I'm a Giant: Open House!

Here we are on February 1st, the second go-around for a dollhouse deadline. I'm not really done, I'm just done-enough. Since I've only seen two other dollhouse related posts today, I'm going to assume I have plenty of time to continue working. But I won't. At least, not at the pace I've sustained since October. I have so many projects planned/designed I'm afraid this dollhouse will never be complete, it will simply evolve. My official Challenge submission includes 5 out of the 6 total rooms: the kitchen, living room, bathroom, master bedroom, and a little girl's room. Tonight I will post mostly pictures, and save the play-by-play for this weekend including breakdowns of what I made, what I purchased pre-made, how much I spent (oh. my. God.), and a very rough estimate of how much time was invested (and maybe, just maybe, I'll take some daylight photos. I think it would a good idea). I'm very proud of the work I've done, as this is technically my first dollhouse/experiment in miniature-making and I'm not a real designer/interior decorator (be gentle in your critiques, I beg you). My photos have somewhat improved since I grew a pair, and blindly played with my settings instead of trusting 'auto'. My lighting, however, hasn't. I'm still doing all of my work at night (I have one of those pesky 9-5's) and I still work in a 10'x10' cubicle of a room with one boob-light on the ceiling. Anyways, now that I'm all done bitching making excuses, it's time for the slideshow.

Kitchen: (not too many changes here since December 15)

 Bummed I didn't notice the lower oven was open. But it doesn't matter, those countertops kick so much ass.

 Window treatments are new.

 The kitchen cabinetry is still on the to-do list.

Bathroom: (still needs curtains/blinds and art on the damned walls. Bah! It looks so unfinished.

 All of the bathroom fixtures are smaller than 1:12. I wasn't about to go buying a new set.

 I love the 'teak' bath mat.

 Eventually there will be little towels rolled up spa-style on this wire rack.

 Thrilled with the sconces.

Living Room: (good riddance crazy-lady-wallpaper)

 My coffee table still needs the wheels on the ends, they'll find me eventually.

 Mom made me some pillows!

Master Bedroom: (not many changes here either)

 I threw together a quick roman shade, then didn't make a proper rod for it. It's currently taped to the window frame. Again, eventually.

And Mom made the bedding/pillows here, too! Adorable (both my mom, and the bedding).

Kids' Room: (aka: sensory overload. I don't know any little girls that wouldn't sell their soul for a crazy room like this)

 The bed has claw feet. (Aluminum and Swarovski crystal)

 I made a new ceiling light for this room. The other one obstructed the view of the treehouse, so I decided to come up with something that wouldn't be so distracting. It is incredible. Every one of those handblown glass globes has an individual bulb of its own. I don't know how to take a great picture that shows the detail when it is turned on. I was so nervous, I felt like a neurosurgeon when I wired it.

 Dude. Seriously.

 I took out the slide so y'all could see the hideaway sleeping area. That loft comes apart (and goes back together) in over a dozen pieces. No glue. And it packs so flat that IKEA could sell it. So much planning.

 I want to build a swing like that in real-life size.

So anyways. There it is. I'm totally spent, and signing off. Stay tuned this weekend for more pictures, commentary, and possibly some how-to's/mini-tutorials. Thanks for looking! I'm glad you're here!

And be sure to check out all of these other amazing participants listed here. I am in awe!

I'm a Giant... Post-extension progress/To-do list

Slow and steady is the new motto around here. Little by little, things are getting done closer to done. Here's the current punch list:

Nursery:
Design/build loft bed (The bones are there, but need to work on finishing touches.)
Build twin size bed (bed/mattress/under-bed storage are halfway complete)
Wallpaper above the chair rail
...Finish installing chair rail (there is, quite literally, a speedbump in the beadboard)
Finish sewing curtains (It's a ruffled chiffon panel. I'm stupid for even trying this, hours invested so far: 3)
Make cornice box
Figure out bedding
Art/accessories

