Dolls House, Part 1

It started with a box....

or three boxes to be precise. For a long time I've wanted to build, decorate and furnish a dolls house. Not sure why. When I was little I had a big dolls house by my bed, made I think my someone my Dad knew. It had 4 big rooms, and a small box on the side with a huge battery which powered the lights. I thought of it as an orphanage, as I couldn't work out how such a big house had only 4 rooms. As I got older it got passed to other children - friends of my Mums. Then I lost touch with it.

For the past few years had nowhere to put one of my own. Now, as one of my sons has moved out, and a room has been freed up, I've at last got the opportunity. So, Project Dolls house has started! I've been looking at different houses on the internet for a while, and settled on the Mayfair plus basement. It arrived on Friday, and I was really keen to get started putting it together. I should point out that I'm hopeless at DIY, can't put IKEA furniture together, have no spatial awareness, and to make things worse, am a bit of a bodger. Can't be bothered with detail, and will happily slap things together and cover the resulting mess up with paint.

So, last night I started on the basement. Bit daunting, especially when I saw all the pieces.

but managed to get it all sorted until it came to the hinges. I could not figure out how they worked. Luckily, help (Stuart), was at hand, so I got there eventually. After a couple of hours it was complete:

Dead chuffed!!

Today it was time to attempt the house. Lots more pieces, and some complicated staircases to construct:

But, with Radio 4 and a new electric screwdriver, I did it!  Needed a little bit of help with the hinges again as more than two hands are needed, and the screws are very tiny, but got there in the end.

Not bad, considering the instructions are pictures, which often bear no relation to what actually needs to be done.

So, here I am with my new Dolls House. Now I've got to wire it up for lighting, paint it, decorate it, put floor coverings down, furnish it, and sort out a garden. More on that later!