Loving the Lattice!

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, I just hated that the dollhouse sat with the outdoor areas so neglected. The Fourth of July and a completely incomplete outside situation just really started to bother me.

In full disclosure, I blame a miniature company from which I have ordered a couple of products for my sudden angst. They send me emails to entice me to buy all the things. Usually, I delete without opening because I know I'm not in the market and it just painfully temps me. But, just the other day, I decided to open their electronic Pandora's Box which is when I saw super-cool outdoor things perfect for celebrating the Fourth. And, that's when I knew my little family over there on the other side of the room has been neglected.

So, I finally carved out some time to tackle a project I've been super-stoked to do: The Lattice!!

Where there is not brick, there shall be lattice at the foundation:

Ohhhhh, I've been itching to make this happen!! The only thing about it, though, has been that I haven't been sure how to make it happen. I've seen lattice for purchase online, but it has to be bought in larger, square/rectangle pieces, and I wasn't sure how well they would cut down to size. Or, should I say, I wasn't sure how well *I* would cut them down to size. My cutting track record is a bit tarnished. It's also more than I want to pay when I was confident I could figure out how to do it myself.

With that, I dug into my box-o-wood pieces, and I got down to business!

I had in my stash a bag of these:

I either bought those for the lattice vision or for a wood floor plank idea I have for another spot in the house. Whatever the reason, I broke 'em out for this!

Then, I measured, in the best way I know how, how long they needed to be:

Folding a piece of paper is way easier than trying to measure such a space!

From there, I used the mitre box to see if the angle worked for how I wanted it to look. And, as I suspected, it did!

Now to make about a thousand more of these 2 1/4" suckers ... 😁 I first thought I'd use the mitre box and saw, but, it turned out that using scissors was way easier:

I just held one up to a stick and cut without drawing a guide line or anything. That whole measure-twice-cut-once mantra didn't really apply here. (It probably should have because, in the end, I must have let one slip as I wound up with a pile of them that were too long and needed to be trimmed one by one by one. Are we surprised? It wasn't as horrible as it sounds.)

Anyway, here's the initial pile -- of the good ones and the needing-more-attention ones:

From there, I lined my beloved graphing ruler up to create the distance between the bottom of the porch and the ground as verified by my folded piece of paper. By taping the ruler in place, I created a solid guide between it and the foundation to lay out the first run!

I did use the graph lines as a guide between pieces, but, let's just say it isn't perfect. I kept thinking about how people used to build log cabins by hand, and, those worked out, so ...

Then, I taped over this line to flip 'em:

Up and over!

OMG I love when things work out like that! I particularly love it since I was making up the process as I went.

Creator's Note: Why the flip? The flip itself wasn't necessary. But, keeping these pieces in place while gluing the ones going the opposite way on top of them was. So, laying out the first run, taping, flipping then repeating the process on top totally worked.

Oh, those stragglers on the end? They're actually creating the smaller pieces that complete the pattern when butted up against a wall. They just hadn't been cut up there. But, they are down here:

Now the whole strip will fit when the front wall hits the gazebo angle. See?!

With it flipped, I could make the pieces that go the other direction. I put a piece down in place. Then, I marked it, removed it and glued:

Here's another look from another section:

By this point in the process, I got smart enough to mark a
handful of pieces at a time. That's why there are a few guidelines
that you can see here.

You place pieces and glue enough times, and check out what you get!

Okay, that's just part of the first strip, and it's showing the taped side, but you get the point. I really just wanted to make sure this strip fit in the intended space! The real story is, it didn't. It was just a smidge too tall. But, it was nothing a few snippety-snips from the scissors couldn't fix! I just found ones that seemed a little long and kept trimming until it worked. Thank goodness I already trusted the scissors process AND that the Aleene's Tacky Glue held fast and strong! I really didn't have to wait to keep taking care of business because the glue dried so quickly! And, for the very few pieces that slipped when cut, it was no biggie to glue again.

After I did the first strip, which is just a little over 15 inches long, I had 5 sections of under-the-gazebo to create. Each is about 5 inches. I did work to match up as best I could where pieces fit together at foundation angles which was a little tricky. You can see it in the middle of the photo where one section reasonably, but, certainly not perfectly, lines up with it's neighboring piece:

I actually had some fun with this because I felt very accomplished! However, it took a little bit of brain power, so I made just one of the sections before turning my brain off and creating a stock pile of pieces for the rest of the project to be continued the next day:

My hand-cut method both worked perfectly and failed me completely depending on which piece I picked up. Or, all of the new pieces were actually good as I took more focused time to cut them, but I mixed them in with the first run of those that were too long. Regardless, grabbing the next piece to create the lattice was a roll of the dice as to whether or not it would fit correctly! But, it oddly didn't bother me at all to continue to find ones too long. SNIP! Taken care of! Just like that.

