Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Planking, Mixing & Meeting Us Halfway

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After shuttling back and forth between the two of us this morning, Scout planted herself here:

scouthalfway

Exactly halfway between her dad’s chair and mine.

She’s had it with us.

We’re due for some snow this afternoon. How much, I don’t know, as the last forecast was off by a more than a few inches. It’s COLD. I’m wrapped in my crocheted throw as I type this. Bundle up, everyone! I know that this frigid air mass has covered much of the country. Stay safe, stay warm. This is when I realize how much more efficient our new oil burner is. This particular delivery of oil has lasted much longer than it used to. Yay! We’re saving money! (We’d better be, after the cost of that new burner!)

This is the idea that I was pondering for the the dollhouse craft/studio/office space. I finally bit the bullet and worked on it yesterday.

dollhouse plank walls

I thought it would be neat to have a plank wall. It’s not finished yet and I have to do some touch up painting and work with the trim, but I’m pleased so far. This kind of work takes several hours. Trimming the craft sticks, painting, measuring, fitting, gluing, and my neck gets sore from contorting my body so that I can work in the rooms. It’s darkish outside this morning, so the photo isn’t the best, but it will give you an idea of what’s happening.

Now, I’m wrestling with whether I do this all the way around the room, which seems especially daunting, or whether I go for a contrast on the other walls by using wallpaper. I’m leaning that way. Maybe those plank walls were original to the house and the owner decided to keep them because she has a funky, artistic side. I’ve already got my eye on some striking wallpaper – a bit more vivid than that used in the rest of the house. Maybe the top half the remaining walls will be wallpapered and the bottom half will be planked? Hmmm. I already have lots of ideas as to what I want to hang on these walls.

The great thing about a dollhouse is that you can decorate, experiment and re-do for a small amount of money – unlike a real house. Redoing anything in our real house is beyond our means at the moment. But a few bucks for wallpaper and sticks and craft paint? That I can afford.

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday:

dhmixer1

Eeeeek! I am swooning here.

dollhouse kitchen aid mixer

You can’t see it, but it even has a cord.

dollhouse mini kitchen aid mixer

We have the life-sized version of this mixer in yellow. I much prefer this color.

Can you stand such cuteness? Don couldn’t get over the detail. I’ll tell you one thing, it sure is a lot lighter to lift and carry than our life-sized version.

Some of you may be getting rather tired of all the dollhouse posts but, hey, this is what I’m doing at the moment. My creative juices are shouting out “The dollhouse, the dollhouse!” And so, that’s where I’ll be.

If I’m not shoveling.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Comments

  1. I love looking at your dollhouse. I wouldn’t get tired of looking at your pictures! I just can’t seem to get anything done on mine. I seem to go in streaks on wanting to work on it and not wanting to work on it.
    Cold here also. A whole balmy 3 degrees! I was going to go see the eagles in a city just south of here, but I think I will wait. We got a dusting of snow this morning. The rest is suppose to come this afternoon and night. 3-4 inches more.
    Scout is so funny! Our dogs have to be able to see what Jeff and I are doing at all times also.
    Have a great day.

    • Cold weather seems to be the time for me to work on the dollhouse. In the spring and summer, I completely ignore it!

  2. Hi Claudia, I enjoy the pictures of the doll house and I never know all the items you can buy for one. It does look like fun! Doris

  3. LOVE that Kitchen Aide! I keep mine on a placemat in the corner, so when I need it, I can just pull it forward a little. It works in this kitchen, otherwise I was always having to wait for Husbnd to get it out for me! Keep warm today and play/work on Hummingbird Cottage!

    • I used to keep mine out, but we have very little counter space, so now it’s stashed in a cupboard in the kitchen island.

  4. Claudia,
    Don’t ever stop posting pictures of your dollhouse !!!!!
    Besides the fact that I covet your dollhouse,…..this is who you are and what you do. Readers have the option to not read your post if they so choose.
    Keep those photos coming.
    Stay warm and safe,
    Vanessa

  5. I’ve always wanted to renovate my old dollhouse…. which my mother made my grandfather make for me when I was little (and he only had two fingers on one hand, if you can believe that! He used to build these large model ships, too)…. but everything was too expensive for my budget.

    Even so, my niece and nephew used to play with it when they were little. One of these days I plan to make that little dollhouse a show palace! I LOVE miniatures, so I understand completely.

