Selkie

Not sure how much one should actually admit to in this post ... hmmm ... perhaps anonymous entries would be safer ... hmmm It's kind of scary that I can follow your wandering trail of thoughts when I didn't even think them ...

Another thought is to look in all different regions of the country on the various Craigslist, Goodwill, and Free recycling websites for an already constructed one you could rehab. Some folks might be willing to negotiate shipping to you for the right price. Also check Ebay for the UK or other areas as well. Good luck

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this one or not. Madhatter used a GL 2010 Spring Fling for her entry as Daigon Alley. Maybe some ideas there for you.

I've lost my enjoyment of cooking as well. There is little to no appreciation whether I made a pb&j or a 12 course banquet and cleaning up is such drudgery !! My gardens are still producing but my preserving ambitions are slowing way down. I'm so tired of it and I still have the family favorite relish to make. My wish is that the need to eat would become a "once and done" - for life - kind of activity.

How nice that you are keeping to the history of the farm. Planting trees is always a great thing, imo. Repurposing the branches is a wonderful idea. Keeping the country in the country is a great thing to be part of. That is not to say that I don't enjoy a trip to the city for some of their amenities now and then. But I'm a country gal to the core! I love old farmhouses and barns. So many are neglected and falling into disrepair as the urban landscape creeps ever onward. There is a lovely little children's book called "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. (author of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow and others). The poor little country house is overtaken by the city and forgotten. Then her ancestors come back and rescue her. Worth the read, imo.

Just in case anyone is interested in the original RL design of shiplap, I've tried to make an illustration. Some folks call any wide horizontal or vertical boards shiplap but it's likely not true shiplap. I have lots of regular boards on the walls that are up to 20" wide (horizontal placements). None of those are shiplap, just wonderful wide old wood. Some of that is painted and some not. As to floor boards, I have them anywhere from 4" to 20" all in the same room. Some upstairs floors were painted which we have sanded down and sealed. I even have salvaged some very wide boards that were exterior underlayment that look like trees. They are curvy and still have the bark on them. But back to the shiplap. As an exterior application it was cut to lap over the next board in order to shed water. In the illustration they would be horizontally placed. The Red would be a piece that overlapped the top edge of the blue piece. Each piece was cut that way - not tongue and groove. I had a huge go round with a builder over that one time when we were doing a repair. He had brought modern tongue and groove wood as replacement wood and tried to pass it off as shiplap. Boy was he surprised that his customer wasn't stupid!!

Congratulations on making there with all your belongings. Can't wait to see some pictures of your new place. I'll bet it's wonderful! You should have no need for a strict timetable now that you are all in one place. Take it a a reasonable pace so you don't end up doing things twice. I find if I hurry scurry through those kinds of situations, I end up re-doing things that I didn't take time to really think through the first time around. All that said, I'll bet, because you are very organized, that you have floorplans already drawn up for each room in your new place.

Interesting question I've never thought about. I have shiplap going both ways in the same RL house. I have no modern day paneling at all. My house is an old (c.1850) house and parts of the shiplap are vertical and parts of it are horizontal. Proportionately there is more of it that is horizontal. I guess I've never really "looked" at before with an eye for the correctness. I've lived here for many, many, many years and never paid any mind to that. Weird. Mine is not painted. It has varnish type finish on it.

Adding my thoughts and prayers for you and yours. Good advice - to keep your family close while you have the opportunity. We just never know what's in store around the next bend.

Your whole family is under so much stress right now. We've had that walk before and I know how scary and stressful it is. Find comfort in the things that you love and pop on here to keep us in the loop if you have the time. Glad to lift you up in prayer. We all need each other.

Prayers said and hugs sent. I cannot imagine how difficult this all is for you. You are a very strong person deep inside and you will make it through. Let others share the load with you to ease the pain. Shared pain is always lightened by the link with others .

Truth be told the GF is waiting, not so patiently, for it all her individual house parts to be dressed up. They are living on separate shelves in my studio waiting ... Somewhere I have a picture of them from around 2008 all in place in their UNfinished glory. I'll have to see if I can find it. I tend to take things back apart and store them flat until I'm ready to actually finish them. My DH doesn't like any of my hobbies to "clutter" up the house so they have to live in my woodshop, studio or sewing room.

Well, if display space was available to me this is what you'd find for my Garfield. My GF is part of my Family Mansion project. In addition to the GF as the base, it has 2 Primroses, a Conservatory, and an Orchid all designed to slide together as one unit. It also has 2 outbuildings, both were GL contest kits. In my world one is a motorcycle repair shop and the other is a large barn complex (my tornado entry) What I've dreamed of figuring out was a way to complete the GF layout to go from L shaped to square-ish one. It seems as though an additional rectangular section (and possibly another tower section) could be built to fit into the empty L area, perhaps hinged. It could provide 2 bedrooms on the 2nd floor. (I already pushed my bathroom wall back and created a hallway to the far right bedroom). A lovely music room, larger dining room or library could live on the 1st fl. Roof lines would be the very complicated thing to work out.

