So I'm going to share the progress thus far, and hopefully that gets things moving again. (Is it weird that I'm stuck at the fun part?)
First, the concept idea. (btw, this is a loooong post)
The house is a Swiss Chalet design, so it's basically a ski lodge. That said, I live in Western New York, we have ski resorts that turn into golf courses in the summer. So I decided that Billy is a weekend cabin/timeshare/vacation home. And thanks to being near a couple of the great lakes, I can also justify pretending that the tiny inhabitants occasionally spend time at the beach. No specific season, as people stay there year round. No specific characters to design around, other than assorted vacationers.
So in terms of furnishings, I'm trying to make it look like every cabin and family owned hotel I've ever stayed in. Happy colors. Vintage/slightly worn, visibly refinished/repaired furniture that only sort of matches. Out of date appliances. Random items left behind by past visitors. If you've ever been to a place where it looks like the decorator's been reading Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, but just didn't have the budget to go out and buy the stuff in the pictures, you've got the idea. I also decided that I'm ok with it looking just a little tacky in a, family fun vacation sort of way.
The current exterior;
I started decorating for summer, but then things got busier around here and now we're into the fall. I'll probably just pack up this stuff until next year and start making some leaves now.
Tried making bunting to sell on Etsy, but this string took so long, I don't think it's worth the labor to sell them unless I come up with a faster way to make them. (I do need to make 2 more just to reach across the railing though).
What I've got;
The flowers are older minis I made last year. (bunting is from this year)
"Welcome" rock is from a local store.
Lantern, ebay find.
Glass(Pelican?) is from a church rummage sale. My brothers are all grown ups now, so it's safe to use in a dollhouse without having to worry about any "hurricanes" destroying it(hopefully).
Birds nest on the railing,
is a vintage mini I bought at a local co-op.
I ended up aquiring a table/cabinet that the house can sit on 24/7 (I used to just move it from room to room as needed), so now I'm thinking Billy could use some grass and landscaping. The table top is pretty beat up, so I'm covering it either way.
Here's, the first floor;
It's a mix of found, bought, handmade, and repaired items, I'm not going to talk about everything right now (feel free to ask).
When I was, 10 I think, my mom and I were out for a walk and found an old Strawberry shortcake house that had been set out with the garbage (family history of garbage dollhouses). We took it home where my brothers eventually destroyed it, but I kept the random furniture from inside (none of which was Strawberry Shortcake, btw). This is a plastic sink unit from that story. I never thought I'd find a place for it, but it sort of fits in with my concept idea, so I guess it finally has a home.
The teapot came with the bird's nest and the toaster is from a hobby shop. It's a lot of silver over here, so clearly I need to rethink this(or just break out the paint). There's a new fridge too, but to save some money I bought one with a crooked door/missing hinge pin-half price! Easy fix, but of course I haven't gotten to it yet.
The fridge is going where the pear picture is (for some reason the printer spit it out, I liked it, now it just needs a frame). I just bought some mini hold wax, so I can hang up the pictures now.
Don't know the scale of the table, but it's too small. Record player is actually a WIP clay Victrola(will talk about later). Couch/bench is from a Dura-Craft furniture kit, that came with a dollhouse kit, that I was supposed to have built, when I was twelve (it's still in it's box-no room right now. Billy was a smaller/easier build). That ceiling lamp (another co-op item), was also waiting for mini wax.
Another painting to hang (I think it used to be a business card for a realtor or something). Got it when I was younger, and it was packed up with some of my old dollhouse/mini toys. I just painted some balsa to match the house, and block mounted it. Pottery and WIP doll are more of my handmade work.
So that's the first floor so far, and the second floor..
I'm still pulling wallpaper and busted parts out of the Van Buren. I spent a good portion of last Sunday working on it, so it's starting to look less like it's haunted and more like an empty house I need to sand.
I'm going to talk more about this house, but in another post, on another day because this is getting too long.
