Double Hung Windows

[Peggy]

As an aside, yesterday I started my 1st album here on the Forum of my 1st build, the Vermont Farm House which my niece and I put together in less than 2 weeks for her grand daughter's birthday.  It is not much to look at and I did not know it would be automatically posted for all to see so sorry I took up space with it.  But I did appreciate that the house is sturdy enough for a 6-year-old to actually play with.  And that house is what led me to this Forum and everything I see here gave me the bug to try something more creative which led me to THE ORCHID.

I have been working on it over a week.  It is challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but it draws me like a magnet to keep moving on step after step.  Boy was I proud when I figured out the double hung windows, painted them all, glued everything good and tight to the frames.  THEN I tried gluing them to the house and nothing I did could get them to lay flush to the house --  something was wrong but for the life of me I could not figure out what and the illustrated instructions I downloaded from here (which are so much better than what came with the kit) were not helping.  Finally, after much searching I found this tutorial on "The Gazette" :

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/AUG2008/Dollhouse-Windows.html  Finally, something even I could understand.  Of course I have to disassemble what I already did and I've created myself a real mess, but I think I can do it now.  All of you post such master pieces, maybe I will post something like "What NOT to do"  HA HA  Thanks for all the help I am finding here.

[havanaholly]

3 hours ago, Peggy said:

As an aside, yesterday I started my 1st album here on the Forum of my 1st build, the Vermont Farm House which my niece and I put together in less than 2 weeks for her grand daughter's birthday.  It is not much to look at and I did not know it would be automatically posted for all to see so sorry I took up space with it.  But I did appreciate that the house is sturdy enough for a 6-year-old to actually play with.  And that house is what led me to this Forum and everything I see here gave me the bug to try something more creative which led me to THE ORCHID.

I have been working on it over a week.  It is challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but it draws me like a magnet to keep moving on step after step.  Boy was I proud when I figured out the double hung windows, painted them all, glued everything good and tight to the frames.  THEN I tried gluing them to the house and nothing I did could get them to lay flush to the house --  something was wrong but for the life of me I could not figure out what and the illustrated instructions I downloaded from here (which are so much better than what came with the kit) were not helping.  Finally, after much searching I found this tutorial on "The Gazette" :

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/AUG2008/Dollhouse-Windows.html  Finally, something even I could understand.  Of course I have to disassemble what I already did and I've created myself a real mess, but I think I can do it now.  All of you post such master pieces, maybe I will post something like "What NOT to do"  HA HA  Thanks for all the help I am finding here.

Not only do I use my gallery albums for "how NOT to do its", but also in the Team building blogs I have participated in.  Even when you read through the instruction sheets as many times as I do it is still possible to commit some monumental "oopsies".

[stickyfingers]

I made many, many mistakes building my kit. I was beginning to think that I would end up building it twice over before it was all done. It started when I glued the side walls on backwards, and just went on from there. The bay window was a bear...if I were to build another, I'd just buy a ready made one and use that, or eliminate it altogether. Or maybe I just did it wrong...haha! Hang in there. Messing it up can lead to happy accidents, and if nothing else, you will learn to do it differently next time.   

[stickyfingers]

Oh, and one big lesson that I learned- before you permanently glue something in, double (triple) check that it actually fits, AND that any other pieces attached to it will also fit. That's how I learned I had glued the walls on inside out. I had glued everything up, then tried to dry fit the roof and gable on, and nothing fit.  

[havanaholly]

Another excellent reason for the dry fit!

[shannonc60]

One thing I've learnt from years of sewing and dollhouses is you will ALWAYS make mistakes. It's Ok. Just fix it and move on. I'm sure your houses will be amazing!

[Peggy]

Looking through your gallery, Linda, especially the Orchid, it is hard to imagine you having a hard time.  I saw your Orchid before I got mine and it was one of the reasons I got it.  Yours is so beautiful.  I am still working at getting all that glue off the windows and house where I made my big boo-boo -- what a bear!   Oh, Holly, I did dry fit the windows before I glued them to the house and even doing that, I did not see my mistake.  Pressing on, though, I am working on floors, wall-papering, etc.  Eventually, I plan to follow LPCullen's tutorial and brick the outside, a huge project for a newbie like me, but I want to make it sort of like my real house and that is the look.  Thanks for the encouragement and letting me know I can work through my mistakes.

[havanaholly]

Peggy,, one day I was so overwhelmed by it all (I think I was building the Glencroft at the time) that I was in tears and ready to reduce it to kindling; when I had a sudden flash that all these mistakes were really opportunities to find ways that worked for me; learning opportunities not to lose my mind over.  Of course, that was also the build that taught me that the kits will speak to us and tell us what they want.