaway at Lilimini, there's still time. It ends on the 23rd of April. Come check it out here.

Kitchen Wallpaper

I wallpapered the kitchen in the Linfield house. I like the color of it for a shabby chic kitchen. I think the fridge will actually go under the stairs, and I have a 1920's sink that will go where the fridge is. The small shabby table set that I have yet to build, will go by the bay window. I'm getting excited to fill the room. Now for the upstairs. I have some good ideas for the bedroom, but I still need inspiration for the bathroom.

More Shingles and Carpet

I have started shingling the roof of Victoria's Farmhouse Dollhouse. The shingles came out a different color than the first house I did, even though I used the same technique. I actually wanted this color for this house, so that's a good thing. It's really adding to the finished look.



I found a place mat at the Dollar Tree that I thought was perfect carpet. It reminds me of Berber carpet, which was what I was hoping to have in this room. I wanted a neutral color and this one also matches the color of the hardwood floor throughout the rest of the house. I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't glued it down yet, so there are ripples in the picture. And now you can't see the patch. Yea!




I finished the wallpaper in the master bedroom as well. It looks more complete.




And this last picture shows the room dividers installed in the kitchen/dining area. I like them both and will keep them there.

Back to work!

New Doors and Wallpaper

I wallpapered the loft room in the Alison Jr Dollhouse. I also made a wood floor that needs to be stained. I will probably use the pie safe that is pictured here, but paint it white and take out the tin so it will be a glass bookcase. The chair would also get a white finish and new upholstery, if I keep it here.



I also bought some doors for the Alison Jr Dollhouse that are a little different than my normal pick. However, I actually like these ones better because they have such charm. They look like doors I would have found in my grandmas house. I love the horizontal panels. I also made room in the bathroom for the laundry. It's tight, but it works. My daughter "NEEDED" it in her house.

I finally shingled something!

I found this great tutorial on making my shingles look aged and thought I would give it a try. I haven't shingled any of my dollhouses because it freaks me out. I'm afraid that the end result won't be what I was hoping for, and that's a lot of work to mess up on. So I tried it on the smallest of my houses first. And I think it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. And it was very easy to do. You can find the tutorial here.
I'm no longer afraid of shingling! Although, now the time factor intimidates me a little. This small house took the whole of a day to shingle. It did have a few tricky angles to shingle around though. My other houses don't have as many tricky spots for the square footage involved. Now I just need to build up the ambition to finish the other houses. Yea!


I still need to prop up the floor with a support so it doesn't sag.

Roses For My Pitcher

I decided to take a crack at making flowers. I've had this pitcher made for quite some time, but haven't had anything to put in it. I always envisioned it with flowers, so here's my first attempt at roses. I think they turned out pretty cute. They'll go wonderfully in my shabby living room.

I made a chair!

I have this thing for shabby wing chairs, or really any wing chair. Anyway, I decided that I need a pattern so I can make one any time I want. I sat down with some cardboard, paper, glue, and left over fabric from another project, and started cutting. Oh yeah, I also had some batting. This is what I came up with. Although I think it turned out adorable, I can now see what adjustments need to be made to the pattern I created. I think I'll make the arms a little more fuller, and make them a little less dramatically curved. Other than that, I absolutely love the chair. I didn't realize how cute the polka dots would be. It's not the kind of shabby I'm going for, for this house, but I staged it here anyway. I hope to make one for this room that is completely white. Maybe I'll do that today. :)

Sorry the chair is a little blurry. The camera seemed to want to focus on the fireplace.

New Wallpaper

I think I found a winner for the shabby house living room wallpaper. The first picture is the old wallpaper and the other two pictures are the new. I liked the old wallpaper, but it just wasn't shabby enough. The new wallpaper should work better with the ideas I have in my head for the house. Yea!

I won!

The chances of actually winning a giveaway can't be that big, considering so many people participate. But I actually won a giveaway! And a fabulous one at that. I love little miniature flowers, and the ones Blanca made are so lovely and detailed. I have so many places I can put them, and absolutely can't wait to receive them. It is so nice of her to give these away, and I'm so thrilled to be the lucky recipient. Yea for wonderful giveaways! Knowing how excited I am to have won, I will definitely have to do a giveaway for someone else. Maybe when I reach 100 followers (if I ever get there :)). Thank you so much Blanca. I can't wait to receive them!

Progress

I'm almost done with the Alison Jr. I decided I need to finish at least one dollhouse so I can claim something is finished. I've glued the house together and finished the windows and outside railings. I still need to shingle (of course) and patch a few things. I plan on adding molding too, but I'll do that later probably. Some of the wallpaper was a little off when I put it on, so I also need to fix that.

Anyway, I moved in temporary furniture so you can see what rooms are what.


I need to glue in the partitions as well, but I left them out so I could work on the dining room set that I'm going to make, without the partitions in the way.



The stairs also need railings. I patched the ceiling where the stair hole used to be. You can't hardly tell it was there unless you're really looking for it.



I had to make a new floor for the bathroom to hide the patch. I really liked how the pink and white diagonal tiles turned out. I was going for a linoleum look.




You can still see the patch in the floor in the nursery. I need to come up with a carpet of sorts to cover it.



The master bedroom is the biggest room in the house. I cut a square hole in the ceiling so the tower room can be reached. I'll make a ladder that allows access.



This is the little reading nook in the tower. It will have a bookshelf as well and a chair similar to the one shown. I think it adds some serious charm to the master room.



And here's the outside. I think it's coming along pretty well. I have all the trim painted, it just needs to be applied. A little patch job around the balcony door and it will be done. Wahoo!




And here's a little more explanation for my big house (Victoria's Farmhouse). I wasn't very clear on the room situation before. This shows the bathroom, which is on the other side of the master bedroom which is in the front of the house. I made the floor the same way as the pink and white. It still needs to be glued down. You can see the master door across the hall from the bath door. There will be a round stained glass window behind where the door opens in the bathroom. I have to have a window in every room. It's too gloomy without it.




Here's a view from the nursery (next to the bathroom) and you can see the door that goes into the master bedroom. Hopefully that makes the layout more understandable.

I also made all the floors on the first and second floors (some still need stain), but that was a big process and I can't believe I got it done. I've actually been procrastinating it because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. Also, I thought I had to have the lighting all installed before I could put the floor in so that I could bury the wires. But then I realized that I could make all the floors removable so I can still access the raw floor. So, they are all removable, and I think this was a road block that will allow me to continue, now that I've over come it.




This is the door on the third floor that goes into the front room.



This shows how to access that front room. The roof is going to be hinged so it just lifts up and you can play in this room as well. Now I just have to find the right hinges. :)

This shows the side access panel which allows access to the living room on the first floor, and the master bedroom on the second floor.