Master Bedroom:
All textiles (bedding/pillows/curtains/rugs/etc.)
Finish tripod lamp
Build bench (optional, which means it probably won't happen by Feb. 1st)
Art/accessories

Bathroom:
Make lighted art feature (bought the bulbs)
Upcycle a wooden table
Paint wire shelving (gold, obviously)
Finish sconces (almost done)
Make a ceiling light
Curtains
Art/accessories

Living Room:
Re-wallpaper. I don't love the current stuff, as it was chosen/applied in a hurry on December 15th.
Finish coffee table
Refinish armoire
Build credenza
Make/buy TV
Finish light-box
Curtains
Art/accessories

Kitchen/Dining:
Build cabinetry
Paint banquette
Art/accessories

Study:
I'm contemplating leaving this room out of the challenge altogether, which is unfortunate. I have some great (but time-consuming) ideas for this room, and looking at the list above is discouraging. We'll see what I have time for, I guess. This room needs EVERYTHING. All it has is: flooring, wiring, windows/trim, and a firepole. Totes bare bones.

This isn't overwhelming at all (lying).

In other craft-palace news, I went "shopping" in my late-grandfather-in-law's abandoned woodworking shop again and got some great tools and materials. I even found a 1:12 furniture kit for a table, new and still in the box. I heard that before he passed, he had wanted to build/furnish a dollhouse. Though I never got to meet him, I'd like to think he'd be glad to know where all his stuff is going. I wish he was still around to help me with my techniques. So, Peep, if you're reading my very boring and incredibly obscure blog from heaven, thanks man. And your family misses you.

It wouldn't be a normal TinyFixation post without a few pics of my current projects/process/progress!

 Liquid motivation/self-forgiveness. In that order. Don't judge. You can see the beginnings of the treehouse loft for the nursery in this pic. I've made a lot more progress since this was taken last week.

I found these scrapbook embellishments at Hobby Lobby. The backs of these aren't horrendous as I had anticipated. Throw pillows, fo shizzle. They aren't squishy like pillows, but this stuff doesn't need to be functional. I have to keep reminding myself that it only needs to look authentic.

I also have a beautiful collection of antique hankies. I've been curating this collection since I was a wee little lass. They're totally gorge, yet under appreciated. They're hidden away 100% of the time. I've been thinking about using a few in the dollhouse, but that would require cutting them. I guess they're collecting dust anyway, I might as well showcase them in a new way, no? I'll have to ask mom what she thinks.

And here are my almost-finished sconces for the bathroom. They'll flank a bevel-edged oval mirror over the sink. I like 'em a bunch. Sorry you have to see my man-hands.



I've been showing a lot less stuff since I'd like there to be a few surprises on February 1st. It's not as fun if I don't keep some secrets. We're down to the wire... again. Just under 2 weeks left. So I hope I can squeeze in time for another post or two before the deadline.

I'm a giant... the aftermath

So. I've finally mustered-up the strength to start talking about my dollhouse again. I've been speechless (blog-wise) for a couple weeks. Here's my sob-story...

I have been taking the challenge pretty seriously. I devoted every moment that I wasn't sleeping or working to getting it done. I skipped family functions, meals, and sleep in the process. On the day of the deadline, I realized I wasn't going to finish. Not even close. However, instead of throwing in the towel, I pressed on until almost 3am on the 16th, Just so I would have something to submit. Something to show for weeks worth of tireless effort. I took horrendous last-minute pictures and frantically loaded them into this post. You can even see towards the end of it that I was fading fast. I clicked 'Publish", and crawled to bed. I woke up 3.5 hours later for my job. I checked my email to find that some kind soul had already commented... "Just in time for the challenge to be extended!"

I died ten times, right there on the couch. Then I put on my big-girl panties and went to work. Initial knee-jerk reaction was complete horror, followed by soothing calm. Because in the end, I got exactly what I wanted. More time to fully execute my original plans. I just wish we had been notified sooner, so that maybe I could have worked on Christmas stuff, you know, in time for Christmas. I gave more than a few IOU's this Christmas, and that is a pretty sucky feeling. Ok, I'm done bitching now.

