Saturday, December 26, 2009

The dollhouse

This is what the dollhouse looked like before I redecorated it. The outside was pale cream and moss green, while the inside was some horrible colours with wallpaper (very hard to remove). It took ages to sand and clean before the actual painting could start. My husband Andrew did all the prep work for me and then I took over with the painting. I must say I found it very hard doing any of the decorating work without the children finding out what I was up to in the shed.


My inspiration for the dollhouse was the Danish Lundby dollhouse, I love the modern clean lines and the good quality finish of Lundby. I was so sick of all the Barbie plastic, that 99% of this house was made from timber and most items handmade. The house is secondhand from Ebay and has been completely sanded and re-painted inside and out. Did I mention I had an absolute cow of a time trying to lug it inside on Christmas Eve? Andrew took the girls to family mass and he was gone for 1 hour, in that hour I had to get the darn thing inside, hide it AND make sure all the furniture was transported and hidden in the study. I even managed a 2nd final coat of paint on the bedroom wall before the troops came home. Ofcourse just as I got the trolley ready to lift the house out of the shed it started bucketing down, so I had to scramble around for sheets to protect the paint work. Luckily 30 minutes before everyone came home the rain slowed to a trickle and I was able to wheel the house from the shed to my bedroom doors where I could lift and slide it inside and hide it in our study cupboard. I was wet and sweating and running around like a mad woman, but made it in the end with minutes to spare.


Ofcourse I had to use some bright colours to make it a little bit of fun, this is the inside of the house.


Here is the livingroom, the couches were bought from Etsy Majeans and the fireplace & mirror (still have to hang it up) was custom made by Harry from Etsy, he also made a garden picnic table for me (not pictured) Isn't it just gorgeous? The Christmas tree in the corner has actual working lights, while the flooring is mapleleaf construction adhesive contact vinyl.


Here is the kitchen, once again contact vinyl in granite on the floor, timber table & chairs (Ebay), message chalkboard on the wall (MDF painted black, messages written in yellow pencil)
Ceiling hanging lamps (bottle spritzer tops)



Bedroom upstairs has a timber bed, bedside table and drawer unit (Ebay), some handmade paintings by me, flooring in contact adhesive vinyl and ceiling lampshade (the top of an airfreshner bottle)

The bathroom has real white mosaic tiles on the floor (the first time I've ever stuck down and grouted tiles!) A re-cycled toilet painted in white laminate paint and shower cubicle made from a re-cycled wine bottle holder that was painted white. One side has a mirror and towel rail but I still have to fix a perspex door to the front (Its ready, but I need some smaller nails) The shower head is a chrome drawer pull and the taps coloured drawing pins.






Merry Christmas and a Happy new year

Merry Christmas everyone! Phew what a busy, BUSY past few weeks, actually busy doesn't even come close to describing what its been like these last few weeks. The advent calendar was a complete hit with the girls, they loved doing their activities every 2nd day. It was tiring at times for me to set it up in advance but necessary so I had some "free" time to complete my to-do list. One thing I've learnt over the past few weeks is to make sure ALL Christmas gifts are completed and wrapped before school holidays start. I struggled to complete the dollhouse without any of the girls cottoning on what I was up to.
Here is a pic of a gingerbread house I baked and the girls decorated as part of their advent activity.
I handmade each of my daughters a fabric and felt Christmas stocking. Fabric used is Patty Young from her Mezannine range.

Don't they look lovely? I was a bit stressed getting them done in time for Christmas, but I managed in the end.


Here is the Christmas tree, decorated in Patty Young fabric baubles, paper mache baubles, ribbon and the now empty advent stockings.
I am going to take a small break from crafting and then its full steam ahead with a few baby projects, my daughter's 3rd birthday and back to school and kindy. I'll pop up the dollhouse in a seperate posting as I just realised I'll have the photo's in the wrong order (der me).
Till next time
xxxx