How much planning do you do?

[merry_abandon]

I've only had my Orchid kit for about two weeks, but I've not gotten very far with actually building it. This isn't because I haven't had time or interest. Mostly I'm just still trying to figure out how I want to design it, i.e. if I want wainscoting, how I want my staircase to go, where the walls will be, etc. I'm finding myself drawing sketches of particular aspects of the design at work, coming home, checking to see if my idea would work, and then trying to hammer out in my head how it would correspond with the other ideas I have in mind. I'm like this with every project I undertake in life: I eventually do get started on it, but I spend most of the time just figuring out what to do and how to do it.

So, how much planning do you do before you start construction? Do you find that your design changes as you go, or are you pretty exacting?

In spite of the fact that most of my dollhouse is still sitting in its box, I'm having a ton of fun brainstorming ideas for it and can't wait till I can bring those ideas to fruition.

[Luanne]

For my first house, the Westville - I had very little idea of what to do.

I taped it the shell together temporary and looked at it as if it was a tv when I had dinners. More ideas came to me this way.

For my 2nd house, the Storybook, I looked at how other folks built that kit and put my favorite Tudor design on it based on other houses that I saw.

It's exciting to work on a new project. Cheers.

[Dalesq]

I spend an inordinate amount of time deciding on wall papers, flooring, ceilings, trim colors or stains, molding (or not), exterior treatments, roofing choices....it goes on and on. My current project has been sitting in it's second dry fit for two weeks while I wait for doors to arrive. And I stare at it a lot! Thinking.

Sometimes the house will go pretty much as planned, but typically I will begin with something in mind and somewhere along the line it goes off to do its own thing with me following along. The houses "have a mind of their own and tell us what they want to be." It's true, they speak to you. I've learned to go with the flow.

You'll do fine

[seasalt]

I think this is where I go wrong. I can't draw to save my life so it's all in my head

[havanaholly]

I'm one that listens to the house's chatter and follows along.

[amyole]

I don't do a lot of pre-planning in the sense of drawing - I usually "bend" towards a certain color-scheme and have some wall-paper ready. (whisper) I don't dry-fit either. As I putter around with the house, I feel like it does talk to me (like Holly says, though at the beginning I thought she was making this up!) and - through trial and error - I finally get it right. For me, because this is a hobby without deadlines, this works because it opens up some creative thing in my brain that I never knew I had before. When the house says, "No, that is not what I want," it forces me to try something new and even learn a new technique (and come on the forum and beg for advice).

[Anna]

Hmm, planning... I am one of those who loves to keep a journal kind of book for e ery project. Some are thicker than others as so e projects not only talks but sort of sings and everything goes together like a charm.

Other projects I can plan for years and await the perfect house for it, like the Limited Edition Arthur that as soon as I saw it in the Gl store I knew it was meant tobe the Carl Larsson build, the Sugarplum my vet's clinic and the Spring Fling -09 to become my obervatory as well as the Lighthouse a shabby chic living quarter and the Adams suited the marine theme with a few "minor" changes here and there etc etc. The next huge project I am planning and have been for a while now is the Emerson Row that will be Sherlock inspired and this is the project bookI keep for that:

So one doesn't need to scribble/draw, it cn be a sort of scrapbooking feature as well, but it is all what one feels like...

My steampunkin' journal is mostly my drawings in it though...

Hugs

[KathieB]

I don't make specific plans. Once I know what the house is going to be, the building evolves. I may take a few days to think about doing something -- like making the Beacon Hill stairs removable -- but then I just do it.

It's the knowing what the house wants to be that's the important part. I half-built a Washington 2.0 with my god-daughter. She wanted it to be a farmhouse and we headed in that direction, but she lost interest and so did I. I somehow couldn't bring myself to finish it until I realized it wanted to be a haunted house. (Holly's right: the houses do communicate.) After that, the house practically finished itself in a very zen-like manner. I was definitely one with the house for a while.

The long ignored Pierce/Bohemian Inn is half built here in Missouri, and I don't know what it will look like exactly when it's finished, but it is slowly evolving in the same way, as is the Beacon Hill/Garden District house in New Orleans.

[Dalesq]

I don't draw up plans like some of our members, my drafting skills are not very good. Sometimes I sketch a simple line drawing to note changes I want to make.

I use an iPad a lot! It is the reservoir of inspiration photos, wall papers and floor coverings I've created or scanned, house plans, building construction photos, furniture and decorating ideas, just about everything. I keep a separate album on the iPad for each house.

[Selkie]

I keep a sketch book going ALL the time. It's not just for drawings though. I write lists of ideas, supplies, techniques, etc. along with sketches. My sketches vary from a couple little lines to elaborate floor plans. It changes constantly along with the build. I also keep a story line going in the same section of the sketch book. One sketch book with usually have 3 or 4 projects in it. I use the spiral bound, brown cover ones that are about 5x7. If they get bigger than that they are too hard to carry with me.

On the computer I keep a folder for each build and it is full of inspiration pictures for the particular build. I also have general folders for things like construction, landscapes, exterior finishes, interior finishes, tools, lighting, tutorials, and so on.

Now the trick is to get going and actually DO something with all this wonderful information !!!!!!!!!

[rackey]

The amount of planning you do depends on what works best for you by nature. It sounds like you are a very detailed person who enjoys planning, so the amount of time you spend plotting out your ideas is not wasted.

I enjoy the planning stages myself, as I don't do the actual building. I wanted my first dollhouse remodeled and came up with ideas to make the attic into bedrooms, add a staircase from the second floor to the third, and to possibly set up dividers for a bathroom.

