My First Doll House.....Honest!

It has been a while since my last posting but here’s one for the books. This story began at the Thanksgiving table 2011. My sister said she was hoping the dollhouse she wanted for her daughter would be back one sale before Christmas. Come to find out, it was wooden and Toys R Us wanted $300 for it. I told her that was too much to spend and would be happy to build her one. I ended up not having enough time before Christmas, so we decided to shoot for her birthday this July.
I had no clue how long it would take, so I didn’t start soon enough. We gave it to her today and I was up till 11 last night painting muntons on the windows. Last minute stuff is always fun. I have a total of 92 hours in this little weekend project.
The size is 50 1/2 inches side to side, 17 inches front to back and 56 inches tall. It’s three storys plus the attic. That is one lesson I learned. When building a dollhouse, or any other LARGE project, make sure it fits in the van first! I ended up having to take out a shelving/storage unit inside my van just to get this thing in on its side. Thank the Lord I didn’t have to go to the U-haul and rent a truck.
The material goes like this:
Main structure is 1/2 inch pine ply ac; The exterior ledger boards and casings are Spanish Cedar; The Board and Batton is Poplar; The floor on the sun deck is cypress; The handrails are Mahogany; The ballisters are sinker pine; The name plate/address is sinker cypress; The roof is western red cedar shakes which I hand split myself with an old steak knife and a hammer; The front door is Eastern Aromatic Cedar which my 80 year old father used to build a cedar chest in high school wood shop somewhere around 1950. It has a whittled maple knob; The three ladders, of which you can only see two, are Antique Heart Pine which was recycled from a one hundred year old barn. That’s eleven different species on this one. Almost as much as my table. I finished the exterior with only one good coat of teak oil. The interior was primed with Kilz interior oil base primer. I made the ladders removable so when she paints the inside, they won’t have to work around them.
This sweet little one just turned five and it was time to really bless her with something grand. I thank my Lord for the talents given me to use to bless someone so special. Of course mommy and grandma were quite blessed as well.
Thanks for looking and please feel free to pic my brain on this. It should be easy because I think this one turned it to mush.
Pickkpapa….... aka Chuck

-- Chuck.. aka Pickpapa`'`'`'`'`'` The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. Heb. 1:3