    Kristin

  6. Every kitchen needs (or at least deserves) a kitchen aid mixer…..and I love the Jadite green one you got in the mail. It looks perfect in your doll house!
    I’ve had white Kitchen Aid for over 25 years and it looks, and works, like new.
    It’s cold here too…..-16 as I write this comment…brrrrr!
    Stay warm and cozy!
    Lori

    p.s. I promise to never tire of doll house posts :)

    • Aw, thanks, Lori. I love my life-sized Kitchen Aid Mixer, too. It has made many a yummy cake and lots of yummy cookies.

  7. I am loving watching the progress of the doll house and AMAZED at all the little furniture and accessories that are out there. Love the sink and the mixer.

    Thank you for sharing.

  8. That mixer is adorable! Oh I love it and the color!! I’m enjoying the dollhouse posts! Scout you are a smart girl, just lay in between those two parents of yours!! Stay warm!

  10. Love the plank wall. I vote for it being the original part of the cottage and I would distress it. I’d wallpaper the rest. I never get tired of seeing dollhouse posts…..I’ve put mine away for a while so I’m living thru yours. That mixer is GREAT! After all, it is the details that make mini’s look “real!”

  11. Scout is such a smart girl! I had a hunch she would eventually find a midway point where she could keep an eye on both of you at once. I love seeing your dollhouse, and hope you will continue to share it with us. It looks like lots of fun, and a great way to use all that creativity you’ve got. It’s rather cold here this morning, about 40 degrees, and as you know, that is pretty cold for us southern Californians. Sun is shining, and it should reach the mid 50s, if the weatherman is right. Love a little nip in the air. This is our winter!

  14. Claudia!!!
    It all looks wonderful! When you previously announced that you wear thinking of doing something different in the office craft room- I thought to myself. I bet she does a plank wall. You did! I totally get what you mean about “it’s what you’re doing right now”. That is how I feel about my kitchen. It’s what I’m doing.
    Speaking of kitchens -and kitchen aids- you have two, I still would like one.
    I enjoy reading all these posts. We’re having icy cold weather; but staying warm. Y’all do the same.
    Chatty Pat-

    • So glad you are a Chatty Pat – I feel like I have a kindred spirit out there. And you must be if you knew I was going to do a plank wall!

  15. My hubby likes the living room and I prefer the kitchen table. The pups have their favorite spots just about halfway. Funny, if one of us leaves the room, it’s only me that they will get up and follow. I’m sure it’s because I feed them and let them out.

    The mixer is too cool! My daughter has that color (the larger model!).

    Cold here and the snow just started coming down pretty heavily. Stay warm and dry.

    XO,
    Jane

  16. Love the doll house posts! It’s like we can give our opinions and thoughts and ideas willy nilly and no one will get their feelings hurt. All fun and no hurt feelings. But then you do have impeccable taste Claudia.
    Tana
    P.S. I live near Seattle and it was 15 degrees when I got up this morning. We have no snow or ice, just freezing weather.

  17. Even though I don’t have a dollhouse of my own, I don’t tire of seeing yours! I think it’s rather inspiring! So glad Scout made a decision….that running back and forth must have really run her ragged! It’s finally snowing here! Enjoy your Sunday! ;)

    • Not snowing here yet, Donna, I expect it to come later this afternoon or evening. It’s supposed to change to sleet and then rain tomorrow. Yuck. I just want snow.

  18. The mixer is adorable Claudia..I’ll bet a lot of us wish our homes were as well equipt and decorated as your Doll House..Love your floors (the real ones)..It has just started to snow here..My Barometer hasn’t budged the last several days (..Hasn’t dropped)..We’ll see..Stay warm..gotta go take Mollie out..:)

  19. For reality leave only one wall planked. My oldest daughter lives in a house that was started in the 1800’s in a holler in the hills of Oklahoma. As it was expanded the exterior wall became one of the interior walls. It made it easy to see how the house was expanded for sure! BTW – there’s not a square corner in that place ;)

    • There isn’t a square corner in this dollhouse, either! The folks that originally put it together did a not-so-good job and I’ve been trying to disguise all that since I got it.

  20. Good morning Claudia. Many of the blogs I follow have doll houses, and are decorating them up so cute for the holidays! I had a doll house. My Dad made it for me, one Christmas. I always decorated it for Christmas. I was putting it up into the rafters a few years ago, and it came crashing down, into a jillion pieces!!! I was devastated. I should have tried to salvage it, but I didn’t. I have been sick over it ever since. I am currently on the lookout for another one! In the meantime, I am enjoying seeing all of yours out there in blogland!
    xo Kris

    • I’m so, so sorry about your dollhouse, Kris! That must have been devasting. You need another one to pour your creative juices into!

