I always thought I'd be a one dollhouse person. But the summer before last, I found the Greenleaf WillowCrest and fell in love. The house wa...
I found this Willowcrest dollhouse yesterday for $7. This is before I cleaned the exterior. This is the interior as it was when I bought it....
Greenleaf Willowcrest renovation house before and after
Dollhouse miniature blog, 1:12th scale, miniature kits, miniature project sharing, dollhouse kit building, kit bashing, dollhouse tutorial
Seeing how much I loved the stonework on her previous houses, Robin sent me photos of the Willowcrest she had made for Dean Roberts from Gre...
Hello friends! Guess what? I finally finished the Willowcrest dollhouse I have been building. I have been doing a happy dance for a couple of days now. The last time I posted I promised to share the inside of the dollhouse. I am doing that today as well as sharing the newly completed landscaping. Below is a photo of the entire house interior. There are six rooms, an entryway, and a second floor landing. Unlike my last dollhouse, this one actually has stairs! I did not leave them out. Ha. I did, however, rearrange the floor plan. As I said, above is my version of the dollhouse interior. Below is a Pinterest photo of how the dollhouse was designed to look. (Note: Not my photograph) As you can see, I took several redesign liberties with the interior. Beginning with the first floor, I removed the wall dividing the original kitchen from the entryway. My thoughts were WHY put so much effort into the winding stairway and entry if it cannot be seen. I also removed the door between the kitchen and living room. The middle wall on the bottom is designed to have an angled wall beyond the door. I hated that angled wall. Not only did it make no sense, it was designed to have a fireplace on the backside, which really is not visible. So I not only removed the door, I built a completely new STRAIGHT-ish wall to divide the kitchen and living room. In my new design it made no sense to have the entryway lead into the kitchen so I switched the living and kitchen areas, and built a partial wall to add a dining room behind the kitchen. Come in and check it out. More of my living room and entryway. The open stairway. My blue and yellow kitchen and the pink dining room beyond. In the photo below the stove, oven hood, and shelf are on the newly built almost straight wall. You can also see the divider wall I added to create the dining room. The photograph below was taken from outside looking through the kitchen bay window. The dining room. All of the first floor windows feature decorative toppers on the molding. I made the decorative elements myself using clay and molds. A view of the dining room arched opening leading to the entryway. I made structural changes on the second floor as well. If you look at the photo of the house as designed (second floor image below) you will see a large visual impairment near the middle-left side of the second floor. I did not like that little wall at all. I felt like it closed the view of the house. By removing the little wall I took out the linen closet and the stairs to the third floor. I almost rebuilt the stairs, using a square design similar to the first floor, limiting them to the left front corner. Instead, I omitted the stairs. Above is my version of the master bedroom. The cranberry micro print wallpaper coordinates with the cherub mural on the ceiling. By deleting the stairs and the linen closet, my bathroom is larger than originally designed. I like it much better. I had to build a new wall to divide the bathroom from the landing. I moved the bathroom door further to the right to create more usable space on the bathroom wall. Above - a view though the bedroom window to the second floor landing. Below is the third floor of the house as originally designed. Again, I did not like it. I hated the chimney running up the middle of the room, eating up floor space, as well as the stairs opening and railings being in a awkward place. It left very little usable space in that large area. Not only did I ditch the chimney and stairs, I made three additions. I added three window seats. The third floor windows each had a small alcove, again that I thought of as wasted space. By building window seats the areas became more useful. My version of the third floor. At first I visualized this as the billiards room. And while that is still possible, it will be a decision made by the eventual owner. I did, after all, build this house to sell. My version of the room leaves a large open space that can have many uses. I am sure that as you looked at the rooms you noticed the ceilings. Each of the ceilings in the house is embellished on some way. I like the interest this adds to the interiors. I hope you liked the interior tour, including the descriptions of the changes I made to the house. Now let's move on to the landscaping. I mounted the house on a 19" x 23.5" board. I painted the board gray to match the house trim. Once the house was positioned, I added grass around the front foundation to create a small lawn. I also added a flowerbed to the front foundation. The right side of the house has ivy growing up the bay area. Each front windows has flowers, as does the balcony. I added two planters to the front porch and affixed flower arrangements in them. A small cart rests at the end of the porch. I added a few battery operated light fixtures to the house. The carriage lanterns flanking the front doors match the style of the house. The lights, like all but one on the inside, attach to the house via magnets. In the living room the sconces attach to magnets behind the wallpaper. The magnets were affixed to the walls and ceilings, making the lights removable for moving the house. Thanks for checking out my Willowcrest Estate dollhouse. If it does not sell before, I will be offering it for sale the first week of December at a Christmas craft show. I hope to have four houses and many Christmas miniatures to offer. Before you ask, yes, I do already have my next house planned. It will have a completely different look than anything I have done before. More on this later...
