A Dream in Miniature

A picture here would be nice but I don't have one.  I'm looking.

This little one room log cabin is not meant to be an old log cabin but a modern cabin made with chain saws and anything that could be used in a wilderness area.  The logs have been sent to the lumber mill and they are back.  The owner chose square logs because they would be easier to use.

Of course the logs are not cherry in the real imaginary cabin but the builder had access to some wonderful cherry lumber scraps for the 1:12 version of this cabin.

If the miniature log cabin was a real cabin it sits,  in the home owner's mind,  on the southern edge of Lake Superior in Upper Michigan high up on the beach front just into the edge of the forest.   It looks out over this massive expanse of water except that there is an island visible and at night you can see a light house light to warn off ships in the area.

That is the Huron Island Lighthouse .  This is an abandoned light house but the light is still in service.  The solar powered light is comforting at night as seen from the cabin on the mainland where there is no light at all for miles.

We've been to this location only once - the roads are terrible - mostly no longer used logging roads - but campers were on the beach.  We probably will never return but what a wonderful place to have a log cabin retreat.

Goin Fishin

We, the 2 resin helpers and I, have  come a long way.   The cabin is pretty much repaired - needs some paint touch up.  Isn't that how it is in real life too?   The chimney is started.   Found the roof and that is in process.

But the guys want a break and I need to be elsewhere too.

So they will take some time for the canoe and maybe a little fishing and I'll get a few other things accomplished.   We'll be back soon.

Repair Progress

Repairs are progressing.   Only one piece seems to be missing and I remember that our Lab ate it.

The builder (me) is getting anxious to start the chimney.

The Lakeside - Finally

And here we are looking at the damaged side.   I see he got some help for this.   Wish I had some help.   I don't know where to start.   The sliding glass door is unstuck so that's progress.

And now on to some real work on repairs.

Oops, No Door

No damage on this end.  The chimney goes where the guy is standing and he's planning.   Once the chimney is up - life can begin on the inside.

The winter shutter is on the doorway because there is a battle between the builder and the homeowner. The builder feels a need for a small stick built addition here for a tiny primitive kitchen.   The owner plans to eat only sandwiches.  

To enter the cabin - use the sliding glass door toward the lake until further notice.   Right now you  will need to use a ladder.

Away From Lake

I never know which is the front of a lake home.   This is the side away from the lake.

So far so good.

And a peek inside.  Remember the cabin is no bigger than a standard double car garage.

Start Where It's Easy

West side of the cabin.   This cabin is a dream of my husbands.   I build it and he dreams about a real one.   In his imagination it faces Lake Superior - so this is the west side of the cabin and all the pieces are here.  Yippee

  After the move and being stored, that guy with the cup of coffee is airing the place out.

Cherrywood Log Cabin

The big people moved to a new house.   This totally from scratch log cabin wasn't completely finished and it was damaged during the move.

Take a peek inside. She looks like she has suffered severe storm damage. I hadn't realized the porch was separated from the roof.

Here we go with this adventure. Fix it and finish it.

Let's Talk Scale

The 1946 Rich Dollhouse is not 1":1' . This made shopping for it difficult but not impossible and it drove me to try making my own furniture which I enjoy. This house is closer to 3/4":1' and if there is a better way to put this please comment.

Rich Dollhouse has a 28"x12" base without the porch.

The Cherrywood Log Cabin is 1":1' but after I was almost finished I realized it is not really a dollhouse but an architectural model because it is the whole cabin and dollhouses are not as deep as a real house.

You must look in from the top or a window and not from the back or front.

All Settled In - The End

And here's a view of the refurbished and decorated house.

Thanks for visiting.

She Sews - She Doesn't Cook

Last room and it had to be a sewing room.

I kept the original floor and my father's gold paint from 1946 but again added wainscoting to calm it all down and make it look clean.

I made a rug that matches the wallpaper border above the wainscoting but I wanted everyone to see the original floor.

Table and chair new Christmas 1946.

