For Jo - my dollhouse update
As mentioned in Jojoco's earlier dollhouse thread, my husband and I decided to update our 40+ year old dollhouse during our stay in place orders. It was built in 1979, sketched out on a takeout bag from a pizza place after a search for a ready built dollhouse which suited my daughter.
To refresh, this is what our dollhouse looked like in the early building stages.
Comments (25)
blubird
3 years agoAlthough the dollhouse had been updated over the intervening years, the last time any work had been done was more than 10 years ago, and after little grandkid hands and puppy destructiveness, it was past time for a Reno. In addition, we had wired our dollhouse for lights with what had been the new system of copper foil tape and it has not been reliable with poor contacts resulting in blinking lights.
We had decided to leave the now vintage aspects of wallpaper, flooring and furniture, but the electrical needed extensive rewiring and added hidden LED strip lighting to enhance the ambiance.
Here are our current pictures:
and still more:
blubird
3 years agoCloseup views:
BTW, we also have a general store. I'll post those photos in a separate post.
Related Discussions
Jo's garden update.
Comments (4)Jo, I've been wondering where you were! If root knot nematodes are endemic in your soil, you'll likely have to plant Elbon rye every year to help keep their numbers low. Friends I have here in Love County who have sandy soil infested with nematodes have a lot of trouble gardening because of the nematodes. Nematodes are very common in sandy soil and the sandier it is, the more of them you'll tend to see, especially in 'moist' sandy soil. I don't know if RNKs can survive in sand in very dry desert type conditions. Two ways to fight nematodes are to add huge amounts of organic matter to the sandy soil and to add lots of clay. Don't add clay though unless you add lots of organic matter, though, because sand + clay = adobe, more or less. If you have cutworms, Slug-Go Plus is the answer. Since I started using Slug-Go Plus for pill bug and sow bug control, I haven't had a single problem with cutworms. I think it is the spinosad in the Slug Go Plus, because when I used plain Slug-Go, I still had cutworms. Any granular form of Spinosad likely would work on cutworms. I use a fire ant killer with Spinosad when fire ant mounds pop up in garden beds so I generally have Spinosad around in one granular product or another. Do you have a garden cat? We had lots of trouble with moles, voles and gophers when we moved here, but the cats wiped them out in a matter of months. Every now and then gophers or moles try to move into our yard from next door or across the street, and the cats continue to remove them just about the instant they appear. I'm seeing lots of squirrel activity here, and huge numbers of snakes are prowling around my yard and garden (undoubtedly because of the 12.3" of rain that's fallen here in Sept.). When snakes are in the garden at this time of year, I stay out of the garden, venturing into it only to harvest. I don't think you have a black thumb at all! You grow lots of stuff and you have a beautiful garden. So what if you kill a few plants along the way? I never consider a plant "impossible" to grow here until I've tried to grow it and killed it a few times. Eventually, I can get most things to grow, but that doesn't mean I always succeed on the first try. Black thumns kill plants and give up....green thumbs keep trying! (That's how you turn your black thumb green...just keep planting relentlessly. lol) Fall is a great time to grow things and to prepare soil for next spring, but the temps/heat index so far in my part of the state still feel like August. Scott, I still have peppers too and I am sick of them. Can you believe that? I keep hoping the squirrels will eat them or something, but they don't seem inclined to. Larry, That's the wonderful thing about buckwheat...it flowers so fast and the flying critters love it so much. The big drawback to rye is all that root mass to deal with in late winter or early spring. Still, it is great for the soil. Dawn...See Moredollhouse miniatures?
Comments (6)I visited Germany and fell in love with the Reutter miniatures. I bought a bakery room box and a few individual pieces (gardening), thinking I would make my own potting shed roombox one day. Then, last week I found a sewing shop diy kit online and purchased it. I will have to build all of it from the supplies in the box. I think I will enjoy making this because it is sewing related, besides the store front (its mostly precut wooden pieces) I'll be making ribbon spools, and bolts of fabric. Looks like a lot of fun. Anyone who has done this, could you tell me what kind (s) of glues I should be using? I was hoping to use something simple like (Aleens ?) Tacky glue. Thanks, tish...See MoreMore JoAnn updates
Comments (18)I'm sorry you and hubby are suffering these health problems. I so hope the Lord does intervene and DH gets himself back in the hospital. Is there another one nearby that he would be willing to give a chance? Prayers and healing thoughts coming your way....See MoreJoAnn update! 8/22
Comments (13)I hope JoAnn doesn't have an infection. That happened to me after my hysterectomy, but I don't like to post it and scare the daylights out of women who are getting ready to go through it. I was home overnight before I had to go back in. The surgeon told me I was an hour away from dying. He sure did ruin my bikini line--not that I had a great one to begin with or ever worn a bikini for that matter. I didn't realize Ken was bad. I hope they can get him some meds for the pain. They sure have had more than their share of heartbreak. They were at our house in February when Nita and Carol came. I just hate hearing what she's going through. She's a lot of fun and such a sweet person. At that time, Ken was having problems eating and could only eat turkey--which by coincidence I happened to be serving for lunch. So much to have happen in just a few months. Keeping up the prayers....See Moreblubird
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoI'm so glad you all are enjoying the dollhouse. I forgot to upload the picture of the attic, so here it is. It was probably done about 25 years ago, so it has a more modern sensibility. Did I style my bookcases appropriately? The triangle in the peak of the attic was added so that LED lights could be mounted behind it. The only other sources of light in this room are the fishtanks and the colonial style hanging lamp and since this was a big area it needed much more lighting.
Jo, I can believe you bought another dollhouse; it's always tempting to do another one in a different style. What are your plans for this one? Are you going to post pictures of your progress as well?
blubird
3 years ago
User
3 years agoblubird
3 years agoHere are 2 more pictures. I might have posted the brick of the fireplace before, but just wanted to post again to show the individually hand cut "bricks" of wood. On the other side of the house note that there is a garden hose mounted.
As maire_cate wrote, it's amazing how many objects are available in miniature. However, I think that more was available before the internet. We had several dollhouse stores not far from us in the 1980s. There was Granny's Attic in Rockville Centre, LI, and one hidden gem (shared space with a locksmith) on Avenue U in Brooklyn, near Ocean Avenue and more than one in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. None of those exist today and the offerings online are not as diverse.
jojoco
3 years agoBlubird, since you asked, here is my new project. it is a unique dollhouse that was made by the Bombay Furniture Company as a lark. They even sold mini Bombay furniture for it! I haven’t done anything to it yet as we have a cottage full of family right now. it’s going to simmer on the back burner for awhile. I’m thinking of electrifying it but it sounds daunting.
teeda
3 years agojojoco
3 years agoblubird
3 years agoeld6161
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Gargamel