Bonus post!

While I was looking through my photos for a house to pick for my other post, I came across this photo:

This house was one of the projects I took over from Tom O'Dea when I bought his shop.  The woman who owns it lives in Charlottesville and she and her husband had spent THIRTY YEARS building and decorating it.  And you thought your project was taking forever!

She and her husband would open their home each year for an annual Christmas tour and this dollhouse was a highlight for many visitors.  Unfortunately, her husband had passed away and that year was going to be the last year she planned on opening her home for the tour.  The dollhouse was in the shop for some electrical repairs.  The main problem was that not all the window candles would light up.  

Now here is a secret: this was my FIRST electrical project!  And let me tell you, I was flummoxed.  Thankfully, my now very good friends, Betty and Paul, who were long time customers of Tom's, happened to come into the shop one day while I was working on this one.  Paul, an honest to goodness electrician by trade, took pity on me and asked if he could give me some advice.  Basically, he solved the problem and explained what he did.  To say I was thankful is an understatement.  We got all the electrical working, replaced the broken candles, and on its way out the door it went.

I wish I had thought to take more pictures of this house but it was the very first one I worked on after I had bought the shop and I didn't think to do so.  But I hope you enjoyed it all the same.

 Happy April Everyone!  

I'm sorry it's been a few months since I posted, but I did start a new non-mini job and that takes up a lot of my time.  I decided today is the day to post another past project!  This one was a restoration that was basically in good shape but needed windows, a door, paint, and some interior finishes.

Here is what it looked like when it came in...

See?  Not bad, just needed a little of this and a little of that.

Here is the finished house...

Fresh paint, some windows and shutters, and wallpaper. As I recall, this house was being refurbished for someone's birthday.  Let's see it room by room.

The kitchen is a pretty good size.  Quite often kitchens are small and it's hard to place the furniture in them.  This one has wallpaper from Itsy Bitsy Minis and also tile from World Model.

Living room!  The wallpaper is by Jackson Miniatures and is Birds & Berries, Green Background.  It also comes in a beige background.

Master bedroom.  This wallpaper is a William Morris design by Itsy Bitsy Mini.

Hallway.  This paper is also from Itsy Bitsy Mini and is one of my favorites.

Child's room. This is also an Itsy Bitsy Mini paper.  If you look closely you will see birds in the design.

Nursery.  

Office.

Bathroom.

I was quite excited that the owner didn't want wallpaper in the attic rooms.  Why?  I really, really do not enjoy papering dormer windows and slanty walls.  To do it right takes an inordinate amount of time.

I selected this house for today's post because I wanted to show what a big impact a few simple changes can make to an older house.  Paint goes a long way!  Even the floors and roof were simply painted.  Later, if the owner would like, she can very easily add shingles, flooring, and molding.  Not everything has to be done at the same time.

 Real Good Toys Holly Hobbie

I love the Holly Hobbie!  This really is one of my favorite kits.  Nice big rooms, the stairs are in wide hallways, and the front door is inset.  It's a good sized house without being too big.  Unfortunately, RGT discontinued it a few years ago.  But here is the first one I built and it went to Northern Virginia to be placed under the family Christmas tree for a lovely young lady.

I ended up painting the house a creamy yellow and dyed the shingles using MinWax's Red Chestnut stain.  The chimney and base are pre-etched with lines to resemble brick. The easiest way to paint that kind of brick is to first paint the entire piece the color you want the mortar lines to be.  Then put a dollop of the color you want the bricks to be onto a paper plate.  Lightly press a round sponge brush into the paint, pat it a couple of times to remove extra paint, and then dab the brick color onto the bricks.   A little bit might get into mortar lines but honestly, no one is going to notice.  Just keep going.  You'll be surprised how quickly it goes!

The inset front door.  Love love love this feature!  The Real Good Toys Lincoln house also has an inset front door.  

Pre-bricked chimney.  It just needed to be painted.  I put a bit of copper flashing around the base.

Eight rooms and two hallways!  I suppose if there is one negative it's that the stairs don't go to the attic.  

