The Dollhouse Kit

Harry bought a dollhouse kit on line many months ago to build for Eva, our granddaughter, who lives in St. Louis.  We were excited to make the dollhouse, but afraid to start because the plans looked so complicated.  Worse yet, we would need to use a hot glue gun according to the kit instructions.  Martha Stewart may have championed the glue gun but learning to use one is not as easy as Martha would have you believe.  



As construction began I decided to use flattery on Harry telling him one obviously needed a PHD to follow the intricate and complicated dollhouse construction plan.  Truth be known, I was terrified not only of the plans but of being burned by hot glue.  I told him my two masters degrees in education made me the better choice for choosing compatible paint colors and decorative rugs, not the person wielding the gun oozing hot glue.  I insisted my talent was constructing and painting the dollhouse furniture and the super glue used for this process was easily removed from my fingers with nail polish remover.  No burns involved!    

The house is what is called a "half size" and though we bought furniture kits to scale it was difficult to find a family small enough to fit inside the house.  After much searching I found the perfect little family on line from a shop in Vermont.  A dollhouse shop in our neighborhood deals in full size doll houses and they were able to provide rugs, bedding and flower pots that fit into a half size house.  I chatted with the shop owner upon purchasing these items and she told me she never advises using a hot glue gun to construct a dollhouse.  I thanked her for her advice, late though it was since the house was finished.  On my way home I thought how best to punish Martha and the kit maker for grandpa's blisters?  Perhaps a little jail time together for the two of them? 



The dollhouse family arrived just before we left for St. Louis and the mother came dressed in a cute burgundy winter coat.  Problem is her stylish coat does not come off so she will find it tough during the summer months in St. Louis.

We had so much fun making this house together that we plan on making another one for little sister Catie in a year or two.  I will however be consulting the doll house shop lady on glue techniques before we begin the new house.  Sorry Martha!  

Our trip to St. Louis was wonderful, but it made us realize again how fun it would be if our grandgirls lived closer to us, like in Minneapolis...perhaps just down the street so we could see them all the time.  Missing you girls already and so grateful for you both!