Since I had to look at this mess for a while, so do you. Here's a few pictures of my craft-palace on the morning of December 16th. Thought you might enjoy seeing the aftermath of extreme-deadline-crafting. A panoramic montage...

 

(That imposing lamp was brought in solely for lighting some of the pictures. I think it's the only thing in that room that doesn't belong there.)

So many layers of shit. I narrowly escaped alive.

During cleanup I found out that I have at least this many adhesives. Probably fine.

And... the only dollhouse related thing I did over Christmas:

I made this in less than 20 minutes, out of 4 pieces (of 2 materials), for under $1.00. Three holiday twigs from Michael's, and some gold bowmaking wire. It's about 7 inches tall. Perfect.

I took it easy (only for lack of motivation) over New Year's weekend. I did conjure up some accessories though.

I threw together some toiletries using beads I had on hand. I have an unreasonable amount of beads on hand since jewelry was my primary craft until the dollhouse moved in and started throwing elbows. I tried to just use the cheapie beads, plastic/glass and such. Expensive specialty beads need to be jewelry that gets sold to make money to feed my dollhouse habit (or they can be brass pendant lights in tiny kitchens, rules were made to be broken). I think it cost about $1 to make these 9 bottles. Not too shabby.

 The nail polish bottles kill me.

Also made some books/newspapers for the study. These were FREE!!! Check out www.printmini.com, they've got a ton of free printables. I printed out some cereal boxes, a tiger rug, and some lampshade patterns (not sure if I'll use them, but they were free). They have way more than that.

For the books: the singles are wrapped around pieces of wood I cut to size and painted too look like gold/silver edged pages. The encyclopedia sets are folded, glued, and are meant to be hollow. Since I'm a bull in a china shop, I cut some foam to size and pushed it in before I glued it shut for some insurance against me crushing them. I'm like the Hulk.



Newspapers are just folded in half and tacked together with a gluestick.

 

So obviously what I've done over the past 2-3 weeks hasn't amounted to much. Pssh, whatever... I've got until February 1 now!

i'm a giant... preview

So It's the wee hours of December 16th here in the Northeast, but I'm pretty sure this challenge runs on California hours, so consider me on time. Sort of. I made enough rooms presentable to legitimize my submission. I didn't have time enough for window treatments, bedding, rugs, pillows, art, etc. It's pretty bare bones, and rough draft in there. Bear with my shitty 2am pictures. I'm spent.

Since late October, the entire dollhouse was gutted and sanded to the plywood shell. I added electricity. I refinished my original popsicle stick hardwood floors. I added all trim windows and doors, made from scratch. I couldn't pay for furniture, so I made most of what you see here. I'm going to pull a Lloyd Christmas and 'IOU' the kitchen cabinetry. It'll happen this weekend. "Those IOU's are as good as cash."

Master Bedroom

Before:

Top right hand room.

After:

Still to do here:
area rug
accessories
window treatments
bedding
build bench for foot of bed

Living Room

Before:

After:

Ugh, flash. Shows my handiwork though. Sofa and working electric lamp handmade by yours truly.

Still to do here:

finish coffee table

build/upholster accent chair

build credenza

paint armoire

accessorize

window treatments

Bathroom

This is the only room where I salvaged anything but the floors. I liked the vintage wallpaper, and it matched my fixtures.I replaced the old chair rail.

Before:



After:

Kitchen

Here's the showpiece.

