Victoria's Farmhouse Dollhouse Construction: A Year of Progress
Okay, so maybe assembling a dollhouse is a little more complicated than I thought. Here it is, almost a year later and we are STILL not done. We now have: a foundation, exterior walls, roof. Plus a few extras so complicated they require their own post. Like electricity!
Meh, it's not that complicated. Who wants to build a dollhouse in the summer when there are chickens to chase and bikes to ride? Downside of taking a six-month break, one may not read the directions thoroughly when starting back up. Imagine my horror when - just yesterday - I spotted a bottle of Tacky Glue under the worktable. I've been using Elmer's Glue-All for everything! Sure enough, the instructions recommended Tacky Glue. One frantic Google search later and I discovered Elmer's is a perfectly suitable construction glue. Panic averted. Mostly.
Following are some in-progress shots. It doesn't look quite as dramatic as it feels (paint! walls! floors!). Enjoy!
The happy (creepy) family.
Look, honey, walls!
Mud Pie can't wait to play.
For the past year and a bit Mud Pie and I have been working on the Epic Victoria's Farmhouse dollhouse. At the outset I thought, "Oooh, fun I can write up tutorials! Like how to run electricity, how to ..." I don't know, build a dollhouse.
And I could write those tutorials. Because we're building the dollhouse inch by inch and learning a heap. But I'm not going to write tutorials. Why? Well, take a look and see...
At last. I have three down with fevers which you might think would impact my time in a bad way. Not so much.
On to the next step in building the Victoria's Farmhouse: pre-assembly. Like staining shingles and finally, finally getting out the bottle of glue.
C1 If we want a really awesome dollhouse then it must have hardwood floors and not dumb manufactured wood floors.
Well, well, well. The instructions were VERY correct in suggesting that we go through the box piece by piece and sort, number, label, and cross off every item.
I think I mentioned my childhood dollhouse experience, and my commitment to not allow the same sad fate to plague my own daughter thirty years from now. But ..
Flashback to 1985-or-so. More than anything else in the universe a certain little girl wanted a dollhouse. A real dollhouse made of wood, with real wallpaper and tiny furnishings
What is decoupage? It's a decorative technique that involves covering something with glue-soaked fabric, paper, etc. and topping it off with a clear finish.
Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.
Another year, another huge leap forward on Victoria's Dollhouse! Um. Not really. Maggie and I joke that since the box said, "Ages 13 and up" we shouldn't finish it until she's thirteen. She's eleven. We're right on track!