So I go from wondering about ordering a doll house for Christmas to actually making a new doll house today with my daughter. 

I’m crazy?

Actually, life has been so busy these days that I’ve been fretting about not spending enough time with my sweet daughter.  She’s not getting any younger, and I know these years of playing house and playing with dolls are going to end soon and suddenly.  I want to really, really enjoy it.  I don’t want to look back and say why didn’t I play??

The more I looked on line for doll houses last night, the more frustrated I became.  I know it was a combination of not finding what I wanted and feeling the desire to do more one-on-one things with my daughter.

We had so much fun making our first doll house together, why not keep making doll houses and accessories?  Why not go ahead and do one today — on my day off?  Why wait until Christmas?

We painted the new shelf together to make the doll house.  That was fun!  Then we played house with all the old and new accessories — all from thrift stores (except a few dolls) and all not costing that much!

Here’s everything all set up…

We need a few more pieces of furniture: a dresser, some chairs.  I have a great book that shows how to make doll furniture.  We’ll get that out soon.

I love the little den.  Can you see the fire place we made from a paper towel roll?  We gathered the wood for it while outside today.  ~:-D

Something that turned out to be darling was using a couple of soap dishes for bathtubs!  They are perfect.  They look so lavish for little Strawberry Shortcake.  The wooden partition separates the room.  A bathroom for two!  I want to find an old-fashioned wash stand.

The two new rooms look so clean and white, they look real!  Well, not as in my house real, but as in a real, new house.  The sled on the wall is really a Christmas tree ornament, but the dolls don’t know that!  They use it as their true sled.

Below is one of the old bedrooms.  It has wall paper and a fancy rug that we drew and attached to the floor with decopage.

And two of my favorite rooms!  The kitchen…

I mean, check it out!  The new shelves are awesome.  And everyone can just come in and eat and cook.  It’s cool, if I do say so myself. 

I know one thing, you have to like pet dogs to live in one of our doll houses.

I also really like the sitting room.  It’s old.  Looks like they are about to have tea…

So there you have it.  Not only the doll house, but how I think and how impulsive I can be.  Or perhaps this was thoughtful. 

It’s been a good day.  And I have a good idea for 2008.

Lynn

Probably because we have not been spending enough time playing lately, which has led to my idea for 2008.  (More about that later.)  Anyway, I set out to the thrift stores today to see if anything doll-housey jumped out at me.  Boy, did it!  I found these little shelves with home decor items glued in and they are the perfect size for a doll house.

I found a bunch of other little things, including items we can decorate our doll house for Christmas with!  I have paint brushes, and we are about to go out and paint the new addition.  We always have so much fun working on something like this together. 

Here’s all our stuff, including the old doll house rooms we made…

These houses we make will be so sturdy.  And we will have made them together.  They will be heirlooms.

Oh, and it’s lovely to buy a doll house.  If I had more money, I might buy a lot of stuff…  But I am very settled in what we have decided to do!  There are other things I’ll be looking into for her big gift.

Lynn