Before:

After:

There. We'll talk more tomorrow.

i'm a giant failure

I'm not going to finish. Not today. I'll be finished by this Sunday night though. I've decided to cut myself a little slack around here, for the first time in my life. I've been staying up really late and working on the dollhouse every minute that I'm not at my job or sleeping. So it's not for lack of passion, vision, or hard work. If anything is limiting me it's budget and deadline. I'll absolutely be fighting to the finish and working until the eleventh hour tonight trying to make what I have at least presentable, and will probably be posting some really crappy pictures around 11:59 to show y'all what I could finish in time for submission. There'll be glue and felt and paint and paper literally flying through the air in a frenzy. But if anyone is interested the final product should be ready this weekend. And it's gonna be bitchin'. Even if I miss the deadline by a day or three, it looks like I'm in excellent company. I'm not the only person to seriously underestimate the time commitment. I'm really proud of the work I've done, and the pieces I've designed and made. I'm likely going to start work on a line of minis for my etsy shop (which is pretty pathetic right now, so I'm not posting the link) after a little more R&D.

I'm super impressed with everyone elses submissions for the challenge! Insanely creative and innovative ideas, I'm totally amazed! The full list of participants can be found here. Check 'em out, you won't be sorry!!

Quick shoutout to Miss Emily Henderson, thank you for dreaming up this challenge! I've had such a blast! I hope this becomes an annual offering. I might stick to a roombox or two next time around though...

I'm a Giant... extension, please?!

Although I'd really love another month to wrap this dollhouse up, I'd settle for one more measly weekend. Alas, the deadline is Thursday, as in this Thursday. And I'm dying about it. I'm starting to cut corners, and say horrendous things like 'good enough'. I hate 'good enough'. There are projects I won't finish, I'm just having a hard time deciding which ones to scrap. I think I know how they felt on Trading Spaces when the time was almost up and people are running and scrambling and it's a total shitshow. Anyways. I guess I'm just wishing that this challenge had started after Christmas, you know, in those 3 months where it's wicked cold and there's nothing else to do but crafts. Exactly. I knew you'd understand. 

So here's some last minute progress pics (I've been too busy working on the thing to actually post about it):

Cutting custom trim for crooked walls.

Upside down. Whoops. Someone call Lionel Richie, because we're dancing on the ceiling.

Exterior window, almost finished. Real glass. It took the kid at the hardware store an hour to cut 7 pieces this size. He was adorable.

A lot has happened that you probably won't notice until the end. But... know that it took me a whole weekend to put in baseboards and door casings. And another weekend to frame in the windows. I wasn't paying for windows I could make myself. In hindsight, I should've just bought the damned things. Time is money. I'll end up making/putting in the window-pane-grid-thingys someday. Was the trim necessary? Nope. But it's little details like that that really make it look awesome in the end. Once all the wallpaper is in, you'll actually notice my painstaking trim work. Like this:

I try really hard to make the patterns on the paper match up so you can't see seams. Pain in the ass.



Yep, the fire pole is currently out of service, but with a flick of my wrist it's good to go. That wallpaper is ridiculous. The line you see is a shadow, not a seam. Swear.



A few more light fixtures are made:

I love how this ceiling fixture came out. It's a take-out condiment cup from the burrito place in town (so is the shade on the floor lamp). I hand sewed the mini pompom trim, wrapped the cup in white parchment, threw some paint on the rim, and the wire is hidden in a wrapped paper bead. Super cute.


The wainscotting in the nursery is coming along slow. Just got those 3 pieces in last night.

And some plants:

I might not be able to get the kitchen cabinets made by the deadline, so I'm (most likely) going to make some convincing falsies out of cardboard for the challenge and replace them with working wood cupboards as I find more time.

Still on the to-do list...

Build:

kitchen cabinets

credenza

bookcase

loft bed

accent chairs (2-3)

bathroom sconces (2)

ceiling fixtures (2)

end tables

Wallpaper/Paint:

kids room

living room

bathroom

study

kitchen

Sew/No-sew:

window treatments (all rooms)

bedding (two beds)

area rugs

pillows/throws

Finish:

coffee table

kitchen chair(s)

sofa (needs legs/feet)

wainscotting/chair rails (two rooms)
banquette

In all my free time, I'd like to work out a rooftop patio as well.

Dude.