Putting the "Pro" in "Procrastination"

Have ya missed me?  Busy busy busy here...

Wait, I haven't updated this thing since APRIL?!  Yeesh.  Sorry about that.

Well in addition to all the travel and visitors and projects and craziness and yadda yadda I've been busy with for most of the past year, I have done a little on the dollhouse believe it or not.  Unfortunately I've been in a rather boring period.  Flooring was a bit on the mundane side.  I started working on flooring sometime before June 2011 (I know this, because Mom helped me work on some of it when she and I were in the Black Hills on our annual mother-daughter vacation) and I just finished last night!  Finally.

There are probably other ways I could have gone about it, but here's what I did:  I got some scrapbook paper that, if you look really closely (which I didn't take a picture of, sorry) it has these faint little lines that look a bit like tiny wood grain.  So then I went to the craft store and picked up some skinny sticks and I drew lines and lines and lines and lines on about 18 sheets of paper until I had something resembling hardwood flooring.

This was from back in September.  I had finally gotten smart and started drawing long lines with the yard stick and then just using the skinny stick to measure board length.  Also, entertainment of the day: The Doctor (4th incarnation) and Leela in The Face of Evil.  Speaking of that scarf, check out what I made myself (warning: non-dollhouse picture ahead)

I knitted myself an approximately 1/5 scale version of  Tom Baker's Doctor's scarf and attached it to my camera strap.  Sweet, huh?  Well, I think it's sweet anyway.  That's one of 4 scarves I've knitted in the last 6 months.  And then I taught myself how to crochet.  In the truck.  On the way to Christmas.  In a blizzard.  Good times...

Anyway, you're here for dollhouse pictures.  Sorry about the tangent.  And sorry about the flash glare, I was taking these last night after sunset and there isn't much for artificial lighting in the room where I'm working.  I'll try to take the next set of pictures in daylight.

I now have all the flooring done (those pictures were just a sample... you've seen the rest of the rooms, imagine them with the same flooring.  they really are all done, I promise) and I've also finished the crown moulding and started in on the baseboards.  Then I ran out of baseboards.  Thankfully I've found a local dollhouse store so I made a quick run this afternoon to buy more.  I got that all stained and then decided that waiting for it to dry was a good excuse to take the rest of the day off.

And now, one final story.

If you are Cindy, or anyone else with a deathly fear of spiders, you should really just quit reading now.

Seriously.  If you disregard my warning, I claim no responsibility for heart attacks or broken computer screens!

I'm not kidding.

Scroll at your own risk.

Now I'm just filling space to make sure Cindy doesn't accidentally see anything she doesn't want to.

Okay, still want to continue?

Here we go!

Guess what is the biggest benefit of taking a few weeks months off of dollhouse work?  When you come back to it, you find yourself all set in case you ever decide to go into the horror film business!

(click the picture to embiggen, if you have the guts!)

That.  Is.  TERRIFYING.  It's a little like that movie from an episode of MST3K where the spider was made out of a VW Beetle driving backwards.  Except that movie wasn't scary, it was just stupid.  I have a feeling I just lost a lot of you.  Sorry.  Anyway, that spider I found is almost the same size as the doll baby.  It wrapped its freaky legs around the high chair and died.  And then waited for me to find it.  I screamed...

The worst part is he's lost a half a leg, but as I was going through the furniture box I found his half leg plus another whole one.  I'm no math major, but I'm pretty sure that means he has a friend somewhere who lost a whole leg and is just waiting to freak me out again whenever I find that one.

On that note, I'll probably see ya in another 9 months or so!  Hopefully it won't be so long next time.  The monotonous part is now complete.

Crowning Glory

***This is not a joke.  I repeat, this is NOT a joke!  I know it's April 1, but I really did work on the dollhouse***

I bought a new toy!  I'm so weird.  I'm way excited about this.  I bought a miter box!  I was fully challenged trying to miter corners for the trim.  I can miter corners in fabric free-handed when I'm putting the border on a quilt.  I couldn't miter wood free-handed to save my life.

Have you ever said a word so many times that it starts to seem like a made-up word?  Miter miter miter miter miter.

Moving on!

Here's my shiny new toy

(Also, my attempt at making fingernails that look like an outer space nebula.  It shows up better if you click on the picture for a larger image.  Not bad for a first try.  It's starting to chip though, maybe time for another shot)

And now I have crown molding cut to perfect angles. 

Yeah I have a couple little gaps here and there, but once I finish decorating the place you won't notice anymore.  And if you do, you need to quit being so picky! 

Third floor isn't getting any crown molding (seriously, all those angled ceilings) second floor is done, first floor is half done.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I ran out of wood.  Figures. 

