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Newbie with Beacon Hill Blues


oldhousefan

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Hello All!

Still new here, and its been quite a Columbus Day Weekend for me.  I recently purchased a Beacon Hill Kit to assemble when the weather keeps me inside, and have been scouring internet images, this forum, Pinterest and all the other sites for inspiration.  Someone on this forum, I believe it was Havanaholly, told me the kit would speak to me, but she didn't warn me that it might have an attitude!

For over a week now, it has been whispering that it wants a formal dining room.  And a bigger kitchen.  A walnut paneled library wouldn't hurt, either.  Perhaps a even a ballroom.  I've tried to ignore it, but its persistent!  Snarky, even.  I've tried to reason with it.  It's my first kit build, I'm not ready to bash it, I'm a color within the lines, stay inside the box type of person, but this girl is trouble.  She said she doesn't have a real kitchen, and that I could forget any dream of a butler's pantry, I'd be lucky to get a slightly ornate scullery.  So, I decided to learn as much as I could about kit bashing, pricing plywood sheets, and bugging my husband, who is a pretty skilled carpenter, to see what he could do.  Well, he took a look at the box and started grunting and mumbling about 3/16 plywood, lack of consistent grain and many other choice words that don't bear repeating here.  He's always looking to lend a hand, lol.  He then said we could use the Beacon Hill as a pattern and rebuild it with 3/8 birch plywood, which he seems to have a real affinity for.  But then, after more grumbling, he felt it might be better to start from scratch, or buy another kit/dollhouse.  Told me to start looking, because time, materials design would be my burden.  So, off to the miniature races I went.

And that's when I saw it.  On ebay.  Giving me her Second Empire, come hither look.  It worked, because I'm a sucker for all things Second Empire.  My grandma's house on the north shore is Second Empire, but our ancestors tried to add some Italianite touches which were then removed in the 1950s.  So its kind of a sentimental attachment.  But this HOUSE!  I saw fireworks!  It seemed my whole life had led up to this moment, and we were destined to be together.  But she lives in Iowa, and I live in New York, and long distance romances usually don't work out.  And there were others who had it on their watch list, which offended me, because how could they think they had a chance at something that is rightfully mine?  Galling, the audacity of strangers, no decorum whatsoever.  So I contacted the seller, who has her own issues in scorning this beauty and leaving her to the mercy of strangers, but luckily I came along and saved her!  I am now (or will be once she arrives safely fingers crossed) the proud owner of a Lawbre Glen Cove Villa.  The seller was wonderful and we arranged shipping, which at first I was doubtful could happen, but it did!!  

But now this new girl is whispering, all the way from Iowa... saying provocative things like Rococo Revival, bronze newel post lights, and stained glass windows.  It's faint, and static filled, like a bad cell phone connection, but its there...

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Haha.. yes.. sometimes they do have an attitude and usually want something you don't want to do. :) And lucky you scoring the Lawbre house! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

Make sure you check out what @wormwoodz is doing with her Beacon Hill. She is turning it into a gorgeous Second Empire Mansion. :) 

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I've seen her Beacon Hill, and it is breathtaking!  I never imagined the kitchen could look so beautiful, and authentic!  I don't have her talent, much less her vision, to do that much with some of the rooms, they seem too small to accomplish what's in my head, but again, lack of vision, I guess.  But her houses are eye candy!

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They do get feisty don't they? I was determined to make a quaint French farmhouse with my Orchid/Primrose bash but NOPE. She's a Spanish cottage. C'est la vie!

Never underestimate your skills either! I ALWAYS tell people that when I talk to them about sewing. Even the masters started somewhere and every masterpiece was done in single steps. Think of everything in steps not as a whole. It's much less scary that way AND building the necessary skills will be a lot less intimidating!

 

 

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24 minutes ago, SewMini said:

They do get feisty don't they?

Oh my yes! Then there was the two-cabin houseboat that demanded a two-storey ballroom -- and ended up with 9 or 10 rooms, a roof garden and a separate wheelhouse.

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The first one I built with attitude of the strident kind was the Glencroft that refused to become Jane Marple's cottage because it wanted to be a pub.  The hubs & I visited several pubs to see what mine wanted; it was asking a lot, but DH was a good sport about it.

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5 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

The hubs & I visited several pubs ... but DH was a good sport about it.

lol ... Happy pub-hopping, eh? I wonder if he would have been as good a sport if it had wanted to be a quilt or yarn shop. <ducking and running>

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11 minutes ago, KathieB said:

lol ... Happy pub-hopping, eh? I wonder if he would have been as good a sport if it had wanted to be a quilt or yarn shop. <ducking and running>

Actually he is a very good sport, wherever I'm researching.

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