New Furniture

I am very nearly DONE with the dollhouse refurbishment project. I need one more painting session to retouch some of the white trim, then I'm ready to call it complete.

The dollhouse furniture Amy has been playing with is rather spindly stuff from my childhood. While none of it is highly valuable or antique or anything, it's not really meant for a 2.5-year-old's play. Amy has a gentle touch, and can mostly be trusted with non-kid-friendly things, but every once in awhile something gets flung in frustration, and I have long been on the hunt for some more age-appropriate dollhouse accessories. Until discovering this line of dollhouse rooms at Walmart a month or so ago the only furniture I'd found was either too expensive, too plain, the wrong scale, too delicate, or all of the above.



But good old Fisher Price has come through for me with three of the CUTEST sets I have ever seen. Each of these "rooms" cost $12, and for the surprising amount of detail I consider it a bargain. (Oh, and much to my delight - nothing here lights up or makes noise.)



Amy picked out the dining room set. The buffet has a little mirror, and the drawer opens and closes. The tablecloth and chair covers are darling but I think I like them better without:



The parents' bedroom has a very stylish, sturdy bed complete with throw pillows and a little blanket chest that opens and closes, and a nice new robe for Mom. I expect this set to get heavy use, as Amy's favorite activity is tucking *everyone* into bed (dolls, animals, Mom and Dad...) The only snafu on this one was that the blanket was permanently attached to the foot of the bed... and all I could foresee was Amy's endless frustration that it didn't come all the way off. Not to mention that it would interfere with making new covers, if ever we want to change the decorating scheme. So in a fit I cut the thing off, immediately said "oh, that was probably a bad idea," but proceeded to hem up the bottom edge of the comforter and call it good. Could explain why I'm up past 11 o'clock tonight...



And last but not least, my personal favorite, the "home office":



This could not possibly get any cuter; I was nearly squealing as I unpackaged it all - area rug, folding screen, kitty, folding laptop that slides into a little carrying case, desk chair that really swivels, telephone that can be picked up, clipboard, a printer cart that opens and closes and the printer slides out on a shelf, a little tray with scissors and other desk accessories. Ahh! Can I live here? I'm not sure who is going to have more fun with all this, me or Amy...

So now I'm just trying to decide how to present all this to my girl. I'm eager to get the dollhouse out of my space so I can get on with other projects, and Amy has been watching me work on it and has been waiting quite patiently to get one of her favorite playthings back. She was with me when I bought the furniture but it's been hidden and she's since forgotten about it, so I certainly could hold on to it for now... But while I don't want to be overly indulgent, it seems only fitting to celebrate the "new" dollhouse with some new fixings. I know it all will get played with now, and to wait for any birthday or holiday is quite a long way off...

Anyway, it is late so I will head to bed to think on this, and will be back in a couple of days with some pictures of the house itself!