I always have to take a picture of these roses right away. The flowers only last a day or two and since it rained hard last night, I’m doubly glad I took this yesterday morning. If you look closely, you can see part of a little bug peeking out of the petals on the left.
Don saw the mama deer and fawn early this morning.
I posted a little video of Dove Cottage on IG yesterday. Tomorrow or the next day, I’ll write a post about it. I’m officially calling it ‘Done.’ There will be a few things to add – mostly in the form of lamps – but it’s pretty much finished.
Just to remind you of where we started and where we are now. Seen first at our local transfer station/dump, I briefly thought about taking it but then the thought, “I don’t need another dollhouse” immediately followed. So I took a picture of it, but passed.
Of course, I posted that picture on Instagram and immediately got countless responses of the “Get it!” variety. So, I drove back there, verified that it was okay for me to take it, and brought it home.
And now, about 4 years later, here it is.
I’m really pleased with the final result. As I said during one of my little videos, I’d like to live here. I love my first dollhouse – Hummingbird Cottage – but this one is very special. I suppose it’s because it was something I found for free but wasn’t exactly excited about. The only thing I knew was that I would immediately eliminate any of the ‘cutesy’ trim. And, even though many of the parts were missing, there was plenty of that. Sometimes, these Greenleaf dollhouse kits (the Beacon Hill is one) have elements that are out-of-scale, geared, I guess, to little kids. I’ve ripped most of that off of the Beacon Hill and I did the same with this one. It’s the Arthur kit, by the way.
As you well know, I take my time with these houses. I do that for a variety of reasons: I have a lot of things going on in my creative mind at any given moment, I have to be in the mood to work on it, all of the elements cost money, in fact, some of those elements are ‘investment’ pieces that I needed to save up for. I always give a new project a coat of white primer so that I can start with a clean canvas.
Anyway, at some point I thought of an English cottage and here we are. The hardest part? Making the stones, which took a long, long time and left me wanting to tear my hair out at times. But boy, was all of that work worth it. Best decision? Taking the stairs out, taking down the wall between the rooms downstairs, and closing up the opening to the second floor. It’s a very small house and the stairs and wall severely limited the downstairs space. Plus, having them smack dab in the middle of the first floor blocking the front door was a bad design move. Now we get to see that pretty front door. I’ve never been a fan of dollhouse bathrooms, so I gave myself the excuse to eliminate one in this house. We can assume the bathroom is just beyond the bedroom or kitchen. And now I have a lovely art studio instead.
It’s also full of some of my favorite artisan creations; the hutch/sideboard, the sofa, the chair(s), the big bookcase, the bed, the wicker side table, and the easel. I will give details on all of that in the ‘sources’ post.
Renovating and furnishing a dollhouse is expensive, even if you do it as cheaply as possible. That’s another reason these projects take so long.
More, most likely tomorrow.
I’m writing this early as I have to get a few things done before 10 am when I will be glued to the next January 6th Committee Hearing.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