Next up: well, umm, yeah go get more crown and finish that.  But I mean after that... gotta get that flooring in so I can do the baseboards and doorway trim.  Keep using my new miter box!

I've Been Climbing The Walls

Full Scale: I've been climbing the walls with cabin fever lately... winter in St Louis is a bit overrated.

Small Scale: I've been climbing all over the dollhouse walls, and the wallpapering is DONE!

A reminder - as always, clicking on any picture should bring up a larger version if you'd like to see details... or see just what a shabby job I did in a few places...

First of all, I had to do a little construction

Remember that little closet under the stairs on the first floor?  (if you don't remember, the door to it can be seen in a few of the living room photos in this post) Well I had the brilliant idea a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago to turn it into a half bathroom.  Seriously, if you're kicking back on the couch in the first floor, then you're not going to want to go clear up to the third floor every time you need to use the facilities!  So I had to cut a wall, and thank my lucky stars Dan had already bought a Dremel for the model train... saved me buying a new tool for this project.  Then glue it in and paper it

A toilet under the stairs and a little corner sink at the edge, and it'll be a bathroom!  And yes I saved the door from the closet, and will be putting it on the new wall.  I am not, however, putting doors on all the other rooms.  Just use your imagination.

And now for the rest of the wallpaper photos:

Yes I did cut out all the little holes for those window-like things between rooms.  Badly.  With a dull X-acto knife.  I'm planning to put some trim over the shaggy edges.  Don't judge me until it's done!

No I did not do the same for this room.  I couldn't handle the parents having windows from the staircase into their bedroom.  And while I did briefly consider making "frosted windows" I decided that was way too much work and would probably look crappy so I just papered over the holes.

This paper may be a bit... much... but for some reason as soon as I saw it in the store, I felt compelled to put it in the house.  And I figured the hallway was the only room that wouldn't get furniture, and therefore could handle some... umm... busy?... wallpaper.

And now I need to "re-upholster" the dining room chairs.  They're red.  Red-red.  This wallpaper, while in the red family, is most definitely NOT red-red.  It should be an easy fix though.

(sorry about the glare, that's the only shiny wallpaper)

And with this picture, I begin the preview of what's-yet-to-come.  If you look very closely where the walls and floor meet up (and don't get vertigo from the stripes, I promise it's not that bad in real life) you'll see the beginnings of some trim work.  The third floor, which has odd ceilings and short walls, is getting quarter-round to finish it all off.  Those pieces aren't glued down yet, they're just there for show. 

The first and second floors, with normal ceilings and walls and whatnot, are getting the full treatment though:

Gravity and my right hand are holding those in place right now.  The door casing is a bit hard to see because I haven't stained it yet... or cut it to size, for that matter.  Technically the next step is to put down the rest of the flooring because there's no point in adding baseboards if you don't have a floor!  But you've already seen flooring from the boy's room and the library, so that would make a pretty boring preview.

And now for a bit of randomness.  As I was papering, I got to a point where I had to stop working and clean up my space.  I couldn't find things that I needed and knew I had... 

Entertainment of the day: Red Dwarf (this was before Netflix took it back of the Watch Instantly list.  Grr)

These pictures were actually taken after I had already started to pick up a little.  It was bad.  Ooohh and I should point out, in the first one... that table closest to the camera?  Yep, Dan built that for me so the dollhouse doesn't have to sit on an ancient crappy rickety card table anymore!  Eventually.  Whenever we get around to moving it.  Once I clear a space so we can actually get in there. 

And while I was cleaning, I started finding things that had NO business being in with the dollhouse stuff.

The tally: an unfinished patchwork sampler, random dog leash (my dog hates leashes and on the rare occasions he must be on one, we always use a retractable.  I honestly didn't even remember that I had a red regular leash), a corkscrew (I swear I have no idea why that is there) a pair of pliers that I am not using on the dollhouse, two bottles of bug spray, some chlorine test strips for my pool, a USB cord, and some thread that does not go with the quilt sampler.  Not shown: a Christmas gift bag, and 3 bags of dog treats. 

Actually the dog treats kind of have a reason for being there.  Tyler has a habit of coming downstairs with me, and then whining at me when I pay more attention to the dollhouse than to him.  Luckily the dollhouse is in the room with the walkout, so I've gotten in the habit of leaving that door cracked open so he can come and go as he pleases.  Works out wondefully, he'll go out and run and explore to his little heart's content.  Sometimes for hours at a time (and anyone who knows my dog will understand that "hours" is a miracle for him) which of course leads to worn out puppy:

That's a new level in tired... needing to lay down before he drinks his water! 

And on that note, I should probably give the full-scale house some attention!  It's been neglected while I've been working on miniature house.

Merry Christmas!

