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The Best way to navigate this blog is to select a members name from the tag that is under their post. This will give you a list of only that builders post. As an example, please see this link: 'Follow Minis On The Edge's Orchid'. As you can see, only Tracy's entries are visible. Please keep in mind that the order of the blog entries change as people add comments, so we recommend that you look at the dates of the different posts and start with the oldest. As you move forward in time, you'll see the progression through the building progress.
If you still have questions about the construction of your Orchid Dollhouse, don't be afraid to join our community and ask a few questions. The Greenleaf Miniature Community has the largest collection of knowledgeable miniaturist on the internet, many who I call friends... its a great place to meet like minded people!
Thank you for choosing Greenleaf Dollhouses and the Orchid Dollhouse Kit and big thanks to all that made these blogs possible!
Mini Man
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Working on the Tower
Step 3 calls for the middle sized tower pieces to be added. It is on sheet number 3. I have also glued the tower top on. This is what it should look like.
Part F Step 1
The instructions calls for the front roof part to be added. This is what it will look like. Mine is NOT glued in because I am going to shingle mine 1st because it is hard to shingle around the tower and cut the shingle correctly. I am also thinking about adding a Garden deck by opening up the roof this time. you'll see that soon.
Part F Step 2
This is the other roof side that had to be added now
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Finishing Up The Magnolia
JULY 7, 2007
Just before Jimmy's death, I was working on the wallpaper in this house, I had done most of the kitchen, all of the livingroom, and was working on the bathroom and the bedroom. Here's where I was at that time.
JANUARY 20, 2009
It took a long time to be able to touch this house again, but I started working on it again in January 2009. I had to finish paperclaying the chimney, and begin the brick around the bottom of the house. For those of you who met "Gigi" (the kitten that was roughly one week old when I got her), she has taken a liking to helping me with dollhouses....
JANUARY 22, 2009
Continuing to work on the color scheme for this house, I chose to go with pinks and greens. Finished painting the bricks the "main" color on the chimney. Boy was that tough! I've also FINALLY finished my wallpapering in the house, and I'm pretty pleased with it. That gap in the upper pink (bed)room was done by Jimmy (he never could build straight), so I left it alone and didn't try to fix it, since it was his "mark". I've also started installing window casings.
JANUARY 29, 2009
I need to go ahead and finish installing the windows--and by the way--I did it wrong the first time. I keep forgetting that when you are working with double hung windows that you MUST put the window pane in BEFORE you attach the window casing to the house. Well, I forgot. Again. Oops. Had to take them back off, LOL! I've also started adding the trim, which is being done in darker shades of pink and green.
FEBRUARY 22, 2009
Time to work on getting the staircase installed. I know some people go ahead put that in much earlier than me, but I didn't want it in the way when I was wallpapering, so I've waited until now. I also put the trim around the fireplace and the mantle in.
MARCH 06, 2009
I need to go ahead and get that brickwork on the bottom of the house done. I tried to start it earlier, but discovered I wasn't quite ready to do that yet. Because I need to run the brick up to the bottom trim, I've gone ahead and installed it--with Gigi's help of course! And for those of you who think "oh she's so cute!", lemme tell ya, that lil girl is a monster! She is forever taking off with my brushes, my paperclay tools--whatever she can get her lil paws on. She takes things out of my pocketbook, and she puts things in my pocketbook....
MARCH 25, 2009
I've got my bricks done on the bottom of the house. I've tried to stay with the pattern on the chimney. I'm really thrilled with how well it went together.... Now I've got to paint it all....
JULY 09, 2009
I've got my bricks along the bottom painted, and if you'll look closely, you'll see that, since the house is pink and green, there are also pink and green bricks, LOL! Not many, just a few. I'm also working on installing the porch railing, since I need to have the porch railing on to start the roof. Hey, y'all see my truck on the other side of the street? That's what I had to end up doing to keep the kittens out of it... LOL!
JULY 13, 2009
Time to start paperclaying the roof. Got my lines drawn, and doing the "roofing thing". I want to make this look like a slate roof, and I decided to do a pattern in it. So, I'm doing four straight, and four curved. I just cut the tips off the sides to make it curved.
AUGUST 02, 2009
Still working on the roof, but I've almost got it done.
AUGUST 04, 2009
Yippeeee!!!! DONE paperclaying the roof, including the ridgecap! Now I've got to give it a few days to get good and dry....
AUGUST 09, 2009
Been painting on the roof. It has several different colors. I started with a dirty wash, then did a darker wash of dark burnt umber. Then, using a "criss-cross" or "slashing" motion, I'm adding a dark brown, dark gray, light brown, and light gray into it.
