It all started back in Taos, during a Christmas visit to the Grandparents, when I saw the Calico Critters at a toy store. We were there during a special event and the place was packed! Miss E of course loved them and played with them for a while, despite the crazy children's party going on at the time. But the store did not have the actual critters for sale (not a family anyway) so we did not purchase them that day.
For some reason I bumped into them again while perusing Pinterest last month, and so the saga begun. I wanted a house of certain specifications- I wanted the rooms to be roomy, the doors to work, to have bedrooms for both the Calico Critter parents and the siblings, plus a bathroom, dining room, and most importantly a kitchen (all spacious so we could play with CCs, dinos, and other little toy personalities alike, and all in as compact a package as possible); I wanted a porch with a swing, and a small patio; and I wanted the doll house to be lit .. Aaaand of course I could not find anything like that. I was very tempted to sacrifice some of the items in my wishlist for this doll house (only four rooms and not lit) but then I started thinking- what about when Miss E grows up a little more and can actually help me build it? I'll be upset that I did it without her. So I decided I could make something now that would include her. Something less precious that a toddler can contribute to freely without my aesthetic inclinations getting in the way. Something that has everything I want, and yet can be thrown away if we ever want to. I did recently throw away the castle we made waay back when:
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| RIP |
And well, all of that to say, that is how we started building this thing:
We've actually done further work on it at this point, but I cannot find the picture to save my life :3 I'm not sure a "doll house" can ever be gender inclusive in a traditional sense, but I gave it a shot, in case Mr E stops chewing on toys and can be allowed to play along :)
Miss E helped paint everything that could possibly be painted, including furniture, doors, windows, and walls (inside and out). She also helped me with the paper squares that are the front patio.
We went to JoAnn's and got a few things, but we made the house ourselves and most of the furnishings. Quijote helped me figure out the lighting. We are not nearly done... but here are some progress pics for you:
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| Miss E painted those walls and helped me glue things together :) |
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| Still got a lot of work to do- like, you know, chairs, and pictures, maybe a light fixture... but the bunnies have already had many tea parties. |
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| I tried paper-macheing that kitchen and I hated it. Will have to redo. Also need to finish that window.. the couches need decorative pillows, etc etc.. |
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| The left side opens out completely, till it is parallel with the main structure in the center, but it seems like we always play with it half-way open like this. |
After that, Miss E also helped me mix a little home-made clay that we used to make little potted plants for the garden, and some other things that I haven't photographed yet.
We made a mess, so it was a good thing it was mostly baking soda- when I wiped it off the stove, the surface was squeaky clean!
Oh wait, there are some pictures of the bathroom things we made with this clay!
And here is what the house started as:
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| That is a lot of boxes and a lot of tape. See? It folds so that it uses like a third of the space as it does when completely open :) |
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| Obviously the boxes alone were incredibly interesting just as they were- why are we building this thing again? Haha! |
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| We coated everything in white before starting to work on it, just in case. |
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| Miss E painting the grass on our balcony garden :) |
Ok. Nite nite. Much love from us all.
Maybe *now* I can sleep. I can never sleep when Q is away unless I am really really tired.. hehe...
Tired but happy to be there!!
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