Christmas House ~ Part III:

So I have really just been working away on the fine details before I can get the house assembled.  While typing away I realized that I haven't shown you my color palette yet...I chose warmer colors, but all three Christmas themed...

I have finished staining all the interior pieces I wish, (with the exception of crown moulding and baseboard)...I will have to do that later)... I've painted all the exterior pieces and they are ready to go, the final step before I can assemble is deciding on the wallpaper/s...

I'm torn between putting up a printed paper, and using just a plain color, and what plain color to use... so I it will be another day or so before that decision is made.

At my last trip to Michael's, I made sure to scour every aisle looking for add-ons to so speak for the house and this is what I found...

Lights for my tree, I hope.  They are Lemax lights, and were not cheap by any means, but I *think* they are small enough for my tree!

Ornaments?  Well, more buttons, but I think they could make some good ornaments, what do you think?  Then there's also more cookie-cutter type things too...

Lastly, Pointsettia's...I have a particular idea for these, but more on that later... ;)

Christmas House ~ Part II:

The house arrived in almost no time at all.  I suppose that's the benefit to living only about a state away from the manufacturer!!!  I did a lot to this house while waiting for my camera batteries to charge, so there are not a lot of photos...

It didn't take long for me to get my hands on it!  It's very tiny and there are not many pieces and parts, (for instance there are only 3 windows to assemble, the rest are just trims that will be glued onto the walls.  In one evening and about two hours today I've done quite a lot! 

I started with labeling and punching out each piece, I then organized them into paper bowls to keep them together and sorted. 

I then did the dry-fit of the house.  I have a basic idea of how dollhouses go together and being so small and not many "structural" pieces I honestly have yet to read through the directions.  I do not recommend this for everyone, I just kinda knew what I was doing and where everything went.  It really does go together that simply though. 

I made some markings during the dry-fit on what I want to pre-finish before assembly.  I have to wait for my wallpaper to arrive so I can make the wallpaper templates, but I already had my flooring handy so I drew and cut the floors for both the first and second floors. 

I then started staining.  I don't want white trim in this house, I am opting for stained trims.  I stained all the interior window casings and the interior of the front door. 

There is a bay window and it has a built-in window seat/bookcase, so I stained that front piece.  I will add knobs or something later.  I didn't stain the top part as I have a plan for that, but more on that later... 

I then stained the floors.  The flooring is red oak paper by Houseworks, and it's very nice on it's own or with poly, but I opted to put some stain on it to make it warmer.  I painted on the stain, (each floor board separately, there's not a lot) with a regular paint brush.  I wanted the stain to seep into every crevice on the flooring paper to get a little character in it. 

I next marked on the roofing where painting needs to be done, and made the templates for the shingles for later.  The interior of the bay roof, the entry roof and (possibly) the gable roof will be painted a creamy-white, along with the first floor ceiling.  The rest of the interior roof will be papered, the back roof included. 

The only final decision I have to make is whether or not to add a fireplace.  If I do so, a first floor side window will have to be eliminated, but that shouldn't be too much trouble.  The problem is finding the right fireplace to use!

1/2scale Buttercup/Christmas House (Part I)...

The 1/2scale Buttercup is a really sweet house, it's also done in laser-cut so there is virtually no sanding necessary... I am coming up with some final design ideas while I wait for the house itself to arrive. 

The first thing that I did was to pick the wallpaper and flooring. 

For the wallpaper I chose two prints from a small collection of holiday papers that I found online.  The flooring I chose the red oak hardwood paper by Houseworks.  I was debating on lighting the house, and decided against it, but I will divulge more on that later. 

The house is so small that too much furniture will make it looked over-crowded and cramped, so I'm trying to chose just the right pieces and their placements and create more of a "scene" than a "house"... 

The outside of the house I'm a little nervous and excited about.  I plan to texture the outside, like stucco.  I have never done that to a house before so I'm a little nervous on how to do it and hope that it will come out the way that I want. 

