Wishful Thinking...

Well, I will say I had very wishful thinking this year... I really had intended to have at least some of the structure of this house up before Christmas came this year in hopes of decorating for the season...I think as a mini-lover that it is often a big goal to decorate for the seasons.

If you remember I even got some Christmas decorations!!!  I had picked out a tree from the Dollar Tree Store with the intention of being able to put it up in the house for the Holidays, I had even go so far as to pick up some wrapped presents from Michaels Craft Store, (well, the little ornament ones anyways). 

Unfortunately for me I realized the other day that it just isn't going to happen this year. :(  Which is a real shame because as I was going through my mini-stash working on my lights I had found these little trees in my stash! 

They are miniature evergreen trees and are sold in Hobby Lobby with the trains as part of the landscaping items.  They come four to a pack and would have made perfect Christmas trees!!!  I had used these also in the landscaping of the 1/2scale Bungalow I did for my mom last year...

They are very realistic and well made.  I just love them!  I'm really bummed now that I wouldn't be able to add one to my house this year, but there is always next year!!!



Channel-ing…(the devil maybe?)

Lighting it all up, Pt.I

I was FINALLY able to sit down, (even if it was only for a little while) and do some work on the much neglected farmhouse.  While I only worked for a short time, I feel like I got a lot accomplished!!!

The pieces that I will use to create the front door finally arrived, so the first thing I did was to measure out the frame to make sure of the fit.  Once that was (temporarily) in place, I measured out where the exterior light will go, and using my dremel tool(with a small drill attachment) I cut through a hole from front to back. 

Once that was done, I flipped it over and cut the channel that I will use to hide the wire, again using my dremel.  Remember from a previous post that I am round-wiring so cutting channels is a necessity in order to hide the wires. 

The front exterior light cord will go through this hole I pre-drilled, and then the wire will lay hidden in the channel shown below, I will wallpaper over this so you won't be able to see the wire. 

My dremel attachment tool, while deep, is also small enough to cut a perfect channel, and the 1/2scale wire is thin enough that I don’t have to keep drilling and drilling, one pass made short work of it.  This channel will hide the wire perfectly down to the floor, I will notch out the floor so it will sit flush, and then it's final resting place will be in the powerstrip that will be housed under the foundation, the rest of the interior lights will follow in suit.

I will detail more on the powerstrip at later time as the foundation intended for this house is a large thick solid block of MDF.  As a result of this, unlike most other dollhouses, there is no area underneath the foundation in which to use to hide the powerstrip.  While I do have a place in mind, it's better saved for a later post. 

I took to heart a tip from one of the miniature books I read early on, which said that you should create a back panel behind the exterior lights you choose to use.  I always liked that idea and think it adds a finished and more realistic look.  I had a 1/2scale stair tread left over from the Bungalow and as it had a pre-drilled hole in it already, I thought that it worked perfectly.  I cut it to size and painted it my contrasting trim color, (Linen by FolkArt).   

I will then mount it to the front of the wall, I need to first touch up and put a final coat of the green paint on before this is glued in place, (until then here is an image so you can get the general idea)…

The exterior coach light will sit right on top of this backer plate. 

 
I then moved on to the interior lights.  Going based on my plan and pre-drawn out sketches I was quickly able to cut all the channels that I will need for my lighting plan.  I have everything labeled so I don’t get confused…

This is the bedroom light channel,

(to one side of the french door)…

  

This is the desk light channel,

(to the other side of the french door).

Channel for the desk light plug,

(on the third floor)…

This channel I cut a little deeper on the first floor,

(it will house the bathroom and kitchen wires)…

Bathroom light…

Kitchen light…

The images of the bathroom and kitchen lights that you are looking at are of the ceilings of these two rooms.  The X's are drawn on the ceilings are to help me find the center of the rooms. 

They are based on where the wall meets the ceiling, and not on the entire floor.  RGT houses, esp. have exterior walls that are thick, and they can take up a little bit of width into your floor, so your ceiling is not necessarily on the edge of the floor...(does that make sense?).  So during a dry-fit, I make pencil lines showing where this difference is, and then make the X's based on those lines. 

