Lights On at the Bakery/Coffee Shop!!!

I am so proud of myself right now! I still need to adjust my spotlights on the menu and finish the new wall. I have never done anything electrical before in my life and my dad did the all lighting for the Mountfield Dollhouse. He explained to me in detail what to do and showed me how to solder. Then encouraged me like he has done all of my life that I could do it and like I have done all of my life- I believed him because my dad said I could do it. Love you Dad!

Coffee Shop Ceiling Medallions

My concept for the decor reflects vintage and modern at the same time, this is an old building with gilded architectural trim and moulding but mixed with contemporary colors and natural finishes. I wanted to continue this concept onto the ceiling. I love this scrapbook paper, Pressed Tiles-Brown by Paper Studio! I used it in the upstairs hall way in the Mountfield on the lower half of the wall. I did not think of this as a possible ceiling treatment until I read a post on Otterine's blog, who used it painted white on the kitchen ceiling in the Haunted Heritage. I attached it with Aleens Tacky Spray to the ceiling. I bought wooden appliques to use as ceiling medallions from Michaels, a pack of two small ones or one large for $1.99. I drilled a small hole in medallions for the cord to feed through into the ceiling.

Forgotten Post: The Bakery/Coffee Shop Early Construction

I created this post when I first began building the dollhouse but never published (I suspect the future of the bakery/coffee shop was uncertain). I am NOT a carpenter so the bakery/coffee shop is four walls with openings cut out for store bought windows and doors, a roof, two floors and a sidewalk. I cut four wooden dowels to the height I wanted for the second floor, I glued this to the corners of the two short walls. When these dried, I glued the long side wall to the two short ones. This allowed me to glue the walls upright to support the 2nd floor and provide a brace for the long wall to make sure all the walls were square. The second floor sits on top of the dowels. To attach the roof, I glued trim from Michaels around the top edge and allowed this to dry and glued the roof in place later. I just thought I would backup and share how a novice builds her first dollhouse from scratch:)

New Favorite Tool: Oscillating Multifunction Power Tool

Many of the actual buildings have rough brick sides and finished fronts. My original idea was to enclose the building with a 4th wall and use magnets like those used in the Mountfield Dollhouse to hold it in place.  But I did not realize that the first floor had an over hang that prevented the wall from being flush with the building until after it was glued in place. My dad came over and I told him that I could not use the 4th brick wall because I needed to shave off the over hang on the first floor. He told me that he owned a tool that could do the job, the Oscillating Multifunction Power Tool from Harbor Freight. It costs $21 online, I bought mine in the store for $29. I used the plunger to cut it off and it worked; so happy. This is only my second power tool besides my Dremel, I see more power tools in the future.

Layout for Bakery and Coffee Shop Lights

Here is the layout for the building, the coffee shop will have spot lights in front of the menu sign and over the display cases in the bakery and the other lights will be over the tables. I bought half from Miniatures.com and the other from Hobby Lobby.

Wrought Iron Flowerbeds

I made flowerbeds for the side walk outside of 390, that is the address of the bakery/coffee shop.  I used scrap pieces of foam board, paperclips, popsicle sticks, grass paper and artificial flowers. I cut the foam board to the size that I wanted and sandwiched the paperclips between the Popsicle sticks and foam board. Once dry, I spray painted it black to mimick wrought iron and covered the center with grass paper. I then filled it with artificial flowers. I used floral picks to stake the "young trees".

Look at this about ME from The Dolls House Emporium@Blog

http://www.dollshouseblog.com/2012/07/16/jocelyns-dream-dolls-house/ 
This is why my blog was created! I have loved this site from the day I discovered it. I never thought I would be able to buy a house from DHE. It will be two years in December since I purchased The Mountfield, the dollhouse of my dreams and I am still in love with it. Every new house I build is to recreate the joy I felt from building and decorating the Mountfield. This is truly an honor for me, thank you soooo much DHE!!!!!

I See A Dance Studio in the Future!

I was out shopping and they have already put out Christmas ornaments. So I took a walk down the aisles and look what I found...Ballerinas! I don't know anything about dance or ballet but they just called to me! I picked up these "ready made" signs and the fire hydrant too.