Suspension of Disbelief

I have always disliked fantasy books and movies. And even as a child, those movies and tv shows with talking animals! In the words of my teenage niece- that's just wrong! I also have a bias against broccoli or pineapple on pizza, but that is another story. 

My 28 year old son, who is a photographer, saw the Josiah Gammage house when he came home for the holiday. H e's generally hypercritical, but has  learned a bit of tact at William and Mary where he is studying to be a school psychologist. He first said, "I'm trying to decide if it should be another color", which got me thinking. and then, "How do they get to the basement from upstairs?" Well of course I had talked myself into jut having an outside entrance to the basement, but what was I thinking? I have the kitchen down there now! So now I have to cut a hole from upstairs in the hall to the kitchen. I tried with my Dremel Trio- which I have recently started liking better but can't control well, but it was too big . Back to the drawing board!

I forgot to ask my son how he feels about talking animal movies.

The Staircase

The other project of the day is the staircase wall. A bit more that just a staircase and I'm hoping to even things up with trim. I'm very proud though that I created the whole thing from scratch- my lines are getting straighter, but surely not there yet.

The addition is coming along- I hope to get a porch rail on and a door  on the end despite the virus that is plaguing my holiday . Five days off and two in bed is not good!

Meet Persis

The youngest of the three sisters ... so I might have changed this already, is Persis. She is a tiny stone bisque or parian doll , and was the beginning of the house makeover . Here she is undressed, and then with her new clothing . She's dressed in antique fabric scraps from an unfinished crazy quilt. I've quite lost the knack of miniature sewing!

She's surveying the addition construction in what will be her room.

The Addition

When I started running out of imaginary room. I built an addition to be the kitchen and bedroom. One is still a bedroom, but the lower room is to have a different purpose. It may end up being an office
depending on how the upstairs remoldeling goes.

The dormers bite the dust

I got brave, and the dormers are history. Then the rest of the shingles. I 'm still trying to decide if I want to replace the dormers or close up the front of the roof.

There's an app for that - Dollhouses?

There are three dollhouse apps in the app store- no advertisements here- but check them out! I'm not sure if I like the magazines on the Ipad or paper version best. I guess I like to read the paper version better, but hate storing them . I've also found that the Ipad will put a number of items into Ibooks now- for example, anything you download as a PDF I think, and I think I might have seen my download of the Artisan in Miniatures magazine in there. Better check!

An eventful evening here-my impulsiveness ?  First I pinched my finger in the jigsaw (handheld) while removing the dormers. YES! I removed the dormers. I kept looking at them and realized they were too big . I also couldn't stand looking at the messed up roof shingles- so off it all came. 


And then, I set off the fire alarms. It was much easier to get the shingles off with a little heat from the heat gun- but then some glue got on the heat gun. I guess we know they work now! 


Progress though I think. I worked on the door more , then changed the pitch of the roof in front . Which of course put the dormers at the wrong angle . But I'm pleased with the change , although as usual I gave myself work to do.  

The story beginning

I don't know how many people have a story that goes with their dollhouse- but I had a hard time even thinking about the house until I imagined the characters. I'm a dollmaker, and had originally planned to make dolls, but then found 3 wonderful little antique china and stone bisque dolls about the right size. I'll introduce them soon.

Right now their names are Althea, Aurelia and Augusta , but we'll see if I can even remember those names tomorrow! Althea however, will be first, because she has been named for some time.

I remember I said that the era of the dollhouse is 1885 - but that is for the story, not the house. The house is meant to be built much earlier, although I haven't completely thought that out.

The search for interior space and roughing out the story

My mom used to tell me about her "greatmares" , which were usually about finding more and more space in the house she was living in. Wonderful ballrooms, and multiple attics filled with wonderful treasures.

The original Houseworks shell had approximately 4 rooms. I've never figured out why the staircase hole was configured the way it is. When I started planning to redo the house, I realized that there was no way in the world that I could squeeze in the music room, map room, workshop, sewing room that I wanted in addition to the large kitchen  and three women's bedrooms. I was hoping to find a space for the Seamaster's bedroom, but he might need to sleep in the Map room. Here are the original spaces in the house (please forgive the renovation mess) .

On the right bottom is the parlor/music room. Up top is the prissy sister's room. One bedroom is in the attic, along with a small storage room and a nursery converted into a sewing room. 

On the left was originally the kitchen , but it just wasn't large enough when you put the staircase in the place designated (see to the left of the upstairs wall). So you'll see I added an addition onto the right side of the house . But it didn't stop there! 

The better to sand you dear.....

Trying a new color. So far , even though it has had multiple lives, this house has only been cream or white. I decided to experiment with some colors from the Providence Houses - this was a green color.

I'm pretty sure this color might not make the cut, but I like the green idea.

Feeling better

The porch went on well. I experimented with putting the doors on switched, but decided that didn't work. Looking at the doors- I realized that if I really have to , I can strip them down to wood and start the trim again.

Here's the porch - I've built the doors out because I love the look of a mini room on a door- so it looks like the house is set too back on the porch. I haven't decided if the added on kitchen at the bottom left will have stone or clapboard.

