It seemed a good rainy day project, maybe stretching to a few days. The instructions said easy assembly. My youngest was enthused and helped me paint it her favorite color: pink. I convinced her not to have the entire thing a solid pink, mainly by promising to paint all the trim white myself. Oh so much tiny trim.

My grandmother gave me this dollhouse after I was married. My husband found the kit recently when he was cleaning out the garage. I’ve had it for probably 24 years. The Dura-craft dollhouse company went out of business in 2005. The copyright date on the instructions is 1992. I discovered these last two facts after the project was spread over two tables and a bench in the middle of the house.

I discovered on day two, after the painted parts were dry, that the company and I have different definitions of “easy assembly”. Each piece of tiny trim needs to be cut to size. I have some good wood glue, but even that needs some time to set before going on to the next step. So it will take awhile to get everything assembled using a stop and go method. My youngest does come by and show interest and helps, which keeps me going. I may also be getting a wee bit obsessed. My youngest wanted wall paper inside, “Pink flowers” wall paper. I designed a repeating pattern in Photoshop and then shrunk it down to doll house size and printed it. I then used Modge podge glue to attach the paper to the wall, and other coat of glue on top to protect the paper. Maybe a little obsessed…