Here is the house completely finished.  The wood floors are a combination of Houseworks Red Oak with Black Walnut used as an inlay.  The kitchen floor is a combination of blue and white glass tiles also from Houseworks.  It's quite easy to make patterns.  The tiles come in sheets and you simply remove and fill in as you like.

Attic nursery with Itsy Bitsy Mini paper

Master bedroom also with Itsy Bitsy Mini paper

Here is a better view of the glass tile kitchen floor.  I also made a tall wainscot with simple bass wood.

Downstairs hall.  I love how large it is!

I made the fireplace to match the one in the new owner's actual home.  The side cabinets are Town Square Miniatures but the fireplace is completely handmade.

The upstairs hallway.  Wallpaper is Itsy Bitsy Mini

Real Good Toys Princess Anne

 This is one of the first houses I made for a paying client.  It was built when I still had the original store space that Tom O'Dea occupied which would make it spring of 2015.  The buyer was an adult child who wanted a new dollhouse for his mother for Mother's Day.  I finished it pretty quickly so he could have it in time for the big day.

As you can see, it is a Real Good Toys Princess Anne. I've always liked this particular house as it's compact but super cute.  Just six rooms but if you want something small, this is a great choice.  I no longer remember the paint codes but I know those shingles were dyed using MinWax's Ebony color.

The hardest part of the assembly is the porch, and really, it's not that hard. If you lay the house on its back you stand a much better chance of the different levels gluing up properly.

Shingling a roof like this doesn't have to be hard.  I always start with the front facing parts of the roof and then the dormers.  I do one row at a time.  First I do a front facing row and then the dormer row.  I've found it makes tighter corner seams that way.  Also, this is a good time to point out that if you have drawn your lines on your roof ahead of time to line up the shingles, the lines on your dormers will not match up with the lines on the front facing part of the roof.  Don't blame me, blame math or physics or something. 

Here is the inside.  Pretty simple but ample if you just need a small house.  The only thing I don't like is that the stairs are in the rooms themselves.  That hurts furniture placement.  You can always remove the stairs though.

Bay windows.  Can't beat 'em!

Would you like to know the most time consuming part of the build for this house?  Painting the windows and porch posts.  

The mom who received this house ended up coming into the store a few weeks after Mother's Day and told me how much she loved it.  She also told me that she had taken it to Bell's to be wired because Leonard is the one who had made all her other houses.  

About a week or so after her visit, Leonard and Jean Bell came to my shop because he needed a couple of lights for this house.  At that point they were no longer ordering inventory themselves.  For those of you who never got to meet Leonard or Tom O'Dea (the original owner of my shop), they had a bit of a rivalry going.  Both loved to talk smack about each other's work. As Jean shopped my store (much to Leonard's chagrin), Leonard told me that although I had done a "good" job on the house, I had made a few mistakes.  I asked him what those mistakes were.  He explained that on a real house the shingles overhang the roof edge and mine don't do that.  He's right.  I absolutely refuse to hang shingles over the edge of the roof unless a client specifically requests it and understands my objection.  What is my objection? Overhanging shingles are just begging to be ripped off or mangled.  I explained my reasoning to him and he just stared back, not sure what to say.  So I stared back at him and smiled.  He conceded that I was correct.  So then I asked him what other mistakes I had made and he mumbled, "None."  Serious high praise considering the man had been building dollhouses for years and real houses long before that.  Tom, Leonard, and Jean all passed away in the last few years but their houses, and legends, live on.

 Welcome Lilliputians!  

I am hoping this will be an easier format for all of us to use. In addition to making posts about new projects, I plan on uploading all the great pictures of all the houses I've worked on and each will have its own post.  I would also like to eventually make videos showing how to wallpaper, cut and hang molding, wire houses, etc.  And yes, there will still be sales! Using the blog format will, I believe, make it easier for everyone to go back and find the content that most interests them.

If you would like to contact me you can do so at VADollhouses@gmail.com.  

So come on in, take a seat and let's start enjoying those houses again!  

Julie