M.I.A. = Missing In Action VILLA LEONE YES! It has been a VERY LONG time since my last entry- would you believe 7 months!? (how'd that happen?) To be frank; back in February/March, I was still thinking that I had plenty of time to get the Villa completed: so I goofed off; sat looking at it; waited for Mojo; made other little things; and for 3 months, I basically just twiddled my thumbs. When I did feel like working on the villa, I often felt compelled to redo what I'd already done and so I messed up finished work only to regret having tampered with it in the first place- DUH! Then before I knew it; July and August, were on my doorstep and for no good reason, the electrics wouldn't work anymore... MOMMA MIA!!! MORE UNDOING and Rewiring amid extreme hot flashes and long sleepless nights. So now it's done and here I am again- Tired but Happy!:D VILLA LEONE's been completed, (with MOST of its lights still working) AND it also WON FIRST PLACE at the Vancouver Dollhouse Miniature Show which took place last Sunday - YIPEEEEEE!!! :D The photo above was taken by photographer Bonnie Morrison who also won Best In Show for her Main Street: (an entire street of detailed specialty shops) BEAUTIFUL WORK!:D Bonnie took photos of all the show entries, and I Absolutely LOVED how she shot mine, so I asked her permission to use it for my blog: a Big Thank you to Bonnie, and A Congratulatory Shout Out to you, too! ❤️ ❧❧❧❧ Meanwhile, here at Studio E, I have lots of catching up regarding this blog, so over the next few weeks I will be posting updates on each finished room of the villa, as well as introducing its side garden, which has its own little story to tell. And although it has been quite a long while since I last posted, consider me and Villa Leone M.I.A. no more! ciao ciao for now 😎 elizabeth elizabeth
A blog about 1:12 scale dollhouses and miniatures, mini-scale cross-stitching, my favorite dolls and toys, as well as other crafty projects.
Judging from what I've read online, the Willowcrest dollhouse kit by Greenleaf has a pretty big fan club. I decided to see what other minia...
This is the Willowcrest Manor Dollhouse. The project was started using a Greenleaf Willowcrest . The original kit has a friendly footprint and architectural details that lend themselves well to the cherub theme and overall feeling I wanted for the house. The windows frames are embellished with pairs of cherubs and flowers. A single cherub adorns the peak of the front façade. A focal point of the house is the lovely Romeo and Juliet balcony on the third floor . All the windows have ornate In a hammered finish. The other main point of interest is the amazing front door. The door is solid wood that was laser carved in an ornate pattern to scale. It was artisan made. Let's take a look inside. The interior color pallet is variations of golds and rose tones. Warm rich colors are used in the wallpapers, floors and ceilings. Turning staircases always add a lot of drama , and offer lots of decorating opportunities. The double French doors between the main entrance room and front room have full color floral stained glass window films. The double entrance into the front room has a laser cut room divider, and is stained in warm English Chestnut . The bay window has 4 matching staind glass window films that compliment the grapes in the wallpaper. Let's look upstairs... The side window has two Belcher style stained glass window films that work nicely with the toile wallpaper. Up to the third floor... This large room is full of possibilities. The bay window was made into a seat and the stronger rose tone color was used in the fabric to balance the lighter colors of the floor and walls. Let's go back outside and see the flowers and the last details of the exterior. The flowers custom selected for this house , are crisp white roses and filler flowers, lavenders and purples, and soft pink hand made hydrangeas. Also added to the landscape is a willow tree to match the name "Willowcrest "of the house. The window boxes follow the same color scheme , however use different flower selections. The fence and railings were done in gloss black. That stronger color choice was a good balance to the lighter and softer tones of the house. Two matching cherb planters were made for each side of the stair entrance. The mansard roof has a top railing, and two double chimmnies. The house has many fun features, and details, so we will finish with that. Enjoy!
I found this Willowcrest dollhouse yesterday for $7. This is before I cleaned the exterior. This is the interior as it was when I bought it....
