Welcome to the Doll House!

I've been waylay-ed from dollmaking by doll house making. The past few days I've been painting! First, I picked colors for the rooms from a swatch book of paint colors I picked up at Colonial Williamsburg. Wythe House Blue for the Merriman's bedroom, Ben's room and the trim in the parlor; Palace Chamber Yellow for Elizabeth's room and Felicity's room; Williamsburg Whitewash for the parlor walls and kitchen. But, wouldn't you know it, when I got to Home Depot, their paint mixing computer couldn't read my swatches (too small, they said). So I had to reselect all the colors from swatches they had. Came pretty close, luckily. God Bless You, Ralph Lauren!

The past couple of days, I've been trying to paint fireplace inserts on foam core board. They look a little cartoonish to me, but Dan and Emma think they're sweet, so they'll have to do for now. I'm such a bloody perfectionist!

The Merriman's room is looking sweet. Dan is going to put wood floors in every room, along with crown molding (something simple), baseboards, and chair rails. The parlor is scheduled for paneled wainscotting. Saturday, Emma went to a birthday party all day, so I hunkered down and made ruffled seat covers for some little chairs that sit in front of the Merriman's bedroom fireplace and extra pillows for their bed in a matching fabric. Eventually, they're going to get a ceiling mounted canopy over the head of their bed.

Meanwhile, I continue looking at sweet little items on Ebay to embellish the house (and kitchen, mostly). I found a sweet little vintage coffee grinder, some cast-iron cauldrons, and some wonderful pewter pieces for displaying on the fireplace mantel. Have I mentioned that I made several bits of food for the dolls using paper clay and faux painting? They've got a turkey, a ham, apples, pears, butternut squash, carrots, potatoes, cheese and several loaves of bread.

I wish everyone could come over and play (or at least help with the painting!). I'd be happy to serve tea and cucumber sandwiches!

Nina