This week and we focused on a project the girls have been begging for. For about a year, this poor broken dollhouse has been in the garage to keep the kids from destroying it even more than they had already. They'd even broken many of my beautiful (expensive) furniture I had growing up. They're older now, so we dragged it out and reattached several parts. I decided it was time for a real upgrade so we spent a few days fixing it up!
Surprisingly this all cost less than $20, using mostly things we already had. We had some small paint jars in the garage and painted all the rooms and windows.
I found a new store called "Scrap" which has endless tiny odds and ends for pennies. We bought several things for school and a few tiny things for the dollhouse like these little signs.
I used an old sweater for the carpet and the kids picked out decorative felt pieces from Hobby Lobby for carpets and rugs. I decided we weren't going to afford the fancy traditional decor you usually see, and it was more fun to put together whatever the kids truly picked out without my influence, so we ended up with pretty eclectic designs! Once painted, a few wallpaper sheets went up when Nana brought us some special glue. The pictures are cut out from a rose catalog and pasted onto metal can lids.
Also at "Scrap" I found 8 tiny white rods, perfect for holding curtains made out of old material we had. See the kitchen table- just made from some wood scraps and spools in a pile from the same store. For the floor and backsplash, I used sample laminate tile we had lying around. I love the star on the wall- a turned-around Sheriff's badge from a trip to Fort Worth. Big brother is cooking a breakfast of eggs and baked beans : )
Upstairs hallway- are you noticing all the tiny icons? My very favorite part!!! I cut them out from old church calendars and glued them to tiny squares of cork.
The wall art is from a postcard.
The master bedroom is certainly interesting, but I love it. Grandma's taking a nap. That chair in the corner is from the den furniture I remember picking out with my own grandmother and mom.
Attic room for the kids- some furniture is passed down from a wonderful lady a church who is a miniatures expert- the entire interior of her house is dollhouses and miniatures- it's a museum in there. The baby blanket is from material from Colin's baby quilt.
A little reading corner in the kids' bedroom complete with a wastebasket with tiny trash. That used to be the bottom of a toy cupcake. Hannah cut the artwork out of a magazine. And the table is another scrap we glued. Well, thanks for taking the tour! It's much easier and cheaper to clean and decorate a tiny home than our large so that was a fun project : ) Also, the kids have been playing with this for hours and hours, so that's awesome!
Our other project took place at Nana's house. This room was previously black and white and the lady living with Nana recently got married and moved out. Nana changed it into the kids' room and painted it ocean blue. They've had the idea for quite awhile to paint fish on the wall. We google- imaged tropical fish and they picked out their favorites. We printed them out and taped them to the wall. Over many days, we visited Nana's while she was at work and slowly did a few fish at a time. We got a routine going and each kid truly did a great job. I outlined their chosen fish, they painted in the color, and we all helped with the little details. I hope they enjoy this for years to come. They're now requesting a flower garden in their room at home- we'll see
Here are some of my favorites close- up. The looming shark and the turtle family.
Hannah's fish- can't remember the name! And Colin's orange school.
Chloe's beloved angler fish. She adores watching Blue Planet- especially the deep sea creatures. She gets excited every time this fish comes on screen.
Hannah worked on the sea horse, Colin the candy cane fish, and Chloe the starfish.
I've got big plans for our next 6 weeks of school. I hope it works as well as our first try!
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