Jump to content

Greetings! New here


JennaLynne

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone!  About 6 months ago my husband and I decided we wanted to work on a hobby together. We'd built a dog house (mostly he did) and we had fun and were sad when it was over. After much deliberation (we have VERY different tastes) we both agreed on, and we're excited about, a dollhouse! For the past 6 months or so I've been doing some research and having fun putting stuff on pinterest but couldnt afford the actual kit and just kept thinking "someday." Well, my mom ordered us one for Christmas! It's the Beacon Hill and I'm so excited. We took the rest of our Christmas money and bought supplies and a folding banquet table to work on. I'll attach pictures of what we have so far. It's soooo much more intense then I ever imagined, the schematics and instructions feel like they're in another language. I learned today to make sure to work in a well ventilated area while staining wood, as I'm feeling slightly ill now lol. Live and learn. Anyway, I'm so grateful for this forum, it's been VERY helpful. I haven't quite figured out my way around it. I'm still trying to figure out how to view member galleries. But when I do find stuff it been awesome.. you all are awesome. I've also been reading the beacon hill thread but it looks like it's been several months since anyone has posted there. Just wanted to introduce myself and say thanks for all the wonderful help that you who go before us newbies post online! 

P.S. nevermind, I can't add the pictures because I can't figure out how to make them small enough! I'm on my cell phone.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome JennaLynne. 

As a new member myself, I find this to be a very friendly and helpful community. What a great gift to have received! So fun that you and your husband are doing this together. I don't think I share or delegate well enough to do that! LOL. :) (He builds aircraft models across the table!)

Jaime

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, JaimeG said:

Welcome JennaLynne. 

As a new member myself, I find this to be a very friendly and helpful community. What a great gift to have received! So fun that you and your husband are doing this together. I don't think I share or delegate well enough to do that! LOL. :) (He builds aircraft models across the table!)

Jaime

Well that's kind of together! It's cool you guys can build together anyway! My husband and I have had several talks about how we'll handle issues as they arise, set ground rules, and have prayed together before starting that we can get along lol. The first night he had a little trouble sharing. But I pointed that out to him and he did much better tonight. I don't understand the directions well enough to delegate so I'm fine if he has that job! 

Thanks for the welcome! Are you new to building or just new to the forum? 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi JennaLynne. Welcome :wave:

I wish my husband would get involved in my hobby, I'm involved in his! (snow skiing) :)

He did tell me that if I built a ski chalet or log home he'd get more interested.. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Samusa said:

Hi JennaLynne. Welcome :wave:

I wish my husband would get involved in my hobby, I'm involved in his! (snow skiing) :)

He did tell me that if I built a ski chalet or log home he'd get more interested.. lol

Haha. Actually a ski chalet and log home mini could be fun! I could picture that! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the little family JennaLynne.  Before you stain anything else, let me suggest you and DH invest in some blue painters' tape and dry fit the rest of your kit together before you get carried away with gluing anything (using a good carpenters wood glue, NOT hot glue!).  In addition to showing you what tabs & slots might need to be shaved or sanded for a more perfect fit, the dry fit is your chance to figure out the  instructions and whether or not to use them to put the kit together.  Also once it's together with the tape you can look it over to see what sorts & sizes of furnishings will fit, what sort of décor the house wants, and what areas you will need to decorate before it's glued together and you can't fit your hands in there.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Welcome to the little family JennaLynne.  Before you stain anything else, let me suggest you and DH invest in some blue painters' tape and dry fit the rest of your kit together before you get carried away with gluing anything (using a good carpenters wood glue, NOT hot glue!).  In addition to showing you what tabs & slots might need to be shaved or sanded for a more perfect fit, the dry fit is your chance to figure out the  instructions and whether or not to use them to put the kit together.  Also once it's together with the tape you can look it over to see what sorts & sizes of furnishings will fit, what sort of décor the house wants, and what areas you will need to decorate before it's glued together and you can't fit your hands in there.

