From Top To Bottom

Whew!! This house-building thing is hard work! Well, this is particularly fun work, but there is a lot to it! We're going to feel mighty accomplished when we're finished!

So, the next step of the build is the foundation! This is a pretty cool part when all is said and done because it allows for front steps up to the door as well as adding such detail as brick, lattice or a cement look. I like that it gives that "completed" sort of feel to the whole project! But, in terms of process and immediate outcome, it's a smidge boring. But, it's necessary, so, here we go!

The process as a whole was really quite easy. (At first. We'll get to that ...) Well, it was easy for me. Aaron did have to cut one of the pieces to make it fit correctly as it showed up to the house a little too long. But, with just a little problem-solving, he got the angles correct, and together it went!

This is the start of the main base. Thank goodness we have so many of my Dad's handy tools to ensure we're making things square! And, thank goodness I thought to put something on the table so the glue that is sure to leak doesn't adhere the foundation to the table ...

The foundation to the gable is on the plywood with the level on top of it because I get paranoid about things being level. The plastic is now over the main base because the kitty plays with the hanging plastic and just annoys the heck out of me.

After we let that framework sit overnight to dry, we got to work putting the pieces on the house. With a quick-flip onto its back, the house was ready! This is where we discovered a few issues.

First, the in-between support pieces for the main frame were not flush with the sides. How on Earth that happened, we will never know. They were flush on one side but not the other. Meaning, the middle pieces were higher than the sides, so they would be the first to hit house or the table on which it sits rather than the house sitting squarely on top of the four, outer pieces of the frame. So, here comes more sanding down:

Okay. So, that worked out just fine, and we got on with no problem.

Then, remember that piece I noted came "too long" but Aaron cut it and everything fit? Whoops:

This was a lesson in making sure all support pieces of the frame fit inside the outer pieces. A rookie mistake but a fixable one. And, that's all that matters. A little cutty-cutty, re-gluing and taping, and voila!

There it is attached as it should be. Well, I guess it's not as it should be, but it's there, and it looks good, so no one is the wiser. I'll definitely forget!

Hal is all, "What the hell happened to my house? I'm soooo not
paying for a house on its back!

We flipped it back up the next day:

Any gap seen here below the foundation is due to the plywood
not being perfectly level. Some grass will ultimately take care
of the aesthetics here!

So, with the main foundation in place, it was time to start building the porch foundation! Yeahhh!! We moved the house on to a table we know is level, and it was time to get to work! Or, was it ...

That's Aaron, who is becoming One with the Dremel these days, sanding off just enough of the bottom of the house to fit the porch foundation pieces. They are supposed to slide right under and butt up against the house foundation. But, not so much. And, this is one actually wasn't our fault! I blame it on "house settling." We've all been there, right?! Whatever the reason for the non-fit, Aaron made it fit. And, he was all kinds of ready to assemble and glue the porch foundation framing last night, but, after needing to hit 'pause' to wait for the foundation adjustment, I self-reported feeling, "Tired and uninterested in being cooperative," so we tabled the project for the night! That was an excellent call!!

This morning, we did get the porch foundation in place:

This was a tricky one to tape, but we figured it out! And, we discovered another tiny issue in that our foundation pieces don't quite go all the way back to be flush with the back of the house. No matter how many times Aaron read directions or we reconfigured to make sure things were where they belonged, this is the way they fit.

I very quickly decided I'm going to paint a little critter hole there. Perhaps a mouse found its way there. I was oddly excited about this whole mouse-house thing, but it totally works for me.

And, yes, the very bottom of the house looks like, well, I real house (if you're my house) in terms of being a little worn. That's due to the Dremel, but it is covered by the porch flooring. So, that will be nicely finished!

The next step is putting the floor, posts and railings on! They are in the process of being painted, so it's my house this part is up this week!

A Roof Over Their Heads

We completed the roof structure last night!!

The main part of this build started on Saturday. The finished product of that step looked like this:

Yes. It's just that flat piece of plywood across the top. It was already cut, and it hadn't warped. This seemed like the easiest thing we were going to do to this point. And, somehow, it wasn't! Part of the issue was ensuring that the cut-outs for the walk-out space on the gable and the dormer window opening were completely aligned and level, too, because other pieces have to fit just right around them. And, figuring all of that out is a little tricky when the walls are still just a little warped, so everything has to adjust in order for it all to end up level.

