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