Today, I wanted to share the first dollhouse that I built. Mom and Dad got me the Willowcrest kit for Christmas when I was 14, which was way back in 1992. Mom helped me get it started. We really didn't have any idea what we were doing. We opened the box, wrote piece names on everything, punched out the pieces, and tried to follow the directions. It was a valuable learning experience. Here are some shots from Christmas 1992 through January 1993. We began the shell build. Mistake #1 We used hot glue at first. It was lumpy so I had to shave down the lumps with a utility knife. Then we used tacky glue for the rest. Mistake #2 We didn't sand everything like crazy or make sure that things fit together so they were square. Mistake #3 We assembled the shell and then realized we had to put up wallpaper. It has really awkward spaces that we couldn't reach at that point. However, it wasn't the end of the world. We figured things out. To make the best of the awkward staircase, I simply finished off the wood with polyurethane. I tried a funky paper flooring to look more contemporary than antique. Mom also showed me a fun wallpaper technique using torn up brown paper bags decoupaged right onto the walls that simulate leather. I also used a metallic gold paint on the door and window trim in the entry and upper hall. After a while, Mom got busy doing mom stuff. I was always busy doing teenager stuff. Somehow I'd find a little time here and there to do things. It took a long time to make noticeable progress. There was a long span where the house was pretty much just sitting in my room with no siding. One day I saw a show on PBS, New Yankee Workshop, I think. Yes, I used to watch home improvement shows on PBS as a teen. I was weird. Moving on. That episode of New Yankee Workshop showed this amazing sunburst siding pattern on a shed. I loved it! So that got me fired up to get the siding on the house, just so I could make the sunburst. After I put the pre-made trim on the barrel roof, it covered up part of the sunburst. I decided if I ever do go back and redo the house in the future, that trim is gone. This picture is from about 1995 or 1996. After I moved out for college, I found time to really get actively into miniatures. I finished the house when I was 20. It took me 6 years, start to finish. The thing is, I didn't want to rush. I still made mistakes, but then other things turned out beautifully. This is the house today. It normally lives on top of the tall chest of drawers in my bedroom, unfurnished. I used walnut flooring in the living room and the attic. I also trimmed out the inside of the little attic windows with the walnut flooring. In the kitchen, I used paper flooring, then used real bricks with cement to make the stove wall and trim around the window and doors. The bathroom got preformed pink vinyl sheeting that looks like tile. This was the first room I wallpapered. I was very pleased that I managed to get the size right. I still added baseboard and corner trim to give it a bit more detail. The bedroom was pretty basic with the its floral wallpaper and cream carpeting. I did that because the furniture stands out nicely when the house is furnished. The front door used to open and close. Eventually, the hinges pulled out and messed up the trim. I couldn't get them to really work right after that. Now the door is pinned shut. The front steps also fell apart a few years ago. We moved and they were a casualty of the move. I still have the pieces so I can repair them. Various pieces of window trim have also fallen off, but I managed to get them repaired quickly. Someday, I will get the house down and put furniture in it again. I think when that time comes, I will make some curtains. The windows could use a little character.
This week I've been finalising the placement of items on the main shop floor and gluing or fixing things into place. I think I'm just about there, it's fit enough for the dollshouse club visit anyway. There are still things I would like to improve, like a better dust cover and to figure out why the bulb inside the laundry cupboard doesn't seem to be working any more. And I'm sure I might find more figures or items to add to the scenes. Gluing people in Ha ha, sounds like a weird title, doesn't it? But I had a problem with dolls falling over and looking like some kind of serial killer had torn through the shop. Starting from the front of the shop (or the back of the space if you are looking inside from the open back), I fixed in dolls using silicone glue, fixed down display racks with tacky wax, and glued in the cash desk and the cutting table with tacky glue. I had a nice resin figure that looked very much like a typical quilter, but she had a small dog stuck to her ankle. My quilt shop is a dog-free zone, so the dog had to go. A bit of careful work with a Dremel rotary tool and a cutting disk and the dog was history. A bit of a touch up with paint, and she is a dog-free customer waiting patiently at the cutting table. When I was tidying away the last of the clutter from the big unpacked Willowcrest box, I found this little bag of gems hiding away. I think I bought it at the Arnhem show. They were the perfect items for finishing off my counter display unit. I also added a couple of tape measures (probably from Shepherd Miniatures) and a couple of silver buttons that look like they might be gadgets. The unit fixed in place on the glued in cash desk, with a glued in sales clerk helping a glued in customer. There was a back corner which was looking a bit bare. I made up a few 'patterns' by cutting out book covers and gluing them into plastic covers cut from bags. Then I made a 'quilt' by gluing hems around a square of suitable fabric, and starching the fabric into folds hanging from a gathered neck. The resulting 'quilt' hanging from the display unit, and the patterns, brightens up the corner. On the outside I decided to leave the letters white, and I glued them to the shop fascia using a similar-sized font from my computer as a guide to spacing. I needed an ampersand, which wasn't provided in the box of letters. With a bit of experimentation, I made an ampersand by cutting up a J, S and U and gluing them back together. I smoothed over the seams with a smear of filler, and a bit of gesso, before repainting in white. The ampersand has come out slightly bigger than the other letters but I'm quite pleased with the sign overall. I had a kit I bought a while ago for an outdoor display board. Gluing up the boards in a magnetic jig. Boards are hinged with surgical tape and painted. The 'chalkboard' was printed on the computer by using white letters against a black background, and a free chalkboard font I downloaded. The finished display board outside the shop. I've got one more thing I need to make, which is the essential tool used by most modern quilters: the rotary cutter. I need several and I am going to try making them out of Fimo. But if that doesn't work then I will need to think of some other way. Then that is probably that for a while anyway, as I need to move on to finishing up other houses ready for July. But it feels really good to have finally progressed this house to a more or less finished state, and I love looking in at all the detail. The Willowcrest was always a kit I wanted to make, right from when I was a child, and I love all the period detail. Greenleaf certainly don't make it easy, but with a fair amount of work these are really nice houses. I hope you like it!