Additionally, there is a strip of roofing that goes along the top on the back of the house that ends up looking like this:

That piece arrived warped. As in, I took it out of the box and said to myself, "Huh. That's warped." I'm saying I didn't do this one !! And, I figured we'd figure it out. We certainly figured it out, but it did require a whole strategy just for gluing and taping it in the right place.

AND, you'll notice there's a little jut up from the front of the roof over the back strip thing. That's supposed to be flush, but, the way we had to shift pieces to omit wonky-ness, this is the way it wound up. I'm absolutely confident the shingle situation will take good care of that!

So, we secured these two pieces after over-practicing and literally sweating on Saturday. I wasn't sad to just walk away for a day after that!

Last night, we put the fancier pieces of the build on:

These were a lot trickier, but we figured it all out better. We did diverge a little from the way the instructions outlined assembly because we figured out how to make everything level and look great with our own shifting and jimmying of pieces. So, the assembly was really a hybrid of methods, but it turned out superb!!

You'll note in the picture above that Aaron's there reading directions again. Because, I'm not. He was really reviewing the fact that we are almost *out* of shell-of-the-house directions because the rest of it is going to be up to personal taste! It's kind of hard to believe this part is almost finished on its basic level!

Next up?! Well, I'm not entirely sure as I didn't read the directions, but I believe we are headed toward the foundation pieces. Stay tuned ...

The Gable Finale!

The gable is a success!!

We finished it last night. But, before taking it on, we had one, small detail to finish:

We put in the other two, interior finish
strips. You know. Before we misplaced them.
This picture, by the way, is like you are
standing in the kitchen from the back of
the house. The gable space is, for now, a
little eat-in area. Above the kitchen is the
master bedroom.

Once placed, we could give our full attention to the gable completion!

Well, after a quick pic to show how much of the plywood yard the house takes up from front to back ...

... then the gable received full attention!

Taking the break from it last night was a huge key to success as fresh eyes and attitudes made a very big difference! We turned the house upright so I could actually see what was happening. (I'm only 10 inches taller than the gable when it's down. That doesn't allow for seeing. Anything.).

Last night, Aaron started the process of sanding down of the top of the wall ...

... so the siding lines would line up better than they were. I finished that process tonight to my satisfaction*, and we were ready to glue!

* The alignment issue we discovered with the hinge or whatever messed with lining up the walls. Meaning, the siding didn't align well between the gable pieces AND with the front wall of the house. To manage my own perfectionist tendencies, we scoured the Web to see what other houses look like on this matter. Pictures we found range from the gable and front completely lined up to they don't look lined up at all. The verdict here: I had  to line it up. Had to. So, the evening's building progress was held up by 5 minutes of interior trim placement and about 30 minutes of hand-sanding the top of this wall. Totally worth it.

Finally, we glued and taped:

(While we did our dry run-through, Aaron would talk to himself saying, "This goes here like this ..." It's a very different delivery from his, "Like so ..." of the rest of the week.)

And, today, the outcome is revealed!

The gap on the right is due to our not yet attaching the magnet that holds the wall shut. There is also trim that is attached vertically to help cover any seams. So, all in all, we did awesome!

And, the gap between the floor and the wall is minimal. I think the floor trim will take care of it. If not, I'll think of something. But, it's not the gaping hole into which Hal's children could fall that concerned me yesterday!

Success continues! I'm not sure what's next on deck ...

The Gable: Steps One, Two and Three

The gable is a little more of a process than I necessarily expected. And, no, it's not because I didn't re-read the directions. There's just a little to think about in terms of making sure one piece is totally dry and in place before moving on to the next, strategic pieces to do the same thing. I believe the directions said we could build this part in two days, but we created a strategy for three just to be safe. That, and we don't get to really work on it until after dinner, and we get sleepy.

STEP ONE: Monday. Putting on just the right wall.

This was pretty easy and worked out great!

