firef2005

Ok! Thanks guys, as always, great stuff. Now I have something to work with. I haven't decided on a color for my roof yet, with this build, I seem to be 'told' what it needs as we go. I will post pictures soon of my progress on the exterior. The glue crackle worked great, some cracks came out fairly large, but I like the look of it so far.

:flowers:Welcome!

Kathie, Thanks! My last batch of shingles I used shingle dye and it worked beautifully. The directions for the house say to use a 'wash' of 1/2 paint and 1/2 water after the shingles are applied. Will this do too much damage? Seems much easier than dyeing them before I put them on.

Most of you have heard about my ongoing nightmare, The Queen Anne. Well, this week I think we are on the same page. Yeah! Anyway, she's going to be the old 'haunted' house on the corner that all the kids in the neighborhood are afraid to go to. I have the exterior paint started using a crackle finish (Elmers glue). I want the shingles to match the aging on the house. I wouldn't mind if they were a bit curled and rotten looking. Any ideas on how I could accomplish this? Seems silly to have rotten wood on the walls, and a perfectly shingled roof!

Armymom (Debra), I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome several years ago. I seem to manage very well for the most part without medications, they did give me narcotic pain relievers which I wouldn't take. The symptoms seem to bother me worse when I am stressed, or get too busy. I don't rest well, get up early everyday, and stay busy. The flares can really bring me down, just for the plain fact that the exhaustion and brain fog (worse than usual) give me no choice but to try to rest and take it easy. I have found over the years that listening to my body is much easier for me than trying to fight through it some days. I am fortunate now that I work from home, so days that I don't feel well, I can spend taking it easier than usual. I doubt my husband will fire me. : ) I can remember when I worked outside the home, I would push myself for a few days, and would usually end up going home early the third day or so because I just couldn't do it. Pain was worse, everything was worse when I didn't rest. My flares typically last a few days, sometimes with off and on symptoms for a week or so. Doing things you find relaxing will help a lot, maybe be able to take your mind off the suffering for a bit. Trying to push through a flare doesn't work for me. Light exercise is a help, no more than a stroll down the street and back for me. I find that relaxing as well. But remember, you have to keep moving. That's key. Just know that it will pass, and if you have to slow down, slow down. I have found that the over the counter pain patches (salonpas) help a lot. I can put them where the pain is the worst, and it does give me some relief. I just got over a flare a few days ago, and I was miserable, totally get what you're feeling. I really hope you feel better soon. Rest. Relax.

I lost the whole box of components (windows, trim, etc) for my Queen Anne. This is not a small box. Took me awhile to find it in the corner under the half built house. The borrowers visit my house on a daily basis, I think I'm losing my mind, but I know I'm losing a lot of stuff, just to have it show up in the place I already looked! Glad I'm not the only one!

I have one finished house (almost), my Painted Lady by RGT, my nemesis, the Queen Anne, which sits unfinished giving me dirty looks. Been thinking about getting back to that, but for the last two years, I am constantly stuck. Was wondering the other day if it would be a bad idea to start on my Imagination House by RGT, was wondering if I was starting too many projects. After reading this, I can see that it's fine for me to get started on another house. Of course, along with my sewing projects, and all my other stuff I'm working on right now. Maybe tomorrow I will open the box, then I'll have to get started on it. Thanks for the encouragement (enabling)!

I've already torn out floors, wallpaper, and sanded stuff off on this one. Right now I'm just focusing on the basics, the build, and keeping a journal of ideas for later when I get to the decorating part. That will be a challenge, as I've never done 'aged' or 'shabby'. I'm finding that making things look old, is actually quite a bit of work. I'm just trying to have fun with it, don't have near as much time to work on it as I'd like, but I find that keeping pencil and paper handy to write ideas down helps for when I can get back to it.

I put this house away for an entire year. It started 'talking' to me again, so I brought it back out. I know what I want to do with it, (or what it wants), just don't remember a house being this hard to build before.

What do you mean got up the nerve??? Your work is absolutely fantastic! Very clean, neat, and looks great! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more pictures!

Meaning house build, not body build! I'm working on my Queen Anne by RGT. This build has been tough. Probably the hardest one I've done. Even though I've tried very hard to be careful, I have screwed up in a few places, but not to the point that it has to be ripped apart. Will just have to make some minor 'adjustments' later. Has anyone built a particular house that just seemed really difficult, or maybe intimidated them a bit? I will keep plugging on, just hope I can get it right!

I'm building the Queen Anne, and the instructions tell you to shingle the dormer fronts during construction. My question is should I trace around where the windows will go and try to shingle around that, or should I put the windows in first and shingle around them? Or, should I just shingle the entire piece and then put the windows in? I am thinking that if I wait to put the windows in until after shingles, they may not fit flush. Maybe tape the windows in and shingle around them, so that I can take them off until I'm ready to put them in permanently? This build is really hard. Hardest one I've done, maybe I'm just intimidated??

Havanaholly, Another great idea! The porch floor I'm talking about is on the second floor, so the little people would have to have REALLY wanted a broken down car seat on the second floor! Maybe the seat with leaves, etc! I'm so far from the actual decorating point, I'll have to make a note of these ideas, because by then I will forget!

It's heartwarming to see that there are still people out there who care and want to help others! This is fabulous! What a wonderful blessing for both of you! Will be looking forward to your build Gina!

