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The Granddaughter's Garfield


cdalzell

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Well it’s a good thing that my granddaughter is only 8 months old – it might take a couple of years to finish the build of “the Garfield”.

I made some crazy decisions early on. I wanted (what do I know about dollshouses!) working windows and better doors; I also didn’t like the look of the staircases or the floors. So with the intent of building the best little doll house in town I ordered the working windows upgrade, found the plethora of engaging miniatures online stores and ordered up electrical supplies, all shapes of doors and trim and flooring materials. Now after 2 months of planning and some very long days (and nights) I am finally starting to see the fruits of my labor.

I have added cherry wood floors on the main floor and oak on the second floor. These were a lot harder than I had thought they would be (and as it turned out the pattern I chose had a lot to do with it) as each piece had to be measured, cut, laid in place temporarily, sanded, glued, sanded again, stained and then shellaced. I also found out that you can’t use wood glue on the very thin floor strip as it causes instant curling – I used contact glue which meant mistakes weren’t tolerated!!

Here are a few of photos of the (almost finished) floors:

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I decided to keep the base for both sets of stairs but add better treads, balusters and newel posts. It would probably have been a lot easier if I had started from scratch as the kit steps were not even; it took many attempts and modifications to the posts to get it all to fit together around the landings while remaining as a unit outside of the house but ensure that it would fit and match to the new railings that also had to be built.! I also believe that I will want electricity for a fireplace and lights on the staircase first floor walls – and as I had planned for the wiring to run under the floor, I needed a way to get the staircase wiring connected once installed (which it isn’t yet!).

Here are photos of these:

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The electrical is another story. I (maybe I should have asked some 6 year old girl if she felt the same way but…) thought it would be great to have separate circuits for each floor and for the porch so I had to figure out a way to add switches in the correct places to handle that. I found it difficult (understatement) to get the ceiling lights installed.

The doors ended up being a big deal as well. The doors are designed for standard doll house wall thickness of 3/8” and the working windows set is 1/16’ thicker than the luan walls; this meant that the trim needed to be “shimmed/thickened” and made custom for each one.

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I decided to add the wallpaper, paint and trim before the staircase gets installed – I couldn’t see anyway that I could get inside afterwards. So now I will be working up the house the same way.

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On to find some nice tile flooring for the bathroom.

Colin

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My good lord, Colin! You're creating a work of art. You'll definitely have to post a picture of the DGD when she receives the finished treasure.

I felt your pain laying those floors, contact cement is the way to go. I also know about using upgrade components, I put a Houseworks interior door between two rooms in the Coventry Cottage I'm blogging; I have done it before, in my Dura-Craft Cambridge, so I had a better idea of how to minimize the shims.

Please continue to share the pictures of your beautiful Garfield!

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Outstanding, looking absolutely superb. Interesting to see the rectangular interior trim for the replacement windows, I have those too (think they make a huge difference) and was wondering how to do the interior. Neat idea I may steal. :D

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That is going to be an absolutely gorgeous house. I love the flooring. And the stairs look awesome. I had a similar idea for modifying the stairs for my Garfield, but I ended up buying a curved staircase for the first floor instead. Wonderful job!

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Colin- Spectacular job!! There are many of us working on the Garfield. Its such a beautiful house. And so many ways to update it and give it your own look. I did the working windows too. I love them. Your floors are amazing! I wish I could have done that. I went the simple route and used nice shelf paper that looked like a small wood grain pattern. Less time consuming and less $$. I changed my stairs too. I also changed the location of the stairs. You cabn see my last updated post here if you wish. You are doing a wonderful job and you'll be done long before your granddaughter is ready to play wiht it, don't worry.

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I used real cherry wood strips (1/32" thick and 5/8" wide) with just shellac for the living/dining/entry and real oak strips upstairs (1/16" thick and 9/16" wide) some stained with dark oak stain to enhance the pattern and then all shellaced. It was tedious - had to lay small sections at one time with contact cement.

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