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 ...