My First Inspiration

I think we should start with the project that got me inspired. Abby was given an unfinished dollhouse by her Aunt Sandy (the yellow above is finished, the blue below is how we received it).

This house was originally a gift from my mom, Margie, to my niece, Kelsey. As it goes, Sandy and Kelsey did not make too many improvements to the house. 

This gave me the opportunity for a full "reno". 

First, some curb appeal. I chose a Winnie the Pooh yellow I had from a bookshelf I painted for Abby.

Next, well, time to shop. There is my trusty http://www.miniatures.com/, but on-line shopping is not quite as fun as the touchy-feely stuff when it comes to miniatures. Enter the forbidden place, Nancy's Dollhouses and Miniatures in Naples, FL (which I am now learning is closed 😢). I needed supplies. But more importantly, I needed knowledge. The ladies at the shop taught me so much about wall paper and flooring for this project and later tons more about lighting, crown molding, pavers, glues, etc.

Now, I did have some "learning opportunities" along the way. The ladies told me to treat the wallpaper with a spray (still not sure what kind) and allow it to dry before applying it to the walls with Grandma Stove's wallpaper paste. Did I do that? No. The resulting damage really showed when I made my second mistake of keeping the dollhouse in my garage. This isn't just any garage. This is a garage in humid Southwest Florida.

You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the picture above. The wallpaper is wrinkled and translucent. But, we crafting warriors move on. I stained a hardwood flooring sheet for the living room. I used faux tile sheets for the bathroom and the kitchen. In the bathroom, I also played around with wainscoting.

Then comes the decorating. Some miniatures I purchased. Some I got from my mom from the dollhouse we had when we were kids. And some I made like the towels pictured below.

Finally, the finished project. There is a roof top garden and an attic too.

I can tell you this just got me excited to make another dollhouse, but from the very start. It was time to shop for a kit.