I have 2 new YouTube Videos

Well, next to nothing on any dollhouse, but I did get to make YouTube videos for Larkspur Lane and MacPherson Farm.

...... MacPherson Farm ......

...... 22 Larkspur Lane ......

These can also be linked from the We are on YouTube icon on the Home Page.



Great Day -- Back to the Montclaire!

Montclaire with sandstone sheets (MBS) and windows test

With 22 Larkspur Lane under control and just needing finishing touches, I feel it is time to finish Montclaire House (a RGT Montclaire kit bash). It has sat in its present state of incompletion for 2 years. I love the house, but I just drifted away from dollhouse building.
...
I am making the exterior similar to a real stone house in Philadelphia. I am covering it with a sandstone stone. I started with this idea, then I was going to "hand-scribe" sandstone bricks. But in my stack of supplies I remembered sandstone stone vinyl sheets from Model Builders' Supply (MBS). Andrew and I decided that scribing was going to take forever while gluing on the sheets, hopefully would be quicker. I have used these in brick and also Spanish tile patterns and found them easy to use, well, relatively! This method will certainly give me a finished house quickest, and since we like it--a "no-brainer" as people like to say.

I painted the sheets a gold-yellow sandstone with a little sparkle to it.

Real stone house - the porch and gable will be an interesting challenge.

...
I still have to work out how to make the porch that is on the real house, and the whole front section, which will be a pull-away. I think, due to the weight of the gable section, it will be part of the pull-away. Since the roof will flip up, a gable section will add too much weight. This definitely needs some thought and work.
...
Some lights need to be installed and also the problem of how to connect the front lights on a pull-away section.
...
Some reminder pictures of the interior:

Dining Room

Foyer and 2nd floor hall.

Living Room

Library

Master Bedroom

Attic - Music Room

Attic - Recreation Room

Addition - Kitchen, Daughter's Bedroom, Bathroom, Office

...
If you want to learn about all the trials and tribulations of getting these rooms done, go to the original IrisMarchCreations blog link on this page.


Enjoy!

Home At Last--well, almost

Home at last! Well, sort of ...

Every time I think I just have a few more "finishing touches" that shouldn't take too long, fate proves me wrong. The smallest thing grows like Jack's beanstalk. The thing that should have been so easy to do, becomes a challenge. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
...
Anyway, I love making Larkspur Lane, but I am getting "tired" of doing it. My "wanderlust" is calling me to work on a different house. I am trying not to stray, though, but it is getting harder. I keep looking at the Montclaire, and thinking that I should maybe work on attaching the front doors (yet to be cut!) and the porch (yet to be designed!). Speaking of porches, I have decided not to add a front porch.
...
I have a permanent table for Larkspur, and it is now on it with some arbitrary landscape just to make it look like home! I decided it was finished enough and I just had to give it a "life" of its own.
...
In my next post I will describe the trials and good results of using the paper/light poster board [?] brick sheets from HBS. I will tell you, once you figure it out, it's lovely, but ...


Paper brick sheet from HBS.

...
Progress:
The sloping roof is slated, but the dormer roofs need a little more work. The roof is hinged to the flat roof--that actually went quickly! Unfortunately, this thin wood that I used after deciding many times that I would never use it again, has warped at the on the bottom right. Thus I will add a discrete hook and eye to hold it flat.
...
The "take-away" front holds nicely, but I think just to ensure that hold, I will add a small magnet between the exterior and the interior.
...
The flat roof, which actually has a slight slope, is waiting to be finished. I have some electrical wires coming through the roof so I am considering making a roof, over the permanent roof, that can be removed if I have to get to those wires. All the other wires come out the back, so no problem there. All the wires will go into a power strip into a transformer. All the lights planned are in, but I may add 1 or 2 more later. The one thing to be done is how to attach the electric lights to the pull-away front of the house. I am thinking of using a connector to a 9-volt battery hidden in the landscape so I can easily unhook them when I want to open up the house.
...
A number of finishing touches need to be done, but at least now, the Spencer family has a nice, "weatherproof" house in which to live.
...
Some pictures:

Robin's bedroom -those wall lamps were a horror to get on the walls!

Tiny screws, unusable, top-heavy light, but lovely. From HBS.

Ignore the dust, and the ceiling light that refuses to stay glued. I replaced the mahogany vanity with an equally lovely style from HBS.

...
Montclaire House:

It has looked this way for almost 2 years -- and it is such a beautiful house!

OK, now it's your turn! I have cut the front doors and marked the openings for the windows and front door (yet to finish designing the roof with dormers and the front porch). I do have a quandary--I want the house to be "yellowish" sandstone bricks. I was going to going to "do it myself" by covering the wood (3/8" Birch plywood, RGT Montclair kit bash) with a sanded, tinted grout, and then when dry, score it into bricks. I have used this method before--it's boring, tedious, nerve-wracking, and time consuming, but does look good--if you live through the experience!
...
But I have found the vinyl brick sheets (MBS) my sister bought to cover the house. I did a test and they can be refinished. So now the thought of being able, after letting this beautiful house sit neglected for 2 years, be given a exterior finish in a shorter amount of time, is appealing. I will add a picture in my next post.

Real Progress! Of course, ever so slowly.

Some rooms are getting much closer to being finished, but still seem to be aways, away. One of the problems is that I keep finding something to change, or something to add, or something to remove!

I have finished "bricking" the house and will discuss the trials and tribulations of using those sheets in my next post. It was interesting, to say the least! The roof is finally glued down--no more getting into the upstairs hallway!

I have finished the main stuff for the living room and master bedroom, but they still need something here and there. The master bedroom ceiling light has to be glued--those "sticky" pads supplied never hold for long--I don't even know why I bother with them.
Electricity is going well. I am pulling the wires out the back of the house and into those power strips into a transformer. I haven't figured out how to electrify the front coach lamps--but that's for another day!

I have decided that the attic slated roof will open upward on hinges. I was going to make it a pull-away, but that flimsy lumber and the weight of the dormers scared me that too many pulling away and the roof would not survive very long. Besides I already have the first floor front a pull-away, but that seems quite secure.
...

The brick are very nice (interesting to use!!), but not as red as this.

...

This color is more accurate.

...

Interior view of all rooms.

...

Living room facing left.

...

Living room entire.

...

Living room facing right.

...

Dining room.

...

Dining room facing left.

...

Dining room facing right.

...

Robin's bedroom.

...

Master bedroom.

Christmas at Lockspur Lane

I am always amazed that even a little item to be done may turn into a time consuming task. (sigh) I reentered this hobby with a small dollhouse to build so that I could quickly finish. No such deal.

Also, I forgot some of the neat labor-saving methods that I had learned (sigh, again). Anyway, I am having a good time (and driving my husband crazy) and the house is coming along nicely.

I have 98% finished the living and dining rooms and I am only doing minor things for a while. I have decorated the living and dining rooms and the little people want to have a party without sawdust and other building debris falling around them!

Dining Room

Living Room

Dining Room with guests

Living Room with guests

House unfinished but on its way

Brick sheet from HBS--trying something new -- we shall see

I am still having trouble with images in BlogSpot--really strange!