A WORK IN PROGRESS

Ruth's been working on a doll house, fixing it up and doing some redecorating.  Looks cute! A neighbor gave it to her and it begged to be worked on. AS some of you know, Ruth is writing a children's book that is going to be wonderful.  She is well into it and has some wonderful illustrations.  Ken and Dennis are being very supportive of the project. 

Here's what she wrote.

"A woman in town gave it to me a year or so ago when none of her children or relatives wanted it.  It was made by her father in the 1940's or so, and apparently he was also a member of the "good enough construction company" club, as I am.  Parts of it were wood from old drawers, parts of it were pressed cardboard.  I removed all the cardboard parts was left with the two sides of the house and the second floor pretty much.  I replaced them with plywood, the whole thing is CERTAINLY not level, the windows are crooked, both the ones cut by her father and the new ones cut by me. "

"The bucket under the kitchen sink is an old rubber foot that fell off my broken ironing board as I was taking it out to be discarded.  I was getting ready to throw it away, saw that it looked like old metal, and said, "Hey......"

I papered the walls with scrapbook paper. The kitchen's the most complete room, but there's still more to add! Best tip I've learned so far: clear fingernail polish on plastic sheeting makes WONDERFUL wavy-glass windows!

"It is PERFECT for "The Littles", as it's a little haphazard and homemade, and all the dolls that the Littles are based on will live in it.  I have a more elegant and factory made kit for a much nicer and grander dollhouse that will be for "The Petites".  They're going to be discovered later in the attic.  "Why didn't you yell?", the discoverer, possibly Elizabeth, will ask.  "We do not yell." The Petites will sniff.  They will be very proper in contrast with the Littles and I have storylines planned for both. 

"I also built some of the kitchen cabinets, the three-decker bunkbed (still to be painted) and the chandelier (on the floor in the nursemaid's room). The other things were either things I had on hand or from kits that I built and modified, including the stove and sink!"

"The three little bisque dolls I won for a song on ebay. They'd been dug up at a factory in Thuringia, Germany. I'm going to paint them and turn them into boy triplets! I am having SO MUCH FUN with this, and there is still so much to do. I'll send pictures every now and then as I make progress."

The fireplace was too short (I thought) and not "beefy" enough so I added the topper with an old paper clockface I had on hand and did the tiling, using the same little mosaic tiles I used in the kitchen. 

I made the orange humpback sofa from scratch, using spare wood from old drawers that were originally part of the back wall but that were piecemeal so had to be removed. I then tufted some furry old orange fabric, because of course orange is the first color you think of when it comes to humpback sofas.