Le Chateau becomes a New Orleans Creole Style Townhouse

I plan to turn this kit into a Creole Style Townhouse at the turn of the century. The Chateau has the bones without too much kit bashing, most of the look of the townhouse will come from the additions. I bought three books to help me. I will add a lower floor (basement) that will have a carriage entrance, right now I am undecided about french doors or windows on this floor. There will be a small courtyard and a facade of an outbuilding with two floors. I am not sure how historically accurate this project will be but I will try to stay as close as I can without compromising my taste and tolerance, which as always been the problem for me with dollhouses done in certain periods. I love to look at them but to decorate one feels too restricted for me creatively. The idea came to me after I purchased the creole mixed race dolls from Jo and I really like the story line she created with the post. http://jocelynsdollhouse.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-polymer-clay-dolls-by-jomed.html I have always loved the architecture in New Orleans and my great grandmother was born in Louisiana. I thought it would make an interesting dollhouse with an interesting family to go with it.

This book is my major reference and the 2 pages below

picture of a creole townhouse from the book

picture of an outbuilding from the book

this book has more contemporary interiors

this one will be more for the historic interiors

Merry Christmas, look what Santa bought me!

I ordered 2 of these today with Christmas money from my mom.
I feel in love with them when I saw them in Brae's house.

My sister in-law bought the dollhouse and my husband bought the power tools. He also turned the room into a craft room with a new floor and additional ceiling lights, it is still waiting on some finishing touches. I bought this lighted and decorated Christmas tree before Christmas from Home Depot for $6.98. The battery was included but the tip of the star makes it too tall to fit inside the Mountfield but it will be used somewhere! I really did well this year with the minis!

Imagination Dollhouse Christmas Gift

I took advantage of the Black Friday Deal and bought the Imagination Dollhouse Kit from Home Depot for $68! http://www.hd-imagination-house.com/IntroVideo.html The kit is still the same price in the stores by the way, I don't see it online anymore but they still have some in the stores around here. This kit was bought as a gift for my young cousin. Myself, my aunt and my mother, we all did our parts to have it ready by Christmas. I made most of the furniture to save money and to make it more durable for child's play and my mother made the bed linens. The living room furniture is donated from my childhood dollhouse and the kitchen and bathroom sets came from Hobby Lobby. I kept it simple (for me), just a little bashing on the porch, I added the scalloped trim across the top. In the bathroom and kitchen I used real floor tiles for durability in those rooms. I used a real stain for the first time instead of my faux stain technique with acrylic paint. http://jocelynsdollhouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/floors-and-doors.html  My cousin really liked the house and so did her parents (her mom thanked me for "her" dollhouse lol). I added trim around the windows and doors last, some pictures show the trim missing. P.S. Did I mention I did all of this in 7 days!

 

Making Custom Beds from Scratch for the Imagination Dollhouse

I am making the Imagination Dollhouse sold at Home Depot in seven days, decorating inside and outside plus some furniture for a Christmas gift. My mom is making the bed linens of course and I designed and built the beds. The theme came from wooden appliqués from Michaels and Hobby Lobby. So additional pictures will be posted later, so not to give too much away. I also used square wooden dowels, I left them off the supply list picture. I painted the beds with acrylic craft paints. By the  way, I am getting a craft room makeover for Christmas, so I am working in a temporary location.