New Dollhouse & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope the new year finds you all happy and healthy! My year is already starting out great....my grandma gave me her dollhouse a few days after Christmas, along with some furniture and a box of other miniature odds and ends. Grandma just turned 85 years old in December, she built the house around 20 years ago....she doesn't know the name of the dollhouse but it is from Real Good Toys. It's in excellent shape, other than the missing front porch (Grandma gave it away), not a scratch or speck of dust or missing shingle.  Grandma decorated every room in some shade of pink.....bless her heart, pink is my least favorite color but I would like to keep as much of what she did as possible. This is where you guys come in. The pink is throwing me......I don't know what to do, who lives in a huge pink house?

Living Room

Den

Dining Room

Kitchen

Second Floor Master Bedroom

Bathroom

Second Floor Bedroom

Office

Third Floor

Be sure to visit my website and see Dollhouse of the Month, The Brookwood by Lena of Miniatyrmama.

I haven't finished my Christmas themed dollhouse yet but I'm close! I will add pictures soon. I will be back later this week to welcome my new followers!

Craigslist Find!

It never happens to me.....I am never in the right place at the right time. I'm always a day late and a dollar short. Yesterday was different. I found this Bellingham Farmhouse for $50. It's a fixer upper but I think it will be worth it.

It's missing shingles, part of the roof, columns, a door and some various other odds and ends but nothing impossible to fix or replace. The chimney is missing on top and some of the brickwork needs repair. The interior is in just a little better shape than the exterior. All of the trim is pretty rough looking, some walls are missing, and somebody left some lovely crayon artwork in a few places. I don't have a clue where I'm going to put this house. Right now it's crammed into my workshop (the workshop that still doesn't have walls) on a wobbly old card table.

I would love some ideas for this house; I really don't know what to do with it. I'm tossing around the idea of a boarding house set in the 1930's. I have the book  Thirties & Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale and it's full of projects to make furniture and accessories for every room in a house so I could make most everything myself.  I'm not sure if that's the way I want to go and would love some feedback. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Dollhouse of the Month February 2011

February 2011 ~ Maison Hollandaise by Béatrice Thiéru of Les Miniatures de Béatrice.

Find more of Béatrice's work at Les Miniatures de Béatrice, Les Poupée Miniatures and in the February issue of AIM.

Please click here for the photos!

O'Leary's Irish Pub

Three years ago on Valentine Day, my husband surprised me with the 333 Franklin Street Dollhouse by Real Good Toys. He woke me up with a cup of coffee and a dollhouse. Is there a better way to wake up?

My original plans were to create an apartment building, but the rooms are an odd size and I couldn't figure out how to make it work. After much thought, I decided to go with a bar on the bottom floor with living quarters above. I put the building together at least a year and half ago and have spent the rest of the time thinking.

O'Leary's is set in New York City in the 1940's. The building and bar have been around since the late 1800's and the owner is an Irish immigrant named Séamus O'Leary.

I'm far from finished but here is a sneak peak at some of my progress.

First floor pub.

A closer look at the bar. I made the bar and everything on it except the beer tap, vodka bottle and the ashtray.

Second floor kitchen and bath. I made the stove and fridge, most everything else was made from a kit. The entance to the living quarters is at the back of the building, the door "enters" into the kitchen. The first floor stairs took up to much space so I left them out. I used a false door on the back wall of the second floor to give the illusion that the entrance is in the back.

Third floor living/bedroom. I made the chair, my MIL made the afgan on the bed and the desk is from a swap.

That's all I got for now on the pub. I have been working on it and have made more progress but still need to download and edit photos.

I see I have 150 followers now...wow! They snuck up on me. Since I haven't properly welcomed all of my new followers, I'm going to have a drawing to show my appreciation. I'll post the rules and a picture of the prize tomorrow.

Until tomorrow..........

Miniature Flea Mart/Sidewalk Sale~ My Mini Haul

Every year in May, The Elegant Dollhouse shop in Sacramento hosts a miniature flea market/parking lot sale. I have gone for the last four years and it's something I really look forward to because it's the only time I get to shop for miniatures someplace else other than online. I love furniture kits and Nutshell News magazines and I always come home with as many as I can get my hands on. My favorites are the Real Life Miniatures furniture kits and the House of Miniatures kits. I usually find some great buys on Chrysnbon kits too. This year I had a great haul, I even came home with two dollhouses! One vendor had two Lily Dollhouse Kits for $65 each and I talked myself out of buying one even though it's on my wish list. My husband and I left to get some lunch and while we ate I decided I would go back and buy one of the Lily's. When we came back from lunch less than an hour later, they were both gone....Damn, that's what I get for procrastinating! I did get a really good deal on a Magnolia Dollhouse Kit, it's a fixer upper but to good a buy to pass up.

The Magnolia

The green has got to go!

Various kits and accessories.

Nutshell News and American Miniaturist magazines.

I already can't wait for next year!

I couldn't resist!

I really tried! Like many others, I purchased a dollhouse from HBS during the 50% off sale. I bought the Willow, a Colonial style dollhouse, even though I am currently working on three dollhouse at the same time and have two kits still in boxes. I need to have my head examined! I don't even have a place to put anymore dollhouses, but I'm not letting that stop me, I'll just get rid of our furniture if I need to, we can sit on the floor. =) Right?

I would like to tell everyone about a new website, AmanSpeak Miniatures. The owner/artist Amanda, creates scrumptious 1:12 scale dollhouse food. Please pop over and have a look!

I've been working on the 333 Franklin lately, I'm making it a Diner with living quarters above. I'm going for an aged look so I have been researching aging techniques. This morning I found some great articles by Pat and Noel Thomas in several old Nutshell News magazines. One of the articles was about how to make the Chrysnbon bathroom kit look like porcelain and how to age it. I'm very excited to have found that!

I see that I have several new followers, Hello, Welcome and Thank you for following! I'll be back to give you a proper welcome in a separate post!