There are supposed to be filler strips to finish the interior wall where the walls connect, but we couldn't find them. After a couple of emails to our good friend Gary, he told us what we were actually looking for. And, as luck would have it, we even found them:

These make the interior wall smooth 
where the gable wall butts up to the
floor and already-in-place interior wall.

It would be cool if every, single piece of the house fit as perfect, easy and exact as those! But, those didn't warp, so, there's that.

STEP TWO: Tuesday. Flip the house on its back to add the ceilings/floors and other side piece:

I surprised myself by not flipping out on the inside about turning the house over. I know we've secured it as much as possible*, but STILL! I don't want anything to go awry!

*(Our construction mentor Gary told us that he never uses anything but Tacky Glue to build. Meaning, he doesn't use nails. And, that's actually good because the nails would show. And, who wants that? I admit if it were nailed, I probably wouldn't be nervous about doing something like turning it, but I think I'll get over it fast. My Dad only used Carpenter's Glue on mine, and I move it by carrying it by the chimneys to this day. So, I need to Trust the Glue like I Trust the Tape!)

This step of the process was also reasonably straight-forward. The good luck continues!

STEP THREE: Wednesday. Put the hinged pieces on. This is supposed to be the last day of the gable construction, right? Yeah ... well ...

We'll start with the really good news. The floors we placed last night are SEAMLESS.

See? NO seams! *pats on the back ...*

Everything looks so-far-so-good in every way!

Our good fortune streak ended here as the problems began with this step. In theory, and probably in reality if we were expert builders, everything should still just pop into place. But, we'll start with the crazy difficulty Aaron had putting those teeny tiny screws ...

... back into the holes he already created when Hal was micro managing him. It's one thing to do it flat on a work space bearing down. It's another thing entirely to do it sideways with no support from behind. On a wall you just adhered the day before. And, there's probably some kind of wood-physics thing we don't know about after the holes sat vacant for a few days in this ever-changing weather we have going on. So, yeah. Aaron broke out into a major sweat getting those suckers back where they belong:

After, we spent more time than I care to really quantify strategizing, placing and replacing the gable pieces because -- you guessed it -- the warping has an effect here, too. And, I think Aaron said something about maybe-possibly-kind-of-who-really-knows putting the hinge on the wall juuuuust a little high, so we had to figure out how to adjust for that. I really do not know how he would have known until that very moment of truth, so, you know. Whatevs.

SO. After much time, I finally noted that we could dink around with practicing the fit all night, or we could trust ourselves to figure it out as we go. Because, honestly, there wasn't much more of a choice than that. So, on with the middle piece!

This is where we actually ran into a bigger snag that I more than happily call an opportunity for a creative fix. 

You can't see in the picture, but there is likely to be a gap between the wall and the floor when this is put together. The gap is more significant than I'd like for sure. Like, don't butt a table against the wall because the legs WILL fall between the floor and the house. But, it might be necessary to allow that gap to make certain the front wall is completely parallel the front of the house.

It's also possible that there isn't much of a gap and that the wall doesn't really angle as severely as I fear. We really won't know what it will look like or what kind of solution we want to employ, though, until we sit the house upright tonight to put on the last piece.

I'm also continuing to debate if that third piece is going to be permanently adhered to the house on the right gable wall (which is how the kit is designed) OR if it will be adhered to the window pieces that swing out to reveal those rooms (which is something I saw someone on the internet do). Meaning, either two of the window walls will open and swing to the left, or all three will. I thought this alteration of the kit design was very cool to make sure there's a lot of space to reach in the room, but, it turns out that just opening two walls is plenty. So, it will now come down to which option is better for the overall design and forthcoming creative solutions.

There are all sorts of ways to fill that gap. I'm sure there's going to be one, so I'm just planning for it. I saw a designer on the internet build window seats there. While I think she's much more of an expert at building and didn't actually have to hide anything like a floor gap, it is a cool idea. I also like the idea of filling it with just a piece of wood because the extends the floor inside. How many times have you been in a room in your house and thought, "If I just had another little bit of space that direction, it would make a huge difference!"? Well, Hal and company might just get what I often dream! And, of course, there are baseboards. There are a number of ideas, but, there's no way to decide until it is upright. And, that's totally okay.