Thank you for the tips! We stained the staircase because I'd read somewhere it would be too hard to stain or paint once it was in the house, but we really don't like decorating yet because we haven't figured out what we want to do. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, JennaLynne said:

Thank you for the tips! We stained the staircase because I'd read somewhere it would be too hard to stain or paint once it was in the house, but we really don't like decorating yet because we haven't figured out what we want to do. 

The Beacon Hill doesn't have as many hard-to-reach places as some designs, but the stair wall and the adjacent front wall can be a bummer. You will want to paint or wallpaper that wall before installing the stairway, as later it will be impossibly difficult. Or, if you really have no idea how you want to decorate that wall, you could make the stairway removable. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, KathieB said:

The Beacon Hill doesn't have as many hard-to-reach places as some designs, but the stair wall and the adjacent front wall can be a bummer. You will want to paint or wallpaper that wall before installing the stairway, as later it will be impossibly difficult. Or, if you really have no idea how you want to decorate that wall, you could make the stairway removable. 

The wall that is up against the stairwell?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JennaLynne said:

The wall that is up against the stairwell?

Yes. Once the stairs are in place, you won't be able to reach behind them, and painting or papering that wall will be nearly impossible if your hands are bigger than a squirrel's paws.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, JennaLynne said:

Thank you for the tips! We stained the staircase because I'd read somewhere it would be too hard to stain or paint once it was in the house, but we really don't like decorating yet because we haven't figured out what we want to do. 

 

2 hours ago, JennaLynne said:

The wall that is up against the stairwell?

 

54 minutes ago, KathieB said:

Yes. Once the stairs are in place, you won't be able to reach behind them, and painting or papering that wall will be nearly impossible if your hands are bigger than a squirrel's paws.

And that's one of the biggie reasons for doing the dry fit.  One of the benefits I learned from doing a dry fit is that the kit will begin to talk to me and tell me what it wants.  The first house I ever dry fit was the Glencroft, which I wanted to make into Miss Marple's cottage.  Upon learning that it wanted to become a pub I was a bit unhappy, and it fought me until I gave in.  Once I figured out the bar, though, it went together and made up as nicely as I could wish, and that told me.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On December 28, 2016 at 12:31:09 AM, JennaLynne said:

Hello everyone!  About 6 months ago my husband and I decided we wanted to work on a hobby together. We'd built a dog house (mostly he did) and we had fun and were sad when it was over. After much deliberation (we have VERY different tastes) we both agreed on, and we're excited about, a dollhouse! For the past 6 months or so I've been doing some research and having fun putting stuff on pinterest but couldnt afford the actual kit and just kept thinking "someday." Well, my mom ordered us one for Christmas! It's the Beacon Hill and I'm so excited. We took the rest of our Christmas money and bought supplies and a folding banquet table to work on. I'll attach pictures of what we have so far. It's soooo much more intense then I ever imagined, the schematics and instructions feel like they're in another language. I learned today to make sure to work in a well ventilated area while staining wood, as I'm feeling slightly ill now lol. Live and learn. Anyway, I'm so grateful for this forum, it's been VERY helpful. I haven't quite figured out my way around it. I'm still trying to figure out how to view member galleries. But when I do find stuff it been awesome.. you all are awesome. I've also been reading the beacon hill thread but it looks like it's been several months since anyone has posted there. Just wanted to introduce myself and say thanks for all the wonderful help that you who go before us newbies post online! 

P.S. nevermind, I can't add the pictures because I can't figure out how to make them small enough! I'm on my cell phone.

Wallpaper and paint before you place the walls. That house has lots of tiny nooks. I'm still working on a bash of the beacon hill for well over a year now. My little boy announced it looks like the house from his favorite book and now we are decorating it to look like the book. Spiderwick chronicles. It's more fun to build with a story attached.  Lol

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi JennaLynne,

Welcome to forum! You're going to love working on the Beacon Hill. It's got so much charm to it.

