Constructing the Dream

Finishing my friend's Birithmas gift and having a few quiet days to myself has created a vortex of creativity and motivation I haven't had in years. I pulled out my mini dream house (The Mansion; aka Fantasy Victorian Mansion, because it's not time period authentic). I have very few photos of the house all together (both bases, with the Main House on one base and the Addition House on the other base) during construction. But the rooftop has never been fully assembled or even roughly put in place for very long...

Feb 2018 photo House in Progress (missing the top roof)

Feb 2018 photo showing "stone" being attached

Late 2018 photo doesn't have addition side in full view

I realized I was hitting 2 major stumbling blocks with this project. First issue was minor in theory but massive in reality: the bases were built to my specifications, with wheels, to make it easier for me to roll the main house and addition house together and apart so that all rooms could be seen. HOWEVER, the wheels vibrate the house so much that things would fall over inside and finicky delicate electrical connections, like sconces and fireplace embers, would frequently need repair/reconnections. Every time I would roll the house out to play, I knew I would have to spend an hour or so putting things back, regluing anything that had broken when it fell over, and reestablishing the electrical connections (which involved removing a wall or two).

Have to remove this wall to reconnect the sconce and fireplace embers that are in the adjoining room

Wall fits snuggly back in place once I'm done, but still a pain to have to do every time

So I knew the wheels needed to come off the bases. But with no solutions for moving the project easily and the looming task of removing everything out of the house and off the base so I could flip the base to get the wheels off, I had postponed working on the project for the last 5 years. But that ends now:

Took Main House off its base and made the base rooms' openings larger since it was already tipped on its side for removing the wheels.

Was pleased to get wheels off, and decided to keep going...

Finished construction! Addition rooftop rooms are assembled and roof pieces are assembled and glued.

Stained the roof panels the same stain as the shingles that will be glued on.

Second issue is that the house is overwhelming. There are 29 or 30 rooms (depending on if you count the Luggage Storage Room and Laundry Room as separate rooms), and that's not including the hallways and outdoor spaces. And I easily get distracted. I should methodically work on it, room by room, but I get excited about one aspect in one room and start that room (Hi, Ballroom Ceiling) and then bounce back to another room (gotta finish the trim molding in the Lady's Sitting Room), until I find the perfect pieces to kit-bash to make the cabinets for the Butler's Pantry! And then I wonder, why did I leave this cut out in the molding of the Ballroom Ceiling? Why aren't these 2 pieces of door trim glued in the Lady's room? Did I just get distracted and not finish it or was there a very particular, very important reason I didn't finish it?  And I get stuck in stalemate, scared to work on the house, because I don't remember what I was doing.

So I am spending this week getting the exterior fixed up. I know I won't complete it. But I can make a lot of progress on it. And then I need to focus on just one room. Either the Conservatory, or the Foyer, or the Lady's Bathroom. I can do this. Stay focused...in the meantime, here are some pictures of the pretty floors in the Mansion:

Library's flooring

Guest Room's floor

Lady's Bedroom floor