43. Design and build a doll house
My mother saw that this was one of the things on my list and remembered that about 30 years ago she bought a wooden dollhouse kit that never got put together. So, when she came to the beach this summer she passed the kit along to me. It sat in my trunk for about two months before my dad came to visit. I thought it would be a fun project for us to do together, and I also hoped it would wow Helena so much she'd stop asking her classmates to get her the Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle for her birthday...
Before we started the project we stopped at Toys 'R Us to see if they had some dollhouse stuff...the lady laughed at dad. Then we went to the hobby store and I got the wood glue and these cute blue mini clamps. I knew we'd need to clamp things together, but I also wanted to feel like we were building something.
We took over Helena's playarea and set up a table and opened the box...this is what we found.
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| That's right folks, the directions were so old they were falling apart. |
Lucky for us I can decipher 1970s speak and we were able to find all the pieces. Dad and I then started what turned out to be a four day project.
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| Dad is having fun concentrating on something other than a computer screen. |
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| This thing had THREE staircases we had to build! Thank goodness I have small hands since these pieces kept wanting to fall into the stairwell. |
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| Ask a four year old girl what color she wants you to paint her dollhouse, and pink is probably the answer you'll get. |
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| The clamps come in handy! |
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| Completed Dollhouse Front |
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| Completed Dollhouse Back |
I know you may be saying "Hey, she didn't design that dollhouse so this doesn't count!" We made modifications to the design to make it more kid friendly. We did not put handrails or banisters on the stairs so she can get her hands (and dolls) up and down the stairs. We also decided not to put on the chimneys. I could just imagine Helena dropping something down the chimney and me having to flip the house upside down to get it out and that is something I didn't want to do. So, this totally counts!
So, not only do I get to cross off this project from my to-do list, but I get to spend some quality time with my dad and give my daughter something I helped build that will (hopefully) give her many years of happiness.
