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The Dollhouse that Grandpa Built

So in my last posting I mentioned that I wanted to get a tiny that would work well with a 1/12th scale dollhouse that I had, and here now is that very dollhouse. I ended up hauling it out of the attic late last night, and after a quick dusting I thought I would shoot some pics so I could solicit help/advice in choosing what size of tiny would work best in this house. I have a t-square and my Blythe in the pic to give an idea of scale.

Here is a close-up of the kitchen area with the ruler and Blythe to give a better idea of the scale of the furniture. Although I plan to make some of my own furniture, I would like to be able to use some of the items I already have, as well as 1/12th scale stuff you can find at the local Hobby Lobby. Blythe doesn’t look too happy in this picture, I bet she thinks this house is a dump and she’s glad that she lives in the big house. XD

And lastly, for posterity or whatnot, here is a shot of the front of the dollhouse. I plan to start refurbishing the house, so these can all be used for the “before” pics. 😉 Anyway the house has a sort of German cottage flavor about it. When the house was new, there were little flowery design decals that looked very Pennsylvania Dutch in various spots, as well as plexiglass windows with crisscross lines printed on them for that Tudor feel. The windows have all become brittle and broken over time except one that is now hazy and yellow. The original decals of course started yellowing, and because I found it unsightly when I was younger I was stupid and painted over them. The decals added some serious cute vintage to the whole thing….oh well, we grow, we learn. I think I will probably try to find new decals, or perhaps even make my own stencils to try to bring that back as well.

Enough about rehab plans though. If you have any advice for me on what size of tiny will work best with this house, please share! Last night I poured over Brownies, PukiPukis and Lati whites. I am leaning towards thinking that size will be best, but I’m still not sure. Anyway advice will be much appreciated!

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Christmas Swag Photoshoot.

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I added some new photos to flickr of a quickie photo shoot I did with the new dolls and Re-Ment I got for Xmas this year. To check out all of the photos, just visit my flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsukiyonomiyu/

I took a few more pics after these ones but I haven’t had time to transfer them onto my computer yet. Maybe I can get around to posting those tomorrow though. 🙂

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Pullip’s House – Nearing the Finish Line

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Here is another overall project shot of the house. It’s been a couple days though since these pics, so I have even more done now than the photo shows. As I think I said before, it’s all the small detail work now, trimming out the windows and the rooms.

livingroom

I shot this pic of the finished living room with the flash. I wind up working on the house off and on all day and then take progress pics at night. Unfortunately taking pics at night isn’t the best of things. Anyway the flash made the aqua paint seem lighter than it actually is.

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Here is the front door area. I wanted to have working doors on this house and also some windows you could open and close for photo ops, and well fun also! Some of the windows I am framing out though are not hinged. I am also not putting any type of fake glass in the windows, because I am just not that fond of it, however as you can see from my photos I have been adding the detail of wood sashes as it makes things look more charming.

I can’t remember what I’ve already discusses by way of working with hinges, so if I repeat myself forgive me…The doors are hinged using 1/2 inch hinges. These were attached with screws and are very sturdy so these doors can be played with, without any fear of them coming off. The windows on the other hand are only 1/4 inch thick wood so I’ve been having to make do with small 1:12 scale brass hinges. These are the type of hinges that you have to nail in with tiny brass nails, and not surprisingly they pull out easy. I’ll be frank, using the 1:12 scale hinges for playscale is sucky, because they are not durable enough and can’t handle the stress of the larger windows and the repeated usage. However because these hinges were all I could find to hinge my windows, I’ve been having to deal with them, and I can share a few tips with you.

My first tip for working with the 1:12 scale brass hinges is to start your nail hole with a straight pin. By starting the hole with a straight pin you create a channel to get it started and thusly it makes it easier to hammer those tiny blasted nails in. Secondly you’ll need to use a nail set to really get them in there good. My second tip, and probably unorthodox one, is that once you have your hinges in place, and you know that everything is functioning, you can very carefully put a dab of super glue over each nail to be sure to secure your hinges extra tight to the wood. You have to be careful though because if you accidentally get the glue in your hinges you will ruin it. I generally do one side at a time and prop it up so that if the glue starts to run, it will run away from the middle hinge part. I imagine there is a possibility that you could try to forgo the nails altogether and just superglue the hinges on, but I thought perhaps glue and nails might be sturdier. My final piece of advice is to inset your hinges. I inset my hinges by using a dremel to gently shave out a small patch of wood where my hinge will set. I also have a preference for H hinges as they cover a little more area, but you may have your own ideas of what you want to work with.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll be sure to post more progress later even if it is a little late.

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Pullip’s House – Another Progress Report

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I have the roof painted, and the three rooms that will have color painted as well. The green color of the roof will also be used for all of the exterior trim when I get to that point. As far as progress you can’t see goes, I have also been fitting and painting the crown molding for two of the rooms. Crown molding is kind of a pain in the butt and also expensive so it is only going in the first and second floor painted rooms to hide painting boo-boos. I’ve also slowly been attempting to cut and fit my flooring, and have also begun trimming out my “front door” which you can see in the picture below.

frontdoor

The window in the door will have a wooden sash, but I don’t plan on using any glass in any of my windows, fake or otherwise because I just don’t care for it. I’m using 1/2 inch plywood for the doors so they fit the walls perfectly and don’t have any weird insetting. For the trim, I am using the 1/16th basswood strips. I feel particularly crafty in regards to the doorknob though. All of the miniature doorknobs I’ve found have all been 1:12 scale and thusly I felt too small, so I had to come up with a way to fake a doorknob, and the result was using some mini wooden drawer pulls and basswood strips for a plate.

doorknobs

Now the drawer pulls have a little extra peg on the bottom which is problematic, but I figure out a way around it. I simply sawed off the peg using my exacto saw. It’s pretty easy when you use a pairt of jewelry pliers to hold the thing still while you saw. After sawing the pegs off I mounted them on their little plates. I plan on spray painting the doorknobs a silver color to make them look metallic in the end. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when I am done!

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Pullip’s House – We’re Getting There!

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At this point now the roof has it’s white base coat and I’ve begun taping off the rooms and starting to paint the ones that will not be white. Painting progress is slow because of drying time and it makes me feel like I haven’t been making much progress at all. :p To make matters worse, paint smoosh sometimes gets under the painters tape, so afterwards I have to go back with a small brush and clean up the edges.

To be honest though, this picture is a little old, and I have actually made more progress with painting but I have yet to snap a pic yet. I shall have to do so soon! So far I am loving my color choices!