Dollhouse – This Old House 2

Doll house revival

The dollhouse restoration has been a slow process. Currently it sits out on a little tray table on the back porch with the chick heat lamp resting on it’s chimney.. so it is serving a purpose! Spending money on additional furniture just isn’t top priority right now, but I’ll show you what I’ve gotten done so far…

The “before” HERE

What I’ve accomplished so far… Now this is no grandiose doll house and the furnishings are simple. It’s a real fixer upper little summer cottage that I would love to own in my fantasy life on Marthas Vineyard. Welcome! Come, sit, have a sweet roll and some coffee –

If you need to use the bathroom it’s on the second floor –

I’m still looking for a reasonable bedroom set.

All in good time.

I’m happy to report – so far, all the chicks have survived

and thrive underneath the dollhouse in their nursery box.

Almost time to get a bigger box.

You can see their little wing feathers are coming in.

It’s truly amazing how fast baby chicks grow.

In just two or three more weeks, you will see a completely

different looking chick. I’ll be sure to show you.

Sound Mind, Sound Body

I’ve been a worrier since I was old enough to remember. With chronic worry comes the physical and mental toll, especially as we age. Seven years ago now, several very sad and terrifying things converged on our family at the same time and all hell broke loose with my body, mentally and physically. I had a headache for a year straight – MRI, CT SCANS, meds after meds after meds, nothing wrong technically – but nothing got rid of the pain. My blood pressure was above acceptable numbers and my anxiety peaked. I began having panic attacks. If you’ve never had one of those, they are awful. It’s as if you’re dying, that’s what it feels like. And it comes out of nowhere at any given time for what seems like no reason at all. I could be walking in the grocery store or sitting in a restaurant, and the feeling of being unable to breathe, racing heart, sick stomach, certain doom!… came over me like a heavy wet blanket. My body ached all the time, all over. I was plagued by Acid Reflux. Dr. visits, an ER visit or two or three!… and bad reactions to medications left me feeling absolutely spent and hopeless. My husband gets kudos here for helping me through it all… there were many nights when I woke up in panic or violently sick in the bathroom and he rubbed my back or held my hair away from my face at the toilet. How’s that for a visual.

What broke the cycle? Well, the heart ache of a loss was less sharp as time went on, and the healing of a child was so appreciated and such a gift it was hard to stay in the negative. But that wasn’t enough. I changed what I was eating too. Visualize whatever you put in your body is either polluting it or nourishing it. You’re either feeding your body or feeding a disease….. it’s that simple. With that mantra, you’ll think twice before scarfing down that junk food. I stay away from Gluten most of the time, and boy do I feel better when I do. I limit dairy too.

I also decided I didn’t want to live in a medication induced fog, didn’t want to live in constant fear, had to get control of my mind again by doing what I knew needed to be done. Getting off the meds if possible. One of the suggestions that I had always scoffed at, because hey, I am so unbendy , can’t stop the mind from thinking 100 miles an hour, let alone CLEAR IT OF ALL THOUGHTS – HA!… …. was YOGA. Well let me tell ya, once I gave it a try, and stuck with it….. what a difference a 20 minute simple easy routine for beginners makes. Because of my hearing impairment, a yoga class is out of the question because I can’t hear the instructor, much less get in the pose while still trying to read her lips. So I have several DVDs and a yoga mat and I do my routine at home. I try for at least four times a week, just 20 minutes at a clip. Anyone can find time for that, and I sure do recommend it.

My favorite DVD is a series that was on TV for a while. My sister let me know about it.

Kate Potter Namaste. Her blog is HERE .

I absolutely love these simple to follow routines.

Not too much for the beginner and the scenery is peaceful and ever changing.

I have Season One and Two.

I’m not being paid to endorse, here, so you can trust what I’m saying is true.

The combination of yoga, walking and eating healthier has made a difference in my health.

The headache eventually went away and my anxiety is under control.

My blood pressure isn’t perfect but it’s not in need of medication.

My body aches are far less and the acid reflux is an occasional nuisance,

but it not a constant.

Now and then I feel these issues creeping up on me again.

I’ll always worry,…hey, I have kids! … just can’t help that, and I do have arthritis from

all the years of using this body the way I do.

When I have what I call a flare up, I can

attribute it to being lax in eating habits and exercise routine.

One more thing that is so important to the well being of your body and your mind.

Feed your tendencies toward creativity and nurturing.

Food for the SOUL as well as the body and mind.

My family room this morning…

no one uses this room very much, so it becomes my place to “be”.

My Yoga DVD on the tube..

My little dollhouse cottage project on the right..

and a new painting on the easel to the left.

I haven’t picked up a paint brush in many years.

Am I an accomplished artist? Heck no.

But I love the process, so why ever not.

