Kid Kraft Modern Luxury Dollhouse

 

Got another project.

Picture from Internet 

This is the Modern Luxury dollhouse by Kid Kraft.  

Mine looks like this.

  That silver thing is what's left of the elevator.

It's got stickers and scribbles.

 

Side views for the sake of completion.

The back is blank except for an unhelpful manufacturer sticker.

Third floor has a serious sag issue and a stain.  

This isn't an issue for my plans., since it's not mold or mildew.

Second floor has a sag issue beside the elevator shaft.

On the work table for cleaning.

Yes, most of the third floor is gone now.

Contact paper for cinderblock walls.

Elevator shaft covered with strong cardboard.

Push pins and duct tape solve the sag problem. 

A bit of the ugly "linoleum" floor is visible.

And I forgot my camera existed.

One side of the first floor is papered with assorted scraps.

I left the pink side as it was.

My "bleachers" went on top.

It solved more of my storage issues than I expected. 

The classroom's bin and the playroom shelf are now free.

I need a few more desks for my classroom.

And some educational wall decor.

First floor is now a playroom.

Two playrooms if you wanna get technical.

All told, not bad for trash picking and an afternoon's work.

Clean up might take longer than the actual project did!

Downsizing Gone Wild

 

Downsizing crossed a line at some point and became a total rearrangement of both bedroom and living room.  When I finally got all the major stuff done, the closet area looked like this: 

I decided I don't need a permanent classroom set, given my folding house that was Sunburst and the 70's Dream House.  I also have my table on which I can set up pretty much anything that suits my abilities and inclination.  I did keep the pantry, sans kitchenette.  The giant clear bin full of Barbie clothes is off camera, in front of the closet door.

The dollhouse got torn apart, carried into the living room, and reassembled with some walls reversed.  Reversing the walls was the easiest way to "repaper" the rooms in question.  Everyone can hang out in the house or on the corner shelf.   

Human guests don't have to invade my inner sanctum to play dolls.  Some play items are stored in the bedroom, but can be quickly fetched.  

In the window corner are all the large play items.  And my laundry hamper.

I decided to look for a better kitchen set.  I found this on Amazon.  It's inexpensive and has counters.  Tiny ones, but counters nonetheless.  Fancy Life made most of my school desks, the dining room table, and now the kitchen appliances! (Their dining chairs break easily, though.)

The entire set fits nicely along one wall.  That rounded counter next to the squared one bugs me.  I might slide everything down a bit and then stick the sink where the fridge is, but sideways.

Yes, I know this is a repeated picture.  Hush.  First floor, we have the eat-in kitchen and the living room.  Second floor are the brat rooms, divided by biological sex of said brats.  Attic has become the master bedroom/nursery, with a tiny playroom hidden behind the faux wall.  All bathrooms and stairs are, of course, invisible.

 

Downsizing Is Hard (Part Three)

 

I already mentioned that the adolescents in the classroom are either Harry Potter, Creatable World, or Claudia.  My dollhouse family males are hybrids, but the girls are not.  Jeremiah is a Fashionista and the twins are Finnick from Hunger Games, all three on MTM bodies.  Fred is a Kelly on a Zoe body.  Diana is Wonder Woman.  Belle and Hermione are from the recent Harry Potter line. Emma is the Hermione doll from the 90s.  Samara is a Babysitter Skipper baby.  

The children are mostly Chelseas and Kelly/Zoe hybrids.  Dan is the Harry Potter from the 90s.  Roxy is a Gymnast Stacie.  

The shoe holders house everyone else.  Most of the dolls pictured here are hybrids. 

MTM, Inspiring Women Susan B.  Anthony, and two wrestler ladies.  I'm pretty sure the wrestler ladies have the same body mold as Diana.  Divergent couple, Navajo Code Talker GI Joe (broken talk box), and Happy Family Grandma.

Cutie Reveals, Star Wars, and Barbie Extras.  

Fresh dolls, BMR 1959s, and two hybrids.

BTS, Barbie The Look, and a BRM 1959.

Harry Potter adults and a BTS.

Hiding in the bottom of my closet.  Wheelchairs, donor bodies, stands, etc.

Up top in my closet and neatly labeled.  Okoye's box (with all her stuff in it in case I decide to display her) and Western Fun Barbie in her box.  The Western Fun Barbie is notorious for not aging well and mine is no exception.

The display dolls are in the living room.  Two 18 inch Pocahontas dolls, Video Girl Barbie (who does work), Monster High Cleo and Lagoona, and Rusty.  I dress Rusty for upcoming holidays.

Pikes' Addition - Conclusion

WARNING NUDE DOLL CARNAGE AHEAD

LEAVE NOW IF YOU'RE A GIANT PRUDE

With the dollhouse done except for touches like wall art, the next step was reorganizing the bins.  This one even reached the closet where I keep things like wrapping paper and holiday window clings!

