The Del Prado house, extra dormer windows

In my previous post about the Del Prado house, I mentioned that I was not happy with the boxy layout of the floor plan.  I spent a few days poking the inner walls, rummaging in boxes, and muttering indecisively before attacking the house with a jigsaw and cutting new windows and doors all over.

The first small change I made, was to move the right hand interior walls slightly, to make the passage wider.  Then I decided to turn the walls around so that the doorways in these two rooms are at the back of the house, not the front.  You will see later why this is important.  My master plan ha ha, which keeps changing all the time.

Ken Blake once sold me a box full of parts that were salvaged from a dollhouse someone never finished.  It's been languishing in the store room, I'd nearly forgotten about it.  Some of the pieces were brand new, others were broken and missing parts.  Note, three bay windows, I'm rich!  I selected these salvaged parts to add to the Del Prado house.

After some careful measuring, I took the plunge, and cut lots of windows and doors in the outer walls of the house.  I forgot to take a picture of the back roof, which originally had no windows.  I added two.

 

I cut the bottom off the two broken sash windows, and took the windows apart for repairs and painting.

This is what they became.  The beautiful net curtain is plastic tape on a roll.  I bought it at a scrap booking shop ages ago, for 'some day'.  Using all these bits and pieces from my stash makes me so happy!

Next, I built a box around each window, so that they could become dormers in the two attic rooms of the house.  Lots of cursing and swearing before I got the angles right, I'm no mathematician.  Note, the boxes were built from the discarded plywood of the original kitchen outer wall, I'm not wasting anything.  I did not bother to remove the wallpaper, since the roof will be tiled and painted.

Dormer windows installed.  I'm much happier with the house already!

It's a miniature button day

This is what I'm doing today.  Miniature buttons made of polymer clay, sewn on to vintage button cards.

If you are a maker, HERE's a link to a tutorial a posted a while ago:

Looking for miniature button cards to print, and miniature sewing inspiration?  I saved several to this PINTEREST BOARD.

Back where I began

Hooray!  The house is together again.

Quite an improvement from a few weeks ago.

 

I managed to salvage the interior walls and floors, although I cursed a lot, and was often tempted to throw them out and cut new straight pieces.  I keep telling myself to stick to my plan of retaining as much of the original house as possible.

I'm proud of what I managed to do.  But does it make my heart sing?  Sadly, no.  It's square, and boxy, and dark and boring. 
This house is supposed to grip my imagination, and be a joy to work on.  I will be spending many more months on it.  I know I wanted to keep it original, but I've outgrown it already. 
I want light, I want interesting angles and hidden corners.  I want bay windows and useful attic space and wider hallways and I WANT a conservatory!

The dollhouse architect is back at the drawing board.  Watch this space. 

 

 

Del Prado House - Making a sturdy shell

I have a deadline on 10 December.  Far away, you say?  It's only 78 days! If you only knew how much I need to achieve.  For meeting my daily targets, and to keep myself sane, I'm working on the Del Prado dollhouse in my spare moments.

It looks a bit like an oversized tool caddy, doesn't it?  Since I showed it to you a few weeks ago, I made a lot of progress on the house, then made it undone as I changed my plans.

The first thing to do, was to make the structure sturdy.  I also wanted to preserve and use as much of the original kit as possible.  After going around in circles for a while, I realized that I would have to replace the outer walls.  I messed them up badly during my first attempt many years ago, and trying to straighten things out was near impossible.
I cut a new rear wall, and two side walls, using plywood from an old packing case I found in the barn.  You will notice that the walls are slightly longer.  I'm installing a 'basement' with a storage drawer.  I've already built the drawer.  Paint cans are standing in it. 

I was torn between keeping the original wall and floor papers, or replacing them.  This house must be simple and inexpensive, using materials I already have on hand.  The pink bathroom haunted me, it had to go.  I decided to follow my heart, and start with a blank page.  I soaked the original papers by covering them with a damp cloth until they could be peeled back.  Then I sanded and painted all the interior walls and floors in plain cream.  Now they can become anything!

At this point, I did a 'dry fit' of the interior walls and floors.  To my horror, without proper support at the front, the side walls kept leaning in all directions.  So the whole thing came apart again. 

I installed a beam across the top of the house, and another across the front above the drawer. Finally I'm happy.  Now I can give the interior walls and floors a go, again. 

Monday is a public holiday here in South Africa. We have a lovely long weekend.  I will be working, but I will also take time out to play with the dollhouse.  Interior walls, here we go again!

Delight Yourself

I worked a little on the dollhouse this weekend.  After I did the important stuff I was supposed to do.  I also did a bunch of other stuff that needed doing, and routine work stuff and routine life stuff.  Our lives are filled with so much stuff activities, there never seems to be enough time.  To make it worse, there's always a guilty voice at the back of my mind that tells me to stop playing and get a real job.
Denise's blog post this morning fell on that little voice like Dorothy's house fell on the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.
If you doubt the validity of doing things that bring you joy, read what Denise has to say.