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The Orchid Dollhouse Construction Blog

A group blog by The Orchid Building Team in General

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About this blog

The Challenge

The Greenleaf Team Builders are challenged by Community Members in this rare event… Battle Orchid! This blog is the the work of the Team Builders. See the Orchid Construction Blog (Community) to checkout the fine work of our community members. Both groups did a fantastic job... they're all winners! Greenleaf thanks them all for making both blogs possible.

The Orchid Dollhouse Kit is one of Greenleaf's most popular dollhouses. It strikes the prefect balance between price and design. You may find this blog useful for tips and decorating ideas as build your Orchid Dollhouse. Bookmark the page and visit as often as needed.

Entries in this blog

Finished

yesterday about 5:30 my mother came by to discuss the day trip she and my gran would be making today they are going to go see my other gran(mom's mom) and my aunts and uncles who are all celebrating their birthdays today. so Im thinking ok she can take the Orchid to her a week early. :lol: so last night Catriona and I sat from 7pm working on the finishing touches...she quit around 12:45 but as I still had the roof to do I was up till 3am and g
nuttiwebgal

nuttiwebgal

11

How to use the Orchid Dollhouse Blog

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, y
Mini Man

Mini Man

7

All done and ready for delivery

I have finished and decorated the Orchid. I will be taking it down to the TV station Friday morning. Here are a few pictures of the outside. I put a small wreath for the holiday season on the door, since it will be offered at the holiday auction. The plant on the trellis is from a swap here. I thought it looked perfect and it kept telling me it wanted to live there. Here is a full pic of the inside 
darrellandmelissa

darrellandmelissa

7

How to Remove Excess Wallpaper

Because this house has double hung windows, cutting the wallpaer at the windows is a bit tricky. You have to trim the wallpaper large enough for the double hung windows to go in, and sometimes the wallpaper doesn't want to come off the wall when you trim on the inside. Like so: I've already used a razor blade to cut around this window to where I want the wallpaper to be. So, to remove that paper that didn't come off I take a wet washrag--not dripping but good and wet--and wip
LPCullen

LPCullen

6

Orchid Completed

This house was a really fun build! My houses never feel completed without a Base with trees & flowers and my customers usually expects them of me now. I Think I love the bases myself with flowers because to me, that is what really make my houses look realistic. When I first started using bases (About 10 years ago) I used cardboard because I personally used to love to change them and it was lightweight enough to pick up and have it glued to the house. I then switched to thin wood but had to h
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

6

Something New

Well, every blog I try something new. This time I wanted to try something new I had found at Hobby Lobby. It is calledPaper Perfect and I wanted to try it to make the stucco or plaster effect on the inside walls downstairs. I chose Mocha Creme color and it is very easy to use (Takes forever to dry though :lol: about 12 -24 hours ) but I really love the effect that I was able to achieved by using it. I did it last night before I went to bed so that I would not spend 12 - 24 hours touching
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

5

Slight progress

Here is the little amount of progress I have managed to do while ill. The bedroom dormer area is finished. I put a tulle net curtain suspended from the ceiling, made some pillows, and used an old earing for a beaded curtain over the window. This is the curtain for the larger room with the dormer. The small room upstairs has a curtain now. I am starting to put on the shingles. I still have 2 more
darrellandmelissa

darrellandmelissa

4

Changing the Windows

I have decided to change the window silk screen and leave it clear below and a Wistera stained glass print on the top of the double hung windows. The bay window will be texture glass and only the big octagon window will have a stained glass pattern. To see more about how I do stained windows, click HERE . I painted the window Casings "Brown Iron Oxide" I also painted the Pediments this color. I then painted the the window sashes "Dark Burt Umber" (it almost look black in the pictures but it i
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

3

The windows

you would probably want to side this house after the outer trim is on the windows here is how the windows go together for that "working"look the frame alone....I had to use the actual window when installing the trim to get the correct amount around each side this is how the inside lower window looks without the trim and this is how it looks on the outside of course I used waxy tac
nuttiwebgal

nuttiwebgal

3

FINISHED at last!

I am finally finished with the Orchid! Or the little brick house, LOL, whichever one you want to call it. Although I am pleased with the exterior of this house (the pictures don't show it well but the outside is a very light blue), I am not very thrilled with my wallpapering job. It wasn't my best .... Anyhow, here it is!
LPCullen

LPCullen

3

Lights, Clay, Action!

I added the lights to the house today. There is a down light on the front porch a chandelier in the living room and a downlight with a frosted shade in the Kitchen. There is a outlet in the bedroom that has room for three lights to plug in. It is hidden behind the right side of the roof. The bathroom has a ceiling light too. I added stone to the bottom half of the house and stucco with exposed bricks on the top. Now I gotta let it dry then I will touch up the paint on the windows and then
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

3

I begin

I began building the Orchid by cleaning up and reorganizing my work area. than yesterday I let the peices out of the box! they were so Happy! I like to have a plan for each house when I start it seems to move along quicker that way so plan is for house to be given to my soon to be 86 yr old grandmother. so I am taking extra care in the prep work. I stained both floors with Americana stain waited a couple of hours and than applied 1 coat of polyurethane. of course weather sel
nuttiwebgal

nuttiwebgal

3

Playing With Bricks

Let's see, where were we? Ah yes, painting bricks. I remember now. The color that I use for the base color of the bricks is Brown Iron Oxide. Looks like this: I now have all the bricks painted brown, see? Whaddya mean all bricks are not brown? You mean I'm not finished yet? Nope, I'm not. Gotta add some more colors in. I'm going to use three different colors, Dark Burnt Umber, Hippo Gray, and Red Iron Oxide. I'll start first with
LPCullen

