Props Fantasy Forest Home (WIP)

Hello! This journal is for my dollhouse project, which I originally started on 8/21/21 as a house building project using a dollhouse kit. The kit did not go as planned (as you can see in subsequent posts), and the new goal is to redecorate a salvaged dollhouse into a Fantasy Forest Home for my Lati Yellow, Estelle, and my other bjds. Listed below will be a list of goals that will be checked off as I continue the project. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and feel free to comment!

Main Goal:
- Revamp old dollhouse into Fantasy Forest Home for Estelle, the Lati Yellow Lumi ()

Mini Goals:
- Complete Bedroom on 2nd Floor ()
- Complete Library on 2nd Floor ()
- Complete Kitchen on 1st Floor ()
- Complete Livingroom on 1st Floor ()
- Decorate Exterior ()

 

(8/22/21)

Today I worked on putting together the windows and painting them, along with painting the 3 main walls of the dollhouse's body. I'm following the instructions of the kit as best I can and it starts with them so here we are lol. I forgot to take before photos of them but the wood is a lovely type of pine and very easily to snaps out of the frames.

The main windows + front door:

The plastic film for the windows' "glass" already had white dividers on them so I decided to paint the frames white to match. There are other windows that will need to be painted later (I think anyway) so when I get to them I'll post pictures as well.

The central walls:

I liked the idea of a pale yellow exterior for the house as it reminds me of the home that I grew up in as a child. I gave them two coats of paint on the exterior, and used a plain white paint for the interior that's not shown. I plan to use wallpaper to decorate the rooms so I just needed one coat of paint as a base.

 

(8/23/21)

Today was one of my early finishing days at campus so I was able to make some progress while technically on duty as an online tutor (no students came in on my shift sadly) from home. I've started the process of gluing the windows to the walls and roof pieces, and as I type this some of them are still drying. I'm using incredibly old Elmer's glue that's been sitting unused in my grandparent's cupboard for most likely decades as its turned yellow. In this case the glue is actually camouflaged by the paint so no worries at all yet! ^^ I read online that Elmer's glue and other white glues last longer and hold up better than hot glue and super glue, which was certainly a welcome surprise for me.

Here's the already dried walls and the soon to be owner of the dollhouse, Estelle:

(I like to imagine the key on her necklace will be her house key hehe)

And as a bonus, here is my Quality Assurance Manager inspecting my work:

(For those interested, this is Lady, my all white female betta fish. She lives in a 5 gallon tank all to herself on my desk)

 

(8/31/21)

Well this is not going to be a good update. I had completely finished the walls and windows and was in the process of dry fitting the walls to the first floor when disaster hit. The tabs on the first floor board do not fit at all and two of them were either cut incorrectly or somehow broke off in the box before I purchased the kit. I'm quite disappointed, as the first floor is legit the one piece that holds the entire structure together. I'm not giving up on this project by any means, but after my wonderful father assesses the damage tomorrow, I may have to go thrifting for a new doll house to use for this project.
For the three people reading this, stay tuned!

 

(9/3/21)

Update time again! So I've had some outside input into the tab problem. At my father's suggestion, he said that I can shave into the wood with an x-acto knife to create new tabs, and I'll have to permanently glue the walls and floors into place much earlier than suggested by the manual. This is a problem, as it will not allow me to dry fit the walls and the wood will be warped from my modifications. Not only that, but specific steps in the manual require the walls to be removed to add other additions, which can't happen if everything is already fixed in place.

So, where does this leave me now? Looking at the other pieces, there are other tabs with the same issue. Which translates into a wobbly house that won't quite look right and will be much harder to build going further. Perhaps this is the perfectionist in me rearing its ugly head, but I don't like the idea of that. I also googled reviews for this particular kit and this seems to be a common problem. For $35, you either get a functional kit or a dud. And I've unfortunately got a dud.

But!

There is in fact a silver lining to this situation. I turned my attention back to the original plan that I had for this project, which was to rescue an old dollhouse to revive it into something for my tiny bjds. I browsed Facebook marketplace to see if anyone had anything local, and there's a seller with an already built dollhouse that looked to be in immaculate condition. It'll be a decent car ride to go get it, but its in a closer style that I imagined the finished house to be than what I have to work with.

So next update I'll have either a fresh house to work with or I'll be sadly trying to fix my messed up kit.

 

(9/7/21)

HAPPY UPDATE TIME!!

So I'm currently drowning in school work so I wont be able to clean this until the weekend but it happened, I got a new dollhouse to work with for this project! *throws confetti*
The drive to get it was long but totally worth it The new house is a Moss Creek Log Cabin, and it was assembled by the woman that I purchased it from. She is a much more experienced dollhouse collector than I am, and her home was filled with loads of different houses she had completed, it was wonderful! Any who, here are some photos of the house with my whole bjd crew checking out their new home:



Over the weekend I'll start the cleaning process of removing the old decorations and whatnot, but for now my Lati Yellow gets to enjoy her new bedroom with her animal friends

 

(9/8/21)

So the house has a slightly odd smell to it that doesn't quite smell like cigarettes and was slightly dusty so I wiped it down with a dust rag sprayed with some Pledge, which thankfully took care of 80% of the smell. I think as I keep my room well ventilated the smell will go away with time. Before I did the actual cleaning I took down the decorations on it, including wall art and the curtains. They were all glued on with hot glue which made it insanely easy to peel off, and none of the wood was damaged underneath thanks to the wood stain. The floors and walls of the house were slightly sticky before I cleaned and I was worried that it was from the wood stain not drying properly, but the cleaning has lessened it so all is good!

I'm going to redo my initial post to update the project, as this will now be about decorating the house and gathering furniture. I envisioned this house to be a fantasy creature home, and since the tenant Estelle is an elf, it makes perfect since to go with a whimsical nature theme

 

10/4/21:

Thanks for all the lovely comments! The house has been cleaned of its old decorations and having the air constantly moving throughout my bedroom has greatly reduced the odd smell of the house. Honestly I can't even smell anything on it unless I put my nose right up against the wood lol. I bought new paints and my next step is to repaint the current furniture that I have. The woman who sold me the house included a ton of small furniture, some I had to throw away as they were made of paper/decayed, but the rest I'm definitely using! Included in the furniture is a large fireplace, a chest, a dresser, etc.

I'll be back to post soon!