Now that this part is finished, I can start moving on to the next step in the lighting phase…

Before I end this post, I must say "HI!" to my new follower... Jennifer!!!  I love new followers, and I'm super happy she joined us!  Check out her space at http://www.plushpussycat.com/

"The best laid plans..."

"of mice and men often go awry..."

I should never start a process with a plan and an intention.  It never really works out that way.  It's better when I have no idea and fly by the seat of pants!  I had every intention of starting my wiring on the farmhouse this week, and then my real-life and my miniature life got in the way. 

I am waiting on that final electrical part in order to get going.  I told you previously that I worked out a detailed electrical plan and I'm worried that if I begin the process without the missing piece, I might get confused.   

There are about a x1000 things going on in my RL right now, mostly because it's the Holiday season, and that's probably a fact for a lot of others as well.  So I don't feel too badly that I've been almost too busy, (even if the part had arrived) to work on the house. 

On top of all of this, can you believe that I am debating (at least) x2 other houses!?!  I wonder if it's a sickness... it seems to be going around, at least in my mini-areas!!! 

We will have to see what transpires...

Finally I will end this week by saying a big "Hello!!!" to my new follower Cote... :)  Thanks for joining... :)

Finally...a blog post worth reading ;)

Yes...finally, a blog post of mine worth reading... ;)

Yes, I am fully aware that every post is worth reading, (even if it's just my mom reading them ;), but this one we are finally getting down to actual work/assembly...no more fiddle-faddle.

I had told you previously that I would be lighting this house, it's now a done deal.  I am waiting for the one electrical supply that I didn't already have in my stock, (1/2scale electrical outlets), and I will be starting!

I have decided to do the round wire method for this house, (my other option being tape-wire).  I chose round because it seemed much easier on a house this size.  The brads and soldering wires just seemed like it might be more difficult in 1/2scale, add to that it would really only be my 2nd time with tape-wire and it made for a bad equation, (at least for me!).   

While I am wiring the house, I'm not going too crazy with lots of lights. 

The first floor lights will consist of an exterior light on the front porch, a light in the living room, and one in the kitchen.  The second floor will have a light in the bedroom and the bathroom.  And finally the third floor will have a light where the office will be.  It seems like it's more than it really is, after writing it down that is, but I really just wanted one light per floor.  It worked out that I had some extras to add a little bit.  I can't wait to reveal my choices, but that will come a little later. 

I can't wait to start the process!!!  I will begin with the exterior porch light, so stay tuned... ;)

Christmas Trimmings...

Just when I said I wasn't mini-ing much this week... ;)

Although I'm not mini-ing, (literally sitting down at my desk to work on minis), my mind is not far from the hobby at any given point during the day...

I headed over to my local dollar tree store today(for things unrelated to minis) and ended up picking up a couple of things that look like they will be perfect for the farmhouse...

A tree w/snow, maybe for outside?

 x2 trees w/o snow, maybe for inside?

I'm quite hoping this kicks me with enough inspiration to get some of the house ready so I can do some decorating for Christmas...I don't quite yet know if these are going to work in the house or not...they may be a little large, but I'm hoping for the best... :)

Turkey Time = No Mini Time

I'm still here...I haven't defected... ;)

With the Thanksgiving holiday, and my husbands birthday, and Black Friday, I've been soo super busy lately!!!  Things are luckily starting to calm down a bit, so I have a quick minute to write to you, so you know I haven't jumped off the face of the earth!!!

I didn't do Thanksgiving dinner at my house, however I did have to clean and prepare a dinner for my husband's family for his birthday plus bake for the house we did attend for dinner, so last week was kind of crazy in that respect.

I was a crazy person and got up at 3am to go to the Black Friday sales.  It was not the first time I've done it, but it has been quite a few years since I've gone.  This year was more necessary because as my daughter gets older and money gets tighter, finding a good deal on toys is almost a necessity...

