Building the Beachside Bungalow part 03

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

This week we are continuing the work on the Beachside Bungalow, specifically the front porch. We start by priming the porch floor. I got to use my new mini paint roller and tray that I picked up at Walmart. I am really impressed with how well it works and we will be using it a lot next week. I also shared my favorite tip for paint rollers, that is to wrap and freeze them between uses. There is a lot of paint soaked into the roller cover and I had to wast it by washing the roller out each time. By freezing it I can wait until I am done to deal with it.

Then we glue the porch floor to the foundation that we put together in an earlier video. As per the instructions I temporarily taped the main floor to the foundation just to keep everything square.Be sure to add some weight to the porch floor to make sure everything stays in place while the glue dries. 

The last job this week was to cover the porch, foundation, and porch post bases all with a base coat that will match the finish coat I am going to use on them.

I did go back and give those all a second coat off camera. They are looking great. I did forget to do the front step, I will catch it up to the rest of the porch off camera.

Next week we will be moving to building the main body of the dollhouse. I am so excited to see this come together. It doesn't matter to me how many times I have built dollhouses I always get excited watching them come together.

Building the Beachside Bungalow part 02

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

This week we are starting to assemble some of the pieces that will make up front porch.

First we assembled the railings. There are 3 separate parts to the railings, one long section and 2 short ones. The gluing guide included in the kit made this part of the project really easy. In the past when I wanted to glue parts like this I first had to make myself a jig to help with the gluing. This was much easier and faster.

The next parts we worked on were the post bases. These are what support the porch posts and I am going to use the same fun finish on them that I will be using on the foundation. These were again really easy to put together. If you make this kit up be sure to watch that you are making mirror image post bases for the ends. Also take you time in lining up the pieces and check that the everything is nice and squared before the glue dries. 

And lastly we assembled the porch posts. When I started filming I had not intended to do these this week. I was going to do them next week. But as I sat down to edit the video I decided it just made more sense to work on them this week. They only took a short while to make and I am glad to have them ready to go. 

 

I hope you are enjoying the build so far, if you have questions be sure to ask.

See you next week.

Building the Beachside Bungalow part 01

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

I want to preface this project by saying that although I am reading the directions provided in the kit I am also using my own judgment based on experience building dollhouse kits for my plan of attack. That might mean that some of the things I choose to do might cause me problems later on. If they do I will show you how I fix those issues too. If I had never built a dollhouse before and was going this alone I would probably be following those directions step by step. Over the years I have learned some things that work better for me while building and I will be sharing my way of doing things.

This week we are doing the very beginning of the building of my new dollhouse kit. I start out by showing you how I marked each piece in the kit. I did this because before we can start building we need to make sure that all the parts that are supposed to be in the kit are actually there. I am happy to report that my kit does contain all the pieces that are supposed to be included.

I used a pencil to lightly write the name of each piece on the larger pieces. I was careful to do this on the back of the pieces and in a corner. I tried to stay consistent with the corner I marked also. I did this for a couple of reasons. I used the pencil because I know I can erase it in the future as I build and it won't leave any marks that I have to hid later. That is also why I am emphasizing that I wrote lightly, I was careful to not write hard enough to leave any dents in the wood. Also if I have used a pen it might have left marks that I would have trouble removing in the future. You don't want to have to worry about hiding those marks later so use a pencil and be careful to write lightly.

On the small parts that there were several of each I bagged them by type (1 type per bag) and marked the bags. That way I will know which bag has the parts I need each time I need to work with them.

When I build a dollhouse kit that is made of the thin plywood I always prime the pieces on both sides before I do anything else mainly to prevent warping. On this kit since the parts are made of MDF and are thicker I am not as worried about warping. For that reason I will prime some parts after doing small bits of construction, like with the foundation today. On other parts I will be priming both sides prior to construction It will depend on what steps I am doing and what seems logical to me at the time. I will try to remember to explain my “why” each time. This week it was simply because I felt it would be easier to prime the foundation after it was glued together rather than trying to prime both sides of the long skinny pieces.