AUGUST 11, 2009
If you will remember, this house already had a recipient, and I've just discovered that her last day is Friday (she's getting married and moving to Maryland), so I MUST have this house completed by then, but I'm almost finished! I've clear-coated the brickwork on the chimney, bottom and roof. I've started doing touchups. I'm not real happy with that trim along the bays, so I'm going to have to change that. Then I can get my balcony railing and the doors in.
AUGUST 14, 2009
Hey everybody! Guess what! I'm finally FINISHED! Except, last night I realized I had started doing the touchups on the white trim in the wrong shade of white so I was up this morn at 4:30a repainting it, LOL! Here's the finished product!
Hey, remember I told you this house had a recipient? Well, after having the house on display all day in the office, around 3p I finally handed her the keys and told her it was her house. She looked at the keys...
and upon discovering it was hers, immediately wrapped her arms around it, LOL!
Then she decided to go and make a sign for it....
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Day Thirteen - October 5, 2006 - FINISHED!!
Ray and I completed the Orchid today.
We really enjoyed the opportunity to build and blog as a part of the Community Team.
I counted the days in my blog as I knew Ray and I couldn't build each day due to work and other family obligations (my dad suffered a brain injury a couple of months ago).
We were very surprised to see that we could build a lovely house in under 2 weeks. Ray and I had never built a house using a kit before this Orchid. What a lovely experience.
-Susanne
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The Westville Dollhouse Kit Construction Blog
The Westville Dollhouse Kit is a country favorite around Greenleaf. You will find this blog useful for tips a decorating ideas as build your Westville Dollhouse.
The Best way to navigate this blog is to select a members name from the category are to the left. That will sort all the blog entries so that you will be looking at one persons progress as the move through their construction of the Westville Dollhouse.
Please Keep in mind that blogs are in reverse chronological order, so you we recommend that you scroll down to see the start of this dollhouse kit, and then scroll up to see the progression through the building progress.
Thank you for choosing Greenleaf Dollhouse and the Westville Dollhouse Kit!
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Haunted Dollhouse Kit Construction Blog
The Haunted Dollhouse Kit is a fun way to celebrate to decorate you house for Halloween. You will find this blog useful for tips and decorating ideas as build your Haunted Dollhouse.
The Best way to navigate this blog is to select a members name from the category are to the left. That will sort all the blog entries so that you will be looking at one persons progress as the move through their construction of the Haunted Dollhouse.
Please Keep in mind that blogs are in reverse chronological order, so you we recommend that you scroll down to see the start of this dollhouse kit, and then scroll up to see the progression through the building progress.
Thank you for choosing Greenleaf Dollhouse and the Haunted Dollhouse Kit!
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The Arthur Dollhouse Kit Construction Blog
The Arthur Dollhouse Kit remains one of Greenleaf's most popular kits. You will find this blog useful for tips a decorating ideas as build your Arthur Dollhouse.
The Best way to navigate this blog is to select a members name from the category are to the left. That will sort all the blog entries so that you will be looking at one persons progress as the move through their construction of the Arthur Dollhouse.
Please Keep in mind that blogs are in reverse chronological order, so you we recommend that you scroll down to see the start of this dollhouse kit, and then scroll up to see the progression through the building progress.
Thank you for choosing Greenleaf Dollhouse and the Arthur Dollhouse Kit!
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Tracy Topps Completed Lily!
This house is made for a customer of mine and she did not want too many flowers up front but you know me, I gotta have flowers and trees and some form of life to the house. Also, because this house was being shipped very far away, I could not add a huge base to it so, I took some foam core (1/2" thick) and glued it to the bottom of this house. I then covered it with "Sheet Moss". I then added trees, moss and flowers to the the base to give this house the appearance that the yard is kinda unkept and this is what we have now. I will add more pictures shortly!!! I am so pleased because I know for sure now that this house will be featured on the front cover of
http://www.dollshousemag.co.uk/ It will be featured in the April 2007 Issue - 60
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Updated picture with landscaping
The final decision about the landscaping was not to change a thing. LOL I mentioned to Bruce that I was thinking about changing it and he said he liked it just the way it is. Since this is primarily his house, I left things as they were and just got a better picture. Close up pictures of the landscaping are in my gallery.
Deb
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The Grand Finale!
Here are the finished Products! The best way to view this blog is to pick a user!
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Moving doors AND windows
Starting to think all of my blogs are about fixing things and changing my mind.
