The Dollhouse

I know it's more than a month since Christmas, but I'm finally taking a few minutes to talk about The Dollhouse.  After the hours Glenn and I spent putting this house together, it deserves it's one blog post.  

I'd been thinking about getting Reina a dollhouse for Christmas for most of the year.  She loves "old stuff" and collecting things and little tiny animals and she's had a lot of adventures with the dollhouse that lives at Grandma's house so after hours online and a few gentle reminders from Glenn about who the dollhouse was really for (not me!), I bought a kit and Operation Dollhouse 2016 began.  

I found the kit I wanted at a local store a few weeks before Thanksgiving but I needed Grandma's expert artistic opinion before I got started so the box stayed closed. I did look online and found a video that detailed the construction and casually mentioned that I'd need 80 hours to put the Victorian Jr together.  Well.  I didn't keep track of my exact hours but I did take two full days off of work during the month of December, plus most evenings and a few long Saturday afternoons when Glenn took the kids out of the house.  We kept it a secret from Reina which made logistics a little difficult - lots of "DON'T COME DOWN INTO THE BASEMENT!" and ignore the paint splattered outfit that mom is wearing.  But the finished product and the look on Reina's face Christmas morning made it all worth it.  Plus I had fun! I almost want to make another one!   

The finished product, the night before Christmas.  I'd live there.  

One of the days off that I took to paint and paint and paint.  It was actually a pretty fun day, I had just signed up for Netflix so I had some good shows to watch, some pets to keep me company and lots of little paintbrushes to wash.  

Coco judging me for not getting started sooner.  This was the first night I pulled out all of the dollhouse pieces.  Glenn took the kids to a movie so I only had a few hours. Coco carefully scrutinized each dollhouse section and decided that I should've started this project on Labor Day.  

For Christmas, Reina received furniture, pets and accessories for her dollhouse family.  She's had so much fun decorating and re-arranging and her birthday list includes many items that the dollhouse family needs (more food because they just keep eating the same turkey feast day after day.  Our girl is a stickler for accurate representation.)  A few weeks ago, I gave her my camera and told her to take some pictures of the dollhouse - I was wrapping up some chores and she was bored. It was a win-win situation.  

The piano room and several puppies sleeping on a dog bed made from the cotton that comes out of jewelry boxes.  Naturally.  The gumball machine in the corner was a big hit on Christmas morning.  Thank you Aunt Mary!  

The dollhouse family.  Shoot, I'm tired and I can't remember the dad's name.  The mom is Jeannie (I think), the daughter is Chelsea and the baby is Braden.  

I just love this composition.  I don't know why Baby Braden is standing by himself but there you go.  

I don't know what's going on here but it's made me giggle.  

A close up of our carpet and one of the puppies.  

The dollhouse has it's own chicken coop!  Naturally!  

All of the rooms in their miniature glory.  

The living room with furniture assembled and painted by Grandma.  The tv set is on loan from Grandma's house, because Reina's family didn't have one and Grandma's dollhouse family is on vacation.  

The kitchen.

 So that's the saga of The Dollhouse.  Reina is taking such great care of it and I'm excited for the little bits and pieces that she'll be able to add after her birthday in a few weeks.  The days off and late nights painting and gluing and frankly stressing out, were pretty worth it.  Merry Christmas Reina.