Starting to put the house together

 January 2023

Putting the walls of the ground floor and first floor together was not a problem, but the roof was.  Added to the problem was the fact that I couldn't put the back on before we went on holidays and upon our return the walls and roof had sagged to one side... 😪

September 2023

When I finally thought I had it right I put the back on, only to discover that the pitch of the roof was not correct and the walls were leaning too much so I could not fit the door properly.  In the end I bought a new sheet of mdf and started again.  Second time around I had more success. 😊

Before I had planned to build the windows and doors myself I had bought a few doors.  So, the door to the rooftop area is a double door.  To make it fit properly so that the doors could open completely I had to make the door frames narrower on the inside.  That worked quite well.    

July 2024

Life got in the way, and nothing was done for a long time.  Just a few [ictures taken to show what the back of the house looked like with the new sheet of mdf fixed. 

The story behind the Dutch House

In the late 1990s, way before Facebook, people communicated with each other via Yahoo Groups and forums.  When an American Yahoo Group for dolls houses and miniatures fell apart I joined a Dutch one by chance.  The ENPEG, or otherwise known as The First Dutch Dolls House Email Group. One of the members and owner of the shop "The Stolp" designed a kit for a Dutch House, which I bought and which was kindly delivered to me by friends of hers who visited us in Australia. And next it sat there as a flat pack for almost 22 years, while I tried to finish my Del Prado dolls house which I had started in 1998, built a witch's cottage, a flower shop and a myriad of roomboxes and vignettes, some of which are mentioned in my blog Marion's Miniatures!

 

Because I had bought, and made, various items for the Dutch house over time I thought a while ago that it was about time I did something about it and started putting it together in 2023.  What with gardening and travelling as my other interests it didn't quite progress as fast as I had hoped for, but I got it underway at least.

 

It was quite a challenge putting the kit together without instructions and a difficult roofline, but I got there. I needed a new sheet of MDF to rectify a mistake, but that wasn't a big deal.  I changed my mind a few times about what to do next, as I had not bought the doors and windows that went with it, neither the door to close off the front of the dolls house.  At first I wanted to keep that open and I would have windows on the sides, but I didn't quite like that idea after all, so I am now working on plans for an opening front which should include a front door and several windows which I plan to make myself.