My original floorplan had the main door enter into the kitchen. I - and by default my eventual dolls - like to have a place to drop my grocery bags as soon as I walk in the door, and too many open floorplans and apartment plans these days do not include back doors, like in the good 'ol suburban neighbourhood days. Having spent some years as an interior designer, I had a number of clients interested in Feng Shui and the the order of placement. After taking some photos of my house' facade, I realized we see right into the kitchen as we open the door, and Feng Shui frowns upon this.
So, I got to thinking ...
Got out my box cutter ...
... and switched the main door for the main front window. And it did feel better. And, the front door is now closer to where a car would park ... to unload groceries or whatever. The main door now opens into the living area, a thumbs up per Feng Shui.
Big question of the day is, will my eventual doll family really care if the kitchen sink alighns with Jupiter? Probably. I have seen some real 'placement order' doozies over the years.
I really need to get my doll family together. Does anyone write bios about their dolls? Habits, likes, single or married, kids or pets .... mine for sure will be fans of the series 'American Pickers'.
Pic. 1: the photo that started it. I can see the kitchen farm sink through the front door. Main window is to the right, with its privacy screen.
Pic. 2: Door cut out.
Pic. 3: Window cut out, moved to door opening.
Pic. 4: Door moved into window opening. Spackling in the cuts and chop marks.
Pic. 5: From the inside. My hard hat area.
Pic. 6: fitting the privacy screen.
Pic 7: All back together.
I cannot imagine doing any of these changes if I were working in wood. Course, then again, maybe I'd be more careful in my planning from the get-go. Or maybe I just enjoy demolition!
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First Leap of Progress
This weekend saw the first big push for progress after the windows took almost a straight up week to do because I was not satisfied until I completely customized every weekend.
The windows were done by taking transparency sheets, and cutting them to size using the windows included in the kit as a template. Then, based on some Pinterest inspo, and good ol' fashioned trail-n-error, I painted the outline of the windows with black paint mixed in clear glue. After it dried - I used either white or green tinted clear glue to fill in the glass segments that I wanted colored. I had to go one color at a time, letting the layers dry completely between coats to prevent bleeding (hence why it took almost an entire week). After I was satisfied with the colors, I painting one last outline on the top with black to have both sides identical.
Then, because I am me, I didn't like how 'flat' and perfect the clear part of the windows looked so I did a layer of acrylic poly something or other that was in my craft room. This created an awesome old window look that I am very pleased with.
Have decided to try putting wallpaper on both before and after assembly to see how it goes both ways. Because I want this house to look like someone in living in it as it is falling apart around them I wanted the segments of wallpaper to be really apparent. I cut scrapbook paper in 8 x 2 strips, smeared glue on the walls and then layed them down - using books to keep the paper flat while it dried. Then, I carefully pulled some of the wallpaper off and used watered down acrylic in various shades of brown, green, gray, and black to created an old and distressed effect.
Turns out I could spend HOURS creating gross wallpaper LOL - so fun and it is awesome to see the character start to come out.
Currently putting the varnish on the window and door casings so I can start gluing some stuff together!!
Image is a dry fitting of the living room front - you can see the spider web stained glass on the front door and the double hung window - really happy how the pop of green adds interest
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Bits here and there.
After the quilts were done, I got into classic British murder mysteries-- I read all of the Inspector Appleby books (Michael Innes) that Kindle offers (very sad to run out
), then I read all the Inspector Grant (Josephine Tey), then I started in on Inspector Alleyn (Ngaio Marsh). Very absorbing, and a nice break from everything.
Meanwhile I have picking here and there at the house: I discarded the turret because it didn't look good or fit well, and decided to go a different way that I think fits the rest of the house better.
On Amazon, I found this plastic railing that I bought several of-- a full piece is lying on the right side of the photo, and it can be cut up easily to fit in a variety of places. Which is what I'm doing with it. I also found this "grass"-- I haven't cut it yet so we'll see how it does. First I have to figure out how much space needs to be taken up by shrubbery beds, so can't cut the grass to fit yet...
I've been struggling with how to finish the porch. I will have to get on google and look at inspiration. Meanwhile I did decide that since I like porch lattices so much, this porch will have one.
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Forum Upgrade
We are working on a long over due update to our forum. This update is necessary and as with previous updates, it's sure to bring new features that you may come to love or hate. Along with these new feature should come an increase speed and stability. I appreciate everyone's patience during this transition and request that you do not email customer support about any forum issues as they won't be addressed.
Mostly, I just wanted to see how the blogs are functioning prior to the upgrade which the main reason for this post. Posting images using the "insert existing attachment" feature is something I hope members will consider when adding an image to a post. Our upload directory is getting oversize and uploading an image to a post that is already in the gallery is redundant.
We can also link to any image using the URL feature.
