Bits & Pieces

Which is what I feel like I'm made up of, and sometimes like I'm flying apart into.  Oh well, such is life.  Right?  Meh.

Anyway, work got hectic, life got insane, and as a result I pretty much did nothing but sit on my butt when I got home every night this week.  No writing, no dollhouse, no blogging... you name it, it was not done.

So today I am determined to accomplish something.  Anything. 

Nothing like aiming high.

But I did manage to get a few things done.  I found my little girl doll and put her in the house.  And of course took a few pictures of her in various poses.  She's just about to go into her new room, already took off her bonnet and everything.

Is it me or does she look like she has no chin? Maybe that was the fashion back then.

It seems like a dark hallway but that's mostly because I'm not very good at taking pictures.  Like at all.  Can you tell? 

New Room!  First look.  I hope she likes it.

So she must feel comfortable, the first thing she did was throw her bonnet on her cabinet.  She needs a hat stand or something.  Or maybe she should put it in her dresser?  Hmm...



She's actually standing up on her own.  I was impressed.  I think the stiff ruffles help with that.



And now she's just thrown her apron on the bed.  Young lady! That is not how we behave!  Children these days.

Her mother would not be pleased. At. All.

I've got to do something about the collar on her dress.  It simply won't lie flat.  Needs some stitching I think.  But she's obviously enjoying her room so far...  After all she got right into her rocking chair.

She seems to like her bear too. 

I think she's planning on reading him a story before bed.  Reading is a suitable before bedtime activity for a young lady.

I think we have a historical anomaly here.  Was that title written during Victorian times?  I know it was after the Civil War. 

I think someone is trying for a snack before bed.  Better remind her to brush her teeth if she eats that cake!

But it looks so good!  Uh oh, get the cat down here, there's a mouse under the table.

It's always good to be respectful of your elders. Say good night to your mother before you go up to bed.



She must look more like Mr. Doll than her mother. No blonde braids here. 

Good night!  It's been a long day.  And new houses are always unsettling!

Night night!

Last But Not Least... Well Not Technically Anyway!

Okay I was going to type and I had a witty remark to go with the title but then I got distracted by a commercial that had a scorpion putting its tail (and presumably venom) into some sort of alcohol.  And now Steve Cobert is talking about pistachios.  Seriously if I didn't know TV ads were stupid I'd think I was high.

I cleaned today too. In addition to writing all these posts to entertain you folks. And also so I don't feel guilty about ignoring everyone in favor of reading and screwing around on the computer.

But I cleaned off my desk.  You've never seen my desk or you'd understand exactly what a chore that was.  When I mentioned it to my husband he started laughing and didn't stop for five minutes. 

There's a reason for the cleaning though.  I'll tell you later. 

In the mean time...I think we left off in the third floor hall.  Right?

So here we are again...

Nice and safe right?

And now...we have... well.  We have a reason for Mrs. Doll to go upstairs.

She likes to sew.  I imagine she's pretty good at it.

After all, she has all the tools she needs right?



A sewing machine and a disturbingly large pair of shears.  Let's just hide those so Mr. Doll doesn't become alarmed.

She also has a table (thank you Denise) where she can keep her things and cut out the patterns.

More scissors, thread, a piece of embroidery and a sewing box.  The sewing box is really cool.  It moves.

See?  I love this thing. It's so neat looking.

See? The hinges move and the top goes back and forth as well as the lids lifting up.

I took the table out of the house so I could get some better pictures.

 

See how it opens?  I had one like this years ago.  So cool!

Another view.

 

So pretty.  Reminds me of sewing in my mom's rec room.  Thread everywhere.

One more,

 

I'll have to see about doing some little embroidery of my own for the girl's room. 

 

And there's a cabinet and hutch to keep more cloth and a place to hang a half finished dress.  Also thanks to Denise.

 

 

With a nice view of the rug I got for free when I ordered the others.  Pretty nice huh? Matches the wallpaper.

And now we have the servants quarters.  I've shown you the room before once it was finished.  But I changed the layout a bit since then.

 

It doesn't show everything from this angle and the maids still need bedding.  And clothes.

 Here's another angle.  They've got a stove and lamp now.

 

An old fashioned hurricane lamp.  Nothing spectacular for the servants. 

I think I like this layout better than the old one.

