It is a beautiful cloudless, sunny day in Iowa  The temperature is trying very hard to reach 30 degrees, which is remarkable considering it is nearly the end of January.  Chuck and I have been working on the Thornhill for several days now.  All of the 'prep work' takes so much time:  things like sealing all of the wood surfaces, squaring all of the corners of each opening, and reading and re-reading all of the 'instructions' before diving in.  The instructions from Real Good Toys leave a great deal to be desired.  Chuck thinks I should 'write' my own instructions for construction of this behemoth and send them to Real Good Toys.  But for now, I am content in knowing that my Thornhill will probably survive a nuclear holocaust. 

The first photos show my 'peg construction'.  I am drilling 1/8" holes at every point where a nail would be required, and inserting a 1/8" dowel peg to hold the pieces together.  It has been my hope to have absolutely NO NAILS in this construction, but we will allow screws to hold the hinges necessary to create the openings on the mansion. 

The construction of the 'foundation' was fairly straight forward, and it was completed with no 'glitches'.

With the foundation complete, today we arose early to tackle the beginning construction phase of the mansion. Because both sides of the house will be hinged and open for access to the house, as will the center front panel and back panels, these parts had to be 'tacked' in place and then I used yards of masking tape to keep things in position.  We also decided to temporarily 'tack' all of the points where we will be drilling holes and inserting wooden dowels as construction 'nails'.  So, here are the photos of today's work.  I am tired, and I think Chuck is sick of my orders and complaints.  It must be very difficult for him to deal with such an anal person as myself.  I just have to have things done correctly!!!  Bless his heart, he didn't complain too loudly, and was a big help to me--especially when we had to lift the mansion up onto the foundation.  There it will stay for a few days so I can analyze my work, and work out the details of my next steps in constructions.  The first thing will be to strengthen the 'glue joint' where the floor meets the walls by drilling holes and inserting dowels through the outside walls and into the center of the floor.  I certainly am so thankful for Dremel and Black & Decker  rotary and hand tools.  They surely make my life easier when building miniatures and doll houses.

So there you have a day's work on the Thornhill Mansion.  It certainly doesn't look like much, but believe me, what you see constitutes approximately 46 hours of work over the past week or so.  I will be happy to get to the 'fun' stage.  That would be when construction reaches a point where floors can be inlaid, fireplaces built-in, stairways installed, and decorative finishes applied.  All will come in good time, but for today, enough done and enough said.  Now to step outside and breathe the nice clean crisp Iowa air. 

Dottye



Well the wonderful 'Florida type' weather we were experiencing in December and the first few weeks in January finally came to an end.  Mother Nature decided we had been basking in far too much sun and warmth and we are now in the throws of the winter one would expect in Iowa--i.e. below zero temperatures and snow (you know that white fluffy stuff that looks so beautiful when one is inside looking out, but so ugly and treacherous when one has to venture outside into the 'stuff'.  So, what better time to stay inside and work on the Thornhill.

We had already removed the construction pieces necessary for the first phase of the project.  The first thing on the agenda was to 'square' all of the window and opening holes.  When they are machined at the factory the router cuts out the window and door holes.  Consequently, all the corners that are supposed to be square are gently rounded.  So I squared up each corner with a triangle and pencil marked what needed to be removed.  Then Chuck got out the mini-handsaw and squared them up. 

 So today I applied a mixture of one part shellac and one part denatured alcohol to all the surfaces of each piece.  This seals the wood and insures a much better working surface for paint and other finishes.

Next was to assemble the foundation.  Now that this has been accomplished, tomorrow I will apply a base coat of white latex paint to all of the wall and ceiling surfaces of each component.  The floors and outside surfaces will be left with just the shellac coating.  As soon as the paint has dried/cured, we will begin assembly. 

So today, having nothing else to do (yeah right), I decided to build a little Chippendale 3-drawer chest.  I have it all together, but need to stain it and finish it with a hand rubbed finish, and apply the itsy bitsy brass hardware.

I think that will be quite enough for today.  The sun is going down and with my 'old' eyes and their macular degeneration, it is very difficult for me to do to much close work and/or detail work under incandescent lighting.  Daylight is the time for me to do my work.  So, for today and probably a couple of days, I will leave the blog for you to read, and continue with my plans and order for construction for the Thornhill swirling about my head. 

Here's hoping you are in a climate where you do NOT have to deal with snow and ice.  The older I get, the more I detest the cold and the snow--and from me, a person who years back was on the ski slopes from the day the first snowflake fell until the last manmade snow pellet was made.  Those are days far gone, and never to return.

