Well, here it is. The dolls' house. It has come a long way since earlier in the week.
Busy sanding and stripping. Paint stripping. The plan is to paint the back wall with blackboard paint. That creative, left-of-field idea came from Anon Annie and Sonia.
Any more ideas would be welcome, because I waste a lot of time standing in front of it not really knowing what I should do next.
That swollen corner's a bit of a worry.
I had a browse through the Childcraft Make and Do edition. This idea caught my eye. I've never really considered hiding away in my own home. But now it seems like the obvious thing to do.
The concept of building one's own secret hideaway, to which one can elusively disappear, is very appealing.
I might start a blog-linky-thing where Mothers build their own hideaways within their home and do blog posts about them. Who's in? I'll call it the "I AM NOT HERE ANY MORE AND YOU CAN FEND FOR YOURSELVES" challenge.
A cardboard box is all one needs. I'll be putting 'cardboard box' on my wish list.
Make and Do has some good dolls' house ideas.
And it shows how you can make your own furniture.
She's a little intense, isn't she?
So I thought I could make some furniture.
One minute you have the foot of a chest-of-drawers.
A dab of wood putty ...
slap around some Danish oil and ...
Wha-la! You have a coffee table. Inspiring.
And, if that wasn't enough for you, I found a plastic container and some fabric ...
and in a stroke of genius, I glued the fabric to the plastic ... Who can see where this is going? Tell me. Please.
Meanwhile, we had an elephant-in-a-tree predicament earlier, and I was as fast-as-a-speeding-bullet and caught on film his rescue at the hands of Spotty Cat.
Saved!
Hurrah! The suburbs.
You are just hilarious Carmel. Love the look of evil intent from the girl ferreting away the candy with gusto. Just too priceless.
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend! x
I have spent the last few minutes trying to figure out the best place for my hideaway...
ReplyDeleteMy old dolls house is usable but needs an overhaul, I love your coffee table!
Lesson from intense girl: limit fondant consumption immediately.
ReplyDeleteGood work with the Doll's House. Teak Veneer. Have you thought about a veneer feature in the living area? xx
Great post, really enjoyed it. I spent all my formative years in 'dens'. Hardly ever came out of them. Even now I feel the call of the box. My mother was a dolls house fanatic and one of my big hangups as a child was that her dollshouse was a million times nicer than mine. My best tip (based on her expertise) for doing up a dollshouse is to decorate the walls of the rooms with either plain colours or tiny-print wallpaper/fabric, then it looks to scale. Have a lovely time -- have you done the knitting basket with the knitting knitted on sewing needles yet? That's a fun afternoon....
ReplyDeleteI'm in. SO many hideaway options at our place. Like I hadn't thought of it earlier :)
ReplyDeleteIntense? more like demonic.
ReplyDeleteI like the add-a-room house, if only real reno's were as simple.
Lastly, I am a huge fan of hiding from my children...purely to encourage them to be more independent of course!
You've got to love the Childcraft. I keep enthusing over them to my children trying to convince them about how marvellous they would be for school projects. I know they can Google it but vintage has so much more aesthetic value than a child hunched over a keyboard. I had a Matrix brain rewind moment looking at those tiny furniture plans and remember perusing this very tome. It was my favourite volume of Childcraft.
ReplyDeleteWe all need a secret hideaway, kids or not.I can recommend a garden shed.mine is tiny but lovely and very relaxing when life gets too much :-)
ReplyDeletei think you are crafting a round table with table cloth by the way- have I go that right ?
I wish you many happy hours with your dolls house Bri from me, you and a wiener ( blog ) is making modern designed furniture for a tiny dolls house with glass walls- anything is possible really when you think of it.Think of your house as a blank slate , and think of all the interiors that inspire you.Maybe a farmhouse kitchen with an Aga for your dolls house ??Have fun !! Bea
Pam,
ReplyDeleteisn't she scary? Her eyes are pug-like and popping out of her head. If she smoked she'd have a ciggy in each hand! (Those were the days!)
Greta,
maybe you could hide in the dolls' house?
Brismod,
how could I do teak veneer do you think? Seriously, it'd look good in the lounge.
Jane,
the knitted what? Great tip about the to-scale wallpaper, because mine's to-scale for humans which = TOO BIG!
Mook,
I try an hide in the shower, but the water bills have flushed me out.
