It All Starts Here

Sometimes our ideas flow from an existing kit to bash, a house style to scratch (aka custom) build, or from an interesting doll who needs a place to live. Our settings are always modern-day (ca. 2001 when we started this hobby). We try to create things that will make people smile and feel good.

We think that if we had to build the same house twice, we literally could not do it! Fortunately, we have very unique little people who have definite opinions and so far, no one has wanted a house “like so-and-so” has.

We work as a family unit: my wonderful husband, my beautiful sister, and I. We don't always agree as to the direction of the build, but I think that we end up with a better dollhouse because of all our grumblings -- and we do have a lot of fun!

The Purpose of this Blog

We needed a place for all we wanted to say about the background of the build and the nuts and bolts of the design and build process. Thus this blog.

All our dolls' homes have families living in them and a story is built around their personalities and lifestyles. This story is an integral part of our building process. We would like to share these stories -- actually, the little people insist upon it!

Many of our houses are located in Fredericksburg, Virginia because that is my sister's favorite place.

Also, we have started a Rouges' Gallery with photos of our little people and information about the dolls.

If you would like to start with the dollhouse that "started it all", it is the Original Rowbottom Manse; if you would like to see the scratch-built Georgian that our first build gave us the confidence (or fool-hardiness) to do, it is Sunnybrook Farm.

Let the stories begin!

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

A little chit-chat

I know I was going to have new pictures of La Malcontenta in my blog by now -- let's see, what excuses should offer?

In the meantime, I distracted myself with choosing artwork for SunnyBrook Farm's dining room, living room, and music room. I did find many wonderful Chinese paintings--too many, in fact! My husband and I spent many hours first printing them for review and mix and match. Then we narrowed down the selection and then had to decided on the appropriate size of each picture and its placement in the room. Then we printed them out again, this time on good paper (premium presentation matte by Kodak) and with the right amount of "ink" as in "Best Photo" on my Epson. This whole process used a lot of ink as well as time!

Now I have to make 15 frames! I am planning to do them all:
HBS chair rail #81424 for simple frames for my Chinese paintings.
Frame for Chinese paintings, painted Delta Creamcoat "Metallic Gold"
A note on printing pictures for the little people:
Possibly because the pictures are small and their resolution is good, I didn't see much, if any, difference printing on Michael's 65 lb. cardstock, Epson basic presentation matte paper, and Kodak premium presentation matte, and using "text", "text and photo", or "best photo" printing options for my Epson Stylus NX625 printer.

As I mentioned, using all the high end printing options uses a LOT of ink. I think it is worth a little time and effort to make  some test cases before printing the final versions. No sense using ink that won't affect the quality. There is a difference in the paper weight that I used. The Epson basic presentation paper is the lightest. It is a good paper and makes a nice print but the print should be glued to card for support. I liked the Kodac paper the best. It has a nice surface and is sturdy. I still may glue it to card.

Some of the paintings we have chosen:

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