Dottye

Today the construction of the Thornhill begins in earnest.  The house is so large that the room I am using for constructing the house is a tad small for all of the boxes of 'pieces' that will eventually become the Thornhill.  I had Chuck bring the largest box in which contained all of the pieces for the house.  It was packed in 'layers' and fortunately with a 'map' that pretty muich labeled each piece in a corresponding photo with a number.  So we removed each piece, placed a colored paper sticker dot on each piece and put the number on each piece.  Then we went through all of the pieces and pulled out the pieces we need to begin construction which involves the foundation, the first floor outside walls, and the second floor base piece.  The plywood is 3/8" so this is a very weighty project to work on.  Most of my previous houses were made from 3.6 mm die cut plywood (except for several room boxes I made).  So this will be a bulky project.  The thing I like best is that the pieces are all pre-cut and engineered to fit perfectly together.  That all remains to be seen, but I do have hopes that there won't be too many issues or hang-ups.  Here are a few photos of the 'beginning of the Thornhill on 2nd Street'.  And yes, our one pomeranian Constanzia had to insert her 'nose' into the project.  She has to be the most curious animal I have ever known.  Bless her heart.  My little Emily just layed on the couch watching it all.  She just can't be bothered by such mundane things.  LOL
The plywood construction base on the table is 4' wide x 28" deep.  So you can see it will be a good sized house. 

The little drop-leaf table belonged to my grandmother. It was her kitchen table for as long as I have been alive (71 years). It had been painted white years before I was born. About 20 years ago, my dad gave it to me. They had found it in grandma's basement. The drop leaves were no longer attached, and the white paint was peeling--in short it appeared beyond help. But I stripped it and repaired it. I have identified it as being from 1902, and it is made from chestnut and oak. Quite a combination. It has been in our family room ever since. Please excuse the walls that are in need of painting. Just can't do that until the Thornhill is completed. By the way, the walls are the original hair/plaster walls from the year our house was built: 1867 !!!

 Well, that has been enough for today.  Just lugging out the large boxes did me in.  I'm not as young as I used to be, and I certainly am made aware of that fact at times like these.  Tonight or tomorrow, I will get out the shellac and denatured alcohol mixture and apply it to all sides of the pieces we will be using for the initial construction units.  Then we will begin to put it together.  Because we plan to electrify the house with the 'tape wire system', I didn't want to have any (or at least minimal) nails/brads in the house.  So we have decided to put it together with 1/4" drilled holes at each construction point where a nail would be normally used and then inserting a dowel in the hole instead of a nail.  That will give the house incredible strength, and eliminate the  possibility of any metal coming in contact with any of our wiring tape.  This project requires so very much advance thinking and preparation--unlike the others I've done that were more like 3-D puzzles.  We keep having to think ahead of ourselves with the 'what if's' so that we don't end up having to 'de-construct' or redo any steps.  Nothing but fun and games. 

The weather here today is so unseasonably warm.  It is nearly 50 degrees!!!  Amazing for January in Iowa.  I am certain we won't be so fortunate for the rest of the winter season.  But, I will be snug as a bug in a rug in my family room, glueing, drilling, sawing, painting, and building.  One can't ask for anything finer!!!

Wishing the best for all of you and any of your endeavors,

Dottye

2011 has come and gone.  What a year it has been.  Some memories are wonderful to recall, and others are best forgotten.  Now a new year is upon us.  Time to renew our energies, and resolve to do all of the things we didn't finish last year.  I didn't have the heart to take the tree down today.  So, it will be one more day until I can begin to construct 'The Thornhill' in earnest.  However, today I removed a host of miniature materials, furniture, accessories, etc. from their despicable 'cardboard box' storage containers, and happily placed them in their 'new home'-- a wonderful handbuilt wooden 'trunk' my younger brother built.  He sent it to me just before Christmas, and I have been admiring it for several weeks now.  Today, I finally decided that its use would be as a repository for my dollhouse supplies.  The removeable tray is just the perfect width for storing flooring veneer sheets, wallpaper sheets, etc.  The bottom houses my containers of tiny accessories I have collected over the years, and part of my massive collection of 1:12 scale furniture.  I was like a little kid today unpacking all of my miniature "stuff" (as my husband refers to it) from the cardboard boxes where they were stored, and arranging them in the new trunk.  What fun !!!!! 

When the 'Thornhill' is complete, and everything has been utilized from the trunk, I will line the interior with a nice wallpaper, add some cedar bits and use it to store quilts and such.  Until then, it will serve very nicely as my secure storage for all things miniature.  Sorry the one photo will absolutely NOT make make a 1/4 turn to horizontal the way it was taken.  You will have to turn your head sideways to view correctly.

Going to relax and think about all the things I need to do tomorrow to ready the room for the Thornhill.  It will be in the spot I choose for a very long time.  So, to all of my friends Happy New Year, and may the year 2012 be filled with love, peace, happiness, prosperity, and good health for you and yours.

Dottye