the dollhouse.

A month later....
I figured it was finally time to post about the dollhouse.

For Quinn's 2nd Birthday, her big present was a homemade dollhouse.
It was a month long project, and many many many hours of work.
Thankfully Quinn still takes long 4 hour naps most days. :)
And thankfully we love a project (even a challenging one).

Here is the short of how it was made:
After a lot of debate, we decided to purchase and build a kit dollhouse from Hobby Lobby.
40% off coupons are too good to pass up, and after much thought and mommy on a ladder checking out each of the houses that sit up on that pretty shelf in the store, one was finally chosen.

Then it was onto the prep and build.
It took about 4 hours to sort and label every single little piece.
Once that was all done, the painting began.
I chose a pretty yellow for the exterior of the home, leftover gray we already had for the shutters/door (Quinn's future big girl bedroom will be grey, pink and yellow), and everything else that was painted was in white.  Almost everything was painted.
Next up was the wallpaper.  I selected scrapbook sheets of paper and used modpodge to hang.
Then the construction of the house really started to come together.  We used Aileen's clear tacky glue for almost everything.
The process of the windows and the porch were probably the most tedious of steps.
Before I knew it (or a month later) the staircase was in, carpet was down, trim was up, and it was ready for a little decor and finally the shingles.
The shingles took about a week.  They soaked in grey dye for about 4 days, dried for 1-2 days and then took about 2 different sessions for Todd and I to hang them (individually).  We used Liquid Nails for this step.

Last but not least, I spruced up the window boxes with the tiniest flowers Quinn and I could find.

and Voila!
A beautiful dollhouse for Quinn to enjoy for many years to come.
(It has already been loved and played with and cherished for the first month already.)
Overall it came out fantastic, there are a few little imperfections, but I actually wanted a few of those.  I wanted it to say "my mom and dad" built this, not "a factory made this".

 

Also, I should have taken pictures immediately after the build.  Live and learn.  Don't mind the few shingles missing here and there that are the result of our fun.  Figured there will need to be shingle touch-ups now and then, thankfully we have a whole extra bag.