I ended up going to Target, Toys R Us, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Home Depot, Michaels, & K-Mart.  Target was the easiest...I got there after the "crazy-ies" and just before the crowds.  I got 3 things, (two more than I expected to get) and was in an out in 15mins. 

Then I headed to Toys R Us, where most of the things I wanted were priced right just at 5am.  I was early, so I pretty much loaded my cart w/my deals and wandered around.  I should have wandered over to the line.  I could have spent between 4:15 and 5am in that line!  It was the worst line, but it did move quickly. 

I then headed over to Home Depot, got my holiday plants and wreaths, then to Jo-Anns.  I wanted just one scrapbook and wanted to look at the Butterick patterns, (as they were only $1)...they didn't have x1 available that I wanted!!! :(  I did pick up a Ott Lite...a pretty good deal come to find out, (under $15!).  It's not the exact one I had wanted, but I still like it a lot!

Lastly was Michaels and K-Mart.  First off, I HATE K-Mart, (almost as much as I hate Wal-Mart!), but they had a good deal on something I wanted.  I picked up my one thing...waited in line for 45mins, was next to pay and their registers crashed.  I threw the item on the counter and walked out!  I ended up coming home, purchasing online and I'll pick up in store later today...much easier!!!

Micheals experience was almost just as bad!!!  I bought three things that weren't on sale until Saturday!  They loaded up my cart w/my bags, then someone else got me a new cart, transferred my bags and left a bag of stuff behind, (that they've since mis-placed)... and their register didn't accept their own coupons...needless to say, I will not be venturing back there anytime soon!!! :P

Well, after all that, we are finally settled from the Holiday!!!  Except that now I've got to start the decorating... :)   So I'm not sure how much more mini-ing you are going to see at least this week.  Hopefully things will be calmed down enough for me to mini next week... :)

Bay Window... Pt. I

A big feature that drew me to this particular house was the bay window.  I'm a huge fan of natural light in real-life and always wanted a bay window in my own house, having it in miniature is pretty close to the next best thing. 

After priming I had cleaned it up a bit with some stucco to help make the seams less notice-able.  The middle interior frames, (the areas with the grids) are removeable, (I assume for ease of painting), but thus made horrible seams.  I wanted them covered up...  

I sanded and repainted, and then worked a bit on the interior side.  This photo below shows the two gaps where the interior frames meet the main frame.   

I presently have them filled them with some spare strip wood cut to size.  This may not be the final outcome for this part of the window, I wish to also fill the middle area of each frame with a piece of strip wood also.  I'm working out a better solution though, something more smooth-looking, but it works fine for right now. 

You will notice above that the strip wood does not come all the way down to the base of the window.  That is because before I had started the above process, and while the frames were still detached from the main window, I had taken a Foamie and made a template for a window seat.  I will end up re-doing this later with another foamie added and then cover it with some decorative fabric.  These two mid-pieces I created will sit on top of the window seat that will eventually be there...

I still have to cut interior trim for around the bay as it was not provided, but that's the easy part! :)

Mini-Friend's Give-Away... :)

Check out a mini-friends give-away... :)

I'm not going to enter myself...(my mind is over-whelmed with 1:24 scale) so I will save the larger scale items for someone who can use them...but you should check out the give-away... :)

http://amysdelights.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-mini-giveaway.html

While you are there, check out the SIMPLY GORGEOUS Fairfield dollhouse (by Greenleaf)!!! 

JEALOUS = ME!

Main Windows...

Well, I'm camped out here at the worse end of the whole dollhouse building experience.

At least in my opinion anyways :)

I am starting this week working on my components, (components being the doors, windows, porch posts, trim, etc.).  I find that they are the most tedious part of this entire process.  I almost despise painting windows, to the point of being attracted to a specific style of house, depending on the amount of windows!!!

