New Accessory for Dollhouse- China Dogs

 I'm kind of excited for this one!

I have loved Anne of Green Gables for a long time. This is thanks to my mom, who fell in love with the series around 1994 and got us all the books for Easter.

The first book started a little slowly for 1994-me, and Anne was a little too mischievous, but I did learn to lover her. 

In Anne of the Island, when Anne is in college, Anne and her friends rent a house. Anne loves the antique china dogs that sit in front of the mantelpiece. The dogs are named Gog and Magog and are green and white.

The dogs are later gifted to her as a wedding gift.

I just realized that Anne's dogs were probably Staffordshire china dogs. I started digging around to see if I could find a mini version, and I found blue and white Staffordshire dog salt and pepper shakers.

Link to purchase

I am glad that I spent all that time customizing the fireplace. It will be worthy of Gog and Magog!

Painting the Dollhouse Entrance

 The front door of the dollhouse is set in a wall that is plain grey plastic.

I guess it has modern vibes, but I thought it was ugly.

It has a lot of gadgets, including the door, a working light, a doorbell, an alarm, a doggy door, etc.

All of this would make it really hard to wallpaper over.

So I decided to paint it instead.

On the inside, I painted the grout and the doorway antique white.

I was so worried that I was going to ruin the whole thing!

Then I painted the bricks a brick red, and the doggy door brown.

In some cases, several layers of paint were needed.

I didn't mind if a little grey showed through on the bricks, though. I felt that it added realism.

On the other side of the door, I painted the doorway and the house number black. I painted the doggy doorway and the box for the doorbell brown.

I left some of the grey on this side of the house. I felt that it was okay for a house exterior.

I also added varnish on top of the paint. The paint I used was acrylic and chipped very easily.

I am not going to lie, I am very proud of this. 

It's not perfect, but it's a huge improvement over a dull grey hunk of plastic.

The other thing is, the paints that I used were paints from my grandfather. 

He used them to make toys for his grandkids in the 90s. It made me feel close to him, and it helped me to remember him as a warm, doting grandfather.

Dollhouse Curtain Rods

 Even the curtain rods were a project in this dollhouse.

All the reviews of this dollhouse complained about the curtain rods, and how the curtains wouldn't move smoothly.

They're basically unpainted blocks of wood.

So instead of complaining about them, I decided to work on them.

I have to overcomplicate everything for this project!

I sanded them down first.

Then I painted them brown.

I covered the brown paint with a very subtle gold sparkle paint. I only like it because it's subtle, haha.

Last, I varnished the curtain rods.

I need to attach them to the dollhouse walls, once I made the curtains.

I can either screw them into the wall, as the manufacturer intended, which would make them permanent.

OR I could mount them on velcro so that the curtains can be swapped out.

I don't really have any plans to swap the curtains in the future, but I might try the velcro anyway, just in case.

Anyway, the main idea is to have functional curtain rods that don't take attention away from other parts of the dollhouse.

Making Mini Books!

 I have been making more mini books for the dolls lately!

You can see that I am a big Agatha Christie fan. And she was so popular. Kit, Addy, Nanea, Maryellen... they could all read her books.

I am also a huge fan of Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor series. I can't say enough good things about it.

The Paddington book was inspired by a friend, and I have a mini to plush to go with it!

Tiny Bottles Thrift Store Find

 These beautiful tiny old bottles are vintage cologne bottles.

They're so pretty!

I got them from the thrift store.

I plan to use them for vases or receptacles or something for the dollhouse.

The one on the far right is vaguely heart-shaped. I thought I could fill it with red or pink water and use it as a Valentine's decoration.

The one on the left is a perfect vase.

The center one is perfect for a candy jar or something.

Dollhouse Fireplace Customization

 I SAID that I was going to work on curtains or windows in the dollhouse next.

Turned out that I was lying to myself.

I kept saying to myself that I could do the fireplace after the dollhouse was finished. But I couldn't resist.

I liked that the dollhouse came with a fireplace. It has a lovely fake fire effect. 

However, it looked super plastic. I knew that I could improve it.

I started by painting the bricks antique white.

The brick pattern was embossed on the existing plastic. However, since everything was white, it wasn't very visible. The paint made it stand out and look more realistic.

Just that on its own was a huge improvement.

Then I painted the bricks a brick color. They were so small that some of them are a little uneven, but I am telling myself that this adds to the antique effect.

I painted the logs several layers of brown and green.

I painted the back wall behind the logs black and the box under the logs black.

Then I started adding marble contact paper.

I liked the idea of the storage spaces in the fireplace, but it just looked too modern. So I closed over the front with a sheet of plastic and marble contact paper.

We all need whimsy in our lives, however. Before I closed off the storage spaces for good, I added a scroll with my name and the date, a treasure map, and a rubber duck inside. It makes me happy.

Here is the fireplace for now. I would like to add marble columns to the front someday maybe. 

I may also add some grey chalk behind the logs to look like ash on the back wall.

But for now, it looks great, and perfectly fitted for a Victorian dollhouse.

Bitty Baby Thrift Store Find!

 I found this Bitty Baby at the thrift store yesterday for $4!

She needs some cleaning up, but she is is pretty good shape.

She is the first of the "newer style" Bitty Babies that I have with eyebrows. I like the eyebrows.

I haven't given her a name yet.

She's my fourth Bitty Baby. I should get them out and take a group photo.