dura craft New Mother-Daughter Renovation

[PerkinsPixies]

Hello everyone! I’ve enjoyed reading the posts here and have been meaning to say hello! 

My daughter & I are renovating a Dura Craft VH600 that my mother built over 35 years ago. I remember when she opened the huge box full of thousands of pieces of wood! She said looking at all those pieces was so overwhelming that she almost changed her mind & wanted to take it back to the store! My Dad made her a work table and she plugged away at it for years. She wired it, wallpapered it and laid wood flooring in the largest room. She painted it yellow & it was a permanent fixture in our home. Of course, my 3 brothers & I were rarely allowed to play with it after all the hard work she had put into it. My Dad had quickly restored my Mom’s childhood dollhouse for me to play with, but it paled in comparison to what she was building! When our family moved, my Mom’s best friend offered to keep the house for a while. Eventually, I got married & moved away and so did my 3 brothers. Now that there was extra room, the house was returned to my Mom. Enter Grandchildren....those delicate railings on the dollhouse didn’t stand a chance!

My daughter is 13 now and has always loved all things miniature. My Mom has wanted to give her the dollhouse for years, but we just didn’t have room. Now we do, so in October it was delivered by my parents, along with several boxes of miscellaneous building pieces, old copper wiring tape and tons of furniture & miniatures! At first I wasn’t sure about this project, but I have totally fallen in love! And it is a bonding time with my daughter that doesn’t involve a screen in front of her face! ;) We have removed the old yellowed wallpaper, the old wiring, and the curling wood flooring. Currently, we are painting the exterior. I will post pics when I’m allowed. My Mom, daughter & I plan to attend the Seattle Minature show in March... 3 generations of miniaturists!  

[Mid-life madness]

Welcome Jeni... a fun adventure awaits you and your daughter.

[My Miniature Madness]

How fun! I'm so excited for you and your daughter! Can't wait to see the pics, and Welcome to the Forum!

[jbnmini]

Hi and welcome to our little family! 

What a wonderful story!  Thanks for sharing!  And you will have SO much fun at the Seattle show.    My girls didn't inherit my love of miniatures, although they truly do admire mine and they each have 'dibs' on one of my houses for when I am ready to give them up. LOL  I gave one for my granddaughter and hope that she will enjoy it someday soon (she is only 18 months!). 

[shannonc60]

Welcome Jeni! Lovely story! I hope you all have a blast working on this project. And maybe plenty more in the future??

[Shareb]

Aw what a cool story Jeni!  I put together a basic Barbie sized house for my daughter when she was about 6.  I had to build it on Christmas Eve - I was inside doing that and my husband was outside working on a mini motorbike for our son.  My daughter actually got me into miniatures a few years ago.  She's 18 now but back then she found the little 1:24 Chinese kits which, despite most of the instructions being in Chinese, were challenging but huge fun.  I was hooked!  Daughter is too busy now to do much, she has her own hobbies which include Cosplay etc but she's an electrical engineering apprentice so works full time.  I wish we'd started when she was 13 it would have been so much fun to have done a big project together!  We home educated and crafting has always been a big thing in our household!  Have fun and do realise that at times, it will be frustrating!

[Qubanqtee]

oh my goodness! How exciting and what a great group of memories you'll be making!  I hope you'll post before and after pictures!!!

[havanaholly]

Welcome to the little family, Jeni.  What fun for you & your daughter!

[mesp2k]

Hello Jeni

[WyckedWood]

Welcome and I loved the story. I got in to this hobby after buying a dollhouse for my daughter.

Have fun, Karin