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About Me
I enjoyed miniatures so much
that as the internet shopping craze began I decided to open an internet
site. I spent months researching and learning how to create a
website. I wanted a site that would be easy to use for everyone. At
the time I started, there were no shopping carts available.
Will I have a shopping cart in
the future? The cost of having one is certainly not a problem. The
time to add a shopping cart is. Also, I am actually semi-retired due to
several failed back surgeries resulting in chronic back pain. Two discs
were replaced with titanium and I also have a few bolts and screws holding the
back together.
Since hubby
retired he also has a new and
expensive hobby (why are hobbies so expensive?) He bought a "Classic Car"
a 1969 Cord Convertible and we keep busy attending car shows. I also have a 1966 Thunderbird Convertible.
And, he has finished restoring a 1935 Plymouth. My husband
re-built the engines in the Cord and T-Bird and added lots of power and chrome stuff.
So, here is my Bird and the Plymouth and the Cord below. We had three dogs: "Taz" a yorkie
who passed at 17yrs old, "Munchkin" a
border terrier who passed in 2018 at 15yrs old, and our yorkie 'KOKO'is
still with us. And, we adopted an adorable chiahuahua mix who is about 4 or 5
shortly after Munch passed. She is a character.
   
Click on pictures for a
larger view
As I remember (which was a long long time ago)
I seem to have had a natural artistic ability. I recall that it
started when I found out that my boyfriend had a class whose teacher would
let you out without a hall pass. This class was Art. So I signed up for the
class even though I had no artistic talent that I knew of. In my Senior
year I ended up with 5 out of 7 classes in Art and had an A average
even though I was doing quite poorly in English and American
History. (Thankfully, college later on in life improved those
abilities and I found out that if I studied long tedious hours and did my
homework I would get good grades too!).
Private oil painting lessons and commercial art
lessons followed High School, but it was not quite what I was looking for in the
way of a career (much to the annoyance of my instructor). So I
strayed in the world until some years later I decided I had better go back
to school if I wanted to survive and support myself and my daughter. I
began evening classes and graduated with a Bachelor's in Science in Business and
an Associates in Applied Science in Accounting plus a lot of credits I didn't
even need. Wow, around twelve years of night school while working and
raising a daughter alone was a real struggle! I did meet my husband during
this time and he was very supportive of anything I did. Well, that's all
the personal life I plan on revealing. So now for the rest of the story!
I built my first doll house
in 1995.
It was the Pierce by Greenleaf and had everything I would love to have had
in a real Victorian home. I purchased the kit for $150 and spent my
entire two week Christmas vacation constructing the exterior. More time
was spent later applying stucco, painting, and adding
shingles. These are the facts on building doll houses....everything you add costs extra.
The house needed lights so I hired a cheap electrician (hubby) to wire it for
me. I do that myself now.
I spent my hard earned money for the electrical
tape, transformer, wall paper and light fixtures. WOW! $35 for a mini
chandelier blew me away (and now I have some in my dollhouses for over $200)!
Then came the furnishings. Some we put together ourselves, and some we
bought. My hobby turned out to be quite expensive as without labor I have
probably spent in the range of $3,000 to $4,000 for a miniature
house. Of course now that I have a miniature store, it has turned
out to be a bigger investment than I would ever have thought. But, I enjoy my work
and I enjoy meeting and talking with new customers (some of which have turned
out to be great friends).
So.....how many hours did I put in on this
dollhouse? Hundreds! How much money did I spend on this
dollhouse? Lots! How much satisfaction and pleasure do we get (yes,
hubby loves it also) on this dollhouse? TONS!
The hours and money have been worth it!
I spend hours looking at my
magnificent Victorian Houses which not only delight me, but also my friends,
family and acquaintances. The houses I build go to adults, children
and grandchildren and will be enjoyed through many generations, as will yours.
YOU WILL GET THAT SAME DELIGHT!
Remember to be selective when buying!
You don't need to get everything at once, it took me some time before I had
everything I wanted. And, I am still looking! And ask plenty of
questions to save yourself from making mistakes!
Below
are a few pictures of my shop and work area. Of course there are many many
more things.
Click on the pictures to see
more detail.
Here are a couple
of houses I've donated. The funds raised were used to purchase bullet
proof vests for police dogs. I have donated about seven homes fully
furnished. Some were completely electrified and others were simple
cottages.
Click on the pictures to see
more detail.
I just remodeled an
old dollhouse that I've had for a number of years. I
will display this at an old Victorian house that is now a museum where I
live. I volunteer 1 or 2 afternoons a month at the Sorenson House which
was built in 1890 in Draper, Utah. I will put this Christmas dollhouse on
display during the Holiday Season. I hope the children and adults that
visit the house will enjoy it.
Click on the pictures to see
more detail.
Click on the pictures to see
more detail.
Below is my latest
restoration project
which is a Bed & Breakfast.
The outside of the house and
garden. the lobby, the library, the dining room and the kitchen.
CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW
The Main floor includes
the lobby, the library, the dining room and the kitchen.
CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW
The Second floor includes
the owners bedroom & TV/Office room, the main bathroom (my dream bathroom),
and a guest room.
CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW
The Third floor includes
another guest room with bath & a laundry room and an exercise room (exercise
equipment not shown yet).
Below are some pictures of rooms-in-progress
on another of the doll houses I am restoring.
The house was built in 1960 but not
completed on the outside or inside. I have sided the outside in a pale
shade of pink with highlights on the windows and verandas of lavender, mint
green and cream. The house has nine good size rooms on three
floors. I put things in my rooms even though I'm not finished as I
need to get a feel for how they are going to look (besides, I can't wait to get
furniture in them).
The bathroom has a pink marble tile floor
(inexpensive plastic from Miniature House) and I cut a piece of wood to make
a matching pedestal for the bathtub. The grand entrance is coming
along. I used green wallpaper on the ceiling with a Unique Miniatures
ceiling trim. Again, the floor is Miniature House plastic marble
flooring. I used a green sheet and white sheet and cut out the squares,
then placed the tiles on a piece of poster board the size of the floor and glued
each in place. This is an inexpensive way to get an unusual looking
floor. The lilac bedroom is nearly complete and again I used Unique
Miniatures trims for accents around the lilac walls. The carpet is two
pieces of Famous Floor carpet (a very inexpensive brand) glued on poster
board. I glue all my floors on poster board and then glue it to the actual
floor when I am complete. This way I get an exact fit and if I have a
wiring problem I can get to it easier. I love the wallpaper in the bedroom
and also in the living room. I used a combination of wallpapers by
MiniGraphics in the living room. The house is far from being completed as
you can see. But I'm having fun with this doll house as it is quite unique
and the style of the rooms very challenging.
CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A LARGER
VIEW
Below is a home that is not
complete. I built it for someone who later decided to sell all her
miniatures. She offered to sell the house to me and I bought it.
Unfortunately it would not go through the door into my workshop so it now sits
on a coffee table in the formal living room against the wall, and my antique
gramophone serves as a coffee table in front of the couch. The house
measures about 3 1/2' long, 2' tall, and 31" wide. I plan to change
the wallpaper as it is all done in a Christmas theme which is what the owner
wanted. This house is called the "Lace House" and is a replica
of a Gothic House located in Black Hawk, Colorado. The original house was
built in 1863 by Lucien K. Smith and is currently on the Historic
Register.
CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A LARGER
VIEW
Above is the
"Beacon Hill" which I built in 2006.
LAST
& MOST IMPORTANT, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK
IN YOUR DOLL HOUSE PROJECT!
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