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Hi From a First Timer in VA! (Working on The Willow)


beyourpet

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Hi, my name is Brittanie. I just joined this group today, the same day I received my Willow Dollhouse Kit in the mail (this model in case you're not familiar).

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I haven't begun working on it yet, I intend to take my time and do things as well as I can because I've never worked on a dollhouse before. I had one that my dad built when I was little but that was long ago and it wasn't from a kit (plus I didn't help build it!)...

But I'm an artist so I have a vision for it. I hope this will be a good project for me to relax and have fun with in my down time. I'm hoping to achieve an old somewhat abandoned house look, although I have no idea if that will be possible or not. I work in mixed media with my art so I do a lot of distressing and staining with paper, I'm hoping I can apply similar techniques to wood and wallpapers and such. Wish me luck! :surrender:

I've always really loved dollhouses. Something about the creepy but calming image of the miniature house in a child's room has always appealed to me. I really love antique dollhouses but they're too expensive for me right now. My fascination with them has been apart of much of my art and writing!

A little about myself:

I'm in my 20s, living in central Virginia US (I'm originally from TX) with my boyfriend and our 3 pets (1 blue heeler, and 2 kitties). I'm a freelance artist and I'm also currently working on my first novel. I spend a lot of time online, making art, and hanging out with my bf and pets. I'm a pretty big homebody but I also love nature and going exploring. I have an aesthetic love for Victorian era, Georgian era (which is the era my dollhouse is from, architecture wise), abandoned buildings, shabby chic style, girly style, natural earthy tones, dark and gloomy things, and lots more...

An example of a style I love for dollhouses, this is an antique that sold for thousands! :rain:

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I'll be recording my experience with my dollhouse on my blog which you can see here. :type:
I admit I'll be posting there more often than here but I'm going to try
to use this site to get help, inspiration, and to make friends!
:yes:

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Hi there Brittanie, so nice to meet you. Hope you visit the group often and contribute as much as you can. I don't get into blog land very often because I get lost down the rabbit hole, so I do hope you keep us posted of your progress. Ive always admired the Willow so really looking fw to seeing what you come up with for it :) I love shabby chic and old houses too, there are many of us kindred spirits here who enjoy the out~of~the~norm dollhouse :)

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Welcoome to the little family, Britannie. Unless the kit has agreed it wants to be what you intend, be prepared for a fight. I had worked my way to the Glencroft before I discovered it didn't matter what I thought the kit should be, if it wanted to be something else. Do a search for getting started, do NOT use hot glue to put the kit together, and do take your time. Brian Long's book, The Complete Georgian Dolls' House. might come in handy.

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Hi Brittanie, and welcome! I think the Willow is a pretty house and you might want to look at this site ( if you haven't already seen it). It's a repeat here on the forum, but it's a life sized "old" dollhouse. An interesting art project. http://enpundit.com/life-size-dollhouse-a-memory-of-days-gone-by/

I visited your blog and liked your photos and artwork. Wishing you much success, and hope you'll join in the fun here.

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Welcome Brittanie :)

It will be exciting to watch your Willow come to life. I love your antique house photos. As Karin/Wycked Wood mentioned, you have alot of kindred spirits here.

You may be new to dollhouses but it sounds like you have alot to teach us. I hope you will participate in conversations as this is a truly wonderful hobby to learn about.

Enjoy your project and the forum and don't forget photos!

:) Morgan

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Hi Brittanie, welcome to the group! Look at you with your blog already ~ WTG! I'm looking forward to watching your progress. And now, off to see the beginnings of your blog.

Just visited your blog. Hahahaha! You don't have to be 12 to enjoy your dollhouse. I am 5 decades older than that and love playing with my dollhouses; which I never played with as a child. I was too much interested in being a cowboy then.

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Hi Brittanie and :welcome: to the forum!

Check out otterine's gallery for photos of her Haunted Heritage. She has some great ideas for aging that may be helpful.