 

Even with the bottle trying to tilt over.

And then we have the girl's room across the hall.  I toyed with the idea of having a regular nursery, a boy and a girl, but the room didn't seem big enough and I didn't have a little boy doll.

 

I still like this layout the best.

Added a few touches as well.  A girl needs certain things after all.

 

Every girl should have something beautiful to look at, Monet seemed appropriate.

And of course she needs books right?

 

The books actually were more charms. I pulled the holder out of the spine and voila, books.  More colorful than what's in Mr. Doll's library.

The teddy bear is something I found this weekend.  His little arms and legs move and I thought a girl who's growing up would still want something from her childhood.  I've yet to make her a doll (still working on that one) but the bear seemed like it would be sweet.

 

Dolls were actually used as practice and models for dresses as girls learned to sew.  The theory being they could use scrap fabric to learn and nothing would be wasted. 

 

She's obviously been working on her embroidery too.

 

She's been practicing a long time. She even has a sampler.  See?

 

The idea was that the stitches got harder as you progressed making it more elaborate the more you worked on it.  I saw a real one at the Historical society in Lombard.  So pretty!

And of course she has a hope chest, along with a pretty stove.

 

I love that her stove has pink on it.  I'm going to redo her bedding so it has more green and pink rather than white.

 

 

Oh, and I forgot to show you this addition to the kitchen.  We all need some good copper pans right?  Okay. I do.  I don't have any but at least the dolls do right? 

Shiny! 

I'm debating if they make the kitchen look too busy.  Not sure. 

So remember that I cleaned off my desk?  There's a reason for that.

Dun dun dunnnnn...!

Yep.  I caved and I'm starting another one.

So if you want to see the inside of it you can find it here:

http://www.miniatures.com/Beachside-Bungalow-Kit-P22975.aspx

I got mine at Hobby Lobby though. It was only $99  and I got to use a forty percent off coupon.  So only $60.

Score!

And I got a chest to put all my tools in.  Much easier to find them now.

I'm planning on this dollhouse being much more modern.  As in computer using artistic doll could live there.

I'm very excited.  Hope you're excited for me. 

Anyway that's the big news!

 

 

So we have more of this to look forward to.

And... Yeah. I Got Nothin'

Well nothing particularly witty.  I could tell you how to say some more stuff in Mandarin.  Or in keeping with the time of year that gato is cat in Spanish.

But I'm still the sicky.  And I want to be lazy and watch The Princess Bride.  But that isn't happening yet.  Lots more to do.  So lets get on with it shall we?

We ended in the second floor hallway last time, and you could see the doors to the study/library and the bathroom. 

Let's appreciate the marvel that is Victorian plumbing shall we?  Hey did you know that they weren't normally on the second floor at all?  That's a modern thing.  In Victorian times the bathroom was generally off of the kitchen at the back of the house.  Sort of added on to the house as people got more money and more modern plumbing.  And when people began to build new they started to figure out how to put them upstairs.

See?  I warned you that I was a font of useless information yesterday.  Did you listen?  Apparently not because here you are.

So on to the dollhouse bathroom, however inaccurately located.

You can sort of see the tile design in this one.  It's a bit dim but the flash shine shows it off a bit.  Can you tell its octagon?

So the idea was I didn't want an all white room and I wanted it to be nice looking.  So I used scrap book paper in a smoke blue with a woven texture to it along with the tile for the floors and below the mahogany border.  Then I added the baseboards and the trim along the ceiling. 

It's funny, but its one of my favorite rooms in the house.  It just came out so nicely.  So here we are with furniture.

Plastic floors go on with hot glue and sometimes it gets a little wonky.  Burnt fingers anyone?  But the tub and toilet look good.  We've even got soap, a sponge and toilet paper

I got the towels on ebay and the accessories are all Reutter Porcelain again.  I love the little shelf with the bottles on it and the soap dish on the sink.

Of course the mirror has my thumbprints on it.  Mr. & Mrs. Doll won't be pleased. 

And as I put it all together I couldn't figure out why the room looked a little bare.  I really had to think and then I remembered.  Duh.

First I'd forgotten the stove.  It'd be very cold without it.  And second...the Siamese cat to roll around on the floor.  Mine does this.  A LOT!

All I need is a couple of little rugs and a few more touches and it'll be done.  So...a little more to do.  But not looking too bad.