The Friends of the Library sponsored its second annual Doll House Show on Crazy Daze Thursday.
I bought two wonderful chairs at the 1:12 fair in Germany last weekend and I decided to place them in my Willowcrest dollhouse! Thes...
Buongiorno Blogland! I hope that everyone has enjoyed their summer as much as I have. And what did I do all summer, you ask? nothing... I didn't go anywhere; I stayed close to home. The rest of the Miniteer's however, have been traveling non-stop; even as I speak, they are currently scattered across the globe. Linda Park was here visiting Canada following a quick jog over to France; she's now back home in Australia. Janine is in Europe cruising the Dutch canals, and Fatima is... well I'm not exactly sure where Fatima is right now, but wherever she is she is Busy! (psssst! - she always travels with a mini project tucked in her bag!) So here I am at home, holding the fort, so to speak, with all the time in the world to work on Villa Leone, so what have I accomplished this past summer? truthfully-Very little. Although, come to think of it, I did do a little bit of work on the dollhouse in JUNE. I repainted the lower antique white section of the exterior and removed some of the algid "damp" because I didn't want the house to feel too cold and/or smell too musty, thus, I added another layer of concrete trim around the base as extra protection from any high tides. Adding that extra trim, visually bulked up the foundation. The other benefit is that I won't have to construct such a deep canal around this house, so less work, less materials, less weight! That particular project is still MILES AWAY, but when it does arrive, I'll be ready for it. Other than that little flurry in June, the house sat neglected for most of the summer, filled with construction debris, as well as all of my good intentions. the wider concrete trim around the base Then around the last week of August, I finally bit the bullet and removed all of the JUNK on all 3 floors, swept the insides and painted all of the interior surfaces with Gesso. The doors and windows are still unfinished, but by painting everything white, I could look at the space with Fresh Eyes and hopefully be inspired as to how to divide the space into rooms. However, nothing came to me so the house sat neglected for another 7 days. Then came the first week of September and I thought back on my wasted summer, and all of the things which I had hoped to have had done by now. I was so tired of not doing ANYTHING that I felt compelled to do SOMETHING, and it had to begin in the hall. *** I had assembled the main floor staircase some time ago, but took most of it apart again because I wanted to make it both wider and taller. And because I had changed the hall window to a longer one, the stairs had to ascend beneath it just so. There had to be enough space around the window to install the trim as well as space for the wood trim running parallel with the staircase. But before I could determine all of that, I needed to tackle hanging the wallpaper on the main floor, stairwell and second floor, first, and to do that I first made templates using white poster board ( dollar store) and cut out all of the shapes which I was going to need to hang the paper in the most efficient way, since I only had 3 sheets and I couldn't afford to make ANY mistakes. I made the paper template and then I cut out a wall section from foamcore board. After I saw it with the window installed, I changed my mind and switched to using a Heavy Matt Board for the interior lining and glued my wallpaper to that instead. I did this because the Matt Board would give me a few additional mm of floor space in entry. The scrapbook/wallpaper called LOVE NEST BLOCK #L2020 and I bought it from the Hobby Lobby while I was visiting in the U.S. last Spring. It is a watery blue/ green which looks to me to be the same color as in pictures of Venetian canals. The darker areas are part of the pattern of the paper. The color is gradient and so portions of it are more intensely blue drifting gradually into a soft brownish-green with a murky brown tone concentrated in the corners and the outside edges. This meant that I had to cut and paste the papers together so that the colors would stay consistent on each of the hall walls. I used my templates for all of the piecework and managed to get the wallpaper cut with the least amount of waste. And THAT my friends, was a FIRST for me! :D After I had cut the major pieces of wallpaper,for the hall and glued them to the Heavy Card, my MOJO finally came home. Yahoo! :D At last had a starting point from which to coordinate the rest of the walls as well as what to use as the floor treatments for the first floor. Initially I was going to have a colorful eye-catching cement tile floor then I found this wrinkled piece of gift wrap which I had filed away 16 years ago. It looks good in the hall. I chose a solid burnt red paper to represent a concrete floor in the kitchen, but more about the kitchen in another post. back to the staircase- I used a paper template to figure out that bit of wood work which runs up the stairs and protects the wall, and once the interior wallpaper panels are glued in, they'll be outline with finishing trim then painted to match the staircase. As you can see, everything is still "loosey goosey" and will remain unattached until I've figured out my lighting and floor plan. My intentions are to use both round wire and the flat tape. stairs will have lots of molding, new risers, treads and handrail, ( when I'm able to muster up the courage to do it) I widened the staircase by adding a layer of foamboard to the inside of the risers. I know it looks REALLY UGLY right now, however it will all be covered over .... eventually. Meanwhile I began looking through my stash for a candidate for the hall light. I'm not crazy about the look of this one because it looks too delicate for the airspace it needs to fill, so it will probably go down stairs into the