I was glad we decided to stop trying to get it figured out all last night because I was, honestly, getting tired and sick of trying to fix it. I needed a fresh brain. It didn't help that I'm only 10 inches taller than the gable when it's down like this, so, to see things lining up (or, not), I had to get on a chair. Over and over and over and over ...

The only thing that has brought out any bad words from me during this process has been when I'm pulling the tape after gluing, and the tape pops off. *$&%^! Until last night. That's when I knew we needed to stop. Key to a successful build: KNOW THYSELF.

Hal is either signaling victory or surrender.
You make the call. Oh, we put shims under-
neath to keep the correct angle while the glue
dries. Those are handy little suckers.

The next step is the final gable wall step which is called FIGURE IT OUT ...

The Buying and the Build Begins

CATCHING UP TO TODAY

I'm going to jump right in on the build of this dollhouse. Soon, I'll give some know-how on the"how did this come about" and other sundry information, but, for now, let's dive right in and catch this up to speed before too much more happens! Ready?!

After scouring the internet for days and days and days, I finally landed on THE house I wanted to build! Introducing the Harborside Mansion Dollhouse!! Minus these particular colors, it will look like this:

This image is from the Manhattan Dollhouse website from
where I ordered my kit! Isn't it beeeaa-utiful?!

This is a Google image showing the inside! I saw it
and had to work hard to not drooooool ...

My criteria included there be many rooms with lots and lots of space to decorate and fill with fun things from the miniature world! The conservatory on the left is actually an extra, but you can bet I ordered it, too. The room dividers are also movable after the build, so there are a number of options! Woot-woot!!

Have I ever built a dollhouse? Um, no. But, my Dad built mine when I was young. Does that count? (Absolutely not.) I did, though, read a number of articles and blogs about not starting off huge and to start with a single room display – and, I wasn’t having it. I was not only determined, but I was also confident in my abilities to fix whatever I messed up. So, order placed! And, a week later at the end of July, it arrived!!

That bottom box was super-heavy. I politely asked My Boy to carry it inside, and he even grunted when lifting. And, he lifts weights. I don’t, so you know I probably would have killed myself. That’s actually not true. But, the effort would not have been pretty!

GETTING READY: September 1

We finally opened it all up the first week of September because you have to be ready with what you’re going to see, right?  We also needed to plot out space to build and get mentally ready to do so. Because, opening it was going to be like Pandora's Box without the scary demons. Ready?!

... and, wowwwww ... SO MANY THINGS!! The pictures do not do it justice. There were just all kinds of pieces !! Fortunately, I’d read enough about calming oneself down and being thorough about reading the directions all the way through before really diving in. That kept me calm when I really just wanted to rip open every plastic bag and box and just rummage! But, that's a bad idea in such a situation. I refrained. 

In my mental preparation -- noted as the time between ordering and actually opening the boxes -- I also thought I am probably a bit of a fool to take this on all by myself. I’m not one for loving to read and decipher directions, but I have a husband who has a second-nature to do so. I also thought that I’m super visual, and he’s not as much. So, together, this would be a great building team! Fortunately, he was all about jumping in to take this on!

Two weeks ago, we got ourselves ready to really dig in. That preparation required purchasing the plywood platform on which it will sit and, ultimately, become the yard:

The bottom piece is the one. We had a buy a huge piece to cut down because the yard base is 30" x 60" which is necessary to accommodate the 58"-long house! (NICE!!! Sidenote: At one point, My Girl asked, "Um, where are you going to put this?!" The question had merit, but, as I had no answer, I asked her to not harsh my buzz.)

While at the hardware store waiting for the plywood cut, I picked up paint samples for the exterior of the house:

Indeed. They all look the same. I sent them
to my friend Cindy who thought I'd stuck
Post-Its on the wall for some photo collage
project.

With a good night’s rest, the next morning was the time to dive in!

GETTING MORE READY: September 2

For as quite-smooth as these pieces arrived, I knew they needed sanding. So, I took that part on.