Imagine that!

I just changed browsers, and the problem is fixed. Using Google Chrome for this post, no issues. So, the issue is with Internet Explorer/Blogger.

Thank you all for participating in my conversation the other day regarding current events. I enjoy these posts because while it may seem I’m just a tad opinionated (ahem) …I also appreciate another’s perspective and sometimes with that new perspective I see things a little differently. This is what I wish the whole world would do…. Create meaningful dialogue with an open mind. I like to think I’m a tolerant person of the unbiased non-judgemental sort. Sometimes that’s not entirely true and I don’t mind being called on it, because it’s not where I want to be.

About my dollhouse project… well, it’s at a standstill. I’ve gotten the interior work done on the floors and walls, etc… and there are some furnishings complete, but still no living room or bedroom. I’m thinking my Christmas List will contain those very things this year. With all the other bills we have, somehow purchasing this stuff for no-one-will-ever-live-there-ever…. just doesn’t feel right. However, I can covet a few things on etsy… see below.

You can see how one could get totally engrossed..

…and possibly broke… 🙂

It’s been hot, HUMID, and now rainy here at This Old House.

I’ve been doing some decluttering – always feels good to do so…

and came across this photo of my girl

when she was about 7 years old.

This was her first horse show, her first trail class.

Our horse at that time was a wing-nut , and would not calm down

at the fairgrounds. A good friend and neighbor, also riding in the show,

let us “borrow” her mare, Lucky Maggie.

Maggie was a golden girl, in looks and temperament, as you can see.

As for that show shirt? What was her mama thinking???

Oh.. that would be me.

Have a good day, all –

Miniature living continued…

I finished the living room walls in my little fixer upper..

Paint looked terrible because there were just too many dings and bumps

in the old walls. Wallpaper ain’t my thang..

So barnboard it is!

I had some difficulty with securing the boards..

the wood clapboard is so thin it curls when you apply paint and glue,

both necessary items.

So here it is…

the look is shabby beachy old farmhouse.. sort of.

I used driveway gravel for the fireplace.

Hey, a mason I am not.

The house came fully wired, but none of it worked anymore.

All wires were embedded in ways that would rip the house apart if I tried.

So I snipped away what was visible…

and found LED battery operated lighting.

So far just two sconces, because this stuff ain’t cheap.

I think I paid $20. for each sconce. sheesh.

Below are a few things I’m coveting on etsy.. a Mecca for mini furniture and supplies, by the way..

Approximately $100 for this set.

I’m not doing it, but oh, how lovely it all is…

This chair is already sold, wish I were sew handy.

And I can dream about this pot rack all day long,

but at $153., it’s not an option.

But oh, how adorable it would look in my little country kitchen.

A person could get a little crazy diving in the world of miniatures, don’t ya know.

Mini Kitchens

A person could spend hours and hours

looking for ideas on the internet.

I’m doing my best not to get too tangled up in the world of miniatures

as I fix up my fixer-upper dollhouse…

These are just a few pictures of kitchens others have put together…

Are you a fan of modern furniture?…

There’s stuff for that.

How about Shabby Chic?..

there’s stuff for that too…

You might remember a gorgeous mini sink I was coveting..

but the price tag was $75. or something like that.

Ain’t happening here.

See the sink in the pic above?

I found one just like it for $9.

Do you like a rustic country kitchen?

There’s stuff for that too…

I just love this room above, someone put alot of time and thought

into putting that together. It looks real, doesn’t it?

Then there is the clean country chic look…

Can you believe the details in this elaborate room??

I’m going for a simple country shabby look.

I have picked up a few pieces, none of which were crazy expensive and

some of which I’ve made myself.

Here’s a preview…

This is a photo of the Edgartown Light house on Marthas Vineyard.

(one of our favorite places on earth)

I shrunk the picture down in photoshop to 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches,

then printed it out… then used a wide clear mailing tape

and covered the picture with that to give it a -glass over print- look.

The matte was made form a heavy piece of linen paper.

The photo would NOT cooperate this morning,

you’ll have to view it sideways, sorry.

My sink, with a burlap dust ruffle I’m not sure I love. If I were a crafty seamstress I would have

done a better job, but once it’s in place with other things around it I think it will

be OK.

The kitchen table and chairs with dish set I found on etsy.

I’m not a big fan of pink, but the dishes came with the table and chairs.

Hmmm.. how to work that into the kitchen scheme without making

it a pinkish room.

I’m thinking a rubbed out muted green for accents?

The living room walls have been a problem. Because this is an old old dollhouse,

there are dents and lumps and bumps in the walls from previous “stuff”

and no matter what paint I put on it, it looks bad.

Wallpaper is a pain in the *ss, to be blunt.