  21. I love your dollhouse and the mixer is just too cute. I have a red one and I call it Big Red! Yes snow is coming down here real good everything is covered and its a lovely 27 degrees outside here in Maryland. I am making cinnamon rolls. Love to bake when it is snowing. Stay warm and safe. BRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

  22. I’m loving your doll house posts Claudia, but then I seem to love all of your posts! :) The planked walls seem perfect for that room … especially so if you mix in a bit of wallpaper. Love that little Kitchen-Aid – it’s too cute for words! We’re at a balmy 13° here in Lebanon, Oregon this morning, I think I need a big mug of hot chocolate.

  23. Love the dollhouse! Your taste is very much like my own! I am always looking forward the dollhouse posts
    9 degrees and snow here Claudia. Judy A-

  24. Love the kitchenaid mixer. I have it in white and couldn’t be without that appliance. I am loving the vintage color your dollhouse has. My vote is to do something different across from the plank wall, it will make the planks stand out more and give it a focal wall.

    • That’s what I think I’m going to do. I’ll wallpaper the other walls.
      I’m thinking of hanging lots of landscape paintings on the plank wall…and a chalkboard.

  25. tired of it? are you kidding? It is fascinating to see what you are doing with the dollhouse. At first glance (even the whole post is about the doll house) I thought you got a new mixer for your kitchen. Seriously the detail is amazing.
    Stay warm and cozy and creative :)
    Thanks for sharing
    SueZK

    • My real kitchen aid is yellow….this shade of green would look far prettier in MHC’s kitchen!

  27. I have always wanted a doll house Claudia. You have made me start to actually looking for one. They are prohibitively expensive though. I am thinking of making my house out of shoe boxes or gift boxes or something else I have a large supply of.
    We finally have the yard cleared of the 20 inches of snow, and now we will deal with sub zero temp this next week. It was -20 when I got up this morning.

    • Keep checking Craig’s List, Trudy. I got mine for $35 – it was used and it needed a lot of work, but it was such a good buy that it was worth it.

      Oh gosh, your temps are so cold! Stay warm, my friend.

  28. I love your doll house. Yes, I saw the cord on the teeny tiny Kitchen Aid! Where did you get your
    rugs in your cottage? The one under coffee table and the other square/rectangle one? I love them.
    I read your blog daily. I really enjoy it. Bobbie from Michigan :)

  29. Ooh, I adore that planked wall, Claudia. And, I am definitely not getting tired of the progress.

    I am starting a holiday tour of our home. I hope you will come visit.

  30. More snow and ice here today and tonight also..freezing temps that I hate..don’t you dare stop telling us about the dollhouse..I am taking notes for when I find one for me..Scout has a look in her eyes like..”Oh heavens..What do I do with these two?”..lol..

    • Crappy weather here. A tiny amount of snow, then sleet, then rain. Makes for dangerous driving this morning.

  31. Your doll house is so darned cute! What a great inexpensive way to have fun and decorate on a budget. Love the planked wall, the chair and that kitchen aid mixer really rocks it! Planked walls in blog land is all the rage right now.

  32. I never get tired of seeing photos of your dollhouse Claudia, I just wish I could get my butt back to working on mine. I don’t think I’m ever going to get it done. I love, love your plank wall, and I’m screaming here over your kitchen aid mixer. Where did you get it?!!!

    • I got it from an Etsy seller, Debi. She’s based in Utah. Just search ‘dollhouse miniatures mixer’ and you’ll find her.

  33. It’s been very cold here, too – and we finally got snow today. Not much – 3″. What Brian calls a “nuisance snow”. He did all the shoveling today. I don’t want to risk re-injuring my shoulder while I’m still going to physical therapy for rotator cuff impingement. That mini KitchenAid mixer is unbelievably realistic. I have the real thing, too – a red one. My grandma gave it to me about 25-26 years ago. I use it all the time and it’s still going strong.

    • We also had nuisance snow, though much less in total. Like last week, snow, then sleet, then rain.

  35. That dollhouse is precious, and I never get tired of seeing what you are doing, Claudia! And that mixer!!! Oh, that mixer!!! Swoon. Just too, too cute as is Scout.

    XO,

    Sheila

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