The dollhouse kit has arrived!

Here I am, in my second childhood apparently. A few weeks ago, I won an auction for a beautiful, "reborn" baby doll that is a collector's dream. She is so lifelike, I've been told (many times) how creepy she is. Hehheh. She sleeps in a Moses basket, near my computer desk, in my office.

Then, after many weeks of gloomy, rainy weather, I realized I needed (desperately needed) a hobby. My Aunt Genevieve has a custom dollhouse and had shared pictures of her beautiful, furnished dollhouse with me. I then searched online for different models from different companies and decided that I'd actually build one from a kit. I chose the Westville model from Greenleaf Dollhouses.

The kit arrived in the mail this past week. I opened the box and briefly looked at everything in it. Gathering much information via the internet and by visiting a wonderful miniature shop in San Carlos (Sherrie's Minis), I feel like I can actually build this.

Today we went to the hardware store and purchased the few tools and glue that I will need to start. Yesterday, I chose and ordered the wallpaper (so darn cute!), the carpeting and the linoleum flooring for the kitchen. I also ordered the family (!) and some nursery pieces. I'll wait a while for the rest of the furniture. It's not exactly inexpensive stuff.

Years ago, my dad built my two daughters a replica of his house in California. He then made my sister a replica of the NH house we lived in back in the 60s and 70s. My sister then found or created the same type of retro furnishings that was in the house at the time we lived there. http://gigglebytesnh.tripod.com/

My dad also made my two, little granddaughters another beautiful house a few years ago. He built the teeny-weeny kitchen cabinets for that house. He built these from scratch and with his own imagination. He has all the woodworking tools of a dream workshop and he is a very skilled and creative woodworker. Unfortunately, he is in Florida and I am in California.

As kids back in NH, he would let us use some of his woodworking tools (supervised of course) and we used to make things like doll furniture. I wish I had access to his tools now!

So here I am, embarking on a journey that will require loads of patience and following instructions to the letter. I know I have Steve to lean on if I get stuck with any particular part of the instructions (he follows instructions well, heheh!). This is not a weekend project.

So here I start, today, pulling out,sanding and sealing the main walls of the structure of the house. Gulp! Photos to follow as I move forward!