Well, this is the forth, and last, of the Real Good Toys, Children's Choice, open front, dollhouse kits that I undoubtedly, bashed. I must be on some sort of Art Deco craze as my last two blogged projects are Art Deco inspired as well!
To be fair, I actually started this build in February of 2017 and am still working on it. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer a few months before and the blog posting for this build just never seemed to ever get started.
I did decide to name the build after my daughter's middle name and my Grandma's maiden name, the Maryetta. To be honest, I'm hesitant to finish the Maryetta, like superstitious bad luck for my daughter or something! Maybe I'll just leave one thing unfinished!
Real Good Toys, Children's Choice, the
CC3, the 333 Franklin St!
The 333 Franklin Street (CC3) is also known as the Brownstone of the CC collection, and when built to its specs and with the pre papered front, looks like this:
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| Advertised outside. |
The CC3 measurements are 17 1/2"W x 12 1/2"D x 34"H, though it looks shallower than the others, due to its width. Its perfect for 3/4 (1:16) scale furniture, just like the other CCs, though all of these homes are listed as 1:12 scale in their plans and advertisements.
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| Advertised inside. ___________________________________ |
Sourcing and Plans
Of course, being a Strombecker kind of girl, I have to have a dollhouse to house some of my Strombecker furniture collection. Strombecker's stylized 3/4 (1:16) scale size lends perfectly to Art Deco, at least in my mind, and I fleshed that furniture out with handmade fireplaces and mini resin replicas of Vladimir Kagan's sectional furniture from the Wiman/Preview furniture company.
I worked on front wall ideas with my computer and
made a set of lights from vintage E-Z-Letric light fixtures, modern LED battery pucks and brass electrical fittings, all to get me inspired.
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| Bling! |
Wall and Floor Alterations
I decided to bash at least the inside, as I wanted a tall stairwell for the two sets of stairs and three floors. I designed a 3 story interior partition wall with two interior windows that my gracious husband cut out of masonite, and replaced the three small wall partitions included in the kit.
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| The three floor tall partition, to the right and on top of the some of the packed up parts, ready to go to my daughter's so I could work on it while she rested from her surgery. |
Floors 2 and 3 had to be altered too, then stained and polyied. And all that got finished and dried minutes before I left by car!
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| Left: Floors 2 and 3 ready for altering to accommodate the partition. Right: Floors and sample, stained and polyied. |
Of course I would like to say I got sooo much done the four weeks I was there at my daughter's, and really, after her dramatic surgery, she was strongly on the mend before the next block of chemo, so she wasn't the holdup. Its just I couldn't make up my mind on what the floors should look like. The kitchen floor, I had to do twice (turning it upside down for the second version) as the Sharpied black squares streaked when I tried to polyurethane the first version. Argh!!! That's the last time I'll use Martha Stewart craft colors!!!
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| Left: Testing flooring ideas. Right: The kitchen floor, a second time!!! |
It was way over two months before I settled on a look for the 2nd and 3rd floors. The stencils I had just weren't cutting the mustard, and once again, I was flummoxed! First the kitchen floor and now these (as it would turn out, one of many flummoxings I was to have with this build)!
Finally I had a tupperware lid inspiration, and finished the 2nd and 3rd floors in a matter of hours with a bronze Sharpie. Then a couple of days for polying and fine sanding in betwwen each coat.
I must say, I'm so glad I waited and did not force it!
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| 2nd and 3rd floors. Finally!!! The right sides lines are made more deep into the floors, to accommodate being inserted in the outside wall rabbets of the kit. The bits jetting out from the floors are the landings for the stairwell. |
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| The kitchen (outfitted with some Strombecker and a little sit down counter I bashed) and the stairwell floor, finally! |