 I made the ironing board and sewing basket.

 Cupboard purchased about 1996.

Home From school

I didn't find the missing items but I can change this picture later.

No little boy lives in this house and most of these toys will go into my Real Good Toys house when I get that far with it.   In the meantime this little boy comes home here.
This center entrance room has the paint my father used in 1946.   I tried to keep one of the wallpapers but it all fell off.   But too much green was too much green so I went into wainscoting production.   I like the end result - a little old and a little new.   The red bench was my first effort at furniture. Note the real marble topped table - from my grandmother's items.

What will I do with this room when the little boy leaves?   A music room/entrance?   I really think only a couple with their baby and a visiting grandparent is enough.   His butt sort of fits that rocker.

Let's Go Downstairs

The living room has a big mix of items from different eras and that window keeps falling apart.   Construction was huge in this room and fun.   Another very old chair sits by the stairway - that I left as is in hopes that I could identify the house.   Carpeting that stairway was not fun.  I love to make tiny baskets and here you see one holding books.   I added the bookcases and shelf so I had a place to put "things".   The stairway wall shows how the inside of the house looked before I started refurbishing - bumpy masonite.  I wallpapered the other side.

And now a break!   As I took pictures of the next room, I realized some pieces are missing.   So on a hunt I will go.

No One Here?

The furniture is mostly from 1995 and the cupboard is my 2nd attempt at furniture construction from scratch.   My first attempt is downstairs.   I need to find the original master bedroom furniture.   The chair at the back and next to the stairway well was from my grandmother.   It's much older than 1946. My grandmother had things for a little girl but I was the first one and only one in a long time.   Chairs have been reapholstered with pretty yellow silk ribbon.   Did she do that?   She wasn't a sewer. Underneath the silk ribbon is something red but that ribbon is sewed down tight and I like it too much to disturb it.   The table next to the bed came from Grandma too but not as old?

I made the Amish bedspread.  The throw rug was printed off the internet.   Maybe I'll change it to a real one some time.

Grandpa Reads a Story but Baby is Asleep

A baby girl's room with its new, in 1946, pink furniture - a pink playpen is downstairs, J L Hudson Co in Detroit again.   That huge department store had a whole floor of toys.   A wonderful place for a child to visit.   The blue rocking chair is a Chrysnbon kit - the first one I made.   The little log cabin directions came out of a Miniature magazine and was my first venture into log buildings.
By this time I'm loving the wallpaper job.   And my first attempt at carpeting went well too.

You get a another view of the vintage bathroom set from here.

Bathroom Madness

First room to be redone, about 1995, the learning curve was very high.

I cleaned and painted everything white and wallpapered.

Most of the furniture in the bathroom is from that Christmas in 1946 and from J L Hudsons, Detroit. The linen cupboard was new in 1995.

I made the blinds, valence, rug, and shower curtain.  Added lots of molding to make the house neat and clean. 

When this room was finished I breathed a sigh of relief.  Just maybe I can do this.

Refurbished, Move-in Ready

Here's the back of the house.   A lot of "lumber" has been added, wallpaper, paint, new carpeting, built-ins, waincoting, moldings, etc.

6 rooms: Living room, Entry hall, sewing room, (what? no kitchen?) on main floor. Master bedroom, baby girl's room and bathroom on the 2nd floor.

The Beginning

Christmas 1946, my first Christmas in our very own house after World War II.  There was this wonderful dollhouse under the tree.  My father and mother purchased it at J L Hudson's in Detroit and my father spent many hours putting it together in the basement.  I never saw it until Christmas morning.  He decorated it with real house wool carpeting and full size wallpaper.  The master bedroom had one wallpaper motif - a huge bird.  I tried to keep that bird when I refurbished my dollhouse but it fell off the wall so I knew the house was telling me that it was time for that bird to go.  The carpet was at least 1/2" thick but was installed with a lot of love.

August 2011, this childhood dollhouse was identified as a Rich Dollhouse made 1946 - 1947. No changes have been made to the outside.