Also, I notice you have your email address in your signature line. This forum is open to the public, so any webbot or potential spammer can harvest that info and make your life hell. You may want to remove it. The forum has a Private Message feature that permits us to send messages to one another in safety. Run the cursor over a member's name in a post and a frame will open with a Send Message and other links.

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Hi there Brittanie, so nice to meet you. Hope you visit the group often and contribute as much as you can. I don't get into blog land very often because I get lost down the rabbit hole, so I do hope you keep us posted of your progress. Ive always admired the Willow so really looking fw to seeing what you come up with for it :) I love shabby chic and old houses too, there are many of us kindred spirits here who enjoy the out~of~the~norm dollhouse :)

I know the feeling! I have a ton of subscriptions in my RSS reader and I almost never have the time to keep up with them! :lamo: Thank you, looking forward to posting here and getting started.

Welcoome to the little family, Britannie. Unless the kit has agreed it wants to be what you intend, be prepared for a fight. I had worked my way to the Glencroft before I discovered it didn't matter what I thought the kit should be, if it wanted to be something else. Do a search for getting started, do NOT use hot glue to put the kit together, and do take your time. Brian Long's book, The Complete Georgian Dolls' House. might come in handy.

Glad you mentioned not to use hot glue because the guide says you can, but honestly it seems like it would be much harder to work with and more damaging if you mess up than wood glue. So I'll def steer clear! And yeah I am getting more and more nervous that it will be hard to achieve the look I'm going for, haha. but I'll try to take my time and learn from this group as much as I can before taking drastic steps. Glad to have found this awesome resource, I think it will be a great help. :) Thanks for the book suggestion, I'll check it out!

Hi Brittanie, and welcome! I think the Willow is a pretty house and you might want to look at this site ( if you haven't already seen it). It's a repeat here on the forum, but it's a life sized "old" dollhouse. An interesting art project. http://enpundit.com/life-size-dollhouse-a-memory-of-days-gone-by/

I visited your blog and liked your photos and artwork. Wishing you much success, and hope you'll join in the fun here.

Oh I love that lifesize dollhouse! I found it a few years ago but I hadn't seen these WIP images of it, wow. Such an amazing project, I hope I can visit it in real life one of these days! And thank youu. :D

Welcome Brittanie! I am in VA, too. Just outside of Richmond. The Willow is a great house - can't wait to see yours come to life!

Oh awesome! I live about an hour from Richmond, near Charlottesville. We actually just moved here in Aug '12 for my boyfriend to attend UVA. It's a beautiful state, we really are loving it. We're from Texas, so the weather and seasons and trees are all a very nice change for us.

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Thank you everyone for the replies! I'm glad to see this is such an active community, especially since there's such great tips and resources to find on here. Thanks all for the suggestions! :D

I will definitely be posting images and updates once I've begun work. I'm going to be getting supplies on Sunday hopefully so should be able to get started soon. :)

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The aging techniques ought not be that difficult; just be prepared for the kit to tell you what it wants; eventually they do. As for the life-size dollhouse, somone posted elsewhere that the artist has burned it down.

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Welcome to the community, Brittanie! I too am working on my first dh kit, the Orchid. Mine hasn't quite decided what direction its going in, but you will definitely find that as you work on it, the dh will "speak" to you. I actually have an antique dh that I own that was a gift from my grandparents when I was young built around 1900. If you'd be interested to see it, its in my gallery.

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The aging techniques ought not be that difficult; just be prepared for the kit to tell you what it wants; eventually they do. As for the life-size dollhouse, somone posted elsewhere that the artist has burned it down.

Oh! That's so sad, I was hoping it would age beautifully and I'd get to visit it one day... I wonder if they left the burned structure up or if they demolished it? Burnt structures are also very beautiful in a sad way.

Welcome to the community, Brittanie! I too am working on my first dh kit, the Orchid. Mine hasn't quite decided what direction its going in, but you will definitely find that as you work on it, the dh will "speak" to you. I actually have an antique dh that I own that was a gift from my grandparents when I was young built around 1900. If you'd be interested to see it, its in my gallery.

That's awesome! :D I'll check it out. And thank you.

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