The Excitement Begins

It took a long time to find a name for this house. Then I remembered a favorite book from my  childhood—The Password to Larkspur Lane! (Nancy Drew was my favorite series.) I don't remember the story, but I always loved that street name!

The house is owned by Abigail and Samuel Spencer and is “located” in Williamsburg, Virginia just outside the Historic District and not far from Abigail’s Teashop (Iris March Creations blog). For previous dollhouses, I always wrote a detailed biography of the owners. There is a partial bio of the Spencers in Iris March Creations. While I am back in the dollhouse hobby, I have not as yet, got back into that level of detail--maybe later, or for the next dollhouse.
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This dollhouse will be a simple bash. I am basically following the original except making it a front-opening Colonial.

"Simple Bash" --famous last words

Just 4 rooms -- dining room, living room, and 2 bedrooms  -- just tired of kitchens and baths (except in real houses!)

Picture windows in living room and dining room

I recut the wood from ¼” plywood to make a more stable dollhouse without “patches” and with a more stable wood. The exterior dimensions are 28 3/8 x 16 ¼ x 28” tall. The living room is 13” x 16”, the dining room 12” x 16”, and the bedrooms have similar sizes. The 1^st floor has 9” ceilings, the 2^nd floor 7 ½“, but sloping. There will be a center chimney.
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A word about the lumber:
I used to get good Luan mahogany 1/4" (actually 3/16") and another type (can't remember the name) at Home Depot. No such good stuff this time around, and actually, expensive for poor quality. I did not realize the lack of quality until I started to use it. I have enough usable pieces, and it will work out, but I will never buy it again. 
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The house will be brick using HBS brick sheets and the sloping roof will be slates which I will make using the method I developed for 2004 Oddjob Lane (Iris March Creations blog).

The "slates" on OddJob Lane

The fronts will be “pull-away” as opposed  to hinged since this is only ¼” plywood. Of course, I am not sure how “pull-away” works with thin plywood either!

The 1^st floor flooring is my old favorite for these small houses: ConTact glued to poster board, cut into strips, and glued to the wood with Aileene’s. I think the bedrooms will be carpeted, I like laying individual strips—but only up to a point!

ConTact "wood plank flooring"

The living room will have a “real” single French door, while the dining room will have a faux door to the “kitchen” and the bedrooms will have faux doors to “bathrooms”. I will make the faux doors.
Because of the quality of the wood, the inside walls are first covered with white poster board and then wallpapered.
That's all for now. As usual, all takes longer than expected!

Two years later ...

Corona Ashley



Two years and no dollhouse building. I became very involved with a number of real-world things that took up all my time.

Well, the real-world is under control and I am making some time for the little people again. I decided not to continue blogging in the original Iris March Creations but to start a new blog for anything done (for older or new houses) from now on. I was getting very concerned with the original blog because very often, it did some very strange things. So rather than take a chance messing it up, I will only add a notice about the new blog, and then started anew. I am still working on the finishing touches on the main page.

Needless to say, Montclaire House is exactly as it was in December, 2013. I am re-acquainting myself with what is yet to be done: exterior, lights, and landscaping -- I guess that will take awhile!

I have started an Ashley. I always liked the original which took on a very different look when my sister decided we should give it a full 2nd floor and rooms in an attic.

The multi-bashed previous Ashley known as Badger's Hollow

This new Ashley will have a similar look, except as a Colonial. I am bashing it to double its length and giving it a 16 inch depth. Also, I decided not to use the original wood, but to recut using 1/4 inch plywood. This is more stable.

The house is owned by Abigail and Samuel Spencer. They are already known from Abigail's Teashop and Bakery. Their home is at 22 Larkspur Lane (which is also the "name" of the dollhouse).

Hopefully, it won't be two years before my next post! The blog is still in test mode and I can't insert images into my posts using the "Image" icon. I will put the images in Picassa Web Albums and use code found there to insert images in this blog. It is a bit of a pain, but so far, the only solution.