Kylie,
demonic! Yes! She's the anti-christ in a Swedish ice-cream parlour uniform.
Annie,
Child One reads Childcraft all the time. I'll send her to you because she's always asking me to make some mokkasins out of leather. I draw the line at hand-making mokkasins out of leather.
Modern Bea,
thank you. Interior design has never come easy. Though I like to think I have the 'eye', but in reality who am I fooling?
Woah, I'm afraid of Krazy Eyez Kandy Killah.
ReplyDeleteYour house is simply amazing! I think you have to bring yourself and your creativity over here and make a double.
ReplyDeleteThank good you are saving animals too!
Hello Child 2? 3?
Much 'loev' to you!
Lilli x
Why do men get fancy man caves and women get cardboard boxes? I could use a cardboard box. That would do me just fine. Oh, and a bottle of good wine. Or any wine.
ReplyDeleteThe doll house is looking fabulous. The end table is very clever. I love the idea of the chalk board on the back. You can write clever sayings on it like....EAT, DRINK, BURP.
That's looking more of a blank canvass to work on.
ReplyDeleteLot of work there.
Love the blackboard paint idea.
I have lots of leather off-cuts. One leather wall would look good.
Astro turf will cover that bulge.
Poor Elly!
Rain has caused elephantiasis distally.
I wonder how he smells now.
The dolls house is coming along well. LOve the wallpaper. I'm always trying to hide from my children in my house and happily ignore their callings out until they start to become hysterical in an abandoned-child kinda way.
ReplyDeletePS.
ReplyDeleteI have been haunted by the image of the lady above.
I see there's a stamp near her which says "Call for help".
I think that image has been pillaged from a Psychiatry textbook and for an obviously good reason.
Just a couple of reno suggestions.
You can get all sorts and colours of cardboard at Art&Craft shops.
If you used some of these as a base, you could glue cut-out strips from paint brochures and stick them on. With the coloured cardboard between acting as grouting, they might look like tiles.
I also have a collection of stamps which could be used side by side similarly. That could make an interesting wall or two.
The leather could look good as flooring.
DMC,
ReplyDeletekeep the leather for me. I could cut some cow-hide-type rugs from it. Maybe.
'Fond of fondant' - boom!
ReplyDeleteI had those Childcraft volumes when I was growing up. Are you sure you're not me?
The fabric on the plastic cup is something I'd do. And then not follow through...
The word verification on this comment is 'snessed' - I'm going to use that in everyday parlance.
Intense - yes ;) Your dollhouse looks so fun so far - I made one a few years ago. My daughter never plays with it, of course. But it was fun for me to decorate :) XOL
ReplyDeleteit's massive! apartment block springs to mind, or mansion! I like the blackboard paint idea-what about the floor tho, then you could draw rugs!
ReplyDeleteBlackboard paint on the back walls is an inspired idea, I want to go out right now to look for a dollhouse!
ReplyDeleteI remember that Childcraft book SO WELL. Especially crazy fondant girl. I even remember the add-a-room house (if only it was that easy). And count me in for that challenge. I'm also all for drawing/sticking furniture pictures on the walls of dollhouses. Means more room for dolls/dinosaurs/muesli bars and less items to be thrown around the room. I think you should just copy one of your favourite midcentury colour schemes from somewhere... love the blackboard idea too. Perhaps that plastic container fabric thing is an outdoor shower? And I'd just hammer down that corner, really hard.
ReplyDeleteI always have so much I want to say when I read your posts.
Your house is looking grand. That girl looks desperate for a candy.
ReplyDeleteI'm off to make a hiding place from my husband.
xo
I grew up with those Childcraft books, now my kids spend countless hours searching through them at Nanny's. Of course I have the creativity of a nail-tailed wallaby, and so struggled with any of the suggestions. I am good at hiding from my children however.
ReplyDeletewow!! It's big! It's not a dolls house, it's a dolls palace. If I only had more time...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the end result. The fabric you've used to cover the round container (dining table?) would look great as a shower curtain! And I'm sure I've seen contact for covering books in a wood veneer style. B.
ReplyDeleteVery excited about your projects, and the plans for a hidey corner. I am wondering if I can justify a panic room in the walk in pantry I am planning for Betsy so I can just sequester myself in there when required. melx
ReplyDeleteThe doll house is looking great!! And that book, what a perfect source for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up!
ReplyDelete