Skellington

Not sure if there's a way to @ people in this forum, but I just realized I missed HavanahHolly's question. The base the dollhouse is sitting on was NOT part of it -- dad built it a few years after he gave me the dollhouse, as another birthday present, I think. The base is on casters, so I could haul it out into the middle of the room where I could reach everything without help. Thank goodness -- I'd never have been able to get it out of the closet without the casters, even now. It also has a locking drawer, which was very exciting as a kid even though I never had anything to lock in it. Seems the drawer pull has fallen off, so I'll have to fix that. The base-and-casters make it possible to reach both front and back and still store the house in a corner. It's also why so much stuff has fallen over, of course -- little things have to be stuck down if you're going to be rolling a house around (in this case, rolling it up onto the wood floor off the closet floor, and then up again onto an area rug).

Hi Mike -- I love your signature. A 'nervous breakthrough' might describe lots of the forward-progress I've made in my life, when I look at it right. ;)

Hi Ruther! I'm brand new to the forum, too, but I'd love to watch you work on a ryokan. I really enjoyed the few nights I spent in one on my trip to Japan, and I'm hoping to go again in the next few years.

Oh, and I'll definitely try vinegar for loosening glue -- I'd never heard of that one. Now I'm wishing I'd held off on posting to the forum the first time for just a little while longer, because you've all got me excited and the house is still at my folks' place. Oh well, it's motivation to get some 'real house' projects done.

That was the first thing I was hoping to fix. Thanks for the advice! I'm thinking of extending the eaves a tiny bit, so that course of shingles can be full length but supported (also, I like the look of broader eaves if I'm aiming at foursquare 1890-1930 style; small to non-existent eaves are very 1940s, which isn't as appealing for me). Oh gosh, I'm sorry. What an awful conclusion to all your work. In this case, the house was never finished, so a lot of what I'll be doing is building on my dad's work, not removing it. It's always been a project -- often one we shared. The only thing I'll be doing to his hand-laid floors is cleaning them. Speaking of which: Yes, he did! I'll leave the whole bathroom as-is except for a thorough dusting. I'm thinking of foursquares built between 1890 and 1930 -- it's not quite right, because it doesn't have a big front porch and the front's a bit long, but the general outlines and hipped roof work for it, and the style speaks to me more than the more formal Georgian houses. Maybe because they're more of an east coast phenomenon! I started to do some era research and collect photos. The most clearly 'of it's era' thing in the house is a really cool enamel monitor-top fridge. They were introduced in 1927, so I'm thinking that'll be the year I aim for -- a house built a decade or even two earlier, with a brand new fridge, and of course all the older stuff still a possibility for furniture. I do wonder about the origins of the house!

Oh, here we go, post number four -- If I'm going to start a thread, I better name the thing. All the known kit-built houses have that figured out, which is really handy. Names are hard. I have a lot of untitled paintings and unnamed fiction characters following me around waiting for that inspiration.

Okay, so this is post #3, and I just have to blather on twice more to get an album. ;) (I've my own web hosting as well, and a casual blog, but it's much more fun to share things with people who'll actually be interested) I'll try to tackle the Corner of Doom this weekend. It has all those random bits in it that accrue from remodeling and don't have a real home. I know dad did the bathroom wainscotting and downstairs wood floors. The upstairs wood floors were there when he got it (actually the whole house had the same stuff); they're a bit ripply and buckled. He said it was such a pain chiseling out the downstairs that he left the upstairs as it was. Haven't decided if I'm going to chisel where he dared not tread yet. A lot to figure out before I hit that point!

Thanks, everyone -- this is exciting! It's certainly a different world than the mid 90s when I was last involved. I used to get *one* catalog of things I couldn't afford and pour over it for months. Now I can waste whole days on the internet instead. Dad would've acquired the house in 88, I think? I'm a bit confused as to when, seeing as I was four/five-ish. As for dad, well, he's mostly pleased I'm planning on moving it out of his closet... but I think he's happy I still want it, too. ;) The stuff inside runs the full gamut -- stuff I saved up for, gifts from my parents (my mom dreamed about having a real roper stove, so she made sure the dollhouse had one!), and stuff I made from age 10ish up to 16 or so. Sadly, all the little sculpey things I made in my teens aren't *quite* as wonderfully done as I remembered them being. Cleaning it out -- serious dusting, tossing broken bits, etc -- is obviously the first order of business. Then I can figure out the next step. Here's a shot of the opened front (I have more, but I'm uploading piecemeal because of the cap). The living room/parlor runs the full depth of the house. I have vivid memories of pulling a toddler I was babysitting out of it by her ankles. If the dollhouse excitement encourages me to get the clutter out, it'll have inspired SOMETHING useful! Do y'all usually start a thread documenting a project, or just post about specific pieces? I've been lurking for a week or two -- ever since I decided this was coming home -- but I'm not quite up to speed on the etiquette.

Hello! I'm a graphic designer in Olympia, Washington, and I'm looking to dip my toe back into the miniature world. My old dollhouse has been collecting dust in a closet at my parents' place for fifteen years, but in the next month or two I'll finally have room for it (which'll make my folks quite pleased!). I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head, but I've been surprised how excited I am to poke at it again, and I really couldn't face the idea of giving it away -- for one thing, it's a dollhouse format unlike any I've ever seen: an almost-foursquare house with an open back and hinged front, with different room accessible from each side. The dollhouse also has some history. When I was four, my infant brother needed an open heart surgery that could only be performed in Philadelphia. Mom went east with him, they sent me to grandparents in Oregon, and dad was stuck at home in Washington with a brand new job and a ton of anxiety. He decided he needed an engrossing project to work on during insomnia, found the dollhouse at a garage sale, and spent weeks chipping up old floors, laying new one, installing walls, and wall papering. (The heart surgery was a success, btw). I spent years making things for it before it got relegated to the closet. Now, I really don't need another project; I've got paintings to work on, a real house remodeling project to finish, a yard to landscape, music to play, a job... but after spending five years remodeling a human house the dollhouse looks so refreshingly easy. Not to belittle the skill required for miniatures, of course, but there's no plumbing! No drywall! No inspections! And I have a lot more experience with both tools and art than I did as a young teen, so things that seemed daunting then seem do-able now. Anyhow, the huge-miniature house isn't even at MY house yet -- I still have to clean out a corner of the guest room -- but I'm starting to plan and figure out what I need to tackle first, and I have a LOT of ideas for both fixes and changes. - Skellington