It was kind of fun. It was not only satisfying, but I also clearly remember my dad sanding the pieces for my house when I was a kid. I remember thinking what a terrible job it was because it just holds up the progress of the build. But, I was 10 or 12 years old then. (While young, I was also smart enough to withhold my displeasure with the build delay because any complaining would have halted said progress.)

SORTING: September 8

Before actually pulling pieces out of the box, Aaron and I had a strategy meeting. This was crucial for us as we tend to approach a project in very different ways. He’s much more of a “do-right-now” guy, and I’m more of a “let-me-think-about-this” kind of gal. By ourselves, both ways can a disaster (he) or paralyzing (yours truly -- guess whose idea it was to not open the kit boxes for a month after delivery?). Together, though, it can work out really well if we do the dance right. So, I put him in the lead of Project Manager because he read the instructions better than I did and would continue to pretty easily crack the codes. I was in charge of visuals and other kinds of how-to’s regarding the minutia. aka: Tell me what’s needing to happen, and I can probably figure out how to execute it. I was smart enough to watch my Dad during the build, after all.

With roles in place, Aaron dove in to sort:

It's like death by 1,000 paper cuts for me
to go through this process.

It's a wonder to look at all of the pieces and realize that, yes, they will come together, and you will be the one to make that happen!

We knew we weren't going to really get anything accomplished that day, so we balanced and held a few pieces in place to just get a feel of what's to come!

This shows a possible placement of a room
divider going out to the gable.

And, I wanted to get an idea of what the
fabulous staircase was going to look like!

This build has potential to really let us learn something about the other person through the process. For instance, I did not know that when Aaron sorts and spaces and puts things together, he repeatedly says, "Like so ..." As in, "These go together like so ...", "And, this goes here like so ..." It happens so often that, had it been a drinking game, I would have been hammered.

Aaron also read in the directions that the window openings needed to be squared off to allow the windows to fit (believe it or not, I missed this detail in my read-through). The directions indicated the wood could be just kind of filed down or, in a more charming description, whittled. I think that was Aaron's description.

I'm just saying if Aaron didn't own a Dremel, we might have just gone with open-concept windows!

And, ohhhh ... I already cannot wait to reveal the window plans!! But, that's for another day ...

THE PAINT AND THE PROBLEM: September 9

Because I read everywhere that painting the outside beforehand would be a good idea, provided I avoided the grooves where pieces needed to attach to each other with glue, I went for it the next weekend! It was easy, it was fun, and I loved how the color turned out!

I used my little, bitty paint roller and even followed directions  by sanding in between coats. I felt incredibly accomplished! 

And, then, four days later, I spied with my little eye ... WARPING!! Waa ... waa ... waaaaaaa ... Wouldn’t you know that my painting actually caused the pieces to warp?!?!? Apparently, this can be avoided by painting a coat on one side, letting it dry, then painting the other side. Lather, rinse, repeat. *sigh* Well, apparently, I missed that tip!

At first, I didn’t think the warp was much. I went all day thinking it would be just a little snag in our progress IF that. But, when Aaron and I gave it a dry run that night to see how the warping affected the fit, it was WAY more than I anticipated. Like, way more. It was cry-worthy. And, so that's what I did while Aaron emailed the handy-dandy construction help guy at Real Good Toys where the house was manufactured. The email was late at night, so we stacked and weighted the pieces while anxiously anticipating a response to our cry for help!

Remember how I said My Boy lifts weights? Not that night
he didn't.

The next morning, our now-good-friend Gary from Real Good Toys wrote back with instructions on what to do when wood warps (including to not panic) as well as a promise to walk us through whatever snags we hit while constructing. Did YOU know that kind of customer service still exists?!

Our first plan was to dry-fit the house again before employing any of the strategies sent just to see if the weighting worked. And, what do you know:

I was stunned! Stunned, stoked, relieved, you name it!! We could get the pieces together without much issue! So, we went ahead and taped it in place to let it sit and acclimate into position for a few days. We taped the heck out of that house! The "how to fix warping" instructions explicitly stated, "Trust your tape!" And, so, we did!

I was so happy that I had to get the dollhouse dad in on the activity!