I did ponder for a little bit only creating lattice for the front and under the gazebo but not the rest of the house due to my hand starting to ache cutting the pieces and just wanting to be finished as fast as possible. But, then I realized I was slipping into a "find the easiest route" mindset, and that never ends well. Not going all the way to the back of the house was not at all what I actually wanted, anyway. It wouldn't have made any sense. So, I shook the thought and got back to work!

It took a day, but, I got 'em finished!

'Probably should have turned the flash off on that one. Muh'bad.

I decided early on in the project that I would treat myself to a can of spray paint to get them white knowing I would not have enjoyed the process of hand-painting these! Therefore, $4 and 10 minutes later:

Voila! Painted in no time! I think it took me longer to determine
"which color" of white to get at the store than it did to do this!

While waiting for those to dry, there was one more step to prep the house for this addition. See it?

Doesn't the house look different with the black on the foundation?! I didn't know it would make that huge of a difference! Anyway, I slapped that paint on and, after letting all paint sit overnight, I did a little dry run to make sure everything fit:

Lookin' good!!

A few pieces needing trimming on the ends, but, overall, it worked the way I planned! Woot!! So, I got to gluing and taping!

I was concerned that the sections wouldn't line up as clean as I would like, and I was right. I looked online at a dollhouse that has lattice, and that person hid all seams with shrubbery! While a genius move, I didn't want to be locked in to having to landscape for this purpose. So, after pondering a few solutions, I landed on cutting down and using a piece of floor molding in my stash! I love how it turned out!

Here's a before and after:

I am SO HAPPY with the outcome!! It's just the start of getting the great outdoors ready for living!!

So Cool In the Kitchen

MISS ME?!

Even if not, I missed working on the dollhouse! So, tonight, I intentionally carved out a pocket of time to see if I could finish a project I started a little over a month ago! (The digital age of taking pictures provides the date stamp for when I began something I thought was so simple and would take a day or two ... 👀)

No matter how long it took, it's finished! Check out the refrigerator make-over! It started out looking like this:

It was a part of an entire kitchen set I bought at an estate sale. It was a 5-piece set from Michaels! See?!

Back in the day when there were price
tags! And, assuming a 40%-off coupon was
used, the set should have been about $35.
Not bad!!

Okay, anyway. I really like the set, but I wasn't loving the grooves on the refrigerator. I don't need the fridge to look like it has wooden planks. And, the inside looked a little worn.

So, I took care of all of that! First, I schmeared on the wood filler:

'Think I used enough?!

And, after drying for many days -- because I didn't get back to it, not because it needed it -- I sanded the dickens out of it:

A fresh coat of paint and polyurethane later, and voila!

But, wait. There's more!

I decided the fridge needed drawers on the bottom. Because, duh! I really didn't know how to make them, so, I just winged it.

First, I took some cursory measurements of the interior where the drawer would go. And, by "took measurements," I mean I started by cutting the nearest paint card/sample thing I had in front of me to the size I thought it should be to create a drawer side. Then, I stuck it in the fridge to see if it worked. I whittled the piece down until I got it just right. Yeah, so, no tips for exact process here.

I used the plastic top of a sushi tray I recently saved from the recycle box to create the side pieces. I cut the four that I needed and promptly lost two of them. They're on the floor somewhere. I think. I honestly don't know. I didn't try too hard to find them, though, and, instead, just cut two more.

I did the same, awesome-exacting measuring process for the bottom pieces. Here's the one for the freezer side:

Don't let the cutting mat nor the exacto knife NOR the metal edge fool you. While I earnestly tried to use them, the plastic pieces were just too small and slippery. I did end up using my small guillotine paper cutter to get the edges straight, though. THAT was a handy tool!

From there, I used the Quick Grip glue. Not only does it dry as clear as it's allowed (it's not its fault if you're a goopy gluer), but it dries super-fast. I wanted that to go fast so the pieces wouldn't slip around while drying.

And, so, I put the sides together, bang, bang, bang, and what do you know but the freezer side drawer was too wide! Something about not really measuring comes to mind ...

No matter! I pulled it apart, recut by hand the base to be more narrow taking a guess as to how much was needed, and put it back together again. I'd say it turned out very okay!!