And... you can't tell but there was about two hours between me writing the above and me continuing to write the post.  So I did a few more things and got some more pics.  I think the bathroom looks slightly more finished now.  Too cluttered? You tell me.

So some jars with bath salts that I made, a couple of little rugs... I think the cat looks happier don't you?

A couple more pictures with different angles.  So the dark blue jars were charms from the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby, just removed the little hooks.  And the bath salts are blue topaz and pink quartz shards from my jewelry making supplies.  I purchased the jars empty and filled them up.  The lids are glued down now.

Now Mrs. Doll can have a relaxing bath. Right? 

And a view of the sink and the rug.

I turned on the light. Can you tell?  I love how that wall sconce looks.  So Pretty!!!

So we go down the hall...Towards the library.  Or Study.  Man Cave?  Anyway.  Have to show you the railings...because the Husband was very impressed. 

It took a little time for me to figure out how to do this. But it doesn't look bad. 

 But, to the library we go.  Mr. Doll's last resort to get some time to himself. You know.  Have some cognac, smoke a cigar.  Read Edgar Allen Poe...

Pretend he's going to take a trip around the world by spinning the globe.

The above was one of my in progress pics.  But it shows the globe and his big chair very nicely.  Here's a slightly different perspective.  I had fun filling up the bookshelves.

The shelf under the Malachite rock is Edgar Allen Poe.

I thought it would be cool to have shells and exotic geological specimens on the shelves.  And some of the little shells I've had since I was a kid suited the library just fine. 

By the way, to make all these stick and not fall I used zots, like for scrapbooking?  They worked great.

Here's a shot of three shelves across.  It took a while to get all the books arranged so they looked nice.  I'm sure Mr. Doll will want to reorganize though.  Men.

And here's the man himself.  At his desk.  Working.  At least that's what he tells the Missus. 

He's working very hard with his cigar and cognac.

His desk is actually pretty cool.  The rolltop works and everything.  You don't get a good view of the book case behind him in the above picture so here's a slightly different angle.

With the stove and a huge chunk of Tigers Eye behind him.  Would you believe the shells are an inch long at the most?

So the last room on the second floor is the master bedroom.  And we all know who's run amuck with ruffles and lace in there.  Mrs. Doll.  No wonder Mr. Doll is hiding out in the library.



Mrs. Doll is very...pink.  I really need to do something about that.

But she's pleased with her bed, and its frilly covers and pillows.  At least I hope she is. I imagine she talks Mr. Doll's ear off but she's very reticent with me.

I think the rug complements the pale blue nicely.  And the end tables with their lamps are some of my favorites.  The bedspread and pillows turned out pretty well too.

And Mrs. Doll wouldn't be a proper lady without a dresser full of toiletries and perfumes. 

The glass bottles have removable stoppers.  So I'm glad they're zotted down.  Same with the tray with the brushes and combs.  But I love the filigree work around the mirror.  Just the right touch of ornate.

Here's a slightly different view so you can see all of the mirror.  Told you it was gorgeous.

Pretty dresser is pretty.

Here's a quick pic of the stove. I was so tickled to find one that had blue on it to match.



I love how the little gold door matches the base of the lamps.  I'm weird like that.

And of course Mr. Doll has to have a place to keep his things.  We don't run to his and hers dressing rooms around here.  But he does get an armoire.

Oh...I just noticed how nicely this shows off the rug.  But you can also see Mr. Doll's shoes and holders along with his bowler and watch.

Here's a slightly better view.  I think.  Yes? No?

Yes. You can just make out the face of his watch.  Of course his gloves are in their box and he has a little set of tools for his nails and mustache.  Must keep well groomed you know.

The chair you can see next to his armoire matches the ivory of the bed canopy perfectly but I didn't buy them together.  Just a happy coincidence. 

But that's it for the second floor.  Let's mount the stairs and head to the third floor shall we?

An older pic but no one is going to fall down these stairs if I can help it.  Not tired maids or rushing children.

And on that cheerful note I'm going to leave you folks. 

Look for another post in a day or so.  I'm going to go and write it right now.  Then I'll just need to edit it and post.  So no long wait. Right?

Well that's the hope anyway.

Just in case you were worried that the dolls missed Halloween.  Nope!