main entry. During the last visit I had with Fats, she gave me these two carved pillars as seen in the photo above. I love them although I didn't know where I could use them and I needed to use them! Then when I was testing out the floor paper, I tried them around the front door. They will most likely stay there, if I can get them to fit properly under the stairs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that. Okay, so after I'd decided on the hall floor, I began thinking about the forward adjoining room which is normally designated as the kitchen according to the original kit instructions. Since I had switched the kitchen to what is usually the living room, I decided to call the smaller room- the dining room. But then I got to thinking about possible flood waters and how that would affect the wood furniture. So, to protect the wood, I raised the level of the dining room by one step, as well as continue the tile up into the room. Now that I've had a chance to think about it more, my new idea is to run the pattern from side to side to define it from the hall. I also opted for a green marble fireplace which had also been lying dormant in my stash. I found some scrap pink foam insulation pieces to raise the level of the floor and folded the tile paper over it, just to see if it would work. The walls were propped up so I could get a feel for the room. to me the space felt tight even with the skinny chairs! so.... what if I had less wall, no door and opened up the dining room to the hall? Earlier, I'd located some plastic cake pillars which I had painted to look like wood. I'd painted them back in the mid 90's, ( they were salvaged from a previously dismantled project). I positioned the pillars on boxes to raise them up and placed them on either side of the proposed opening . Now that's more like it! The iron grills, (now transoms above the fireplace) came from a stripped down plastic Barbie house which I'd found at the thrift store . These grills will encourage boh light and air circulation in the room. after all of this, I took a picture to see if it worked. I took this photo from outside the front door using the wallpaper I've chosen as the backdrop in dining room. The chairs were too white and the profile didn't show up very well in the photo so that's when I brought out THE BIG GUNS! IS SHE PRETTY OR WHAT!???? I only have this one John Hodgson chair (signed 1997) It is both a Pleasure and a Treasure! AND it looked way better for the photos and so I sat it at the table and then I added a lamp I'd made, and then I remembered I had a tiny statuette of Michelangelo's "David" (pilfered from a souvenir snow globe), and then I added a book, then a few more books and before you know it, I had ... A SCENE! A SCENE! which includes a kitchen sink! I didn't expect this toy plastic sink unit to fit under the window as well as it does, thus my new plan is to give it a complete makeover top to bottom and transform the sink counter into a credenza. The chair in the photo above is by another Artisan and signed Jack Mealy 1987. This Amazing chair sits lower than the other and the cushion is velour instead of leather but the wood is just as beautiful albeit, the carving is simpler. I don't have any information about the Artistsan but if you do, then please let me know. The books on the table are an assortment of those cheap imports consisting of garish, glossy paper covering crude, rectangular wooden blocks. Mine have been sitting in a bag in a drawer and gathering dust for the past 3 years- which was why I'd decided to finally put them to work; stacking them in several piles across the top of the mahogany table so that the atmosphere would read- "busy". The dining table is considered "temporary" that is, unless I'm unable to find or afford the one I want. Since I got this one for free, I'm not complaing but I did have a trestle table in my mind, something that looks a little bit more Ancient. Nevertheless, free is a very "good deal", so I may just have to remain content. Taking photos sure helps, especially in determining sight lines. AND Having these pictures as references, will mean that later on I won't have to make the effort to remember what I was thought I was going to do only to forget it all, as soon as I've taken everything apart. I was thinking about that when I suddenly remembered that I had been planning to show you the cushions which Miniteer, LINDA PARK made for each of us as gift exchanges when she came here to visit. Linda needlepointed our initials into custom cushions according to each of our current projects, and so before this dining room is completely dismantle, I'm going to show you just SOME of the WONDERFUL needlework which I've received from her. other Linda Park gifts will be saved for later. ;P Linda stitched our initials into a cushion for each of us. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! A Monogramed cushion worked in Black and metallic gold threads with the letters "V" and "L" entwined in an elegant embrace! I am THRILLED TO PIECES! :D And then there is this little Renaissance Beauty! And then another version of the "Villa Leone" initials in red and gold! I am ONE LUCKY BUG! THANK YOU LINDA!!! and THEN Just when you think that you have seen it all, Linda presented me with an additional- - SURPRISE! O SOLE MIO THE ITALIAN JOB! I have been truly blessed, and although I may not have left the country, I feel as if I have! because my head is once again turned towards Venice; commanding my own personal gondola (gondolier?) - Life's Good! and so THAT folks, is how I spent my summer vacation! ciao for now elizabeth
Greenleaf Willowcrest finished exterior