LPCullen

3

Floors are in & Stained

The Floors are all in and stained now. I also did touch up painting on the insides of the house around the windows. I also added the wall downstairs but I put it in so that the opening is in the front and not by the door. I did this because it is sometimes easier to put furniture in the kitchen when the wall has a corner like this one does. I used Corona Siding on my floors and cut them different lengths and then stained them Now I have to add the clay to the upstairs because I w
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

3

11th Session, 27-30 November

The family who own the store are of Asian Indian heritage but proud citizens of the US, so much so that Mamma Ananda named her baby boy Upana Shad; so the store sign quite correctly reads "USA General Store". I made a parlor stove for heating & cooking out of a plastic egg, a film canister cap, a medication bottle "child-proof" cap, four oval wooden beads, a jeselry finding and a Sonic drinking straw. The sub-assembly is visible in the left side of the previous post's picture of the c
havanaholly

havanaholly

3

tissue/paint effect

I use this method alot. its quick and gives a very nice plaster/stucco effect and its cheep which always makes me happy. I use 2 ply toliet tissue which I tear into strips I use whatever paint I think I will like because when it is dry I can always paint over. step 1-- paint the surface first step 2 --apply the tissue 1 ply at a time to the wet surface than gently brush on more paint over the top of the tissue
nuttiwebgal

nuttiwebgal

2

Putting on the Porch

My wallpaper is now COMPLETELY done, although I am not real happy with it. It is not one of my better jobs .... As of now I'm leaving the stair case out, because I can't find what I did with some of the stair treads... Time to put the porch posts on the house. Because I bricked the house and the little slots are NOT going to fit in there, I cut the slots off the back side of the porch railing. I'm gluing these on with white glue, but I'm also using a little technique t
LPCullen

LPCullen

2

Finishing the Porch

I've painted the base coat of the bricks all a nice wash with Brown Iron Oxide. And then I went back and added some Dark Burnt Umber, some Hippo Gray, and then I changed it out a bit and added Burnt Sienna instead of Red Iron Oxide. Same results, I think. What do you think? I still need to clear coat the bricks, but it's raining here so I will have to wait for it to stop raining .... Now, on to wallpapering .... Compliments of LPCullen
LPCullen

LPCullen

2

Finishing the Bricks

Been working on bricks, painting, etc. We left off with painting using dark burnt umber. I finished one side, and this is where I ran out of paint on the front. Gotta mix some more paint, still using the two drops and mixing water into it. Once I've finished with the front and get ready to move to the final side using the dark burnt umber, I want to again look at my corners and see what bricks I've painted on the corners with dark burnt umber so that I ca
LPCullen

LPCullen

2

Day Two

I just remembered that the windows in this house are double hung, so I figured it would be best to install the exterior of the windows before I start to paperclaying. So I glued the exterior parts together and then painted them. Once they were dry, I got them installed. Had to use some of our special handy dandy weights on part. And now, I think I'll start bricking the front. Took one half package of paperclay and put it on our rolling board. That's just a
LPCullen

LPCullen

2

More Clay

Well Now I added more clay to the dormers and walls upstairs. I also added clay to the back base of the house. Now all I have to do is add the roof, trim and base. Then I will be ready to paint :lol: . Why did I list the things I still have to do. Do you ever get the feeling you are getting no where very fast? :o I do.
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

2

10th session, 9-20 November

I made storeroom shelving using tongueblade-size craft sticks for the verticals and popsicle-size craft sticks for the shelves: I painted them with a wash of yellow ochre & burnt umber: and installed them: I made a rolling set of storage bins from the October '06 issue of American Miniaturist, #42, page 25. DH was delighted to see me actually use some of the table trash I've collected... From Making Miniatures: Projects for
havanaholly

havanaholly

1

9th Session, 3-6 November

I unpacked the Orchid and the lower porch fell off :whistle: . I measured and cut the upstairs baseboards and painted the ones for the bathroom red and for the other room blue and when they were dry I installed them. It was then I noticed I had installed the guardrail backwards... So I removed it and reassembled & reinstalled it. Since I was on a roll with gluing things I re-glued the bottom of the porch and then I installed the stairs, the handrail and the downstairs divider w
havanaholly

havanaholly

1

4th session, 21-23 August

I noticed a BIG "oopsie", white primer from the exterior "stones" had run in at the bottom of the left dormer & all acros my lovey striped wallpaper & dried :angry: ! I stripped off the old paperand primed over the green. Judith Abraham's suggestion of warm water & vinegar worked a charm! I spackled the seams & gaps generously. I found Linda Cullen's method of ceiling painting to be most effective. SERENDIPITY NOTE: W
havanaholly

havanaholly

1

The Fun Begins

I don't know what it is about opening a Brand New Wood Kit from Greenleaf but I ALWAYS feel so excited. I am not sure if it is the first smell of wood fresh of out of the box or the fact that it is a new house waiting to be born or what. I just know I have feel excited about it eveytime. I opened the box and it told me it did not want to be a stone house from medieval times or shortly after. It said it wants to use the same windows from the kit (Which are so cool because they look like they r
Minis On The Edge

Minis On The Edge

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