Now on to why we prime. Primer is used to seal the wood. In this kit and with dollhouses that are made of ¼ “ plywood we are sealing to both help to save on the amount of paint we use to finish the dollhouse (primer is generally cheaper than paint, not always but generally) and to give our final coat of paint a surface to grip to. The primer also seals in any stains that might come out of the wood either from pitch or from the manufacturing process. In the case of the thin plywood that I have worked with in the past the primer also helps to prevent warping as I mentioned earlier.

I decided to use Gorilla brand wood glue on this project for most of my gluing. I had purchased it a while back and I am really liking this glue for wood to wood bonds. It works really well and cleans up nicely.

The wood floors are milled into the wood pieces in this kit. I am used to laying a wood floor from thin strips of wood so this will be a new way of getting a wood floor if I decide to go that route. Since I haven't decided on a color scheme/decorating scheme for the project yet I haven't decided what I am going to want for floors. For that reason I went ahead and added the protective coat of clear poly-urethane to the floor pieces like the directions said to do. That keeps my options open until I do decide.

New Series

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

I know I have been gone for a very long time. I did post a blog back on June 23, 2020 where I went over what had been happening in my life. I was blown away by all the kind messages and comments that were left on the post and sent to me directly. I do thank everyone for those. If you would like to go check out that post you will find it here.

I am happy to say that I am feeling better every day. So now it is time we get back to doing some videos! I have missed this so much. I will admit it has been a bit rocky getting started. I seem to have forgotten a lot of what I once was able to do automatically as far as making videos. I promise to get better at this.

So I decided to build a new dollhouse. I did leave pretty much all my minis back in Oregon. I just couldn't get much into that U-haul truck so in many ways I am starting over. I am going to take you along on the journey as we move from a box of pieces of wood to a completed dollhouse. I hope you all enjoy the process and that I can teach you a few things along the way.

Be sure to ask questions I will do my best to answer all of them.

So let's talk about why I chose the kit I did.

First I want to say I had ventured to the local Hobby Lobby just to look. I had planned to look and then go home and do some research and price checking online. However, when I got to the store they had marked down all the dollhouses that were in stock. I decided on the Beachside Bungalow from Real Good Toys because it had a small footprint. I am not sure yet where I am going to put the finished house and I felt the smaller size would be easier to work into my home. Also I love the craftsman inspired style of the house. The price of under $80 was really nice too. So into my cart the box went and I took it home with me.

I am very excited to begin working on this project but just like all of you I am a bit overwhelmed looking at all those pieces in the box. I have never completed a dollhouse make of mdf before so this is new territory for me. I also have never made a kit from this manufacturer before so the way they do things is new to me. I know I am up to the challenge though and I am excited to get started.

Way off topic

Let's talk about where I have been for the last couple of years and what that really means for videos and tutorials in the future. The topic I want to talk about today isn't really mini related and it isn't a topic people like to talk to about. A lot of people just brush it under the table and try to pretend it never happens. But we need to change that mindset and have a dialog.

I know from the messages I have gotten that many of you have been worried about me and so I am going to address this.

Honestly this is a hard post to write. I'm not sure how to proceed here. I have written so many drafts of this post and promptly deleted them all. I just can't find the words to say what I want to say. So be patient if this does ramble a bit.

So our topic of the day is depression. I have suffered with/lived with depression for many years. It first started at least 20 years ago maybe closer to 25 (or more) and it has always been the dark shadow in the corner of the room for me. From time to time I would contemplate suicide but it was something that was a fleeting thought.

For whatever reason my depression got much worse over the last couple of years. To the point that 6 months ago I was very close to killing myself. I didn't follow through but I wasn't getting any better either. Then in January of this year I actually acted on the thought. I did stop myself at the last minute but I do carry a scar from that day.

It was at that point I decided I needed to make some drastic changes in my life. I had sold my house back in November of last year and was planning to stay in the area. I had always lived within the same area all my life.

