Problem Solved (Mostly)

A few things were bothering me about this arrangement.  Not the house itself - it's a cute thing and it was sweet of my sister to nab it from the yard sale for me - but my space is limited.

1. Making it the home of John and Pocahontas was stressing me out.  They need furniture!  Where do I put Anakin?!  Is this going to detract even more from the Pikes as the "main family" of my stories?!  I had made a fake doorway into a picture of a kitchen to dodge at least a bit of the furniture issue and managed cardboard box beds, but otherwise they had basically nothing.

2. I got in trouble before because my dollhouse was "blocking emergency egress".  Granted, that was my huge dollhouse that's taller than me, but my paranoia was setting off alarms.  Most of that third floor room is visible from outside.  That's how I got busted last time, they saw it from outside.

3. I know me.  I gotta keep it to one dollhouse for one family, at least until money falls from the sky and I can have an actual doll room.  Right now, I have a doll corner! 

But how to make this work as part of the Pike home?  How to work around that "emergency egress" thing?  Most of my doll corner is windows because I like the natural light for photo stories.  Finally, yesterday evening, it struck me.  The basement.  I've always said they had a second bathroom and laundry in the basement.  Why not have more rooms down there?

Swing it around sideways, remove the third story, and viola!  It's not as cute anymore, but it works.  Since I'm pretending these rooms are underground, it won't bother me (much) that the scale is off.  there's even space beside it for the third floor room to be used.  

The second story dollhouse window can still get good light in there.  The top of this section can be either a second deck or an area to set scenes.  I haven't really decided which, but I'm leaning toward the latter.  I'm very fond of the deck they already have.  

There is a problem with the first floor window, though.  But the kitchen was already a bit of a challenge anyway.  Not much sunlight gets down there!  I'll probably find a nice scenery picture and cover this up so no one has to look at at a hot pink wall during meals. That goes on my to-do list.

Fred and the baby twins get a nursery.  

Sarcastic Fringehead gets a tiny studio.  I had to redo these walls to cover up the fake kitchen doorway, but I still kept the coffee shop mural.  

I used a big cardboard box as a riser.  I will have to devise a sturdier floor for this room and hope to eventually find a small table to fit here.  I wonder what the Pikes will put in this room once it is ready.  My paranoia has calmed, I'm no longer stressing over the logistics of two houses, and I still found a way to use my sister's gift!  Yay for me!