A favorite mini-blogger has said numerous times that you should work on your components, paint and assemble(if necessary), prior to the build itself.  It helps to not only keep the parts together, but also because you will find these pieces are done and ready, waiting for you to need them.  I took this piece of advice to heart when building the 1/2scale Bungalow and came out successful, so figured I'd do it again. 

Which really only means I'm stuck doing this now, but at least getting over with means the fun part can start that much sooner!!!

Now, let's bring you up to speed...

The country farmhouse kit itself has 4 main windows, 1 bay window and 2 round attic windows, 2 porch posts, 1 porch header, and a front door, all as standard pieces.  I must be a glutten for punishment, because I added a double french door, I'm adding at least 2 more windows, and possibly putting in a kitchen door. 

The 4 main windows that come included with the country farmhouse kit look like this...

I chose (mainly because I had enough leftovers in my stash) to upgrade these windows to this one...

Houseworks #H5032 

I didn't want just an all white, plain white window, and tried to think of complimentary colors to the Italian Sage Green that I chose for the main body of the house.  I ended up with a color called Linen.  I painted the interior part of the window white, (as RL windows look like this in my opinion, so I thought it made sense) and the frame around the window the Linen color...

This is what I ended up with...

I painted the interior/opposite side all plain white and was finally able to finish all 4 main windows. 

I am keeping the green few and far between as the house itself will be painted in the green.  I thought it would over-board adding too much of anything else green... :)

Preparing the ceilings…

So I worked most of the day today on the ceilings.  I intend to paint them all white, but I want a nice crisp white color, so I want to make sure to prepare the wood very well to achieve the best results.  I had stained the floors the other day and had ended up with some mess from the stain leaking through to the other side.  This can happen despite how careful you really are, (and I was super careful!).  Luckily most of my “mistakes” will be covered by crown molding. 

I intend to do all rooms in the house with crown molding.  I feel that the crown (and baseboards) really add something to the finished look of the house itself.  I will not be adding crown to the 3rd floor/attic area as the walls are all angled, instead I will do something else, something more appropriate, for those rooms. 

I remember with my 1/2scale Bungalow I had a heck of a time cutting the crown molding out, and am trying to avoid that this time around, so I will try to work on the majority of the crown molding now.  In order to work on the crown molding before the house is even assembled, dry-fitting is completely a necessity.  During one of the dry-fits I did, I traced the outline (in pencil of course) to where the walls and dividers meet the ceilings.  Below is a photo representing what I mean. 

You can see my pencil lines here. 

The lines on the left edge and the top are where the exterior walls jut into the house.

The lines to the right are representative of the depth of a divider that will go along this wall. 

Notice the divider is pushed straight against the staircase hole, so the stringer will lay flat against it perfectly.   

The room you are looking at above is the kitchen ceiling.  It is the room to the right side of the house on the first floor.  The room to the right is going to be the dining room/living room, and is on the first floor and has the bay window.  I will cut crown molding to fit both of these rooms and I will cut them against the pencil lines shown.  I am first going to work on the staircase opening to the right.  I want to cut crown to go all around the opening. 

These are the tools that I use...

I use a pencil, ruler, crown molding and my Easy Cutter.  I have just a basic Easy Cutter, I find it does not open wide enough to accommodate full scale moldings, but it will work perfectly here. 

I chose a crown with a pretty basic design, but you want to make sure

you decide which end goes to the ceiling and which to the floor.

I will not be using 'Butt Ends' except on pieces that will be at the back/open part of the house.  I use 'Cope Ends' for my cuts.  I find that crown cuts are difficult to master, but once you get them, you don’t forget them. 

Using my tools I was able to cut the entire crown for the staircase. 

I may know what I’m doing, but that doesn’t mean,

no matter how careful I am, that I don’t end up with mistakes!

I’m not ready to glue it down just yet, (or stain it for that matter). 

So I mark it on the ceiling. 

I put it all into place and outline the width directly onto the ceiling.