Then in March I got really sick and had a lot of time to really think about my life. I realized that the area I was living was packed with memories that were causing my depression to just get worse and worse. I was running into a lot of people that had done things that had caused me emotional harm over the years. I decided I needed to make a drastic change.

So when I got over being sick I packed everything I could take with me into a Uhaul truck and moved from Oregon to North Dakota. I said I needed to make some drastic changes in my life.

A few things that I have noticed since the move are that for the first time in decades I am actually happy! I hadn't realized how long it had been since I was happy until I was again. It was a shock at first.

I have been here for almost 2 months and I am settling into my new life. I also realized a few weeks ago that the nightmares that used to have on an almost nightly basis are gone. I haven't had one since I moved.

So what does all this mean for my videos/tutorials. I do plan to be back in time. I think it will be a long while before I am able to jump in with weekly videos but I do want to start doing at least some videos. The schedule I was keeping became way too stressful and right now I am trying to limit stress. Also while the majority of people that comment and contact me about the tutorials are wonderful there are those that seem to be on YouTube just to be nasty and mean. Those are also something I want to avoid for right now anyway.

On the other hand I didn't have room for any of my dollhouses in my moving truck so I really want to build a dollhouse soon. I do need to get the extra bedroom set up as a craft-room/filming room.  I will be back even if it is slowly.

I do apologize for basically ignoring all of you the last year or so. I just couldn't handle it for a while.

So you can expect to see very slowly coming back in the future.

Now for any of you that are also in the same head place I was, talk to someone you can trust. That is the first step to getting better but also the hardest step.

Stay safe and happy and I'll see in the next video (or blog post)

My Favorite Glues

Watch the video here.

First I want to apologize for my absence from here, YouTube and Facebook. To say 2019 was rough would be a complete understatement. I am ready to put it all behind me and look forward in the new year. Thank you to all that were concerned about me and a huge thanks to all who stuck around.

Now onto the subject for this week's video- my favorite glues.

I started off with the wallpaper paste because I do get asked a lot about this. I am very happy with the border paste I have been using. I have had no problems in any of the projects I have used it in so I can say with confidence it is a good product for putting the wallpaper in our dollhouses. This is one that brand shouldn't matter on, just purchase it from a good paint store.

The second glue today is just plain old Aleene's Tacky glue. I am a bit of a brand snob on glue and I have had the best luck with the name brand. I use tacky glue for just general crafting and gluing small things, especially paper projects.

Next up is super glue, while I really don't like any of the other Gorilla Glue products for making dollhouse miniatures their super glue is my favorite and I have used up several bottles at this point. I do prefer the gel version for most applications.

And finally my very favorite all around glue- Beacon's 3-in-1. I love this stuff for most of my projects and it is the one I run out of the most.

So will this list stay the same forever? Probably not, my tastes change as I find new products to try and also as things become harder to get or change their formulas. But for now these 4 are my favorites.

Dollhouse Miniature Dandelion

Watch the video here.

This blog post is going to be kind of short, I have a really bad cold and feel like crud. I did manage to get the video finished for you guys though. I know I went off screen more than a few times, I re-filmed some parts multiple times but still missed on a couple of hem. Sorry about that.

So this week I decided to add a dandelion to the landscaping. I love this project and made a bunch of them several years ago. I hope that I haven't already shared it on the channel, I don't think I have.

We start by painting out paper (2 pieces of plan printer paper and 1 of cardstock) with some acrylic paints so that they will hopefully stay more true to color. Then we create the leaf portion and the flowers and finally put everything together.

The leaf punch I used I have no idea where I got it from. I have had it for years. You can use any small leaf punch or cut the leaves with scissors. It really is a simple shape. The other punch is just a cheap hole punch, the standard on those seems to be around 1/4” . I think the one I used was from the dollar store.

I really hope you enjoy the project, I apologize for how bad my voice sounds at the end of the video. Like I said I am sick, so that was what it was today.

Be sure to let me know what you want to see on the channel.