If there's something I can do about the goopy parts of the dried glue, I'll figure that out another time. I'm pretty sure they're a big part of holding these little suckers together, so I'm in no hurry! Oh, and the handles you see are the edges of strawberry containers. They provide the perfect little ledge and are already angled without my having to create that.

Here they are in action!

I know they're a little hard to see, so spend
some time oo-ing and ahh-ing over the
interior paint job, too!

Here they are in real action:

Pretend those are apples and oranges in the
drawer. And, yes, that's a pumpkin in there.
Because this family really has no
refrigerator food.

A little perspective shot. And, hello, new
kitty!

So, there you go! The cool, refrigerator make-over! Pun intended.

What's next? I really don't know! I have trim painted and ready to go for the interior doorways. That I have it painted is a miracle, but the doorways aren't ready because I haven't sanded them down from filling them, like, 2 or 3 months ago!

I have accomplished obtaining new creatures for the house, though! Seeing as the little kitty up there peeked in on the fridge shot, I should introduce her mom:

Big, lap kitty!

I found those kitties as a pair at a garage sale last weekend for a quarter. 😁

So, it's time to survey the land and determine the next project! Stay tuned ...

A Little Gathering Of Joy

While the inside projects patiently await pockets of time for progress, I had to make sure the outside got just a smidge of attention to celebrate:

The front porch springs to life as it should be!

Some of the grandkids flock Grandma
Laura to get the beloved chocolate bunny
-- white and milk chocolate to accommodate
favorites!

That little scene just makes me *happy*.

He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice ...

The Island

So, I'm pretty proud of myself on this one!

We hop down from the third floor to the first to take care of a little kitchen issue I've been having! The problem? It's the same problem most people have in real life: Not enough counter space!

I really love the kitchen set I have. It, along with almost every other piece of furniture in the house, is a score from an estate sale! It's white just the way I wanted, and it has the right pieces. BUT, I still want more counter space to display things! So, here's what I did ...

You might recall that I have a plethora of sinks with cabinets. One of them came with the bathroom set, but I didn't use it because it's a little wonky and weird. I bought two others that are in use in the bathroom and in the craft room. This kitchen set came with one, but it's not the one in the picture. HOW I ultimately ended up with FIVE sinks is beyond me. But, it got me thinking ...

Here's the wonky-weird one:

I thought if I pop out the sink, perhaps I could sand down the side to make another cabinet piece. More accurately, I wanted to make a kitchen island! I just knew I could even though I really had no idea what I was doing or how it would actually turn out.

So, I went for it! The top came out with absolutely no effort ...

Old glue certainly allows for easy
disassembly!

... but, the back of it was something I didn't want to deal with:

Eww. Besides, the front doors don't open,
so I'm not interested.

I put that aside and fished out of my box the sink that actually came with the set.

It's okay, but I like the one I have in there better. The faucet on this one is loose and just spins around. Plus, one of the doors is missing its hinge pin:

Suddenly, I had the vision to just take the doors off so I could actually see the stuff stored there! That's way more fun than hiding it behind doors!

My first step was to pop the sink off which required more effort than the first one:

Oh, snap! Literally!

Whoops! It didn't quite come off in one piece. So, I went for it again:

And, then I fixed it up in case this sink is ever used elsewhere:

From there, I got out the box-o-balsa and, as luck would have it, the large pieces are the exact width I need!!

That was a little gift because I'm not a huge fan of cutting balsa with the grain. It's flimsy and temperamental. Like I need the inanimate stuff to have a 'tude. But, it does.

Anyway, after a quick marking for size, I cut the width:

I do love being able to just use the scissors!

This balsa is super thin, so I used two pieces for the perfect thickness.

After a good schmear of Tacky Glue coating the entire surface, I put the pieces on top of each other to dry under a piece of hard plastic weighed by a water bottle. This would ensure the pieces dry all the way to the ends.

The next day, I gave it two coats, while drying in between, of semi gloss polyurethane. This not only brought out the color of the wood perfectly, but it also helped give stability to the balsa. All said and done, that piece is plenty hard to put things with a little weight on it. I also sanded the corners:

It's like I'm a professional.

Finally, I yanked the other door off of the cabinet piece, and I glued the top on:

With a piece of wood to cover the surface, a couple of cans of poly serve yet another wonderful purpose weighting it down for a few hours!

As a finishing touch, I dove back into one of my jars of beads and found the "wheels":

I used the Quick Grip here so those little suckers didn't move once in place. One of them bounced off of the cabinet and onto the table and onto the floor. I still can't find it. Anyway ...