From my dollhouse, to you: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

And for those of you who are Lehmans, or those who have a sense of humor that would earn you honorary Lehman status, here's a shot of me installing the lights

Merry Christmas!!!

It's Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiive

I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about this, didn't you?  I find your lack of faith disturbing* (bonus points to anyone who gets the movie quotes in this mad rambling)  Summer hit with a vengeance, and I decided that the dollhouse can be worked on any time, but my swimming pool is only useful for a couple months out of the year.  And then swimming season gave way to traveling season, and traveling season changed into social month.  Winter changed into spring.  Spring changed into summer.  Summer changed back into winter.  And winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight on into autumn.  Until one day...**

I came back to the dollhouse project! 

I started "installing flooring" (also known as gluing down paper)

and I used almost all of the sheets I had already drawn lines on.  And that was almost a third of what I bought.  I just hope I don't run out of paper! 

I also stained all my pretty new woodwork

You'll get to see more close-ups as it goes into the dollhouse.

I finally glued in the third floor wall and attic floor

And when you fail at overcoming gravity while waiting for glue to dry, why not use the glue bottle to prop the board into place?  Also, if that lightbulb up in the attic ever burns out, I think it's just going to stay burned out forever.  It's even more cramped up there than this picture indicates. 

And now, dear readers, I share with you a bit of a thought process.  I logically waited until after I got all that flooring glued in to stain the trim.  Logically.  Because I'm brilliant.  Err... umm... then I realized that...

I really don't like how pinky-gray the floor looks next to the oak-stained trim.  It looks even worse in real life, but it's hard to get the color balance right on a phot when you have three different kinds of lighting hitting your subject.  Hmm... what to do...

Stain the paper!

What do you think?  The floors and the baseboards still won't be exactly the same color, but I think it looks a lot better with the paper stained.  Don't you?  I need to cross my fingers REALLY HARD and hope that I didn't get too much glue on the top of the papers I've already put in place. Stain doesn't soak into glue.  That's the reason that I logically should have done the staining before I did the gluing.

Next up: figure out how to miter the corners.  Mostly, figure out how to do it without buying expensive equipment.   

Answers to the movie quiz:
*Star Wars (the first Star Wars movie... one of two good things to happen in 1977... the other being my birth)
**Monty Python and the Holy Grail
***That was actually a freeze-frame from an old episode of The Muppet Show, circa 1976.  Dan and I made plans to see the new Muppets movie last weekend, so I had Netflix send me a little sumpthin to put me in the mood.  Also, the movie was really good.  It started out a bit slow, but once all the Muppets showed up, nostalgia and over-the-top silliness led to a good hour of happiness!

And I just realized that this whole post was apparently brought to you by the 1970s (Holy Grail is from '74)  Peace!

Three Day Post

I've been working on this post for three days now.  Want proof? 

See, today is Thursday and there on my laptop is Tuesday's spacewalk.  I always wanted to be an astronaut.  (Okay, I'll wait for the "her head's already in outer space" jokes.  Are you done now?)  But the last shuttle mission took off without me, so I had to sit in my house and work on the very highest level of my dollhouse instead.  Trust me, some of the ceiling work would be a lot easier if I was in microgravity!  It's hard to stand on your head and paint up in a corner.  Don't forget, clicking pictures should give you a closer view.

Let's get back on topic... there's also a new light

The little midget outlet is adorable as all get out, but kind of a pain in the rumpus.  Well, it's not the outlet's fault.  I had to wire the itty bitty plug on the lamp's cord and I don't know if it's operator error or design flaw (no comments from the peanut gallery!) but I'm having fits getting it to keep working.  It'll work once, then I unplug it and plug it back in, and it doesn't work.  *sigh*  Yeah yeah, I know, quit unplugging it!  But I haven't decided where that lamp is going to live yet.  And if I can't unplug and replug, then what's the point in the outlets?  It's really no more difficult to hard-wire lamps in place.  But I'm off-topic.  Look!  Wallpaper!

Yes I ripped off the banister around the staircase hole.  It was bothering me.  Over the years it had gotten warped and at first I didn't care, but the longer I stared at it the more it annoyed me.  So I yanked it out and am squishing it flat.  Technically, didn't "yank".  I stole Dan's hair dryer and melted out the hot glue.  I hope I didn't get any glue on his dryer, or he may have a new way to make his flat-top stand up tomorrow morning!  And then I will be in trouble. 

More wallpaper!

The wall between the two rooms and the bedroom ceiling/attic floor piece are obviously not glued into place yet.  But I had to show the justification for the wallpaper spontaneously stopping 3/4 of the way up the wall!  I didn't just get lazy.  I promise.  Yes the angle thing at the right side is supposed to be white.  I put ceiling paper on that.  And the wallpaper-stopping-height in the library was, well, mostly because I wasn't going to be able to go all the way to the top without patching paper, one sheet wasn't tall enough, so I just changed paper entirely. 