Finishing Touches I applied a coat of satin acrylic varnish to the painted siding of the dollhouse. This gives it a nice sheen and helps prevent fingerprints. I recommend adding this after the dollhouse is fully assembled and finished, as varnish acts as a sealer and can prevent glue from adhering properly if used during assembly. I mistakenly bought craft paint with a satin finish, which I had to return for a flat finish. It's important to avoid glossy paints during assembly, as they can seal the wood and make it difficult for glue to stick. Apply the varnish only to the main walls, avoiding bays unless they are sided, and never apply it to any components. Glossy finishes highlight flaws, so you want to avoid glossy windows or doors. Use a flashlight or spotlight at different angles to check what has been varnished. A fine-tip paintbrush will help you navigate around components. While it may be tedious, the effort will pay off in the end. Mishaps No dollhouse assembly is perfect. While quick-build kits may have pre-assembled components, tab-and-slot dollhouses are unique and handmade, down to individual siding strips and shingles. You can strive for perfection, but small imperfections are often only noticeable to the builder, so don’t get discouraged. Mishaps are common and can sometimes be fixed by redoing a step or, my favorite method, camouflaging the defect. Camouflaging is essential for all dollhouse builders; it’s often the best way to address issues related to the materials rather than assembly. Dollhouses aren’t always square or straight, so if you need to place a trim piece at an angle to make things look right, go for it. I encountered several mishaps with my Beacon Hill dollhouse, but not too many. My first mistake was with the porch roof; it ended up slightly off-center on the front wall. I’m not sure how it happened, but I noticed it when applying corner trim. One side fit perfectly, while the other required cutting and joining under the porch roof. Thankfully, I was able to camouflage this well. The cornice trim also had a wavy appearance, similar to what I experienced with The Beacon Hill Dollhouse. If the cornice is wavy or bent, it affects how fascias sit underneath and can misalign brackets. The wave becomes more pronounced as more components are added. I fix this by ensuring the fascias are straight; if there’s a gap between them and the cornice, I fill it with spackle. This issue isn’t my fault—dollhouses aren’t precision-cut, and even when tabs and slots fit together well, some walls may still be slightly higher than others. The fascias often don’t align perfectly at corners, which is an issue with every tab-and-slot dollhouse. To address this, I created my own vertical corner trim instead of replacing the fascias. Simply add spackle to the corner ends, let it dry overnight, and then sand it into a sharp corner shape. During assembly, I noted that the third floor didn’t align with the front wall—a common issue with this kit that I’ve experienced before. While it meets fine with side walls, it falls short of reaching the front wall; fortunately, this is hidden beneath flooring and ceiling paper. Single staircases rarely come out straight. Luckily, they’re hidden between walls; this one has a lovely back wall that makes any slight misalignment less noticeable. Wallpaper Woes Finding the right wallpaper prints for this dollhouse was challenging due to many being out of stock or discontinued. I needed the Blue DuBarry print for the bedroom because my custom bed was designed to match it. I encountered a significant problem with the wallpaper in the second-floor stairwell/hallway; thankfully, this area is not very visible. The wallpaper became darker when wet, likely due to a bad dye lot—it has a grayish blotchy appearance that’s hard for others to notice but obvious to me. Initially, I worried that the issue stemmed from either the wood or wallpaper paste, which would have been disastrous since fixing wood would require making templates for wallpaper application. However, since I couldn’t replicate the problem with other prints, I concluded that this was an isolated issue with that particular print. Front Wall Siding And Shingles Siding and shingles often don’t meet perfectly at corners and can appear slightly crooked at times. However, you can cover these imperfections with additional trim that distracts from uneven lines. Remember that back edge trim not only smooths exposed edges of floors and walls but also helps straighten crooked ones. Just apply your back edge trim straight, and your floors and walls will follow suit. Despite any mishaps along the way, you’ll end up with a beautiful heirloom dollhouse that looks flawless to anyone else—and you’ll receive all the credit for your hard work! You can visit this dollhouse gallery here.
willowcrest, instructions, greenleaf, pdf,
I filled the small gap in the staircase with spackle, then sanded and painted it smooth. Next, I started siding the back walls. When applying the siding here, ensure it is flush with the edge facing the dollhouse, as that edge has no trim and needs a clean finish. After the siding dried, I glued on the last two corner boards and the top fascia. I wanted to start shingling today, but the shingles that came with the dollhouse are unusable. They are old and brittle, cracking and splitting when I try to cut them. It would be too difficult to hand-cut each strip, so I discarded them and used different shingles instead. I completed all of the interior trim work, trimming and varnishing the ceilings and floors. I used skewers for the ceilings and thin sticks for the baseboards, along with small wooden pegs around the attic dormers. I glued on the curtains using hot melt glue, attaching them only to the interior window trim so I can redecorate later if I wish. I also finished all of the back edge trim work. For shingling, the easiest method is to create a paper template and glue a finished panel to the roof of the dollhouse. I bought a roll of brown postal paper, which will blend well with my stained shingles. Unsure of what color to stain them, I chose a dark shade that matches the interior trim, thinking it would complement the dollhouse's color scheme. For the dormer rooftops, I simply applied shingles directly over the roof ridge.
