I’ve just about finished the exterior paint though I keep running into places I’ve missed because the light is so bad in here.

I want to paint the door a color so consulted with my sister, who, in Vulcan mind meld, suggested high gloss dark green with cobalt as a back up. Of course that was exactly what I had in mind so I’m certain this would be Sally’s pick.

The green door will repeat the green roof which I’m not going to shingle. Yes, they sell tiny little dollhouse shingles. It’s tempting, but I love the bright green roof.

It is going to be a bit precarious painting that door because I’m too scared to take it off to paint so it’s gonna get it in situ. I’ll lay on the painter’s tape. I mix all the paint colors myself with my mother’s acrylic paints; I’m using all her brushes which feels so appropriate. As long as I don’t kiss the yellow house paint with the door paint, I’ll be OK. I mixed that exterior shade and after trial and error got very close to the original pale, pale, yellow. But I have only a tiny amount of that paint left for touch ups so there’s no room for error.

The front of the house will represent the present so I added a handmade twisty boxwood topiary (from eBay artisan). I glued it to the right of the door on top of the brick, giving myself the left side to play with. I’m serious if I’m gluing stuff now.

At right is pathway, topiary, and almost-finished paint job. Hedges? Flower beds? We shall see.

Insider Jokery

I’m back to the synedoche. Now the game is playing with my family history and integrating it in sly ways just for fun. I guess you call this Easter eggs in movies. For example, I found a pipe set with a teeny vintage lighter, and ashtray for the living room. There’s a family photo of my father and his parents sitting in a very similar room in the 1940s, and there’s a pipe in it. So I printed a tiny black and white copy of this picture and laid it on the mantel. Of course, now I need another little side table for this pipe smoking gear… but these are fun problems.

I saw a lot on eBay which has a tiny bottle of Joy perfume. Sally didn’t really ever wear perfume but she got a bottle of Joy every Christmas. It was sort of like Lucy at the candy conveyor belt – Mom couldn’t use that perfume up no matter how she tried. She kept giving the bottles to me and my sister (I still have two). I keep expanding the scope of inside jokes and maybe I’m simply playing for time. I don’t want to finish Mom’s project so I’m inventing ways to add meaning on top of meaning on top of meaning.

Random Thoughts

The 1930s story is coming together. The man of the house has lost his job so I will have a lot of paperwork on the table that he’s using to pay bills and make lists.

I bought a lot for something else that included a hat and umbrella so now it’s a rainy, sullen day and he is just in, shaking off the rain. Maybe he was walking along State Street looking for work and witnessed a run on the bank like poor George Bailey.

Or not.

*

Lighting the Dollhouse

Have I ever mentioned the very last step? Light the dollhouse.

I’d planned on doing an electrification with a wiring kit but, it’s invasive. It’s a lot of drilling into walls and floors to run wires and I would not be able to hide them unobtrusively. I found a more elegant solution. It took several nights of searching possibilities.

I’ve bought those tiny pin spotlights that jewelry stores use on shelves. I’ll still have to hide wires but I won’t be drilling into those precious walls. Just the precious floors.

I can’t wait to see the house lit!

The house numbers begin to make it come alive