You guys are fabulous!! I do believe I can camouflage it, it's not too wide that I couldn't. I love the ideas you gave me, and now I'm excited that I can move on to the next floor without having to stress over more sanding! Like I said, it will be slightly shabby, so now you've given me lots of possibilities for 'fixing' it. Yea!

I really like the colors! I agree that maybe adding some medium tones may help. I also think that maybe painting the stair risers could lighten up the darker color of the steps. By the way, which house is this? It's fantastic!

I'm working on my monster doll house the Queen Anne by RGT. I had spent weeks painstakingly scribing the floor boards and porches for the first and second floors. I had traced the wall position on each so I knew where to stop with my stain colors. The porches are lighter than the interior floors. Floors were stained, polyurethaned, and looked absolutely beautiful! First floor came out well. Put up the second floor walls today, apparently I didn't quite trace correctly, because now I have dark stain around the outside edges of the second floor walls, that bleeds into the lighter stain on the porch. The walls were supposed to be over the part where the two came together. I'm thinking I will try to sand the darker off, and see if I can get the lighter stain to take. Don't think this will work well though. Also, my wall exteriors are already painted, so by sanding the flooring, I will probably screw up the walls and have to fix those as well. I'm doing a shabby boarding house, maybe I can disguise the darker flooring as mildew or wood rot? Seems lately I spend more time fixing 'mistakes' then actually building.

We are dealing with a mouse problem here as well. Not hardly a thing last year, and this year it seems every mouse family has chosen my home to live in. We've had the flop- scrape-scrape thing going on here. The traps aren't catching any mice, so we resorted to glue boards (which I hate), but all we've managed to catch was our Chihuahua who felt she had to set the half caught mouse free in the middle of the night. :oops:Still putting out traps, but it seems that most everyone has moved on for now. Whew! We have tarantulas, rattlesnakes, and scorpions here, to name a few critters, and I don't like them either, but I hate the mice in my house. Nasty!

Tracy, I 'finished' the Painted Lady a few years ago. Note the quotes around 'finished'. There are pictures in my gallery, may help you with ideas. I'm a big wallpaper fan myself, so I see where you are going with this. I like to use regular paper, or file folders, etc to make templates. It can be time consuming, but I think if you can get your templates made to fit around the window trim, you should be able to cut your wallpaper pieces to fit in there well enough that you may be happy with the result. I'm no expert by any means, but if you're determined to do wallpaper, maybe this will help you out. Best of luck! Can't wait to see pictures! Stefani

I'm glad to be back! Always excited to share about my experiences with my search for my birth family. It was many years in the making, much work on my part, and the results were fantastic. Have a whole new family to share with, a brother, a sister, niece, aunts, uncles and cousins. I was able to meet with my birth father and family last June, unfortunately we lost him the beginning of this year. My birth mother passed away a year before I found them, but have learned much about her through my other family members. I was blessed to have been able to meet with my father, and spend time with him, as well as have many questions answered. We kept in close contact over the months that he was with us. I talk to my sister almost everyday, and keep in close touch with everyone. My brother, sister, and brother - in - law were able to come down for our wedding, and my brother gave me away, which was a huge blessing for me. I'm excited to be able to get back to my hobbies, as it's relaxing (most of the time) for me.

Hello everyone! I've been away for quite some time, 2013 turned out to be a crazy, wonderfully blessed year for me! Was reunited with my birth family after 43 years, got married, and started a remodel on our new (old) house. Been travelling and busy with my husbands business. I've been very blessed. Now that things have started to quiet down just a bit, my thoughts are turning again to my love of miniatures. Spent some time this evening cleaning up my crafts room, (it had become a storage room of sorts) and going to try to get out there tomorrow to inventory some of my stuff to pick up on my chicken coop project. It's been very fun to read what all of you are up to, and I am so glad that I've been able to make my way back here after a very busy year!

:cheer:Brae - I'm such an admirer of your work. Congratulations, and as always, STUNNING work!

I don't think this will be my last chicken coop either, I'm getting all kinds of ideas for bigger ones. This one's a bit shabby, more realistic, but I've had ideas for fancy hen houses, with chandeliers, etc. I love the idea of pictures of previous family members on the wall!

Yes, chickens are, 'ahem' - messy. I am thinking clay or paint for the chicken poo. I've made quite a bit of progress, but am a bit on hold, as I'm waiting for more 'lumber'. I have what I need to build my nest boxes, I am kind of following what my chicken coop looks like. Will be studying 'poo' more closely. Now I know I've REALLY lost it!

Well, as some of you know, I've been fighting with my RGT Queen Anne, which I believe is the largest kit available. Well, she's been set aside, as we can't agree on anything at this point, and I was totally stuck. Recently we moved to a house with acreage, and I've decided to raise chickens. I really enjoy them, and am glad I decided to do this. I have 31 chickens, (30 hens and 1 rooster). They haven't started laying yet, as they are still young, but my egg money may help support some of my hobby purchases. Not that I will be making a profit on the eggs, mind you. Anyway, I was sitting at the table the other day, haven't been working much on miniatures, haven't had the time. All the sudden, I had a brainstorm that I'd like to do a chicken coop! I thought, what a great idea! So, I ordered the GL Primrose, which is probably the smallest house there is. After only a day, I've already got a good start on the interior walls, and the main house glued together. How nice to make progress! But now, I need ideas! I really want this to be realistic, but am stuck on a few things: How would/could I do a dirt floor? What to use for hay? Can you make mini chicken poop? (seriously), and out of what? I will welcome any and all suggestions, you guys always have the greatest ideas!