aka “Do you want a cork for that whine?”
All my crazy is all my own fault. No matter which direction I turn, there are sirens calling, “Do this! Do that! You can do it! Take on another project! More! More! More!”
I don’t spend a lot of money.
That’s not the problem.
I accumulate… crafty projects and writing projects and volunteer stuff and, of course, the never-ending house maintenance and decorating projects.
And then you are moving too fast and get careless and break your arm by taking a flying leap off a spaghetti light and need surgery and then endless sessions of physical therapy.
Normal American daily life stuff that is kind of… banal… but kind of… miraculous, the lifeblood of your very life.
But which also is sisyphean (yes, I had to look up how to spell that) and all my own doing because I really don’t *need* to take on a bunch of it.
It’s just that…
… There are those sirens calling, “Do this! Do that! You can do it! Take on another project! More! More! More!”
And now, to keep up with Katiedynamodoodle, I have a vintage estate sale dollhouse of my own to decorate.
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Well Pam if you start now you can probably have the ultimate American dream – a two story colonial in the suburbs, albeit miniature – completely renovated for Christmas at which time you can make a little orni-wreath for the front door. Dueling dollhouses: mid century vs. traditional. You do keep us all entertained and we can relate to your “whine”. Happy Friday. The calendar says spring but it feels like winter.
Yes, I’m already thinking ornie wreaths, how small can you go! Kate already gave me the idea for how to make an aluminum Christmas tree: https://retrorenovation.com/2012/12/19/5-minute-kitschmas-make-a-mini-evergleam-peacock-tree-out-of-pipe-cleaners/
I bought the pipe cleaners for that project last year but never got around to making it or several of them. Maybe I should start now and be proud of myself for finishing a Christmas project early.
What an adorable house! I love the colonial doorway and rooster on the chimney. Pam, don’t think of this as a task; it’s just pure enjoyment. You’ll love it. Plus, there’s very little chance that you will fall off of anything.
🙂
Ugh. Yes. I am going to *try* and use this project as an exercise in patience. I did that with my last few ornie wreaths — I took my sweet time, like 10 hours each and really tried to use the experience as a period of enjoyment rather than obligation!
I just learned from the current This Old House project that the little overhang of the second floor makes this a “Garrison Colonial”
Yes, I love that term!
You’re funny Pam :)….. I couldn’t have resisted that darling house either.
(You want some cheese with that whine)
Pam,
If right now you are overwhelmed, relax before you do anything, live with your new house for a year before you dive into remodeling.
It will give you a chance to see what the house wants and maybe the old house gods will bless you with items you can use.
Sometimes procrastination saves your sanity as well as time and money.
Hehehe good advice Rick S 😉
Yes, I think it may take me a while. I only want to use things I accumulate at estate sales, etc. It surely will take the Retro Decorating Gods a while to send things my way!
Pam,
Hope it will have a miniature turquoise kitchen, I adore yours!
Yes, maybe it will!
This makes me happy! Want to know why? Because I have an entire corner in my garage filled with Dollhouses, waiting to be restored. I need a craft space to be able to give these babies my attention. There is something therapeutic about bringing old dollhouses out of the muck and restoring them to their former glory. <3
I have two things to say which set my own mind at rest:
1. I used to keep a diary, and I felt like I had to write in that thing every day. But then, I read “Anna’s Book” by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell). It’s a mystery thriller written in diary form, and of course it’s completely fictional. BUT–I realized that over the course of one’s life, you can skip weeks, months, and even years and still have a pretty thick volume when you’re finished!
2. One day my grandma (who is now 95) told me that she found a project that she’d abandoned years ago (it was an embroidered tablecloth) … and she decided to start on it again and finish it. She’d set it aside for 50 YEARS!
So hey Pam, there’s seriously no rush when it comes to crafts, side projects, etc. That’s what makes them fun.
S.
She’s one of my favorite authors. Her mysteries as Ruth Rendell are great, too 🙂
By the way, I’ve never gotten around to making an ornament wreath, but one day I will. I did make Kate’s yule log, though, for which I am very proud of myself.