So I decided last night to barnboard that room too, and I painted it a

pickled white. I think when all is said and done it will have the look I’m trying to achieve.

Toothpicks have been involved in my dollhouse redo – but I’m not telling where.

Honestly, you can look around the house and find things to use.

If you’ve ever thought about doing a project like this,

I highly recommend it. It can be done on a shoe string budget and with

things you have laying around the house if you use your imagination.

Lots of bargains and supplies available online from elaborate to very cheap.

As you know, I found the dollhouse at a junk shop for $40.!

Time to get breakfast on the table… enough dollhouse drivel for today.

Have a good day, all – as always, thanks for stopping by.

Slate, barnboard and a cover-up job.

I’ve managed to do a little work on my fixer upper dollhouse.

This is the kitchen, which I want to look old fashioned and

“country rugged.”

I smashed an old roof slate from our previous home into pieces and grouted them into place

on the kitchen floor. Then I bought a package of dollhouse clapboard and stained it

a weathered grey to look like the old barn board we have on the walls in This Old House.

Then it was glued to the walls. I discovered that glue makes

these very thin clapboard pieces curl. Learning experience! – and tip –

use very little glue when you work with supplies from the dollhouse homedepot.

Not bad for an amateur, right?

I think my husband should hire me as a sub, keep it in the family, don’t you?

Because the windows are in really bad shape in this particular old dollhouse,

and the house is kinda tentative in its sturdyness and they don’t MAKE it anymore,

I can’t really replace them. So I found cute curtains to cover them up some

without giving the rooms a heavy look.

(this is why my husband will NEVER hire me as a sub 🙂

Next project… maybe.. barn board painted white in the living room?

What do you think? wallpaper or just paint or whitewashed barnboard?

Inquiring minds want your opinion or suggestions.

Dollhouse Update

Sooo.. I started with this… a $40. find at a ~~junk~~ antique store. Fell in love instantly, oooh it was calling me. Needed lots of work, kinda decrepid…I believe it sat in someones basement or garage for years.

I’ve decided this is the Marthas Vineyard cottage I will most likely never own

unless I win the BIG MONEY, and hey you never know, except my first

action would then be to open an animal rescue shelter, dogs and horses in particular, maintained by and housing homeless people and domestic abuse victims who need refuge and want to help me take care

of the animals in need – tall order,yes I know.

So I’m decorating it in the style I would choose if I ever did have that little MV cottage.

My workspace is currently out on the back porch.

Keep in mind, I am not restoring this house to perfection.

Nooo… that’s not the point. I like cracks in walls and uneven trim and weird scale

and old scratched windows. It adds to the charm don’t ya know.

The Mr. with his Type A builder mentality would make this a tear down,

but not me. I’ll take the flaws, thank you.

Here’s what I’ve got going on so far…

New black walnut flooring and some serious paint.

I got rid of all the dark trim look.

(you’re looking at the imperfections, aren’t ya – you have to feel the love)

I get the biggest kick out of this wood floor,

it’s actual wood strips! Very thin.

The bathroom has a new tile floor

(comes in big vinyl square)

There is actual a dollhouse home depot, I kid you not.

The previous owner used so much glue when building this house

I’ve been peeling and scraping but there isn’t much I can do about the

overabundance used to actually put the house together. So it remains.

The windows are a problem, I’d have to remove all the molding and window frame

to replace the “glass”… and the house is so old and decrepid it would fall apart if I do so.

SO….I’ve prettied up this window box and there will be curtains.

A girl could spend hours ogling over all the mini furniture and accesories

online… but I’ve tried not to. I plan to decorate this house inexpensively

no matter how long it takes me to find the right pieces.

I will be honest and tell you I’m coveting this Blue Onion old fashioned sink though..

You, too, can own this tiny little beauty for $73.99.

*sigh*

My very own fixer upper

Me: TEXT – Hey, what do you think of this house? Any potential?

The electric and flooring are shot.

(photos sent)

Him: TEXT – Where is that house? and… something looks …really off.

Me: TEXT – LOL….it’s in our driveway.

Now, I know it ain’t much…

and it’s kinda flimsy and old and dilapidated and outdated.

But.. I’ve always wanted to decorate a dollhouse, don’t ask me why..

I have never been a fan of actual “dolls”. Terrified me as a girl.

But a dollhouse? That needs renovation?

Awesome. $40 find in an old treasures store?… even more awesome.

Anyone know how I can tell what scale “stuff” I’m supposed to buy?

floor to ceiling in rooms measures 8″. I’ve googled that question but I’m still confused about the scaling.

Some sites tell me to buy 1″ scale, others tell me to buy 1/2 scale. HUH?

I did order new wood flooring and tile for the bathroom so far.

The electrical has been ripped out.

Any advice?

I final bought my very own fixer upper 🙂