Alpine Farm House

It's here. My practice dollhouse arrived via UPS today. I was so anxious waiting that I decided to go downtown to pay the water bill  and wander through the antique stores on main street. I live in a very small town--about 1,500,  on the plains in northern Colorado. It is basically a bedroom community surrounded by farms. When I got home, the house had arrived.

I especially like that the house is made in the USA as the tag shows in Vermont.

Out of the box, all of the pieces are neatly packaged and marked with a list of exactly what pieces are included.

The shingles seem a bit thin and will need to be dyed. Dye not included.

After reading through the instructions, I begin to dry assemble the house, holding it together with blue painters tape, which I find is not strong enough to hold the walls up, so I switch to regular masking tape. I had expected a diagram labeling all of the pieces, but the instructions did not have one. So I had to guess what was what. The front pieces were pretty obvious.

With the main structure taped together, it should measure 19" wide, 16" in length (front to back), and 20" high. The yard stick actual measurement is a bit smaller, 16" x 15".

The photos don't show the gap between the side wall and the floor on the front. Frustrated that I may have to cut the front down, I leave.

We learn lessons in odd ways. Playing Angry Birds has taught me two things: when I can't master a level I go to YouTube to see video on how to aim the silly little bird and when that doesn't work, I leave the game. Generally when I return to the game, I master the level. So this strategy applies to this project. This particular house is not a popular one for builders, so there is no information from hobbyists on the internet with suggestions. I returned to the house a couple of hours later. I decided that perhaps I had pieces incorrectly placed; indeed, I did. With a minor adjustment, the gap disappeared and the front fit perfectly.

The manufacturer Real Good Toys has a great web site with lots of good information on how to build their houses, including instructions manuals for some of the more popular houses. No. the Alpine Farm House is not one of the more popular houses. Just my luck.

The instruction manual really is not the best; thus, I found that dry assembly was more helpful than trying to read the instructions and follow the illustrations. A diagram of the pieces would have saved time and frustration.

Next step: All of the instructions I found say to prime the wood first. Real Good Toys says to use semi gloss latex, which I have plenty of left over from painting my kitchen and living room. I am using an off white, Bone. 

I determined today that I will not get in a hurry. I will take my time. I will be patient.

I have been spending quite a bit of time reading this blog: Cinderella Moments, a really wonderful blog with the most beautiful dollhouses that the writer builds. I am getting a lot of ideas from her.

Tonight I am going to build the windows. I had thought that I might upgrade the window with the Hobby Lobby windows, but these windows are very nice. I do believe that I will upgrade the front door and perhaps the stairs since they are very attractive. Hobby Lobby has a very nice stair case kit.

I am so excited to have followers already. Thanks you ladies to signing on. I am still working on the blog format. Right now subscription is by email only, which I want to fix. Google has changed some of Blogger's features such as how the blogger's profile is made public--too complicated for me to explain, so when I get that all figured out you will hopefully be able to follow both with and without email. I don't want to make those drastic changes as they will affect my Garden Spot blog and I don't want it altered.

When we meet again, I hope to have the pieces primed.

Thanks for stopping by.