Holidays On The Mind ~

I have to admit, I am suffering from a HUGE case of the "Holidays On The Mind" right now!!! 

I think it might have to do with what I found at Michaels the other day...

These are all buttons!!!  They come in packs like this...the first is stockings, then a cookie display, there are really tiny cookie cutters in there!  and the last is some Holly Berries.  I found these in a holiday aisle at Michaels, (very randomly)...they have my head buzzing!!!  

I probably got into the whole dollhouse hobby in order to be able to decorate it for the different yearly holidays.  In the length of time I've been working on dollhouses, I have nothing to show for being able to decorate a house...so I decided to do a holiday themed house instead!

I'm going to take a small pause from the Farmhouse, (yeah, I know I just started on it again!).  You can blame Greenleaf for that!  They had a big sale to celebrate the end of the election season and of course, I took part. 

I ended up with a laser-cut 1/2scale Buttercup kit...

I want to make this a house you might see in the North Pole, not so much a "gingerbread" house, but more along the lines of a house that an Elf might actually live in.  I want to use some of the button/decorations I showed you above, of course a decorated tree, some special wallpaper that I found, and lights.  I am going to make this very "cozy/cottage" with possibly a fireplace, just have to decide if I'm willing to lose a window for that!  

I am pretty excited about this house, I can't wait to get started on it.  This particular house is really only two rooms, so it shouldn't take very long to finish it at all...that's the plan/hope anyways!!!

My First Built-In ~

If you belong to any of the miniature forums that I do, you've already seen my pictures of this, but I thought I would follow it up with a detailed post. 

I had been playing around with the staircase  staircase wall for the first floor and came up with the idea to create a built-in.  I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but I remembered I had a half-scale Houseworks bookcase in my miniature stash

I first measured out where on the wall the stairs and the bookcase would go I then created a support behind the bookcase to make up the difference in the width.  I decided it should be flush with the staircase rather than sit in...

I then used a template and cut the triangle piece that goes between the staircase and the bookcase, and then did the same for the top piece...

I then built out the opposite side piece, and wrapped it around the corner... I supported everything from behind in the same way as the bookcase, it's a bit wonky looking but no-one will see that once it's finished. 

I next need to paper the staircase wall, attach the staircase and built-in unit to the wall, and mud, sand, paint and paper, but I'm really happy with how everything came out...

Back From A Long Hiatus ~

So I am back! 

I know that I’ve been gone for a very long time, and the reasons are extremely personal.  I would much rather keep the blog focus on getting back to the Farmhouse and bog down with the whys… So I will just say “HI!” and “I’m back!  Did you miss me?”

I would like to try to do a big push to getting the Farmhouse complete or at least near complete before the Holidays.  I have some time right now where I’m going to be stuck at home with not a lot to do, so it makes the perfect opportunity for me to miniature my heart out!  

So let’s pick up were we left off…
The last thing I showed you was that I had glued the main structure together, attached the porch boards, run the wire channels and showed you a preview mock-up of my patio area that I want to create.  I got stopped up by something with the house, which had initially been the reason for my hold.  I kept getting into a mental funk about it, and wondering what it was that was stopping me, and now I know what it is.  The wiring channels!!!

I had run and cut the wiring channels in order to make my floor work, however, I’m unhappy with the decisions on the wire channels and I’m going to sacrifice my floor and budget (because I’ll have to figure out a new floor).  So I’m going back and going to re-cut my wiring channels in order to make them work out the way that I want. 

I next want to go really “farmhouse” on this.  I’m going to stick right with the feel that this house keeps giving me and I’m changing out the wallpaper,  and possibly part of the patio) and some of my interior lights also. 
Here are my ideas for lights…

Exterior Coach Lights

Table Lights

Ceiling Lights

Floor Lamps

I’m super happy with this decision as I’ve not really seen what I’m planning (as far as decor goes) on another house, let alone a half scale house… I hope you like it too!!! :)