Farmhouse Wallpaper Mania

Hello again, dear readers. The family took a little trip over the MLK holiday weekend down to the Bay Area.  We stayed with the hubby's brother and had tons of fun.  We tracked down a few stores we had to go to, for Justin that meant RC hobby stores and for me, Shellie's Miniature Mania in San Carlos!

It's been years since I've been to a miniature store.  The Reno store shut down right after I graduated from college when the owners retired.  Another store popped up but quickly went under. Mini-lovers are at a loss around here.

Can I just say wow? Not that Shellie's store is huge, but there is tons of stuff stuffed in there! I managed to find all the wallpaper I needed for Haley's house, plus some different flooring materials too. I even talked to Shellie herself. This place is on my list for a return visit.

(Mental note: Shellie is working out the details to hold another workshop with Rik Pierce for October 2014.  I'm putting that on my wish list!!!)

We drove around the Bay and I took tons of pictures of cute houses for dollhouse inspiration. San Carlos and Berkeley have the cutest old houses!

The boys were awe of Hobbytown USA in Concord.  Justin found the right things he needed for the Twin Hammers rock crawler.  The boys have been on a kick with pinewood derby cars so I even helped Haley pick one out with some decals so she can have one of her own. Of course, it will be pink, not the red that came with the kit.

Anyhow, once back home, I encouraged the boys to work on one of Eric's RC kits while I messed with wallpaper.  I decided that with this house, I wanted to spray all the wallpaper with sealant before doing anything. I was bit annoyed by the crinkle issues I had with the red cottage, so I hope the sealant helps!

I got out all the new wallpaper and flooring, plus all my old wallpaper and flooring I had stashed away. I spread things out on the floor and looked at it. I started picking what paper goes into which room. The vine one (top left) is for the living room, strawberries (bottom center) for the kitchen. Green stripe with roses (bottom left) is the 2nd floor hallway. I'm still working out other rooms, but it's progress!

I also made another decision regarding the front room. I was thinking a fireplace would be nice. Since I've moved walls around, I have a wall with a door opening. That opening is now going to be the location of the fireplace.  I will still need to fill in the gap (so there is wall to wallpaper above the mantle) but I won't have to worry about matching up siding on the exterior. The fireplace will conceal that area!

I think at this point it's fair to officially rename the house. I've made enough changes that it doesn't look like the box. It's no longer the Victoria's Farmhouse. I will officially call it Haley's Farmhouse.

Heart Quilt Sneak Peek

I started another little cross stitching project at the end of summer. Once I finished stitching the red dahlia quilt, I immediately started a new one. I found some very pretty heart fabric at the store so it was my inspiration for this quilt.

I already had a white wire bed frame and pink mattress for Haley's Farmhouse. That bed needed some covers on top. I made up this pattern. Hearts, lots of hearts, and they had to be in shades of pink to match the fabric. I even have some pretty pink wallpaper that will look great with this.

To work out the pattern, I printed out some 22-ct. scale graph paper and messed around with colored pens. I practiced a few other things too but those are saved for another project.

I'm moving slow on this, mostly stitching during break time at work or when we have quiet time. I did a little bit at the cabin in Incline Village at Christmastime and a little last weekend in the Bay area. I'm roughly halfway.

This is stitched on 22-ct ivory Hardanger fabric. I'm tired of this material now. I had a scrap left and wanted to use it up.  It has an awkward weave that slips stitches a lot.  My next project will definitely use different material!

Farmhouse Foundation Assembly

After a very long hiatus from working on houses, I've picked up where I left off with Haley's dollhouse. That  means, assembling the foundation and making some firm decisions on the interior.

First, I've decided to make some pretty significant changes. This was the step that had me hung up for so long. Do I follow the original plan or get creative? I showed Haley her choices and now I can move forward. Thankfully, she's also at an age where she knows what she wants and can tell me. Here is a nice sketch of the house.

 I took over the dining table and started to assemble the foundation.

We're opting to take a wall from this years' RGT Build-along kit and swap it in for the front door. This will make the room wider than what the original wall allowed.  I still have to cut the door opening to fit the fancy door with sidelights. Then, I need to change the wall upstairs to match the new width. The porch on the side will be more narrow, but I'm also thinking about adding a fireplace. There won't be much porch left after that.

Upstairs, there will be a door from the hallway onto the upper porch. I'll have to chop up the original walls and remake them to fit the door and the double window. I'm planning on altering the trim and finishing for the gables. The original Victoria's Farmhouse trim is too plain. Fish scale shingles and gingerbread trim are coming to mind. I want it to be Victorian frilly and girly and Haley wants it pink pink pink. I already have colors picked out so it will be pink but not garish like a Painted Lady.

I'd like to stick to a color scheme for this house, so it's more uniform and easy to switch furniture from room to room. The main exterior walls are all painted, except for the bay window parts. Now, I must choose some wallpaper and flooring before I start putting any walls up. I sifted through my huge stash of wallpaper last night, but I need to go (online) shopping for some more.