I'm a Giant Dollhouse Challenge Update

I have been hard at work scouring the mighty mighty Ebay for dollhouse furniture for this little house and hard at work putting together the house as well, but wanted to fill you all in with an inspiration photo:

The fur will serve as a throw and pillows for the master bedroom and the greek key trim will most probs end up on the curtains. The paint palette from  left to right is as follows: Ballet Slipper Pink, Gabardine, Heavy Goose Metal, Plumage, and Sisal, all from the Martha Stewart paint collection. The sheet behind it all is a textured piece of scrapbook paper that has a metallic sheen to it that will serve as wallpaper. You all will have to wait to see where it ends up!

I can't wait to start putting these pieces together and show you some real sneak peeks!

PROGRESS!

We have liftoff. The first step has been completed (thanks to the help of my mister) of putting the dollhouse kit together. I also stained the first, second, and attic floor before we installed them with some stain we had at the house just to see if I'd like to use any of them as-is. It's not as dark as I'd have liked it to be so I may just add flooring on top anyway or re-stain them now that they are in, but I was trying to make use since we have 3 wood stains sitting on a shelf in our garage not being used. I also put all the treads and risers on the staircase and have painted the risers white. I am indecisive about whether they'll stay white, but I do love the look of stairways with white risers and black or dark-stained treads and railing like so:

via

The other option I'm considering is painting the staircase completely black so that the lettering I've decided to put on the risers will really stand out.

Even though the stair case in my dollhouse will not be visible from the back opening, I still wanted to do something special. So I've decided to stamp one of my favorite quotes since childhood onto the risers:

The

future

belongs

to 

those

who

believe

in

the

beauty

of

their

dreams.

Ain't it the truth? The quote is by Eleanor Roosevelt, whom Ella-bugs name is partially inspired by.

Lucky for me, I found an awesome tiny alphabet stamp set the day before yesterday for $1. Bargain of the month, for sure. At the time I had no idea if I'd even use it, but at $1 I was tempted to purchase more than just one as they had several lovely fonts.

Even though I am totally enjoying myself and making this how I want it, this doll house is really for Ella. Although she is too young to help or imaginatively play with it, I know I will not care if she breaks, stains, or rips apart something in it. Maybe by the time she's able to truly enjoy it she'll want to redecorate it how she likes and then the fun will begin all over again ;).

I'm A Giant Challenge

So If you are a interior design/Emily Henderson blog geek like me, then you know what the title of this post means. If not, then here's the dish: I have decided to participate in Emily Henderson's I'm a Giant Dollhouse Challenge! I am so excited and I never even liked dollhouses as a kid, so here's hoping that Ella-bug does, cause I haven't even finished step 1 of putting the dollhouse together, and that thing has already given me a headache!!
Let me explain myself a bit and say that although I was not into dollhouses as a kid, I have figured out why. Every one I had seen had looked SO granny and not chic. And yes, even as a child if a toy was not chic, I was so not into it.
Now that  am older ( and wiser?...) I have come to the realization that dollhouses are epic! I get to completely design this thing however I want to, and for once I don't have to hear from the Mr. that he doesn't like it, since he has no say since he doesn't have to live in it! YES! Totally winning, right?
The other great thing about dollhouses is that dollhouse furnishings while still expensive in terms of what you get for your hard earned moolah, are MUCH cheaper than life-size furnishings and I can repurpose things from around my home to DIY awesome things such as my own awesome sectional sofa (which I am totally considering) without having to worry about how it will 'hold-up' to spills, weight, and um well, the comfort test! Which makes this whole thing so much cheaper than furnishing a real home, because not gonna lie we have thought about DIYing our own sofa, but those things don't come easy or cheap y'all! (Ok sorry, I really shouldn't have said that, I am not southern. Not even a pinky or small toe's worth.)
So even though I know this seems uber dorky-geeky whatever you want to call it. I am so excited! I get to design my own house!
But first I have to build the thing... because like an idiot I bought a dollhouse kit. Not a dollhouse. Not that people who buy dollhouse kits are idiots, It's just that since this is for a challenge I am on a deadline. A tight one. Like as in 2 months from yesterday I have to be done.
This may be ok for some people but if I'm known for anything it's probably procrastination, like the type where I roll out of bed exactly 25 minutes before I have to leave for work because that is exactly how long it takes me to get dressed, partially straighten my hair, brush my teeth, and put a light layer of sunscreen, foundation and mascara on my face, providing of course that I showered before I went to bed and laid out my outfit for the next day the night before too. I may be a procrastinator, but I value my sleep people, and there's no way I'm getting up a full 45 minutes early to shower and pick out my clothes for the day. That's just not happening.
But I digress, what I should be doing is showing you guys the house I'm building. If I wasn't so frugal (cheap?) I would have spent the couple hundred bucks it costs to pick on out in a style I like (colonial, duh) but alas, I am cheap and emailed someone on Craigslist who had posted that they had 3 brand new in box dollhouses all in the same style ( the layout was BAD on this style) and asked if they had any others, and they did! They had one of Greenleaf's Westville that had been previously opened, started, then put back that they thought may be missing 2 parts, but that they thought I could cut the pieces out of the spare wood in the box. And the best part was that they wanted only $20 for it even though it retails for $110. So although the the style of home was totally not 'me', the layout was just about perfect and had the right number of rooms (5) that I wanted to tackle. So without further ado, here she is:

And here's what I plan to do/not do to her exterior:
1. do not add that weird decorative trim to the gable and front porch.
2. possibly leave out the all three upper patios as well.
3. paint her a lovely shade of gray.
4. paint her front door and shutters B-L-A-C-K, baby.
5. paint her roof silver. Yes, silver. I think. I want some whimsy and fun, but it may turn out to be a bit much since there is SO MUCH roof. So if this doesn't work, my second choice is charcoal, not whimsical, but classic.

As for her interior, these ideas are still kind of 'up in the air':
1. paint the living room gray,
2. put up black 'wallpaper' in the bathroom.
3. paint the boudoir the prettiest pink you ever saw.
4. Make the attic a home office/ storage space.

Like I said earlier, I haven't even completed the first section of the instructions. All I've done so far is punch out the pieces for step 1.  Which, in my defense, was actually quite a bit of work considering the number of pieces involved.

I hope you'll all root me along and if you have any cool ideas, please share! I'd love to hear them!