Dutch, those steps seem to look too small for the opening if I'm looking at it correctly. Seems like mine go all the way over to the left edge which is where the square end goes. Maybe check the sheet and see if there are two other similar pieces but just a little longer. I had put a picture from the bottom of mine in your other Garfield mansion thread.

Sorry not to get back to you sooner. I had to work late and then take the kiddos to get their entries in at our little county fair. Just got back home. I tried to take a picture of the under of that area by lifting up the house. Not sure they show much that is very helpful. I remember that the step pieces were on another sheet quite a ways from the foundation pieces. I hunted for my schematics and instructions and miraculously found them. It looks like those pieces are on sheet 11. I think the word laminate, as it's used here, just means to glue one over the other. The arrow with 12 on it is that sideways foundation piece from the sheet of foundation pieces. The other two arrows (and my finger and the dowel) are where the stair edges are. It was so hard to get a decent picture since the house is so heavy. I slid my phone in underneath and tried my best. Probably haven't truly answered your question yet but maybe we will get there. You might try private messaging some of the other members who have built a Garfield before to see if they might have a better explanation. I know Creamcheese and madtex1967 both did very lovely Garfields.

It's been a long time since I did that part. If I remember correctly, I turned it all upside down to assemble them. I'm a great one to do things backwards or inside out. Sometimes it helps me, no joking, it really does. I'm not at home right now so I can't look further today but I'll check it tomorrow and see if I can post another picture for you.

You are not alone. So many of the long time artisans are closing up shops and passing on. It's hard to watch and even harder to wonder where our treasures will go when the time comes. I have no one to pass things on to at this point. Maybe someone will come along eventually but I kind of doubt it. I hope there are many new artists waiting in the wings to keep the fires burning.

I have all the above listed tools. I also use a Proxxon mini scroll saw, Dremel Trio and my full size band saw. As a hand tool, in addition to the Midwest cutter, I have another small cutter that does repeat cuts well. It's called a The Chopper II by NWSL (northwest short line) It's a model railroad tool. It has a nice layout for angle cuts of small wood. We are model railroad builders so have collected many items from the train and model shows we've been to in the past.

Those stairs were tough for me as well. I'm attaching a picture of it in progress. Not sure if it will make sense to you or not. I drew some black lines on the edges of the step to give you an idea of the step itself. It indents from the bottom of the porch. It isn't a separate set of freestanding stairs like the front ones. If you were stepping up, you'd sort of be stepping into the porch floor area. It's an odd arrangement. Hope this helps.

While I truly enjoy looking at this collection, it does kind of make me sad. All the exciting creativity, planning, love, and hard work that the artist spent in his/her lifetime, not to mention the dollars, is now reduced to a disbursement to the highest bidder and what doesn't "sell" relegated to some family members attic or garage (or landfill). It's the same for any cherished hobby or interest that we might have as well as the sum of our lifetime's work. Once the man and his shovel finishes the job over our worn out bodies, that snippet of time is gone forever. That light has been blown out. I'm not trying to be morbid, btw, just realistic. As I age and have increasing health issues, these facts become more apparent than ever. ... sigh ... I hope this artist's lovely collection sells well and sells to those who will keep their creativity alive a while longer.

I've been inventorying my craft stashes lately. Ummm .. Sad to confess, I have 16 builds in varying stages of doneness (is that even a word?). Some have been dismantled and are laying flat so they won't warp.Hopefully I don't discover too many others hiding in unlikely places. Twinkle also has several in varying stages as well as Wisteria. It must be contagious. So far in my unopened kit stash, I'm creeping upwards towards the fifty count at the moment. They keep popping out from somewhere like popcorn flying out of a hot air popper. It's kind of scary. I've even found I have 5 quarter scale village sets - all different. ... sigh .... I'll never live long enough to complete them. I like this explanation Nutti. It makes it sounds so much nicer than just plain greed or addiction.

Congratulations Kathie. Hope your new home will inspire lots of mini creativity to keep slackers like me entertained for some time to come.

This sounds like a great organization. How sweet for a child to have a special quilt or blanket of their own to comfort them. Thanks for sharing the link.

17 hours ago, Elsbeth said: Well this is too pricey for me, but I love the door under the stairs. https://www.etsy.com/listing/520030115/dollhouse-112-scale-miniature-hand Sorry this quote didn't work correctly so I just pasted the info in here. My answer: JoMed used a staircase like that from overseas. She customized it for her Arsenic and Old Lace build. There are more pictures of it throughout her album.