This set of drawers came out of the holiday closet.  It previously held flat wrap, scraps for padding, and to/from tags.  They've all moved to new homes to make room for (top to bottom): Beach, Sunburst, and Playground.  I had room in the bedroom closet for it because of all the free parking created elsewhere!

Bins for Shoes, Day Care, Food, and Work are smushing the Weapons!

Bins for Barn, Sports equipment, Cutie Reveal heads/hands, and one for Hats Bags Glasses Belts.  Beside them are a few empties.

Only that one wheelchair is really out of place, believe it or not. 

The Mother of The Boy gave me this nice sorting case for the shoes.  The Shoe bin is now the Boot bin.  This is great because, since my dolls rarely wear shoes, they tend to just get tossed in the bin and it takes me forever to find an actual pair.  (I pose the photos so y'all can't see their feet.)  This way, I can find pairs when needed and avoid having a surplus by sending extras to my dolly friends. 

The Mother of The Boy also gave me a doll.  Since I got some orphan heads for Christmas, it was time to sort through the donor bodies.  One of the donor bodies was a Rainbow High - which doesn't work with Barbie type noggins - and Carol Danvers stole the hands.  They're a little small, but she prefers them to the gloved fists she came with.

I managed two matches.  The Belle doll will be Paige, for the cartoon's voice actress. The other needs a name.  I keep trying to call her Gabrielle for some reason, but we have Gabriella Montez! One of these ladies will be an eye doctor, since I got appropriate equipment in the box from Goodwill. 

Not bad for a mere fortnight's work, if I do say so myself.

 

Never Organized Enough

I've been reading about people using their stay-at-home time to reorganize and deep clean their homes.  Even though I try to keep things fairly well organized and do a deep clean in months divisible by three, I decided to see what I could do.  The area most in need of this was Barbieville.

Everything on this tall shelf is doll related.  I did have some non-doll items here and two of the vehicles in my desk area, but decided to remedy that situation.  Now, the only dolls outside of this area are the BOUS*, two Monster High gals, and Edna Mode.

At the border between Barbieville and Desk Area, we find the printer shelf.  The lowest shelf used to be a parking lot for the Jeep and Golf Cart.  It now holds coloring books, crayons, and my bin of Lego blocks.  The upper and third shelves used to hold assorted paper for the printer, phone books, and toy VWs.  Second shelf now holds my board games.  Upper shelf holds phone books and printer paper.  Top surface is, of course, the printer.  Keeping it company are the Pocahontas twins, Edna Mode, and Freddy Krueger.  Rusty has invaded Barbieville.

My VW toys took over this knick knack shelf.  Only the almighty Sam Booze survived the invasion.  (Wine from Two Paddocks, Sam Neill's winery.)

Odd combination of loose cards.  One of these games doesn't even live here!

Now I gotta figure out where to put all the homeless knick knacks that have invaded my pop culture shelf!  They done knocked Negan down and threw two other guys on the floor!  The carnage! 

*Barbies Of Unusual Size include Rusty (My Size Barbie) and 18 inch Pocahontas twins 

"Basement" Progress

If you'll recall, I recently started a bit of a reorganization project on my doll corner.  There are issues with rules set up by the Powers That Be.  I wrote it into the photo stories as a remodel of the Pike basement.  When we left the project, it looked like this:

I needed time and inspiration to finish the job.  I wanted to give the room a decent floor and a bit more height.  Just a bit, because I don't want to block the windows.  The makeshift garage here (cardboard box cut to size) is too short to pull The Tank into, which is one of the goals.  The Tank is almost the perfect height for the room to achieve maximum elevation.  

My public library has a shelf of books and other media, no longer in circulation.  You can pick up what catches your eye for a contribution.  They've had two laser discs on that shelf for quite some time.  While I have no laser disc player, I can certainly find use for those sturdy cases and the inserts.  The inserts are easy enough - posters for Doll County Museum exhibits!  

It was the cases that convinced me. Positioned correctly, they can provide exactly what I need.  And if not, I'm only out 57 cents.  (All the cash I had on me!)  Since I'd figured out a strong floor, that part wasn't needed. (I had a dismantled dollhouse wall awaiting permanent assignment as a backdrop.  It became a floor.) 

Height comparison between the laser disc cases and the vacuum box.  I used packing tape to create a stable three-sided riser.  I want need the front open for garage space.  The ultimate test, of course, was The Tank.  I can't back it in because of the rooftop deck, but it fits the other way! 

No, Wilma, I don't know what I'm gonna do with the discs.  You can use them as a mirror for now.

All the cars are out of the way, the room has a sturdy floor, and I'm not breaking my landlord's rules!  

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!