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Six different views on building the McKinley

Entries in this blog

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. y

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

The Finished Mckinley Tracy Topps

These are pictures of the finished Mckinley! The Greenleaf houses are loved by many great miniature Artists. There are so many things you can do with a Greenleaf kit. They are lighter in weight but sturdy when assembled. They are simple to cut (I only used my hobby knief for this. All you have to do is think outside of the box. If you dream it you can do it! Have fun & feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

Electricity

I used a mixture of hard wire and tape wire to light up this house. Because this house is flat back and will hang on the wall, I fed all of the wires to the back of the house by clipping off the plugs and feeding it through holes I drilled into the back of the house.. After that, I added a 11" strip of tape wire and took the plastic cover off of the tape wire. I then took the wire, and split the two wires about half inch down and then added one side on each side of the tape. Do not let the two e

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

Roof Changes

I started with foam core just to see if this design would work and if it would look really nice. I ended up cutting the roof height (on the raised roof side) down to 8" high. This is what it looked like in the beginnning: It took a while (3.5 hrs. ) to get the angles right because I found out that this house needed a little more support now that I was bashing it away from how it should have been done. This is after I added the wood roof & attic parts. It was level on one side

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

Fireplace & tower alterations

This is the close up of how high the attic wall would have been. You can see where I added the extension here: This is the way the stairs & fireplace originally look. I decided to add an extra wood storage shelf I also added stones on the fireplace: After that I started trying to figure out where to add the porch light. I found out that the area is too tight to add a light next to the door but, you can add the light above the door. I also wanted to make a pointy

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

Starting the Mckinley

This time I am only blogging the changes that I made to this Gorgeous doll house kit. The Mckinley has been my favorite since Lisa from Greenleaf asked me to make one 4 years ago. This is something that a newbie can do if they have the patiance but, this blog is really for the advanced builders who can look at these breif comments and make the changes. I started the building of this house a few weeks back. I started out pretty much like everyone else. You'll notice easily that I did start a

Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

Final steps

These are pics of the final steps we did to finish this house. It is currently finished and hanging on my livingroom wall. My son keeps walking by it and saying "thst's so cool" and turning the lights on, looking a minute at it and turning the lights off. Well, The attic needed some type of light, Since I decorated it to be int progress of being remodeled, I thought a hanging bulb would be nice. When I put this piece of trim on the top Of the shingles, I

darrellandmelissa

darrellandmelissa

Wallpapering Rest of Tower Room

Time to wallpaper the rest of the tower room. This room is a bit tricky because of its angles and the tower room itself. To get my first cut, I actually took the wallpaper and laid it on the outside of the house at the tower, face down, and made a crease to show me how the tower goes into the floor and around the tower, and then I cut along the crease. I then took the paper and laid it into the house. I also discovered that it was easiest to lay the house on its side to wallpaper this area. This

LPCullen

LPCullen

Finishing the Roof

Jimmy has finished modifying the roof line for me, and I've primed it for wallpaper. Jimmy also assembled the drawers for the bottom and installed them. He has to go back and get them to move in and out more easily though. I'm still not quite sure how this house works, and I don't know if it's owner plans on hanging it on the wall, so I didn't want to put wallpaper on the back walls, so I painted them. I've chosen the wallpaper for the ba

LPCullen

LPCullen

Porch and attic

We have finished assembling and decorating the porch, just needs shingled now. After 3 different tries for a wall tratment I liked in the attic I decided on this. I still have a bit more work to do on this house. Melissa

Guest

Guest

lattice work finished

I took this final photo of the "front" of the Mckinley all windows are now in and drawers and lattice finished. as I am typing I am waiting for the glue to dry on the porch and than I will be finished with that as well. I have not put in all of the door trims as I havent finished the decorating. I will make this an on going Christmas time project. see what I will add next yr! I loved building this house. if you leave out the bathroom built in and the false wall in the

Guest

Guest

getting there

I finally took the house off the Entertainment center where I have been enjoying the view. it is now back on the work bench. I spent 2 hours staining all of the inside trim....windows and door trim.while waiting for it to dry I put the drawers together.I have all of the outside window trim finished and I only have the master bedroom windows to install. no photos as of yet.next I will have to paint all of the lattice install it and I will be done. now that the Holidays are over and I am almost

Guest

Guest

a little interior progress

While waiting for Darrel to have some time to attach the porch to the house, I worked on decorating the inside. I took LOTS of pics and here are a fewI added curtains and a shower rod and curtain in the bathroomI had purchased this set from Ebay because it would fit in the kitchen with just minimal alteration, since I took the door out.I took the basic sink unit and changed it by adding some faux marble scrapbook paper.The stove section was also covered in that paper. I used some faux brushed st

Guest

Guest

Big Hit!