Greenleaf Willowcrest finished interior
Ever since I began building my Greenleaf WILLOWCREST Kit a.k.a "VILLA LEONE", I have been trying to settle on a local identity for it. You may find that strange, when you recall that my idea was that this house would be situated in the city of Venice, which should have firmly settled the matter. Yet despite all of my efforts at establishing it there, it wasn't looking TO ME, like it actually lived there. The exterior has been a challenge, of searching for "the secret formula" of how to make the outside look more "Villa" and less "Chalet", which was why I decided towards the end of last year, to leave it alone for a while, as I began working on the interior. With the hall staircase kinda resolved and the interior wallpaper panels PERMANENTLY GLUED into place, (which was in itself, another giant commitment for me ) I decided to revisit the exterior of the villa and deal with some of the identity crisis issues which I was still struggling with. my main concern were Paint Colors because these just weren't working for me. below is the orange/ off-white paint color BEFORE It took me a LONG TIME to settle on this custom mixed orange, however it ended up taking all the blame once I decided to change the color of the house. BIG MISTAKE! I made it WORSE, MUCH Worse ah me- and there was no going back either since I was all out of that orange paint. below is a photo of the HORRIBLE AFTER AND there were at least 15 MORE HORRIBLY UGLY AFTERS which followed one right after the other. The color in the photo is a taupe-green BLAH! Boo! Hiss! I re-painted the 2nd and 3rd floors over and over again, using every warm and/or neutral color I had on hand. When they didn't work, I sanded down the walls and custom mixed my own paint hoping to hit on that elusive "magic color combination", but it was all time wasted because everything I did looked awful and had to be undone. This painting and repainting fiasco went on throughout the month of January. I was in deep despair. It must have been the last week of January when I stumbled upon a PINTEREST photo of a popular craft called "Tejas"; which are painted Spanish roof tiles which are made to resemble Mediterranean house facades as well as other imaginative scenes. What interested me most about the "Tejas" was that within a very limited space, the artists were effectually able to convey an atmosphere of hot, ancient stone dwellings. 3-D renderings complete with with all the door and window fittings, balconies, roofs, plants, awnings, shutters etc., which gave the clay tile houses, both a sense of location as well as a long history. so Why, I wondered, wasn't I able to achieve this kind of effect with My dollhouse? Since this craft was new to me, I watched a demonstration on youtube which I found fascinating Especially the way one artist base painted her entire tile in BLACK prior to adding detail colors which gave the final finish a visual depth. And so with nothing left to loose, I re-painted my villa BLACK too! The next step was to dry brush the black with thin layers of shading and highlight colors to achieve dimension on the flat surface, which brings me to another issue I was having which was the Wall Texture I didn't like the texture of my exterior walls. There was either too much of it or not enough and I couldn't seem to get the balance right. So prior to painting the house black, as per the Tejas tutorial, I opted to add MORE texture by glueing on a few paper bricks, then feathering the edges with wall patch. When that was cured I applied a heap of glue and pressed bird gravel onto the wall over the plaster to give it a rough, aged texture as well as some extra character. below is the base coat of black paint with the bricks glued on and painted. the photos below and above are reversed. The bricks below are Before painting and the picture above is After they were painted. above is another AFTER. Over the black, I dry brushed a mix of gray, white, brown, black and cream, to build up the look of a concrete wall. I actually liked it and was on the verge of keeping it this way, however it still didn't look Italian enough to me- So I FINALLY gave up trying to think of something myself and used a picture as a color reference. *Something I should have done in the first place!* My inspiration photo and below is another AFTER with the new color At last I felt I was making some real progress! I painted both the ground and second floor a custom mixed golden tan and deepened the red doors with a brown antique stain. Staining the french doors had me looking twice at the main entry door again. I chose to change that too. below is the Red Door BEFORE sidebar: *I actually didn't have an 'issue' with the red door until I started messing around with the others. Nevertheless, it seems that I can't help but meddle.* My thought was to make the front door look "Heftier" (whatever that meant ) After searching through Pinterest I saw a door that seemed to fit the description. It required decorative nail heads By cutting off the tails of a number of teeny tiny paper brads and gluing them to the surface of the door, I got the "HEFTIER" look which I was after. I added some more metal findings to the raised panels and changed the door handle as well as its position. Then everything was re-painted and re-stained and re-aged, to achieve the AFTER Door as shown below I'm calling this door DONE! I'll take time here to mention the structural changes which I made to the 3rd floor attic windows which are on either side of the Willowcrest kit. After due consideration, I felt that they could be enlarged by removing the existing dormers and replacing the windows with larger ones using the original kit windows from the main floors as substitutes. Below is the BEFORE size of the attic dormer windows the larger Attic windows AFTER! Having changed them to a bigger size, will no doubt change the roofline once it is actually installed. However, I'll stress out about that problem later, since I can only be stressed with one problem at a time! But Hey! let's talk about wasted building materials! I wasted a perfectly good french door to make this solid panel of two small stationary kitchen windows??? Mamma Mia!