I'm pretty new here myself. I was going to go with the Beacon Hill for my first build but chickened out at the last minute due to the 1:12 scale and went with the Fairfield, which is half the size at 1:24 scale. I wish they made it in half scale : - ( as I don't really have the room for a full scale house. 

Looking forward to all your pictures! Good luck with it!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone! I may have to take that advice and dry fit everything else. We did the base and part of the first floor that's glued together but haven't done much else because I've been working. I'll post some pictures hopefully this upcoming weekend when we get to work on it some more. My husband works days and I work nights so finding time to sit down together and work on it has been a little difficult. It may take us quite some time to build this!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JennaLynne, building a house like the Beacon Hill without dry fitting at least as you go could become an exercise in frustration.  At least tell me you aren't using hot glue on it (if you are, take a hair dryer and carefully take apart what you've assembled and scrape the stuff off and you can start over with proper carpenters' wood glue).

12 hours ago, JennaLynne said:

Thanks everyone! I may have to take that advice and dry fit everything else. We did the base and part of the first floor that's glued together but haven't done much else because I've been working. I'll post some pictures hopefully this upcoming weekend when we get to work on it some more. My husband works days and I work nights so finding time to sit down together and work on it has been a little difficult. It may take us quite some time to build this!

You aren't in a race with this house, I hope.  My first kit was a Dura-Craft San Franciscan, the SF555, and it took me 3 1/2 years to build it (I was attending nursing school at the time and working in hospital after my first two semesters).  My second kit was a Dura-Craft Cambridge that took me 1 1/2 years:

Image result for image duracraft cambridge

IMO Greenleaf kits build a lot faster (although I have slowed 'way down over the years).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On Wed Dec 28 2016 04:34:19 GMT-0600, Samusa said:

Hi JennaLynne. Welcome :wave:

I wish my husband would get involved in my hobby, I'm involved in his! (snow skiing) :)

He did tell me that if I built a ski chalet or log home he'd get more interested.. lol

You should totally build a cabin and get him on board! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/28/2016, 4:34:19, Samusa said:

I wish my husband would get involved in my hobby, I'm involved in his! (snow skiing) :)

He did tell me that if I built a ski chalet or log home he'd get more interested.. lol

 

1 hour ago, Littlebirdieb said:

You should totally build a cabin and get him on board! 

A snow board? <ducking and running>

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hiya,  JennaLynne ! My partner and I are also really excited about a new dollhouse endeavor together! I've always wanted a dollhouse as a kid, but as the tomboy no one took me serious! LOL :doh:   20 years later. Here I am. So, since I couldn't afford a kit, I saved for tools and making an area to work in and then I found the 'Coventry Cottage' for under $20 on CL and went for it. I was going to stain the floors today and am SO GLAD you mentioned the ventilation. Thanks!!  I'm going slow on my kit. so.slow.  But keep finding awesome freebies online and have gotten two already assembled! One of those is what my guy and I will work on together. The kit is kinda my thing. :) GL !  Looking forward to seeing your progress! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Tue Jan 17 2017 11:57:04 GMT-0600, GreenGirl said:

Hiya,  JennaLynne ! My partner and I are also really excited about a new dollhouse endeavor together! I've always wanted a dollhouse as a kid, but as the tomboy no one took me serious! LOL :doh:   20 years later. Here I am. So, since I couldn't afford a kit, I saved for tools and making an area to work in and then I found the 'Coventry Cottage' for under $20 on CL and went for it. I was going to stain the floors today and am SO GLAD you mentioned the ventilation. Thanks!!  I'm going slow on my kit. so.slow.  But keep finding awesome freebies online and have gotten two already assembled! One of those is what my guy and I will work on together. The kit is kinda my thing. :) GL !  Looking forward to seeing your progress! 

Hey there, noticed you mentioned freebies. Anything you would mind sharing? I'm on an Uber tight budget as we are also renovating our real home! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...