Handgemalt Cottage: Part 5, Finished and Very Happy, Mr. Groundhog - Real Good Toys, Children's Choice, 1 Country Lane CC1 Front Opening Kit

 

Finished!!!

 

Oh my!

I've finished my third of four dollhouses from the RGT Children's Choice collection, the 1 Country Lane. Take a look, its definitely the "sister" of the RGT CC Tudor, just a change of the exterior trim package and the "bash" I did on it... https://happylittleworlds.blogspot.com/2014/02/retrofit-kit-tudor-dollhouse-part-12.html.

In any case, I'm very pleased with Handgemalt Cottage's results as I kept within a very sparse budget and only bought special "beams" from my favorite miniature trim provider, www.manchesterwoodworks.com.

Yes, fabric sides. I can't help myself!

The back, of course!

The stairs and the banister are removable.

 First floor. If you look very close you can see the wee nails for pictures and such.

Second floor. 

All the "wallpaper" throughout the home is fabric.

 Attic

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So the whole thing was designed for the vintage, German, Handgemalt furniture....

Well, before I can begin the fourth and last of the RGT, CC dollhouses, 333 Franklin St. dollhouse, the last of the four, I must do my taxes.

Boo hoo!

 

 

The Carl Larsson Experiment: Part 9, Finally! Voila! - Real Good Toys 22 Town Hill Road CC2 Front Opening Kit

Voila!!!

 Well, after a few family challenges and a week in Denver, I finally finished. How happy am I! This little place will house some of my porcelain collection, as you will see.

6 months to complete after a 6 months in storage! A lot of interruptions but we just persevered!

Open open open...

...open open open

Love that hinged roof. Glad I decided to do it!

Doorwall detail

The Parlor....

The Kitchen...

The Bedrooom...

Bedroom stair railing detail.

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Now the best part, and always sooo longgg in coming! Furnishings!

It was difficult finding all the porcelain in the same 3/4 scale, or at least close to it. And of course I used brass colored pieces to round it out a bit.

Furnished Parlor...

I hope to get some more artwork for the sides of the ceramic stove but some things just take patience (and money!). I think my kakelugn came out pretty well!

The porcelain sofa and chairs look so comfy. Woulda thought??

I love the round picture, so you get a better view of it.

Yes, the side table is a door knob. Pretty clever huh? I didn't do it but I'm glad I bought it!

Furnished Kitchen...

 Must have a place to relax and have a good read while tending to dinner!

Remember, the staircase does come out for easy play!

Furnished Bedroom...

I was so lucky to find the little porcelain sleigh bed and wash stand.

The little wood stove is a salt shaker. I think the salt is still in it!

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Well, I hope you enjoyed my tour of the little Larrson experiment! I know it doesn't exactly copy the Larssons' house in any way, but I think it has a bit of that character. And now it gets to sit next to it's sister, my Barton Tudor!

BTW, I purchased the next in the RGT Children's Choice opening front dollhouse kit collection, the 333 Franklin Street brownstone. Let's see, I have to paint my front room, that'll be three months, have to go to Denver again, another month, and... Geez! I should be done with that one too in another year!!

Cheers Everyone!

The Carl Larsson Experiment: Part 6 Windows, Tricky Tricky - Real Good Toys 22 Town Hill Road CC2 Front Opening Kit

Sorry for the long silence. The Holiday Season took a chunk of time and I've been dreading the assembly of the RGT Town Hill Road windows. But I have to see how the windows fit and work before I can start the interior decoration of the door wall. The instructions are a lot to be desired at this point.

Beveled Windows

These little windows are one of the nice architectural features of this dollhouse. Little beveled jewels, if I can pull them off.

Geez! How many times have I read through these instructions???

The instructions make for a tricky process, and after thinking about it, I've decided to modify their assembly by installing the frames directly onto the the outside wall itself, then the jambs and sills to them, to get the correct bevel and have that bevel supported as the glue dries. The instructions have you assemble the windows frames on the table, and then mount them to the wall. Seemed flimsy at best and might make for questionable fitting when installing on the doorwall window openings.

Painted frames, pre-glued to door wall. Side bevel jambs ready to be fitted and glued.

The larger second story window was another bit of thought. There are two jambs that bevel together to make the center jamb, and the instructions didn't give any guidance for that. I used a thin dowel and centrally glued it to give the center jambs something to glue to.

Dowel glued for support of central jambs. Stiles to be fitted in at tops and bottoms.

Windows glued up front and inside. Time for filling and sanding and more painting!

At least I know now I can trim out the inside windows any way I want!

Gosh! When will these windows be done already!!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 12 FINISHED! My Barton Tudor Dollhouse - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Ta Da!!! My kit bash is done!

Yes, finally, after four months of many and mostly "a first time for everything"s, I'm finished! The last day was somewhat bittersweet; that high that you get when you're done with a long and arduous project and that sad funk that you get when you're done with a long and arduous project! My little Tudor dollhouse...

 

What my goals were:

• To protect and display my vintage 3/4 scale English Barton Tudor dollhouse furniture that I was so fortunate and privileged to get.
• To create a sturdy, small profile, front opening dollhouse, that can be on the floor.
• To keep the display/dollhouse within the 1:15 and 1:12 scales, for possible resale value.
• To explore the “Tudor” style.
• To incorporate two Concord wall dividers in creating a bay window effect.
• To incorporate the cute medieval fabric scrap I purchased many months ago.
• To have fun, practice patience and learn!!

I think I was relatively successful!

The Outside...

  Not much trimming on the sides, but I didn't want to go overboard. 

The outside detail of the bay that was so time and mentally consuming.

The Door Wall...

Open sesame! Gee, wouldn't it be convenient if my own house could open this way!

The Living Room...

Had to have one of those cool, battery powered chandeliers!

The Bedroom...

 I think the landing and stairs came out well!

The Attic...

 

A peak through the skylight.

What I would have done different:

• I would have found a different method of insuring the chimneys evenly lined up when installing them. I’m about an 1/8 inch off, horizontally. That’s a lot in dollhouse land!
• I would have figured out how many shingles I needed, BEFORE I stained them, especially since I made deviations to the kit’s instructions (luckily, I did have enough, once I counted after dying). You want to insure the same dye lot when dying shingles, so make sure you have enough, FIRST!

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And now to furnish it...

Here's all the furniture and such, waiting to go in.

The Living Room...

 

English Tudor Barton trestle table, bench and chairs, the hutch and the corner cabinet. Boy! Am I lucky to have all these fabulous 3/4 scale pieces! Have a seat on the Petite Princess fireside chairs.

The Bedroom...

 

 

A Barton Tudor bed, trunk, and highboy. And by the fire, a Napoleon and Josephine Limoges table set for tea drinking.

The Attic...

 

 I always wanted an art studio like this!!  Barton sideboard, trestle table and chairs (yes, I have two sets!). The lovely easel was made by an artist in England. How fitting!

 

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The Whole Kitten Kaboodle...

 

Well, there you have it. All that time and energy and it's just a wee, three story dolls house! Why did it seem bigger all the time I was making it???? My Barton Tudor furniture display is done. Maybe I went a little overboard?!

 

Thanks for the "bones" Real Good Toys!