- What was I thinking??? (head slap) To see what the panel looked like BEFORE, refer to photo 2 at the top of this post. and Before I forget, here is the AFTER results of all of my wall texturing project. more Texture was added to the right side of the villa, too. These green doors came about right after I'd finished painting them red, which meant that since I immediatley regretted the green, I had to re-paint them red brown AGAIN! will I EVER learn to leave things well enough alone? *sigh* ANYWAY.... that's not why I included the photo. Rather it is to show the infill of the roof overhang directly above it. I removed the half circle from over the door to fill in that wide disconnect between the two sides of the dollhouse and have a continuous line spanning the entire front section as it does on either side. You can see the brown wood infill in the BEFORE photo above. The AFTER is shown in the photo below. The lower left side of the wall will eventually have small window cut and installed, AFTER I get the kitchen floor plan worked out on the inside, so the photo above is both an AFTER as well as a BEFORE if that makes any sense to you? Decorative columns were added to the front corners of the villa, using wide dollhouse baseboard trims. Another AFTER is the repainting of the exterior light fixtures and beefing up the wall ornamentations. On the right side of the house, I framed in the round plaster carving over the window for no good reason, other than I thought I might try it. And since it looked horrid after my first attempt, it was reworked repeatedly. Rarely do things go smoothly for me the first time around. In the photo above you can see all of the extra age and decay on the right wall. FYI- the temporary roof over the dining room windows is only a stand-in. This is another roof which I'm not yet ready to deal with yet. The photo below shows what the window wall will look like AFTER the planter is re-installed. hmmmm?... Perhaps....? What about...? Should I add some ivy trailing down the front of the planter...? . given my history- do I dare? Just for FUN, I taped a tear sheet which Janine had given me, to the wall to give me the feeling of a house in Venice, however I'm still not convinced that this villa lives there, nevertheless- I love the perspective! And I love those blue shutters! So I made two sets of simple shutters for the front of my Villa. Well- they were supposed to be "SIMPLE", however not only did the wood warp as it dried, but the glue wouldn't stick! AND even after they were wrestled into submission, the shutters proved to be difficult to install and fought me all the way. The results shown below, are AFTER 3 DAYS of fiddling around flattening, gluing, painting, staining, drilling and installing them, and although they still require a latch- they don't close. Which brings me to another consideration. Should I bother installing the window glass? something else for me to stress out about. The Cat appears to have found the purr-fect place on the window ledge, to sun himself. "Do not disturb" is plainly written in those half-closed eyes. hello kitty And FINALLY here is my last AFTER; an awning over the balcony. Although, I've only just started on The Awning, it has already been made over several times and no doubt the process will continue on until I have resolved all of my current difficulties with it. "There got to be an Awning AFter" In the photo above you can see the faded paint on the concrete facade. I have left the 3rd floor front wall more raw than the rest of the house, because currently I like the effect. However, it does seems to need "something extra" up there. I've already attempted 3 different minor alterations and all 3 of them went BUST, so I'm leaving it alone- for now. When my daughter was over last week, she told me that if my villa was going to be located in Venice, then it needed MORE ALGE and more DIRT! I thought that I already had LOTS, but she said I needed more, so after a few tentative dabs here and there, I threw myself into it, and GRIME flew from my brush and was deposited all over the entire house. however- In hind sight, I feel I may have gone a bit overboard, so I've been sanding down the grime a little bit here, and a little bit there... ah me... around and around I go salt water stains on the base of the front door, dirt on the walls, slime on the stone, exposed bricks, peeling paint etc. etc. and I still don't know if I want this house in Venice! and I'm tired so its time for the AFTER WORD- After all that has been said and done, I think I FINALLY have a Mediterranean house. Maybe it's in Venice? or maybe not, either way- I am going to have to be content to just go with the flow and let Villa Leone decide where it wants to live. because- the stress of constantly changing things to make the dollhouse adjust to My ever-changing ideas is DRIVING ME CRAZY! I am as wound up as tight as an old pocket watch. I think I'm needing a break, so that I can get outside of my own head! Perhaps a mini vacation in a warm, dry spot, where I won't have to think about ANYTHING except relaxing for a while. and I know Exactly where I can go! move over cat elizabeth
Judging from what I've read online, the Willowcrest dollhouse kit by Greenleaf has a pretty big fan club. I decided to see what other minia...
kitchen, bay window, bathroom, alcove, windows, frames, hallway, stairwell, willowcrest, scan, 3d printing,
On to my current and most time consuming obsession: the Willowcrest dollhouse, by Greenleaf . It's not available on their web site, but...