This is for 2 reasons:
#1 – I have a hard time gluing to painted ceilings, so this is a mark to know where not to get paint. 
#2 – I label the area with tick marks and corresponding tick marks onto the back of the crown itself, so I know which piece goes where. 

I then baggie it all up and put it aside for later. 

This little house is going to suck up a TON of crown.  This staircase area took almost an entire strip.  I had 1 strip leftover and I got only 2 walls of the ceiling in the kitchen.  So it looks like I’m off to find some more before I can continue.  I have lots of other things to do still, so waiting for more crown won’t slow me down! 

Progress is being made...

It's been decided for me...the "combination" door that I created will be the front door for this house.  My DH really loved it and so did a great mini-friend...plus out of my choices it was definitely my favorite too!

In addition to the decision regarding the door, I was also able to get a few other things done. 
I had mentioned before that I might change out the floor color stain.  I did.

I decided that if I was really going to go "country farmhouse", then those red-orangey floors didn't blend well at all.  I had been stuck on Minwax Golden Oak 210B for the floors...

Then I got a kick of inspiration from another blogger, (coincidentally working on a 1/2scale house too!)... I changed it up and went with Minwax Provincial 211...

I am VERY happy with the early results.  I still have to sand and stain again, and sand and poly, but the color is perfect and I'm super happy with how it's coming along!!!

The stair stringer to this house is MDF and the stair treads are wood.  Mainly because I can never get MDF to stain the way I like I decided to paint the stringer white (so the risers are white) and stain the treads the Provincial.  I was very happy with how the treads came out as well.  The kit did not provide railings or spindles so I'm working on what to do as I would like to add them. 

Replacing the staircase to this house with the Houseworks 1/2scale staircase kit was not an option.  First off it's out of my budget.  Secondly, when I had first started this house, I had ordered one and dry fitted it in place.  Problem #1 is that it's too wide, and problem #2 is that it's too tall.  There would have been many improvises to make and it seemed like a waste of time and money to do.  So I sold the staircase kit to another mini-friend and kept the original. 

My theory behind this is, that while it does matter right now, during the building process, it really won't make a difference come the time when the house is all put-together, and the staircase is pretty much hidden(as I have still some more grand plans for it), it really won't matter to anyone but me!

Didn’t I do that already?

There is a good sale coming up at a favorite online store just after Christmas so I will probably place my order for the last few things I need then; that only means to me that I don’t have long until I need to decide on a front door!!! :P

If you can remember far enough back I had “made” a door out of two doors for my Fairfield.  (I would have stolen that door, but it met a sad demise). 

I took a Houseworks 1/2scale Palladian Door H6015 and a Houseworks 1/2scale Traditional 4-Panel Exterior Door, H6001…

And blended them together to get the same standard door that is often seen on many RGT houses.  At the time it seemed to me the perfect “kitchen” type door. 

Here is the “finished” product…

And here it is in the wall for the Fairfield Kitchen…

I do remember that I had to cut the door part a little bit to fit into the new frame.  I cut from the base of the door, as it seemed it would be less noticeable, my cut still ended up crooked, but I don’t think you can really tell. 

I’m trying to decide on just the right door.  I am torn between a few right now… here are my choices… let me know what you think, maybe that will help me decide! :)

Door A:

The Victorian door

w/the header cut off

 Door B:

The Palladian door

w/the header cut off

 Door C:

The Victorian Glazed Door

 Door D:

My combination

Now, looking at them all-together, I'm almost leaning towards my "combination"... what do you think?  I think it fits the "farmhouse-y" feel that I'm going for a little bit better than the rest of them. 

I think the 1st Victorian is out, it's too much and will distract from the rest of the house, (not to mention you won't really see the header as the porch ceiling will cover most of it).  The 2nd door looks a little too "regal" to me with the frame...do you agree?

Finalizing the plans…

I first want to say “HELLO” to my new follower…Kathi at Beautiful Mini Blessings.  I found her through another mini-blog and think she’s very talented.  Kabrina - you DEF. need to crack that box open and build along w/me!!! :)

Secondly...Audra - I have been working in "Live Writer" and instead of saving to my dashboard it "posts" when I'm finished...though I'm not yet ready to post it to my page yet...that's probably what you are missing.

