A "little" progress on the half scale Halloween house I started -The Van Buren dollhouse from Greenleaf. (Stock photo from site.)
The frame is together, door and stair walls are papered/built (not shown). Here's the papers I have in so far. Also putting brick on the alcoves on third floor and news print style paper on the slanted walls. I use scrapbook papers mostly as they're heavier and offer good variety. (Click photos for full size.)
The room on the right will be the sitting room. There'll be a stair wall going to the hole/stairwell above. The bottom brown part is box card painted lightly for a weathered old look. I'll put a rail above it.
The room above the sitting room on the second floor will be a library den. Yeah, I can't seem to get away from making a zillion tiny books. ha! But they look so cool when they're done! The paper (scrapbook paper) is cool as it has a kind of spooky skull and cat print.
At left is the dining area. I'm thinking of a kind of Miss Havisham spooky table. It may hold a compact kitchen/cooking area on the front brick wall. Have to see how it fits. The room above (not done) is a bedroom with gray wallpaper.
Progress is ongoing.
And.... The Fairfield box (also half scale, 1/24th) has been opened. (Hey, that's a start!) And... oh, so many shingles and sheets. haa! (Run! You can turn back now!!)
Well, it gets to be a looooong winter with no outdoor work to do and not much to do inside, so a dollhouse project seems like a good idea. (Everyone to their corners. Let the fights begin! I am not kidding. haa!)
Here's the foundation floor. Hubby is still cutting out the foundation pieces, so he hasn't given up... yet. (Oh the horror of this already...) A TIP : To get the foundation to line up -and stay lined up - wedges of 1/2" square pieces of wood were glued in against the foundation pieces to act as braces on the underside.)
One word of caution on these kits - sure laser cutting may prove to be a smoother-finish wood BUT it also is thinner, and cheaper. The Van Buren (laser cut) is 1/16" thick. The Fairfield (an older kit from 1979) is 1/8" wood, but this type of wood also splinters a lot. The VB does have some warping and the FF also is prone to warping but thicker wood is sturdier. (Photo: VB on top compared to FF.)
Yeah, I know, sooo boring, unless you are building and/or curious about these kits. So fair warning given. Stay tuned for progress updates if we (hopefully) don't give up. 😉