My house had a bathroom off the master bedroom, but it was out in the open. I thought I would have to leave it that way, but the house showed me there was another option. The house also told me to open the attic peak so that I could add a window to that bedroom, and the house showed me that I could add the staircase to the second floor without adding a hallway. So like Holly, I learned to "listen to the house chatter."

My suggestion would be to continue with your plans but to remain open to last minute ideas and possible changes. It's your house, so it is okay to make any changes at any time. Don't be afraid to do go with a sudden color change, switch the location of a room, etc., as long as the end results will please you.

[More Minis Dollhouses]

For me, the dollhouse seems to plan itself. As I work on it, I come up with ideas (or should I say it comes up with its own ideas) and that's what I do. Its been rare where I've been able to implement an actually thought out idea before assembly. Usually the dollhouse says otherwise as I'm assembling but with my current build, I have to admit, my dollhouse has been very cooperative.

[Roxxie2]

I spend an inordinate amount of time deciding on wall papers, flooring, ceilings, trim colors or stains, molding (or not), exterior treatments, roofing choices....it goes on and on. My current project has been sitting in it's second dry fit for two weeks while I wait for doors to arrive. And I stare at it a lot!

What Debor said! I often go to sleep planning in my head and I arrange and rearrange ideas while I am taking my morning walk!

I change my mind at least a dozen times and for all of that planning, often it comes out quite a bit differently in the end.

The house sort of decorates itself!

[havanaholly]

///and for all of that planning, often it comes out quite a bit differently in the end.

The house sort of decorates itself!

I rest my case.

[merry_abandon]

I've definitely already experienced the house talking aspect! I originally wanted my Orchid to be a kind of storybook cottage. Once I sat down and stared at the picture of it built, I realized that it was begging me to stick to its architectural roots and be Victorian. Now, instead of struggling with figuring out how I was going to manage a quaint fairytale cottage, I'm finding it a lot more enjoyable to come up with ways to make it distinctly Victorian. As some of you said, it will probably be a bit different in the end, but I'm looking forward to it.

[KathieB]

I enjoy the little twists and turns that happen as the house evolves. It keeps the "wow" factor pumped up. How boring it would be if the house turned out exactly as I imagined it when the box was opened. I like to be surprised.

[havanaholly]

After my experience with the pub I may never know how the house will look when I start, but I'm always pleased as well as surprised by how it turns out.

[rodentraiser]

I am always planning. Simply always. I have floor plans and room ideas for houses I've never bought and probably never will. I change floorplans in real life house magazines constantly. I am forever looking at other people's work, looking at images on Etsy and Pinterest, constantly paging through my home decorator magazines, and surfing away on eBay. Sometimes I spend a half hour or more just looking at my house. Just looking at it and thinking. The only problem with constantly planning stuff is I'll be right in the middle of something and completely change my mind about what I want to do. Or I'll get a new idea that will require a complete redo of something.

The best thing to do in my opinion, is to just look at what's out there and keep it in the back of your mind, because one day you'll see a piece of furniture or a color and it'll all connect up. Collect ideas, like you would collect old coins. And do what you want to do because there's always a way to do it. For instance, I love ALL styles of houses so one day I'm going to make a telescope house: a house that's been added on to over the centuries. So the outside will be logs, siding, and stone. Maybe even some half timbering. Why make four houses when you can have four outside finishes on one? And four different interiors as well: colonial, modern, log cabin, and cottage? OK, well, I am a little crazy too. That never hurts in this business.

[havanaholly]

Kelly I have lived in houses that were added to over the centuries and the log part doesn't show because as the family added on they plastered over the original log walls so that part blended in with the rest of the house. If the landlady hadn't told me which part of the house had started out as the original log structure I'd have never known! I also collect ideas from places I've been or seen as well as magazines.

[KathieB]

I've been in a house where the modern wall board had been partially removed in one room to expose the original log construction. It was quite striking in combo with the more contemporary features of the house.

[minigrandma10]

Because I have alot of "senior" moments, I buy cheap notebooks and keep all of my thoughts and pictures of projects in them.

(I have quite a collection) I can not draw but my scribes no one else will see, so I mark up the pictures that I glue in the books

and all of ideas of the current and future projects.

[rodentraiser]

Kelly I have lived in houses that were added to over the centuries and the log part doesn't show because as the family added on they plastered over the original log walls so that part blended in with the rest of the house. If the landlady hadn't told me which part of the house had started out as the original log structure I'd have never known! I also collect ideas from places I've been or seen as well as magazines.

I've been in a house where the modern wall board had been partially removed in one room to expose the original log construction. It was quite striking in combo with the more contemporary features of the house.

I have an issue of Fine Homebuilding's Houses issue and someone actually built a telescope house (in real life) that was made to look old. The built a log cabin on one end and then added on to it. It has stone and stucco and it looks like it's always been there, shed dormers and all. That really gave me inspiration.

[KathieB]

I think this is proving yet again that in building a doll house, anything goes. Whatever we can think of, someone has probably already done in real life.

[Cheverly]

Myangela here on the forum told me about a site called houzz.com. It's kind of like Pinterest, only for RL houses. I've started folders with inspiration pictures for different rooms in my dh, and there are SO MANY cool ideas out there that will work in 1:12 scale. It's very exciting! Sometimes I'll sketch stuff out too, but I'm still pretty early into my first build so I'm constantly changing my mind. Of course, from what I hear it won't be any different when I'm further along (changing my mind, that is).

[MissElle]

I do alot of planning.(Some of this planning is done at work) I think I am addicted! :yes: I plan first in my head, then I sketch. If I find an idea I'm happy with I do a dry fit.I will even try out how different pieces of furniture will fit in the rooms during the dry fit. I found that I like the planning as much as the building.