I have been working on getting some plans set down for this house, in the earlier stages of my “mini”-ing I had read this great book and it explained that you should make up a binder for your projects.  In your binder you should have some samples of wallpapers, fabrics, paint swatches, instructions, photos, design ideas, etc.  This made a lasting impression on me, it really helps to keep ideas straight for the particular build, a want/wish list, a lighting plan, etc.  It really helps, I’ve found, to slow down the “over-buying” that can often happen in mini. 
 
I have no idea how, but I was able to squeak out enough time to go through the box that had the pieces of the farmhouse, and various other 1/2scale items, I even found the missing directions.  A few things were not accounted for, but I was able to contact RGT and re-order all of the missing items. 

Previously I had painted all the ceilings white and stained the floors in Red Mahogany 225 by Minwax. 

Stained Floors…

 
I am debating right now on going to a lighter stain color or not, they are very orangey-red! 
 
I am still going to cut new window holes in the attic windows, here’s a recap on some dry-fits that I did.

Side 1

Side 2

 

I did cut the door hole for the side door already…

I was right about needing a new front door, I am still deciding which one to go with and then I will be placing an order for it.  I also have decided to add some light to the house.  I am only going to put in a few lights…probably something lit on each floor.  I will have an exterior light, a fireplace light, a bedside light, a desk light and 1 little trick light, (more on that later). 

I think putting electricity in this house will be relatively easy.  I have all the lights I need already, (thanks to leftovers) and I have all the electrical supplies I need, (thanks to leftovers).  I will have to do a more detailed mock-up of the lighting plan before I start construction though. 

I do have to finish some clean-up work and organizing in my craft area and then I will be ready to build!!! :)

Tipping the Scales…

So while I may have brought the Woodstock down, I definitely brought the Country Farmhouse up! 

I definitely do still have to go through all of my halfscale items to see what I might need to get and what I can live without and plus make sure that there are no missing pieces of the house that I might need in order to finish the actual build.  Not to mention I need to locate the missing directions for the Farmhouse!!!  I know off the top of my head that I have all the windows I need, but I do need a front door...

I'm very excited to work on this, because at this point, I think most of all of my Lydia Pickett items have arrived!!!  I think I'm waiting on just the kitchen set.  So building this house will be twice as exciting as I get to build all the furniture for it afterward!!!

I thought I would add some of my pictures from my previous blog posts to catch you up...

The classic “box” shot!

Dry fit pt.1

 

Paint color choices…

The doorway I cut into the living room wall

Changing Course…

So I spent most of the day Monday packing up the Woodstock and moving it downstairs.  It’s carefully put away, and along with all my grand plans, it’s awaiting it’s glory day…until then it will hibernate in the basement.

In having to pack all of these things up and move them, I did a lot of thinking.  I realized that while I’m down, I’m not really out… ;)

I semi-forgot that I have the 1/2scale Country Farmhouse sitting in a box, unfinished in the basement.  I'll have to go through the box and make sure I have everything I need to finish working on this…and we may have found the newest subject for my blog!

The next idea I have is inspired by another miniature maker…she is doing a sort of replication of her childhood home and turning it into a haunted house.  While I don’t want to re-create my home, or make a haunted house, the “childhood” theory struck a chord with me. 

My very first dollhouse was a Greenleaf Coventry Cottage.  My house was never fully finished, (no porch posts, no shingles, no windows or frames, and no paint really to speak of, I still loved it!!!  I remember my birthday party that year, I had gotten a bunch of pieces of furniture for it, I had decorated it with stickers and towels for rugs.  I had ended up giving it to my cousin,when I felt I was too old to keep it, and it got crushed by my grandpa when he accidentally fell on it. 