Meet Hal.

You know how you first move into a house and you have dinner on the floor before you even have furniture? That's what Hal's doing with his crock pot. You'll learn more about Hal and family later. You'll even learn why his name is Hal. For now, though, he has a very important role. You'll see.

So, that was the dry run! We let it sit for a few days to help the wood acclimate before we went for the real deal ...

OH, MY. ONE MORE PIECE OF PREP WORK: September 15

When you're anxious to do something exciting, any delay in the progress you envision is tricky to manage emotionally ...

According to the directions, we needed to put together parts of the gable at this point. As one who didn't read the directions, I didn't argue. But, I wasn't much help, either:

Two pieces each needed a strip on their sides. I did actually participate in this gluing and taping process. Hey, did you know if you catch Tacky Glue fast enough, you can pull pieces apart and glue them on correctly? You know, right-side up? Ask us how we know ... So, basically, I did two parts of gluing while Aaron tackled putting the hinges on. Did I mention the gable swings out from the front of the house?!

Hal is now a supervisor. 

Hal is a bit of a micro manager.

In case you're wondering, Aaron is not Hal's
biggest fan. I think he's fabulous, though.

Those screws are TINY! And, it took a lot of work for Aaron to get 'em in there! The house is made out of milled MDF which I read before ordering means it’s hard to get stuff into. I knew this ahead of time (and dreaded the upcoming lighting project), but it was also recommended by the dudes manufacturing the product. So, who am I to argue? I chose that, but I think Aaron paid the price getting those teeny, tiny screws in that really, dense wood.

I was so happy for him when it finished only to immediately feel bad to hear that they all had to come right back out! It's part of the "get the holes in now, but nothing is staying together yet" process. Watching that happen was a bit maddening because I'm saying those teeny screws and this particular wood made Aaron break out in a sweat. You'll note, in solidarity, Hal removed his coat.

AND SO IT REALLY BEGINS: September 16

Just this past Sunday morning, we took a very, deep breath and un-taped the dry-run to get ready for the real deal! I fully admit to having to work to keep myself a little calm. It’s one thing to dry-run the process knowing it’s just held together with tape and everything is completely removable. It’s another entirely to know you’re about to glue everything in place with the intent of it staying there. Forever. And, with things to think about like not going too fast but not going too slow to making sure there’s enough-but-not-too-much glue to ensuring everything is level after every piece is fit and pulled by the tape ... SO MANY THINGS!

I told Aaron before we even took the lid off of the glue, “There is absolutely nothing we cannot fix if we mess it up.” I said this with calm confidence even though I had absolutely, positively not one idea of how to fix something if we glued it and it set. But, I had faith that we could. That, or it would be a really creative house where everyone would walk a little sideways. I could tell Aaron was taking some deep breaths with a very high expectation on himself that this come out RIGHT. I wanted it right, of course. But, I let Aaron take the pressure-status for the team while I had visions in my head of contacting our construction guy Gary to find out how much it would cost to replace a single, mis-glued or otherwise broken piece of dollhouse.

Look. I was the emotional mess when the boards warped. It was my turn to be calm on the outside.

So. With a deep breath and lots of faith, we went for it which resulted in great success!

WooHoo!!!

After this happened, I said to Aaron, "Wow. I'm glad you're as strong as a horse!" to which he replied, "I'm glad you know how to figure out what needs to happen!"

There was hardly-if-any issue between us as we figured out who really needed what from the other during the process: how to coordinate holding and taping, and how to communicate exactly what we needed. It was really cool that the communication worked out so well because we didn’t dry-run the way to talk about something we’d never discussed on any level. It’s like you get in the middle of it, and you don’t even know what words to use! "I need the ... THING there!" "Hold this. No, THIS! Here! For real, HERE! Oh, wait, you can't see it. THIS!" Regardless, we did it, and we did so pretty seamlessly!

That called for a wipe of the sweaty brow because pulling tape tight actually makes you break out into a sweat and a Diet Coke! It was time to walk away to not only let it dry but to also just stop looking at it for a bit. If I look at it, I just want to poke it, check the level or put things in it. And, what it needs to do is just sit ...