This page was last updated: October 29, 2007
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Darkside Manor
The making of........
The Sunshine House
Darkside Manor
We're not in Kansas anymore!
The first step was to move the house from the living room to my worktable in the family room - no cold garages for me! I then removed all of the windows and outside trim. Next I sanded the original stucco finish to make it smoother. I then applied the "siding" per Sherise's instructions but I think it was a little harder to do with the house already put together and the wall vertical. It took me several tries of applying the "mud", removing it and trying again until I was satisfied. Some of the siding is a little crooked but that adds to the effect. I didn't apply the siding to the tower - I had other plans for it!
The Sunshine House was the first dollhouse I made way back in 1985. But after almost 20 years I decided it was time for a change. I'd grown tired of "cutesy" Victorian minis so inspired by Sherise Landrey's Shadow Row House as well as Deb Weissler's Witch Cottage and Margene Crossan's creations (all found in the Sept/Oct 2003 issue of the American Miniaturist magazine) I thought I would change the Sunshine House into a not so cutesy Gothic house. Some say it's my dark side coming out! You are invited follow along in the making of Darkside Manor.
Click on any photo for a larger image.
I wanted to do a crackle finish so painted the house with a base coat of brown. Working on one section of the house at a time, I applied the crackle medium, let it dry for about 20 minutes and then applied a top coat of antique white.
I thought about making all new window frames the decided to just embellish the old ones. Not thinking my hands are steady enough to use Sherise's technique (applying the mud with a pastry bag) I used some trimming ribbon and small dowels instead. I glued these to the old frames and then painted them white. New I'll antique them so they don't look so new.
Some of the new residents???
I found these mini Night of the Living Dead dolls at Spencer Gifts.
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