You can also embed a gallery into your post which I'm attempting to do here.
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Welcome to my blog
It has been a while since I've worked on anything to do with dollshouses. This is mainly due to not really having the room to work on my 12th scale projects, so I am going to turn my attention to working on half scale and quarter scale projects instead. I live in the UK, so I have never built nor will I likely have the oppertunity to work on any Greenleaf houses. Most of the houses I have bought have been the small Dollshouse Emporium ones which they manufactured for their creative competion pieces, but I never had the chance to build them to enter them. I prefer small houses to large ones because they allow me to be more creative as there are lots of different styles of miniatures that you can use.
I do have an old Lundby house which I bought off e-bay for a project involving Sylvanian Families which I am updating. (Hopefully, I'll be able to do more of that next summer when I've organised our flat a bit.)
One of my favourite UK companies to buy dollshouses from is Petite Properties as they speacilise in quarter scale and other small scales. They are more ideal for my living condictions at the moment and I have built three of their houses and I have an half-scale tudor cottage which I hope to resume work on over the winter months.
I do other crafts, mainly cross stitching and sewing projects which I will feature in this blog from time to time.
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Here Are The BEFORE Pictures
Here is the front:
The tan shingles & the exterior of the roof:
The interior:
The inside foyer with broken and various pieces:
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Wood carved bar scene
I bought this scene about 4 years ago from a guy who found it at an estate sale. I’m not selling it, but am wondering if anyone knows anything about it? It’s all original except a few things I put on the table and bar (not the bottles. Those are original). My husband thought it was a scene from the Great Depression. Who knows. The wood trim around the base is just positioned there. It’s meant to be the trim for the glass case which I need the glass for. Does anyone have any idea about this set? It’s not signed. It’s carved from wood. Thank you in advance!
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New Project
Well, I guess it isn't actually "new", but It hasn't been posted here yet- I'm working on a 2D art piece, currently.
About 18 months ago, I started to plan a new pen and ink/stipple piece. My little ones do so much damage to my minis, thanks to the lack of a separate workroom, that I have had to leave it dormant for at least another year or so. A drawing, on the other hand, I can lock in a closet or someplace else that the kids shouldn't get into. So, I started planning on the new piece. During the first week of April, 2017, I spent the week in the hospital for a scan to detect seizures (I don't have them, it turns out), and I knew I would have endless hours of nothing to do and not many distractions, so I started plotting and inking in a massive 30 inch by 40 inch drawing of a Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy. At 120 ft long, over 1.2 million pounds and with sixteen drive wheels and a firebox bigger than my first two apartments combined, they were the largest steam locomotives ever built. I worked on the picture the entire week I was there, but did little after I returned home. After my motorcycle accident this past February, I had time again to work on it in the rehab hospital, so I did. I have been working on it at least a few hours a week since then. If I can get some free time, I hope to have it done by early 2019.
I'm also posting a few more photos of the accident. After a couple of near-death experiences from it, I'm finally riding again, but not as much. While I was still on a lot of pain meds, I was able to borrow a sharpie marker from one of the nurses and marked up my cast. I was really out of it, but I think it turned out well.
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Latest Entry
Short and Sweet - Using Paint.....
1. Open the file in paint. In this one, I use the inch setting to see how big the design is of the paper: almost 6 inches x 8 inches - so it is way too big.
2. I use the resize function in the home tab to reduce the size. I chose 30% - that should reduce the sample to 1 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches - that translates to 1 3/4ft by 2 1/4 ft - looks about right.
3. Use "select all" function and copy function.
4. Change the paper size - I use 17x11 - legal - that's what I print on
5. Go to the View tab - and zoom in until the original design appears pixelated and paste. Then move the copied part into position - you can use the arrow keys to move it and match the pixels.
6. Repeat until the full length of you paper size is filled.
7. Use the select all - copy function and repeat the pattern across the paper
8,. On this one, the pattern is offset - so I had to add to the bottom of the second column. After the second column, I can copy and paste until the end of my paper.
9. Zoom out and make sure it looks correct to you in terms of pattern size and try to imagine if you could see that on your wall. If it seems too large - reduce the size in 10% increments until the pattern has a size that looks correct.
What helps me:
Zooming in until you see pixels as little squares helps with matching offset patterns - you can line up better and use the arrow keys to move the copied design one pixel in any needed direction.
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Tiny Houses, No, Really
So, I live in a tiny house. Like, literally. It's 280 square feet. It's a vintage travel trailer from the 50s. I do have my old trailer, which I use mainly for storage, where I'm currently purging, with the goal of eventually getting everything down so that eventually, life can be lived in under 700 square feet.
