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Maggie's Dollhouses


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Hello, I am new to the site and I have recently purchased a San Franciscan and a DuraCraft Farmhouse. I need some advice on working on them, i'm sure. Just want to say hello and get the ball rolling for now. I have been unable to upload pictures of my new houses and someone told me I have to post a while first, so I am posting.

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Please tell me what is a silver member? It says I am a silver member now. I did create a photo album earlier today, but kept getting error messages about uploading photos that they were too big. I made them smaller, but still, no luck. I finally gave up. I hope I can talk to someone soon to figure it out.

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OK this will be my tenth post. My friend told me that ten is the lucky number that I need in order to post photos, so that is why I am making all these separate posts. Can I get parts for my Duracraft farmhouse? It doesn't have dormers, which would be nice, and the shutter style doesn't do much for me, so I would like to put in working windows maybe. I would love to see pictures of what others have done and get some advice! I would really like to resell this farmhouse, but it needs a little help first with aesthetics.

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Hi Maggie, guess who? lol

All right, more than adequate to post here -- however there is another area specifically for asking about different houses. However, I'm going to answer as I can with what you've asked here. In regards to the San Franciscan, the rooms are smaller but it is considered and was marketed as a 1:12 house. A good number of the houses that were made and sold in the 70's and early 80's as 1:12 scale had slightly smaller dimensions than what we would expect of houses made nowadays. Though with your collection of the vintage and antique houses my guess would be you probably have seen this a good bit anyways. In regards to wiring it "a little", if it's not currently wired and you're happy with the papers and flooring currently in it I would suggest looking into the battery powered lighting options. A bit more expensive, but a decent tradeoff if you're not looking to completely re-do/decorate the house again.

Your farmhouse, if it's not painted and you don't see a finish to it I would suggest a light sanding in an inconspicuous spot and see if any sort of varnish or poly can be seen. If not then if the house itself is in good condition, you should be able to prime it and paint or paper as you see fit to.

In regards to what a Silver Member, Gold Member, Platinum Member is -- that's just in reference to how many posts you've made here on the site.  Also, in regards of how to meet people -- this forum is for everybody, not just Greenleaf house builders, and we are scattered all over the globe!  :)

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Welcome to the little family, Maggie.  You only need five posts in order to start albums in the Gallery.  My first-ever kit build was the SF555 and I made almost all of the furniture that went into it.  That one went to my eldest granddaughter and I'm sure after her younger cousins got through with it, it no longer exits.  My second build was the Dura-Craft Cambridge, so I came late to Greenleaf and later still to the Greenleaf forum; but I have been here since before the forum's present appearance (which began in 2005), and I'm still learning my way around.

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Thanks for the warm welcome Shannon Kelli and Holly! I took a few interior pictures. I put Remiiscence furniture in the San Franciscan and quickly ran out of room! I do have plenty of 3/4" scale furniture for it so I may have to rethink it. It just suits the house so nicely and I have so much of it here I would like to display! Now I will post pictures of the wiring for your expert opinions. It does have a transformer, but the lady forgot it and will bring it to me next week. She said the wires "need reattaching."

 

I did start an album over in the gallery, but not sure if it's better here or there. I thought maybe the gallery is for finished projects...

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If you look at my albums, I used them to show the work in progress, as well as the finished product.  Since my own photographs are really terrible, lately I've had DS#2 take his excellent pictures when he comes to visit, and therefore they are of "finished" builds.  That said, I do try to describe what & how I did things in the photo descriptions.  There is a bandwidth limitation on how many  photos you can import directly into your posts, but not on how many you upload into your albums.  Quite often I will post photos in my posts from my albums.

I don't electrify my builds, as they are for me and lights just aren't a big enough deal for me to fool with the expense of adding them.

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Sounds like I will need to spend a bit of time perusing here! I have not built a dollhouse before bigger than the Greenleaf Village lol! But I am a collector. I do need to fix a lot of things for resale! Oh I also finished a RGT house that I still have, and I have reinforced, painted, papered and carpeted many houses! 

When the transformer arrives I will start fixing the electrical. I am reading a book on it now. If anyone sees any concerns in how she did it, feel free to comment as it will be a process of discovery for me. I kinda wonder why it goes all across the floors like it does but maybe for lamps in the middle of the room.

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Hi and Welcome.:wave:

I'm a newbie too and I'm just starting off a build of the San Franciscan 557. Yours looks like a 555 which is my favourite. Lucky you! I love your farmhouse also, but I do agree you may need to do something with those windows if you can. :)  They are not the most attractive I've seen. I think Dura-craft were really hit and miss with there windows. Some like those on the Heritage are fabulous and then sometimes they were just plain ugly! :rofl:

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36 minutes ago, Samusa said:

 

I like what's been done here...  Image result for duracraft farmhouse dollhouse

And it looks like they have just changed out the shutters and given them a lick of paint... doesn't seem like a hard job.. :)

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3 minutes ago, Samusa said:

I like what's been done here...  Image result for duracraft farmhouse dollhouse

And it looks like they have just changed out the shutters and given them a lick of paint... doesn't seem like a hard job.. :)

Those windows are replacement windows. Miniatures.com sells this type.

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Hi Maggie! :wave:   Great houses!  and I agree- a little paint, some replacement windows and shutters and your farmhouse will look great!

As for the tapewire.....gee, to me it looks like a whole lotta splices/junctions that can create problems.  I'd probably re-think the placement on the 2nd and third floors and re-tape using the "folded corners method" where ever possible.  You should be able to find tapewire tutorials here on the forum.   I have just found that "simple" is best!  Oh- and use eyelets, rather than brads, at your junctions....the connection is better since brads can tend to wiggle loose over time.

And BTW- I love your San Fran!

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