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.

Christmas in March

Sorry for another piece of furniture, but I had so much fun making the last one that I couldn't resist another. I went for a Christmas theme, even though Christmas is over (thinking ahead for my Christmas cottage, and honestly, it will be here again before we know it). I made all the things on top of the cabinet. They are first attempts. I made the tree out of tiny vintage pages. I designed the bag, and the cake and stand were made out of clay. My favorite thing about this cabinet is the door knobs.

My Secret Wish

Okay, I'm starting to realize how much I love mini furniture. And I think it's because I have a secret wish to create furniture in real life. If I had the means to do so, I think I'd be making all sorts of real size hutches and cabinets. But for now, doing it in mini will satisfy.

Again, I can't say I actually built this piece of furniture, but I did bring it from non-working to working...and painted it. So it sort of counts as me making it. The drawers were just a faux front before, and now they are working. I took the whole thing apart and then glued it back together except for the drawers. Then I separated the faux drawer into three parts and built boxes for them. It was a lot of fun actually. Anyway, I'm not sure where it will go, but for now it looks nice in this room.

My sweet hubby made me the little pink pitcher. It was his first try at making mini anything. I think it turned out pretty cute for a first try. I crocheted the little doily it's on, and I made the clock as well from a picture off the Internet. All rather shabby I think.
This is what I started with.




And this is what I ended with.