There isn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason to which parts I designated "ceiling" and which parts I designated "wall", but it all makes sense in my head anyway.

That was Tuesday.  This is Wednesday.  One more room up on the third floor.  Well, the bathroom is also not finished, but I still don't know what I'm doing in there, so the girl's room is the last one I can work on up there for now. 

Here's a lovely before-and-after, all in one shot:

I'm going to have to make new bedding, I don't think the baby pink will work anymore. 

It's a good thing I didn't do this room first, I probably would have just given up on the whole thing!  I had to cut 10 different oddly-shaped pieces of paper (4 purple and 6 white) to do this room, and I still fudged a little.  You see that small cross-section support up at the top?  Yep, just painted that.  And did a terrible job of cutting around it on the paper.  Don't have any pictures of that.  Do have a finished picture of the room.  Don't mind the weird "dent" where white and purple come together at the bottom of the angle-ceiling.  I'll hide that behind furniture or something. 

Technically, not a "finished" picture.  The wall you can't see at all because it's facing the same direction as the camera is not finished.  I have all the white pieces cut out, just need to cut one rectangle of purple and then paste them all in.  But it was my bedtime last night and I was tired of pasting my fingers together. 

And that's how this has become a 3-day post. 

One last thing.  Look at what my FedEx guy brought me!

So many lights!  And yet still not all of them.  I have one more order on its way.  This place is going to glow like the sun when I get it all wired.  Well, except just when I got that lamp plug and outlet working again, the hanging lamp over the pool table quit working.  So maybe I need this many lamps just so I can have a few that will actually light up.  *sigh* 

Also, I just realized that I accidentally ordered two sets of bedside lamps for the parents' room.  Oops!  Gotta go see which ones were cheaper and which company has a better return policy.  Bye for now!

Stop And Smell The Roses

Except don't really smell them.  You'll be sorely disappointed!

I just realized there's still a sheet of plywood laying on top of the dollhouse.  I'd forgotten it was there until I saw this picture.  Hmm.  Anyway, is it too difficult to see in this picture?  If you click on the pic, it should load a larger view. 

Or better yet, I'll zoom in!

I'm so proud of my little flowers.  I don't actually know if they're roses or not.  I made them using the technique for creating roses out of fondant for cake decorating, but I only got about a third of the way through the process per flower before they were the right size and I had to stop or I'd have ended up with goofy too-big-for-scale flowers.  They're almost a rose/tulip hybrid.  Or something.  I don't know.  Wanna see one close-up?

Yep, I made that all by myself!

I filled the boxes using some stuff from the model train room.  I cut pink foam insulation to fill the inner space of the boxes:

That wire thingy just melts right through the foam.  Also, the entertainment of the day on the laptop is Futurama.  If nothing else, this blog has shown me just what a complete and total nerd I am!  Anyway, I ended up with little rectangles, which I then topped with some plant-life-colored ground cover model train stuff:

Because seriously, I definitely didn't want any Pepto-Bismol-pink showing through! 

Then it was just a case of gluing on the flowers and leaves. 

Here's a couple shots of my new gear box, mostly full of clay but also the tiny knitting is towards the back:

It's oven-bake clay, so all those blocks of unformed clay stay soft, but the flowers and leaves are rock-hard.  Yay!  I thought I'd made enough for all 5 window boxes, but I just barely got 3 done before I ran out of both flowers and leaves.  One day soon I'll have to make more. 

Okay that was probably way more than anyone ever wanted to know about making polymer clay flowers, but I'm tired and a bit delirious so you all get bored silly. 

The other exciting update is that I got a new kitchen set!  Here it is, in my real kitchen:

The egg carton is waiting to go to the basement too.  It, with about a dozen of its brothers, are soon eventually going to become a new stone chimney for the fireplace.  More on that later.  Much later.  And yes, the kitchen came with two pieces already broken off, but it was an easy glue-job.  All better!  Pictures of the set inside the dollhouse will come later.  I still haven't decided exactly how to arrange the room.  I'd come up with an idea before the stuff got here, but it doesn't quite fit right in the space... so I'm back to the drawing board.  I have options though!

Haven't done much lately in the way of papering the walls.  I need to place an order for more lights first.  I did finally get the last of the wallpaper though!  Well, technically still don't know what I'm doing on two walls of the bathroom.  But I got everything else.  Just haven't gotten much work done, I had a busy week of actually being out and having a social life!  I know, shocking.  But today is gray and rainy and I can either do real-house housework or I can work on the dollhouse.  Tough call!  Only not really.