I have not made much progress from last time due to the Holidays but we did manage to decorate for Christmas night. I am not finished but as for the build Im not far from it. the porch roof is on. it is also painted now but I havent taken those photos. the front of the house as it looked before painting the the roof. I had the poor empty house pushed against the wall before our party Christmas eve. but as I had lots of good help from daughter and neice we w

Guest

Guest

Very little progress

We have not progressed as much as we would like in the last few weeks. Here is some of what we have done.I took some of the left over crown molding that I used in the living room and painted it a contrast trim color and placed a piece at the bottom of the window sill on all the outside windows for a little extra detail.This is the design I decided upon for the stained glass windows in the front door. I also thought the house needed a splash of color on the outside, to make it less dreary looking

Guest

Guest

Modifying The Roof

Like several other people, I wasn't happy with the way that the roof was done in this house and wanted to modify it too. The two peaked rooms, and the way that the roof came into the house, eliminated a lot of usable space. So, we decided to modify it.Here's what the original roof (back wall) looked like before we changed it:Jimmy decided that he would raise the roof line on the smaller room to enlarge the room, and also to give a more even space. He took the piece of wood which that wall port

Guest

Guest

slow goings

I am making some progress in the windows.today I put the porch on and textured it and painted it. looks good to me!! B) I also used wrapping paper for the attic wallpaper....wooooweeeeeeso much wrinkling B) but than I said hey that actaully works for me.so I left it ;) like Catie said "its just the attic!" and how right she is. I guess there is to be no roof change. Im ready to do more decorating and get this finished before my son gets home....wonder what the chance of that is?I have taken pho

Guest

Guest

Cutting Windows & Trim In the Tower

I've let the tower wallpaper dry overnight. I want to make sure it's good and dry because I don't want it to start moving when I begin cutting. Now it's time to cut out the windows and trim the excess wallpaper off.Before I cut out windows and/or trim, I go ahead and get a new razor blade--I don't want any jagged edges, nor do I want the razor blade to "catch" on the wallpaper as I'm cutting. I start with the oval windows, and I begin cutting from the outside of the tower. I start near the top o

Guest

Guest

Wallpapering The Tower

Before I began wallpapering and painting the tower, I took the roof piece out that goes over it and laid it on to draw myself some lines to work in. I drew two different sets, one where I would need to paint to, and one where I would need to wallpaper to.I started with the smallest outside side of the tower first, and just cut the paper to the line, or actually slightly above it. I also cut a slight overhang on the edge so that I can wrap it around to the inside of the tower. I'm using a prepas

Guest

Guest

Painting Exterior-More Wallpaper

I tried and tried to come up with the color for the exterior of this house, and kept waiting for it to "speak" to me. Actually, it was speaking to me, but I didn't believe it. So, I called the recipient of the house to get her input and told her what the house said to me, and she said that's OK, that's one of my favorite colors! I had three shades in mind, and again couldn't decide ... So, I put one coat of each color on the back of the house and had youngest son take it to the recipient's house

Guest

Guest

TRIM TRIM TRIM

uuggggg I was putting off doin the trim...it is so tedious! very necessary but uggggggg and to top it all of these windows are all peices. except for the round ones. so that is where I have started. to make my job seem easier and seem to go faster I am breaking up the window trim installation. first the round windows than onwards. I also finished the tower roof. I started it 3 different times. it went from silver to textured paint before I

Guest

Guest

tower roof

oooooyyyy vey! Ima tellin you well it decided I knew how to use my tape and glue and now it is a proper roof for a tower! make a cone with the tape first. tape untill all peices are supported when you turn it upside down and push the roof peice into place. now I have to wait for the glue to dry and than I can do the decorating to it.... ohhhh cant tell you...shhhhhhh but that is how I did my tower.

Guest

Guest

moving on

I have gotten to the roof issue. it is assembled and now I have to decide how to proceed. as I really want a flat roof for the reindeer. B) I also attempted the tower roof. I have to admit..it got me. I am waiting it out.trying to make it understand that it is a good thing to be a tower roof. ;) all the peices marked and ready to go. this held promise that it would work but after adding 2 more peices it all collapsed. I know I used tape for the Vi

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Guest

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