Awesome Susie Q! 🙂
If I don’t post this link, someone else is sure to do it – a new tutorial on 1 Inch Minis for a Malm/Preway – style fireplace. I thought of Kate right away! (Maybe a little too ’60’s for a 1955 dollhouse, but hey.)
http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.ca/2015/04/retro-cone-shaped-fireplace-tutorial.html
Awesome! I used one of her lampshade patterns to make table lamps for the dollhouse. I’ll bookmark this for sure. 🙂
Such a cute dollhouse! It sounds familiar…I have so many craft projects in progress & yet to do & I feel overwhelmed. Right now I’m embroidering a vintage linen I found at an estate sale that wasn’t completed! Oy, I’m crazy. I decided to clear out & donate a lot of newer crafting stuff to someone who crafts with kids…I’m making a dent.
Love it!
When my daughter was 5-8 years old (the whiny stage), I would always ask her if she wanted “some cheese with that whine”. She would get so mad and exclaim at the top of her lungs, “WHY DO YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT TO ME? I DON’T WANT ANY CHEESE!!”
(the truth is, I said it mostly to entertain myself)
Pam, you clever devil! Such a great post, in so many ways.
I had to look up “Sisyphean” too, but to find out what it meant, and I discovered that Sisyphus was known as the craftiest of men. ( But not in the good way. )
Love this dollhouse thing you two have going on. I don’t remember much of my early childhood, but I remember getting that iconic tin dollhouse with plastic furniture for Christmas when I was very young, maybe 4 or 5. Our family didn’t have much money, and we only got one Christmas present, and maybe one from our sophisticated aunt who was a schoolteacher in the big city of Grand Rapids, MI . (She once gave me and my sister Barbie doll cases–the REAL kind, not the cheap imitation ones. I still love the smell of new vinyl 🙂 That dollhouse was a total surprise and more than I ever expected, and I loved it. Dollhouses bring back such good feelings for me!
Now, back to painting the bathroom and grouting tile in the little table for the porch.
(Around here, we call these kinds of complaints, “Rich people problems”. 🙂
Yes, we call them First World Problems…
I remember going to a craft store once with my 10 year old daughter and she told me that she felt a little depressed going to a craft store. I asked her and she told me that it just remembers all the projects she had started and not finished! She figured this out way before most of us! I always say I have to use up all my fabric before I die. Of course, I seem to buy more now and then…..
Nice doll house and much luck to you. Maybe you and Kate will start a new “in” trend for the dollhouse crafters.
What a precious doll house! Enjoy your time working on it—let the world fall away!
Such a great post and responses. Makes me feel better about my “list”.
Did anyone else look at the pictures and suddenly long for a teeny tiny working vacuum?
Title made me laugh so hard the dogs came in to investigate.
🙂
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have recently completed a project begun in the 1970s–“The Unicorn in Captivity,” a very large crewel piece designed by Erica Wilson. Like Susie Q’s grandma, I had it sitting around for decades. I moved it six times: from East Haven, CT to Birmingham, AL, to three houses in New Haven, CT, to Cheshire, CT, and finally to my current 1959 ranch in the wilds of New London County. I sat looking at the walls in my new living room and said, “Hmm–I think I saw that nearly finished crewel picture in the attic.” It took me only a week to finish it and another week to have it framed, and I felt stupid that I hadn’t done it before. But it was almost as though it hadn’t had a place before so it didn’t call to me from the closet.
Among the 100 or so projects tucked away in attic and basement and closets are Marimekko fabric imported from Finland last year to make new sofa pillows, fabric for a valance and placemats to go in my new (2012) dining room in colors to complement my collection of Canonsburg china, and a pair of half-embroidered pillowcases that no longer go with any bedroom in my house. I think in that case I am going to spend an evening in front of the TV picking out the floss and re-embroider it in colors I like and need.
But the absolute worst is fabric and a pattern for a maternity dress I wanted to make my daughter when she was pregnant with her first child–that child is now 22 years old. 🙂
I once had a web site that sold doll house kits. The Victorian kit I wanted was $360. And that’s why I still don’t have a doll house.
Honestly, I don’t even see this as needing THAT much work! I think it’s lovely as is (in fact I’m quite envious). Just search for vintage furniture on ebay and call it good. BTW, I have quite a few dollhouses of varying sizes and eras
oh but…. I don’t do things the easy way!