Christmas Dollhouse

The Lalaloopsies and other dollhouse inhabitants have been busy decorating for the holidays.

Pom pom wreathes were hung with care.

Those Lalaloopsies are resourceful, creating their wreathes out of card stock, pom poms and tacky glue.  

Silver garland was hung.

A pipe cleaner tree was decorated using assorted colored small pom poms.

This little house, also has a visitor...

A snowman, created by the talented woodaholic.

A few bottle brush trees wait for presents to be tucked under.

Though I love all the details transforming Grace's dollhouse into a Christmas dollhouse...

I worry that those lazy Lalaloopsies are going to be those neighbors that leave their holiday decorations up well into spring.

There's nothing worse than looking at Christmas decorations in April.

It Exists

Some things, like Big Foot or Aliens, might leave you wondering 'does that real exist?'.

Some things, you hope exists but are fairly sure doesn't.  This was the case with Grace's dollhouse. 

As soon as we finished building Grace's dollhouse, it was love at first sight. 

The dollhouse, built considering every sweet pink detail we could think of, became, in our minds, a house that no other could compare to.  A house that certainly did not exist in any reality outside of Grace's room.

But, just like there are Big Foot and Alien spottings, the same proved to be true of Grace's dollhouse.

Grace's dollhouse does exist.  It's a beautiful real life house, on a lake...and now I want to live there.

Goodwill Hunting Roundup

It's been awhile but it's back.  So, without further ado, here are my most recent Goodwill finds.

I am a sucker for vintage handbags.  Ok, to be honest, this handbag isn't vintage but it certainly has that charm and character I am drawn too. 

So for $1.49, it's being added to my collection. 

I bought another flower frog.  It was .49 cents.  Perhaps the person pricing inventory coming in had no idea what it was.  I see flower frogs at the flea market all the time and they range from $5 to $10.

But my heart belongs to the metal flower frogs, like this one I did buy from the flea market.  The metal ones are perfect for displaying recipes or cards.

Letters (or numbers) also catch my eye.  I bought the two below for $1 (it was half off yellow ticket day).  Perhaps they were marked down because the G was backwards (just kidding!  checking to see if you are skimming or reading).

And lastly, I buckled and bought Grace this sweet and simple dollhouse for $2.99.

Why do I feel slightly guilty about this?  Well, we did just make a custom dollhouse for her 4th birthday, last year.

One that has an exact replica of the nursery we brought her home to.

But still, the Goodwill dollhouse was only $2.99.

Sigh.

What thrift store finds have you indulged in recently?

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The great dollhouse reveal...FINALLY

After many, many posts about the late nights we invested in building Grace her dollhouse, I realize, I left many of you hanging.  So, as if you haven't waited long enough, today, I'll share the outside of the finished dollhouse and tomorrow the inside.

In the end, we finished the dollhouse in time to give it to Grace for her 4th birthday. And, by in time, I mean with minutes to spare :)

I couldn't have asked for a better reaction from Grace upon seeing her dollhouse.  The look on her face was pure delight.  She also wasted no time exploring, playing and redecorating.

But, back to the outside...

Each shingle on this dollhouse, was lovingly and painstakingly glue into place by my husband.

The stained glass window, created by my father in-law, is the same color stained glass as the butterflies he made for Grace's room.

I attached a Polly Pocket bird to one of the decorative moldings.  I liked the idea of this sweet bird watching over Grace as she plays with her dollhouse.

Each of these details, constructed by my husband, came from this box.

Each piece of siding needed to be glued on separately.  Some pieces even required coping in order to fit it perfectly around the curves of the windows and door frames.

The front porch has a a working porch light, house numbers, welcome mat and a miniature Riley. 

Just like the mat, I'd like to welcome you inside

....but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  Click here to come on in.

100 Year Old House - Grace's Room

In our modest sized house, Grace's bedroom is one of the more sizable rooms.

So, her room is a place where she sleeps.

Where she lounges and reads her books, sometimes by the light of her bug flashlight.

Where she cuddles up under her large collection of quilts, made with love by the Queen of Quilts, my mom.

And also where Grace plays.

We spend lots of time preparing meals in Grace's kitchen.  Thank goodness we don't calorie count here because doughnuts and butter are among her favorite things to prepare.

And, of course, should she run out of anything, she can always go to the market,

conveniently located just south of her bed.

And, let's not forget, she also has a new dollhouse to play with {that tour coming very soon}.

Some of my favorite things in Grace's room, besides for her quilts,

a plush crescent moon.  The first thing I bought when I found out I was pregnant. 

And these stain glassed butterflies that my father in-law made.

You'll also find some of the things I've made for her as well {her baby blanket turned monogrammed art, shadow puppets, and a Fiona Dalton bunny}.

Since I like to show how we have added to the history of our 100 year old house, this is what Grace's room looked like when we bought our house.  This room was decorated with street signs and also had one bright yellow accent wall. 

When we bought our house, we didn't have our Grace. As soon as we found out we were having a baby, we painted the room yellow. Added box moldings under a chair railing and painted that section white.

I hope our house is happy with the changes we made because this is one of my favorite rooms in our house.

But maybe that's because of who lives in this room...

Dollhouse Progres: Big Picture, little picture

While my handsome husband is busy with the big picture, constructing Grace's dollhouse...

I am busy with the little picture, literally.

When I envisioned Grace's dollhouse, I wanted a room to look as much like her room {the nursery we lovingly decorated when I was pregnant}.  Since we decided to be surprised about the sex of our bundle of joy, we painted her room yellow and went with the theme Guess How Much I Love You {from the book by Anita Jeram}.

Grace's Room

So, it seemed fitting we have these prints represented in her dollhouse room.  I did a Google search and shrunk down the images.  My handy husband made the frames and I used some of the plastic to cover the prints {it gave it the look of glass}.

Honestly, when I first looked at the picture below, I thought it was her actual room.

Grace's Dollhouse Room

Believe it or not, there was something missing.  The first thing I bought, when I found out I was pregnant, was this Friendly Farms Moon.

Grace's Room

So I sewed a little version of this moon and hung a star button from it.  I think this is the perfect finishing touch.

Grace's Dollhouse Room

From the yellow on the walls, to the paneling, to the pictures, to the moon...this room will now live on not only in my memories but also in this dollhouse.

Ok, enough with the sentimental stuff. Time is a ticking. One week left to go so I better get back to painting!