Door update And Minnie F. Flylady for Dollhouses

I don't know - I learned a rule from my mother when learning to sew. Make the 3rd mistake, then stop!

So the finishing the door idea to see if I can really successfully fix this house might have been too strenuous. 

I don't know how many people know Flylady? Flylady is a support website/youtube channel/webcast resource for those of us who need support getting through our lives with our shoes on . Her motto - "You don't have to catch up, just jump in where you are", gets me through some rough self deprecating sessions.
So I'm thinking we need a mini-Flylady for dollhouse construction.

Minnie F. Flylady is working on Mottos- See what you think

 Dollhouses are for fun. Don't make them work.Or torture yourself when your work really, really looks bad.

Every dollhouse doesn't have to live on past your lifetime. Some of them need to die to make room for new dollhouses.

Okay- too silly.

Demolish- or try to fix?

When you're working with a house this messed up (and yes I did it, and not even too long ago), it's hard to know how far back to take it. I'm working right now on the front door- I need to know that I actually can make it better!

But look at the dormers- AAHHHH. Although anything small enlarged that much would have to have incredible workmanship to look good at that magnification. And I keep reminding myself- this is for fun, this is for fun....

Let's just see how the door turns out.

I love old houses. I went to Providence to find some colors and doors I like. These are from Benefit Street. 

The way we were - Houseworks Colonial

When I first bought this house, it was with the thought of doing exactly what I have done- to let the kids use the basic shell, which was unbelievably strong for play until I was ready to finish it. The rationalization of spending money begins!The house has been a garage , a fort, a haunted house, a firestation and any other structure needed for imaginative play. This was of course before the first piece of clapboard or shingles had been placed on the house.

By the time my third, a girl , came along, the house wasn't big enough for Barbie, so went to live in my classroom for students with Autism. 

Fuzzy dollhouse math

I've thrust about trying to decide what era Gammage House is set in. Finally I have a year - 1885. I'm still not sure why, but it had to be a) significantly after the Civil War, b) early enough that decorative painting and other early 1800's details wouldn't have been replaced or painted over c) early enough that the Seamaster father could be remembered by his daughters, but that they might not have preserved his bedroom . There is just not enough space in this house for the father's bedroom!!! My story is that when he was alive, the girls shared a room.

The great thing about dollhouses which are clearly dollhouses (not models or miniatures of specific periods) is that a little fuzzy math doesn't hurt. Or a little fuzzy history as this seems to be.

My Dad's Vice

One of my memories of my dad - he worked in the garage set up as a workshop. Always in his leather jacket , spattered with paint, his hat, and always whistling. He was especially good at whistling- but it drove my mom crazy. He also sang in a rich voice- but always Army songs or German children's songs.

 About 6 years ago, my dad went into the hospital with pneumonia. My stepmother decided it was time to clean out his workshop because, "He would never use it again." She wanted the space for her sewing business I think.  I objected, but knew that if I didn't take what was important to me, it would go to Goodwill or to one of my stepbrothers, who I don't think would appreciate the sentiment.

One of the things in the workshop was a huge worktable, with an old vice . I wanted it, but it was too big for my space. With great effort, my brother Eric cut it out of the table for me. My dad  came out of the hospital and was furious that his workshop was gone.
The vice  sat for at least 5 years, but this year, a friend surprised me with a gift- dad's vice set into a brand new worktable. It is still usable but is also protected .

My saw

Random I know- but very appropriate since one of my goals for this house (I have a quarter scale, and a full scale dollhouse in my head) is to learn to cut a straight line. I got a new saw, which I love! The sound of an electric saw relaxes me- my mom and dad built an addition onto our house when I was a preteen, and my mom was always building one thing or another. A surround for the new double oven, a closet for the washer and dryer, a conversation pit with brown shag carpet . Anyone remember those?

Is there really a Gammage House?

I picked the name Gammage randomly out of other research I'm doing. But then this morning I decided to search to see if there really is a Gammage House.

The first one I found was a brick ranch built in 1947. On a historic property list. I'm thinking that if a brick rancher built in 1947 is on the historic property list, I have lost track of time.

The 2nd was the Pinson-Gammage house built in Sylvester Georgia in 1898. Interesting looking house. But no- I'm not going to model the house after it. The house seems to be modeling itself anyway.

And welcome to the way my brain works!

Here is the house, a half scale colonial. I bought it for my son , who is now 28, and he banged cars and trucks around inside for several years before I caught the bug and decided to actually turn it into a dollhouse.

As you can see, it's had a few changes. Probably 3 or 4 different wallpapers for each room-none of which made me happy.

This Poor House

I've enjoyed so much other people's dollhouse blogs, especially the ones with regular posts- so I'm adding to the mix. This poor house is half inch scale, and was purchased when my oldest, who is now 28, was about 2. At one point I gave up on it and let the kids at school glue the shingles on. At another time , I got creative and decided to paint it with oils. And lately I've just done whatever I felt like- and the house keeps getting taller and taller and bigger and bigger.

Maybe documenting progress will keep me honest.