A diamond in the rough.....

Welcome to my 1:6 scale dollhouse blog!

It is certainly a diamond in the rough that I have brought home. This playscale gem was brought home today after being found in one of my favorite antique stores, Federated Warehouse located in the Richmond, Va. area. At first I had no intention of keeping it, merely selling it later. But the one sixth scale challenge was calling- and so were my fashion royalty and Silkstone Barbie gals- especially Agness and Vanessa. (They simply cannot bear living on my computer desk and dining room table. lol)

The house is quite large, but in extremely good condition. Though the staircases are somewhat crude, they are well made and finished, with mitered cuts. This house is a gem because whoever created it also created a 'garage' with roll door for the dolls, in the lower right floor. The piece of loose wood is of course, for the car to roll out and onto the floor or street. The door is made quite ingeniously out of a bread box slat door! Eugenia is happy, because now there is a safe place to keep her Bratz corvette!

The house measures an astonishing 51 inches high! Four feet, 3 inches. The three floors are of varying heights. The first floor is 14inches high, the 2nd floor is 15 inches high, and the third floor is 16 inches high. The entire house is 23 1/2 inches deep, and 36 1/2 inches wide. Here is a pic of the 2nd floor with Vanessa & Agnes inspecting their new home. The little diamond shaped thing on the back wall looks like a homemade attempt at a faux stained glass window.

My plans are quite simple, to turn this diamond in the rough into a beautiful upscale townhouse for my fashion dolls, and be a resting place for my massive 1:6 scale Bespaq furniture collection I have acquired. The house has wonderful bones-and looks like it was built by a person with cabinet or woodworking experience. My plan is to make it a lovely stucco townhouse, with the shingles on the roof painted a terra cotta color, with exposed brick. As you can see the windows and shutters are handmade of plexi and strip mold, which I think can be made to look more finished from the white and pale pink color it is now. It is solidly built, so am looking forward to this project.

I plan in this blog to take you through the creative process- the first thing will be to rip up that carpet so neatly tacked down, for the installation of wiring and also of three walls with doors, to seperate the rooms from the stairs with halls, like a normal townhouse. I am going to work on the premise that Agnes has bought herself a townhouse sight unseen in questionable condition, so the decorator (me!) will have to get moving with lights, and wallpaper, and action!

Here are the girls at different angles, Vanessa

on the stairs- I might be able to work with them by enclosing them in, and work on the storyline

premise that this is a very cramped pied a terre or townhome. Agnes, as always, is a drama queen and was devasted at the unfinished business of her new home.lol!

I plan to first work with the furniture I have and what colors the rooms should be painted. THe bottom floor will more than likely be a kitchen- after all, everyone has to eat right? So I have someplace for my Re-ments. The 3rd floor will most definitely be the bedroom, with my Bespaq Louis XV bedroom suite up there- I am still picking out colors, since the bed is upholstered in taupe silk. The ceilings in all of the rooms are too low for chandeliers, which would be level with the dolls' heads, so I think stationary lights will work, maybe table lamps also. Floors will be amixture of veneer flooring and also marble tiles, to keep it in keeping with Maison de la Royale. (the name I am playing with for the townhome for the girls)

More pics of this progress will be in my webshots album http://community.webshots.com/user/Barbietown in the new album of the same name. My progress will more than likely be slow, as current construction on my garage being flipped into a studio/office will come first, where Maison de la Royale will more than likely reside. I am toying with the idea of making the hallways with an Oriental flair- to house one of my custom designed 1:6 wingchairs I sell on my website, http://www.kingwilliamminiatures.us/(King William Miniatures) that are manufactured by Bespaq. Here is a pic of the 'Red Dragon', which would go well in the hallway since its legs are in a black lacquer finish-

I simply love this chair and its material, with medallions & green

dragons scattered across the fabric.

This chair is also available in my Ebay store, Pumpkin Hill

Studios, http://tinyurl.com/yjvz65 with a choice of five other chairs in different fabrics and finishes.

I will be posting more on this 1:6 scale venture, and can hardly wait to get started!