squirrelnutmofia

Seeing how your dollhouse is displayed in a solarium with a seemingly beautiful garden in the back, it makes sense you are from the UK. With all the 1000's of posts on this site it is easy to get lost in the multitude of opinions and experiences. For instance, are you saying you have used hot glue on the whole dollhouse and never any wood glue? Doing construction myself i rely a lot on epoxy, and have read many articles on how not to prime the exterior before you wood glue and clamp the details on, such as siding and shingles. As long as it holds up to being well loved by 5 small children I am up for attempting any of your suggestions! I would have never guessed you used any sort of stone effect on the shingles, maybe that is why they seem satin or dull finished from the pictures. Your choice of color offset is remarkably accurate, i live in Ohio so slate shingles are common on turn of the century homes and what you have done on your Garfield is wonderful. I'll still make sure to practice!!! From some other posts i've heard that a satin finished exterior paint is best for being wiped down and keeping the 'grimy fingers' look at bay from handling. I see what you meant about the roof peak being simple shingles, in fact i like it better than the gingerbread it makes it feel more real. The 'cap pieces' i was referring to are what hide the roof seams over the turret. another ingenious invention of yours? I can find balsa wood at a local hobby store to experiment with on my own. Its difficult not having a woodshop at the moment! If you have a link to this Russian Lodge of yours i would love to see more of your work! I've found building small homes, etc is rather therapeutic while i save up for the real life projects i'm striving to afford.

The more i look at the care of your mini-garden the more amazed i am. Where did you find all the mini vegetables? Is there a blog post i'm not seeing that describes your build?

Wow i didnt expect to actually come across so many knowledgeable people here, let alone the person who created it! I was wondering how you were able to produce the nice variance of colors, and you figured all this out on your FIRST doll house? Do you have an art background by chance? My grandfather loved model trains but unfortunately passed away long before he could teach me his tricks on adding texture and age to color (let alone all the woodworking knowledge!). Did your acrylic paint have a satin finish to it like people on here seem to suggest, and did you prime it after gluing it? Your (free sculpted?) Wisteria vine and espelir pear tree are simply amazing additions!!! Honestly i'm building this for children but in reality i am living vicariously through it; i'm glad you showed me the gardening and greenhouse addition to these small homes. Still it is nice there is a community for all this. Personally i think it looks more like a real home without the excessive gingerbread on top. I like the addition of the little spindles riding the seams of the turret, where did you happen across those? I didnt mean to imply that your additions were 'too simple', in fact its often the little additions that make it much more authentic. Mimicking your build will teach me a lot without a lot of costly trial-and-error! I just received an email from greenleaf and for all future reference Garfields require: "twelve bags of siding and fifteen bags of shingles. The kit does not include shingles or siding" I'm tempted to order the 'speed strip' laser shingles just to make it all go smoother. It would be nice to get this all done in my one month lay off period for work to give to the family while i'm away. With nothing else to do there is hope!!! Thank you all for the help. Jo Med i'm sure i'll be bothering you with questions soon. :-)

I am afraid at the moment i am a man with Pintrest envy and do not know what to do about it. My Garfield kit is on the way but am uncertain what is different from this build (found on pintrest) and the kit i will be receiving. Is there a slate grey stain somewhere online, and where do you find those 'ridge caps'? The spindles on the turret seem new, and the balcony has a little roof made (seems simple enough). Also i have no idea how much siding i need to order.... in all it does not seem that different than the kit, however its the minor details that make it more interesting to me. Any help would be appreciated! Searching through the posts on this site has not yielded the best results yet.