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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Westville Dollhouse Build (Day 6 - 11)


30 September 2006 (Day six)
Posted by Minis On The Edge
"Houston, we have a problem"

Well, I talked to my customer on the phone and she did not picture the trim to be Hunter green around the windows. She wants it white. I am so worried because too many coats of paint can make an item look sloppy and because the green IS dark, I will have multiple layers on painted to prime and cover the dark color :huh: .

She only wants the shutters Hunter Green Well, I guess I missed that detail :huh: so today I started doing that. I also decided to add the shutters to the house (That's right more punching out wood pieces and sanding them and painting them) but the effect is WONDERFUL!! I Love the stark white background and then the shutters on top :lol: 





She also wanted me to make a wood fireplace for the living room and she wants window seats where the bays are. I think it will really add that special touch to this house!

I added paperclay and sculpted the bricks for the inside of the fireplace.




30 September 2006 (Day Seven)
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Fireplace Completed


Well today I painted the fireplace and I also added burning embers to it so that there will be a nice warm glow! 

 Here is one of it lit up



I also added the roof parts today! I am as a little busy bee



I don't like the gaps showing up in between the roof line and the siding. Though it is glued down correctly, it just don't look clean I can't have that :huh: So I added some wood strips. You can see one on the left side and the right side has not been added yet. I will paint this white too.  



30 September 2006 (Days 8 & 9)
Posted by Minis On The Edge
I have an Owie

My hobby knife decided to bite me hard today on my right thumb!!! Sheesh, why does these things happen when I cannot afford a delay? I also spent a while the other day in the doctors office with Rachel because she has strep throat again! The doctor treated me for it too so we are both on meds :huh: .

Moving right along anyway, I took a day off and waited a day to start working back on the house. I did this because I was feeling lousy and it takes 24 hours after you start meds to not be contagious.  I added window seats, the stair rail and more trim (to make the wallpapered rooms look more manicured ) and the closet door & front door and trim Ohh my!

I even started on the shingles! I have decided to move the position of the chimney since the fireplace is in between the two living room windows, I thought the chimney should be there also. B) My customer says so far she is so pleased with the house. She has no idea how much she is encouraging me! Every night I go to bed, I look at the list of things that still need to be done and I feel I will NEVER get it done in time!! The good thing is normally, I work well under pressure.

I only blogged this because I wanted to show everyone what determination can lead you too. Besides going crazy, you can end up with a fully completed house built, painted, electrified AND wallpapered with a base in a matter of days (not weeks or months or years) :lol: :lol:

This shot show the inside. 


I am pleased at the time of taking this picture . When I downloaded it on the computer, I noticed the walls look unfinished and shabby! I can't have that happening now, so do I run to hobby lobby AGAIN? Of course! :lol:

The window seats are removable just in case my customer wants to change the fabric.


 Shingles were started before I dozed off to sleep



I also decided to Check to be sure that all of the lights are still working before I go to sleep.



30 September 2006 (Day 10)
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Calling All Shingles

 I added all of the shingles today and added clay to the foundation of the house (Three sides) I fed all of the wires to the bottom of the house so that a Power strip could be used OR you could add a strip of tape wire and solder the hardwire to the tape wire (I will show this on my next house). For this house, I used a power strip because of the time constraints . I am loving it though! I also added the Chimney! Notice in the picture that some of the shingles are different colors naturally. This will not be a problem once they are stained. You will see that in the end.







30 September 2006 (Day 11)
Posted by Minis On The Edge
The Base and Touch Ups

  Well today is a challenge! I still have the base to do. My Customer wants this house to have the appearance of a lawn on the base and I am thinking up a good way to create this effect using paper clay.

Mean while, I did touch up paint, checked all lights again and stained all of the shingles! I have to have this house at the Pack N Mail place on Friday! I think I will have it done on time  


I could sit and stare in the house all night! Lights make the house look so real!



I even started playing with my dolls just to see what it would look like with "life" added to the house



This is Anna coming up the stairs (which is carpeted with plush hunter green carpet)


On the porch


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4 comments:

dalesdreams said...

It came out wonderful, Tracy! Your customer must be so pleased. :)

MinisOnTheEdge said...

Thank You Dale! She was very pleased. I hate that I never updated my webshots gallery cause I lost so much when my computer crashed. I wonder if she is still living. This project was close to my heart because they shared their story with me. Some of these builds seem like yesterday and it's been 5 years ago already. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun and loving what you do, huh :)

dalesdreams said...

Oh, my goodness, Tracy, I never looked at the year. I just assumed it was last year. Well, you know what they say about assuming. ;)

One of the best parts of this business, is that we are in the people business. Making dreams come true, one mini at a time. The customer is the heart. :)

Did you lose all of your pictures when it crashed? That's what I'd be afraid of, the pictures are all I have left after I mail an item off. Hubby backs up my puter from time to time for me.

MinisOnTheEdge said...

Dale, I lost so many pictures a videos of the kids. Sarah's class had won a state wide contest about living drug free and the video to that is lost forever of the live performance. I also lost 2 books I had started writing. I lost a video of Rachel's 4th grade play. I back up everything now now. Some things I had backed up on discs but, I found that I got lax about personal things. Business stuff was found on discs I had.

Back it up today Dale!! The Apple Company was so sweet to me! They gave me back EVERYTHING I bought from iTunes (for free), and several programs because they miss diagnosed the issue on my computer 2 times.

That's why I will always Buy Apple products (as long as I can afford them LOL). I had so many customer service people calling to apologize to me (Of course I was calm the whole time even though I had lost everything).

Being a "people's person" in business is certainly the reason I was able to do it. Sometimes we can have unreasonable requests from people but keeping our self integrity (and calmness) really helps. :0)