This all happened a few weeks back, so I will try and recapture how it all went down.
When I was gifted the Orchid, it had all been punched out already and sanded, so I was saved that bit of work. It was sometime around 10 or so at night when I decided to glue it together and finally see it standing! I had already spent a great deal of time debating as to how to do the outside of it. I had settled on going Tudor with it, and so I was most excited to get it together and see it that idea actually fit the personality of the house.
I had in previous times put together an Orchid. I didn't remember it as being very difficult and got it together myself with no problems and very little drama. This one? The opposite! I had to take an Xacto knife and whittle out the holes for the wall tabs. I don't think that that is abnormal for these kits, but I hadn't expected to have to carve out as many as I did. That part wasn't the problem. I could not get the house to actually stay together once I put the glue on the edges and taped it. And I really taped it! It was like something would reach out and knock a wall over. I had to have help and finally took the advice of putting a little dab of low temp hot glue underneath the house and over the outside of the secured tabs. It worked beautifully and in a flash, my stubborn little house was together.
Little did I know, but this was the first unveiling of my house's personality. It has some spunk, to say the least!
Once I had it together, even with the glue still drying, I was able to start to get the feel of what the house seemed to want with itself. I had forgotten just how spacious the inside of the Orchid is. While it technically a small house, to me, it's really an ideal size. I know some people prefer the bigger houses. I share my dollhouse space with a family member, and so therefore, I share my dollhouse space with the Realgood Toys Newport. It is a beautiful house, but honestly? I wouldn't want it. It's just too big for me. I prefer my little Greenleaf houses. :) Now, back to my Orchid.
After a huge amount of debating, going back and forth, see sawing like crazy, thinking about it while trying to go to sleep at night, I finally decided on what the Orchid wanted. I nixed the Tudor idea. I'll keep that thought for another house, but my Orchid definitely did not want that. It wanted to have wood siding, painted black. I adore that look! Think famous Salem Witch house. :D We had some bags of those little thin wooden sticks that you can get at Walmart which are perfect for this!
Even though I taped the sides "securely," both of the outside walls still managed to have a gap where they are supposed to butt up against the back. about 2 or so inches from the bottom. Annoying, but hideable. And if after what I think will hide it doesn't, I can come up with an amusing story to explain the flaws. To begin adding the siding, I started on the side that doesn't have the bay window. I carefully measured and marked the center, and drew a line in pencil all the way up. This way I have a guide line so that I can center the sticks and keep a neat pattern all the way up. My attempt to hide the gaps is to just cut the sticks along that edge longer as needed to cover it up. So far, so good, but we will see eventually the end result!
It's not a fast going process, but it is one of the most relaxing and soul soothing activities. 2 hours can pass and feel like 20 minutes! I'm just taking my time, gluing on one stick, fitting and marking the next piece and so forth. I'm not sure how long it will take to finish it - probably a couple more weeks depending on how much time I can give to the process.
I absolutely love how it is looking! It's so perfect, and even better than I expected it to look. I never thought I could love a dollhouse this much, nor did I ever think a house could have such a defined personality and presence. It's got as much of both as the characters I have created for the story! It's been a few days since I have been able to work on it, and I miss it!
