Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Rehabing a log cabin dollhouse

My dear Hubby got me a log cabin for my birthday. He had heard me say how I really liked the looks of them for a rustic dollhouse.




It was really nice looking except for the big empty spot in the middle. It was like a porch inside the house. But I figured we could re build it and make it work. Well, over a year later and I finally decided to jump into it.

Out came one of the walls to make a large livingroom and kitchen. I also knocked out the short door to the other room. I reused the logs to fill in the front hole and make a new door for an entrance. For the extra window, I used the plastic off of a tool kit.


Even the inspector liked our new door.

To fill in the gaps between the logs, we used a new to us product. It worked much better than the old one. It applied really easy and let us work it into the seams. I didn't want to take photos inside and see light thru the logs.
Once that dried overnight, I got busy staining the logs. I use plastic lids or the lids my can opener cuts off cans for a paint pallet. I use a painting gel medium to slow drying and to get more of a stain instead of a heavy paint. I use a dark, medium and light brown to blend colors.


Louigee was painting the upper part of the log cabin.

He is not the best painter but he works cheap.

A little paint on the shingles is no problem. I took the same gel medium and brown paints to mask the oops.

Once it is dry, you would never know there was a problem.
Now the roof looks old like the cabin. I also had to deal with the posts on the porch being moved and they had stained the floor while they were in place.

I used the darker color and gel medium in the light areas and then blended in the lighter shades with the gel medium. Wood doesn't always stay the same color throughout the board.

Moving furniture from the guest house, which is really room boxes and placing it is next.


The upstairs still needs painting and sealing, but I got excited and needed to make sure things fit.

The upstairs is next.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Miss Viola Hickory's Log Cabin


Miss Hickory decided she should go take a look at the construction going on at the log cabin. Lester had said he would have a crew come by and begin work on it. He would be supervising since he was recovering from hip surgery and still using his custom Harley Davidson black and orange walker his brother had made for him.


Miss Hickory filled a basket full of vegetables, bread, cheese and a chocolate cake she knew was Lester's favorite. She wanted to treat the guys since they were working on the holiday weekend to get the old cabin ready for her to move into.

She hummed a tune as she walked from the guests house to her log cabin. She was excited for the work to finally begin on it. She could hear hammers and saws as she stepped thru what would become her front door.
As she stepped into the open doorway, she saw the new man that was working with Lester.


"Hello, Viola Hickory," Lester said smiling. "I'd like you to meet our new man. Viola, this is Macintosh."


"Aww, everyone just calls me Mack," he said removing his hat.
Miss Viola Hickory could almost feel herself blush. Mack was obviously of very strong stock. "I thought you guys might enjoy a little treat," she said as she pulled up a table and set out her goodies.

Viola didn't stay long since she knew she had a lot to do at the guest house like the dreaded packing. Soon her cabin would be ready.


Sunday afternoon and Miss Hickory decided to take a walk back to the cabin to see all the work the guys had gotten done. She didn't even look when she was there yesterday. Seeing Mack, just made her forget everything else.

She was excited to see they had closed up the opening in the front and even gotten the door and new window in. It still needed to be caulked and stained but the progress was showing. Inside, she noticed they had stabilized the sagging upper floor and put up the window trim. She closed the door behind her and breathed in all of the smells of her home.