The result?!

Yaaaaaaassss!!!

It's PERFECT in there! It gives the narrow kitchen better dimension to me:

I also like that it can be moved around to create the space I want where I want it:

Out of the way against where a wall would be to open the
space in the middle! Oh, and, don't mind the guy in the doorway.
Just ... don't. That's a story for another time 😀

I love, love, LOVE it! It was so simple, yet, I feel amazingly accomplished!

Oh, but that's not all in the kitchen! Stay tuned to see the latest, coolest makeover!

The Girl's Room

With the toys and books filling the room, I figured I should focus on "finishing up" the little girl's room on the third floor! (Is it ever really finished? Um, no ... That would take the fun out of it for me!)

One of the last pieces for that room to actually create was to make a wall hanging I envisioned. I found a pineapple pin at Hobby Lobby that I loved, and I assumed I could figure out how to get it on the wall. It was actually way easier than I expected:

I cut the pin mechanism off of the back with some wire cutters, painted a scrap piece of wood the perfect color before giving it a coat of polyurethane, and used ye-ol-Tacky Glue to put it on wood. Let it dry overnight and Ta. Da!

Originally, I intended it to be IN the room. But, that was the vision before I created the beloved half wall. Now, it is seen from the room, and that's enough for me!

It looks cute there. And, it matches the cat bed hanging out at the top of the stairs. It's held on to the wall with the Elmer's awesome putty stuff, too.

So, back in the room itself, my vision came to life this past weekend with the addition of the fairy lights and wall decorations!

The lace flowers and the sparkly butterflies are just little packages of embellishments from craft stores. I absolutely love how this turned out! Again, they are hung with the Elmer's putty stuff. That is a GREAT product! I've had zero issues with things falling or marks left when I move what I've hung.

The dollhouse in the corner came from another antique store. I was SO excited to find it! And, as my friend Cindy pointed out, its walls are warped just like mine! It's like it was meant to be ... The other houses around it are from some mini Christmas decorations with which I grew up. They are actually decorations from when my Dad was a kid!

In the room, we have some other fun things, too!

I love the basket of toys. The basket is the container part of the crocheted top I turned upside down for a cat bed. The Potato Head in there was originally a Christmas ornament. You might have seen Mrs. Potato Head in other pics. I found it at a craft fair for a quarter. The Eiffel Tower on the bedside stool is actually an earring. I found a pair at an antique store for $2. I had to get it. This room reflects my own Girl, who is fascinated by Paris, so it was a must. I particularly love the Teddy Bear and dolls on the bed with a kitty keeping them company!

This particular pair has a lot of sentimental value to me. Meet Sally (left) and Sue (right):

When I was in second grade, Santa brought me an A-Frame playhouse set which included Sue and Sally. I played and played and played with that set and these two. That same year, my aunt and uncle sent me my first dollhouse which happened to be the same scale. So, Sue and Sally had their house as well as their vacation camp site. I absolutely adored these two!

A couple of years later is when I picked out the dollhouse my Dad made for me from a kit. And, as total luck would have it, it was the same scale as what I already had! So, Sue and Sally could move right in and bring all of their stuff with them. I don't know what happened to their A-Frame, but their furniture made the move. It's red and orange and yellow and white and very, very Hello, 1970s! It co-exists with the first dollhouse's pink, blue and brown furniture. So, it's not winning any lifestyles awards, but it is beloved!

I gave the house my Dad built to My Girl when she was about 6. (I'd have to check the archives to be sure.) And, OH, how she LIVED in that house for years and years, and we even still decorate it for Christmas most years! I let her use Sue and Sally, but they got the boot when all of the Fashion Pollys moved in. That was totally okay, but, I never really learned what happened to Sally's hair. She used to have some, Like, when I gave them to My Girl to use in the house. I'm just sayin'.

That's okay. It just adds to the story!

I also love this:

While he looks absolutely nothing like my Dad, he represents him in my little world here. Meet Grandpa Buddy who is happy to be in any room doing anything. He particularly likes hanging out with the grandkids just being happy. Currently, he's taking a break from reading stories and is, instead, napping with the kitty. That his eyes don't shut really isn't his fault. 😁 I found him on Ebay or Etsy. I really can't remember. But, he was a must-have.

So, there's the girl's room! I think it's finished enough to move focus to another. Ha! Did I say FOCUS? Yeah, that's not happening. But, the creations keep coming!! Wait and see what I cooked up recently ...