I had tried to re-create it a while back, and I didn’t have much success with my newbie status and since then have wanted to do it again.  I realized that I have just enough left in gift certificates from HBS to get one with a good sale, so that could be another possibility.  A third and final maybe is a Greenleaf Glencroft.  A close friend did one and I was able to help a little, I love it and think I could have a lot of fun with one, but I’d need a great sale at HBS for that to come true.

So for the time being I’m going to see if I can find some free time to work on the 1/2scale Country Farmhouse.  So stay tuned for more… :)

A lesson learned the hard way…

I have certainly learned my lesson.  I will never again purchase a house with any parts of MDF in it...just when I get back started blogging and getting serious about this dollhouse this time, I get hit with some disappointing news. 
 
I sort of explained to you the situation with my MDF exterior walls and the problems that they are creating with these "divit" things, well yesterday after a very disappointing dollhouse-filled day, I finally had to admit defeat. 
 
I had previously put DAP onto each and every clapboard, painstakingly sanding away at my DAP covered walls and then yesterday I finally decided that I wanted to see some of the glory of my hard work.  I cleaned up one exterior panel and went to work priming!!! 
 
Talk about counting your chickens before they are hatched!!!
The walls are still just as bad, almost as if I had done nothing at all to them. 

As a result of this, I am super upset and super frustrated, I refuse to keep sanding, and I refuse to do anything else but replace these walls.  I truly do not want any of this MDF anywhere now.  I’ve put money into it, and planned out everything so nicely, that building it in it's current condition would be very depressing to me.  So now, no matter how much I sand and sand away, I’M always going to know that it looks this way, and I'm too much of a perfectionist to put it together looking this way. 

The cost of new walls is very far out of my budget…it’s not even a possibility at this point.  So my husband and I sat down yesterday and had a long discussion about it, probably a longer discussion than a dollhouse, namely this one, deserves!  We finally came to the only solution we could, put it away until maybe my daughter is a few years older, and old enough to help me work on it, and then, maybe we will be able to spend the money to purchase the better walls.  So I guess that until then it’s going to be stored away. 
 
Very sad, and a very hard lesson learned… :(

Sanding stinks!

I love your comments, and I hope you don't think I'm rude not to respond...for some reason I can't!!! :P  So if you ever have a question or comment, I do read them, I appreciate them very much :) and I will answer in the next post... :)

I told you about my mistake of a lifetime with this house...NOT double checking that all of it was MDF!!!
I place blame else-where because I'm too immature to accept it myself... :P

Anyways... I showed you previously that my house looked like either the neighborhood children hate it and throw their baseballs at it, or one day maybe the owner got mad at it and started hitting it with his golf club, or like a fellow mini-blogger commented, "maybe it was in a freak hail storm!"

Just a refresher of what I'm dealing with... 

No matter what the cause...it had to be fixed...I felt that it just wasn't good enough to sand it and pretend that it didn't exist...if I'm going to spend the money on the kit and I'm going to put the work into it that I plan on, this exterior look was completely un-acceptable to me!

I had contacted the company and requested a price on replacing all the MDF walls w/milled plywood walls...well, out of my budget... so the really only other solution was to DAP each clapboard with a thin layer, (a steel spatula tool worked the best for this) and then sand it back off again...

I used DAP that goes on pink and dries white

as everything was primed before I encountered this problem,

made life easier!

*Sorry, the camera lens was fogged up because it spent the night in my cold car!

This is what it looked like once it was all dried...:P

I'm now at the point of sanding all of this back off again

...and it's soo much fun!!! :P 

NOT!

*but...it does look really good... :P

I have a system going at this point, sand 7 clapboards, vaccum up the dust, go back, touch up, vaccum...I could go into business with this new talent of mine, do you think there's a market for DAPing dollhouse walls?

I will end up replacing some of my pre-painted walls...4 at this point, with the milled plywood versions.  They are just beyond repair.  I'm waiting until I finish sanding all the walls and get a coat of paint on them...once I see the final finished product and depending on the final outcome...I may have to breakdown and go for all the walls... :P