But it brings up interesting issues when you're working with dollhouses. What takes up not much room in the world of tiny, can take up a ton of space in the world of tiny houses. And I'm building an apartment ;)
The majority of the build took place in my tiny house, but the house itself, will live in the other space, at least until I have a new home.
So yesterday, after the last of the beams had been fixed in place, I took the shops up to my big place to live. The other apartments will be built out in what I lovingly call my tiny house "the minty turd".
What would I do if I didn't have the big place? Probably make the apartment building weatherproof ;) but I'd prove that when it comes to dollhouses, space constraints shouldn't constrain your dreams.
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Beacon Hill at last
I waited 10 years to get a Beacon Hill. I didn't want to build one, and I couldn't have one shipped off ebay, so I had to wait until one showed up locally. In 10 years, I saw 1 perfect Beacon Hill (finished and furnished) get away due to the seller being 3 hours away. They were only asking $75! But then many years later another one appeared. The house was done nicely on the outside, and the interior was unfinished but primed except for the hallways. They wanted $200, but it sat for weeks and went down to $60. Seller delivered it to my door amazingly! It was meant to be and I love this house. My 1:12 miniature collection is now complete!
It all happened so fast, I felt like this house was making it's way to me as much as I was trying to get it into my collection. Definitely meant to be. Fate is great.
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stump fairy house, still sanding!
Been doing more sanding when weather permits, kind of cold out there sometimes, and way too much dust for in the house. Doing more of the fine sanding now, getting the wood very smooth. I figured out where I want doors and windows, at least part of them but haven't had the courage to cut yet, cutting is so final. I think I am going to work on the bed, I can do lathe work in the house on the tiny lathe and it is not very messy, at least no dust and I can do it on newspaper to cleanup fast. The bed spread is done now, I finished it last night. The final act was sewing on the ruffle, I started matching the two pieces but quickly realized that wasn't going to work because it buckled the ruffle up making it look awful. I had to pull the ruffle a little to get it right, the bad part of that was undoing about 4" of hard won ruffle because stretching the top part made it way too long. It is not the easiest part to undo because of all the rows that only knit part of the row and turn, plus the yarn overs and knit two together make it easier to lose a stitch while taking it apart on such tiny work. I think my next knitting project will be a blanket or maybe more then one, I do have a blanket chest to but in the bedroom. I am going to work on designing the bed first then start in. Since my iPad battery is dead I have no way of putting pictures on there so I will if I get the battery fixed.
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Some pictures of the house as it is, now...
I've been having "issues" with loading pictures...trying to figure out how to adjust the resolution on my camera to make them the proper size to post here. So we'll see if this works:
The house has had as many cracks as I can reach -- filled in with wood putty. Some of the rooms have been painted. I'll be painting the rest in the next day or so. The hardest area to paint is the area along the staircase. This should have been painted (or papered) before the house was built! I didn't attempt to take all that apart.. it was pretty well-built, only one major seam along the staircase that needed putty. But it also is a very cramped space, so it's going to be a challenge to paint.
Then wallpaper. I intend to wallpaper the upstairs and the smaller room downstairs, which will be a kitchen. The Great Room will be painted white. I think I'm going to make a stone fireplace there too, and cover up the original one, and perhaps do the same for the one upstairs....I may have to send my husband out for more pebbles! (We live in sand country...sand, pebbles, rocks, boulders, are all around us!
)
Let's see if I can post these latest pictures.. Ah, that worked!
you'll also see the windows I made, using pieces of old "lumber" from previous houses, scraps from the Greenleaf houses so they're the right dimensions, right thickness. I'll paint them the same color brown as the outside of the house, and the beams in the ceilings on the first floor.
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The Glencroft: Day 4-5
TGIF!
Im am so happy with the progress of my Glencroft! I started yesterday by gluing some of the remaining facade pieces. The upstairs gables were glued in and I was able to finally make my sub-walls out of foam board for the upstairs! (See pictures below).
Once I finally had the front walls all tacked, I was able to start planning the Stone Portico/Porch that I will be adding to the front. I plan on making this out of 3/4 plywood to give the walls a heavy stone thickness but at first I wanted to make it out of foam board so I can get an idea how the finished product will look. Since the new porch addition covers most of the swooping roof line in the front, I was able to remove a small section on roof that comes through the living-room above the front door. Now, the room is nice and square. You can see in one of the pictures below.
Last night I picked up a few finishing supplies (Stain, varnish and paint) so I can finally start doing some detailing. I want the wood throughout the house to be a really dark rick color so I plan on mixing a cherry, walnut and a hint of ebony stain to hopefully achieve this.
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