A Closet Fit for a Doll(house)

Nora Kate's closet is done! I had mentioned before that I came up with an idea about creating a dollhouse in Nora Kate's closet.  The amazing Holly Romm created it!  First, I met with Holly to explain my vision and if we could do it. She loved it and made me even more excited about it! I met with the Closets of Virginia and we got to work. And by we, I mean my dad who did the demolition and painting, the trash guys I paid $40 to haul all the existing materials away, the closet installer, and Holly.

My dad came for 2 different relaxing visits to see us and do manual labor.  Sometimes I forget that my dad is 71. Seriously, can I still be doing manual labor when I am 71 (probably not since I don't do it at 34--but you know what I mean).

Here is the before picture of what her closet looked like. The closet did not have a lot of space to hang clothes up. It was mainly shelves and cubbies, which just collected crap, but not a lot of clothes.

The cubbies are the first thing you see 

the hanging room was small and difficult to use

I'd made some crack at my dad--that's his "watch it kiddo" face! ha

Starting the demo: It was so loud in there as he was pulling everything off the walls. It echoed-we finally stuck cotton balls in his ears. He's a trooper!

A little helper! 

After the mud and all the holes were fixed, my dad painted the whole thing with "Super White" by Benjamin Moore. 

Ready for new shelving!!

Next the new shelving was installed. The bottom half is where we will store her doll stuff. When she gets older we will remove the bottom shelf and add another bar on the left side and the hanging right side will be left open to give room for longer clothing.

Holly came and started painting! She first painted the whole closet a beautiful blue color and then clouds all over, including the ceiling. 

Holly came back the next day to complete the dollhouse look.  

The grass and flowers continue all the way around

All we need now is some doll furniture and a little girl to play in it!

(her latest smile face--sigh)

I am so happy with how the closet turned out. It is better than I could have imagined! 

There was one wall in her room that I never knew what to do with. It was the first thing you see when you walk in her room and because of the roofline I never knew what to do with since it is a half wall. I did not feel like I could hang pictures on it. Holly suggested painting a print on it with her name written on it.  It is so cute! I love it and really completes her room. I told Billy it really "needed" it, he told me I need to learn the meaning of "need". Nevertheless, I'm happy with it!!

Here is the wall plain before

The after!

A bonus sweet little brother in this picture!

Now I am going to fill the closet back with her clothes and get settled back into her room.  I love her room and feel like it is complete now.  

We are getting closer to the renovation-our start date is January 11, 2016!! 

Ready, set, keep waiting a bit longer & a new dollhouse closet

We are getting closer and closer to the renovation.  Thankfully, I am running after 3 kiddos or I would not think about anything else. But like most big events in my life, I try not to think about how I am going to handle the difficulties until the day arrives.  I was telling my best friend that I wasn't worried about what we would do during the reno because I had bought a $40 toaster oven at Costco.  She looked at me sideways and asked if that was I all normally cooked in at home.

It went something like this:
"have you decided if you are going to move out during the renovation?"
"No, I bought a toaster oven."
"What?"
"At Costco, for $40, it is great"
"What?"
"So I can cook and we can just hang out in the basement"
"What?"

It made me realize that I will be much more disrupted that I had thought and we are going to move out for a couple months. Hilton has a branch that owns apartments in different buildings in the area-they are fully furnished and there is a set daily rate that includes insurance, cable, internet, electricity, etc. I am not going to move our furniture.  So if we can show up with our clothes, I will move out.  Billy is so excited that someone else was about to talk some sense in me and I can stop talking about this magic toaster oven.


A month ago, I took Nora Kate to the American Girl Doll store as a celebration of potty training.  We had a blast. My parents gave us my Samantha doll when I was growing up.  We had her cleaned at the store and she is as good as new.

We also bought a "just like me" doll that we named, Molly.  Nora Kate was obsessed with the doll house at the store.

I knew we wanted to buy her this doll house, but I have a weird thing with their rooms being clean. I feel like if you have a clean clutter free sleep space, you sleep better.  I came up with the idea of transforming her closet into a doll house.  Her closet has existing built ins but I never felt like they were a good use of the space.  There were a lot of cubbies but not a lot of space to hang her clothes.  Billy's work partner's sister does faux finish so I called her and we came up with a plan. We are completely gutting her closet and going to start from scratch. I am having new built ins put in and Holly, the painter, will come and make the inside of the closet look like the inside of a dollhouse. She is also going to paint a print on the low hanging wall due to the dormer in her room.  I do not know what exactly to do on that wall, so a paisley print and her name will be put there.  I cannot wait!

This should all be done mid September, so i will post all the pictures when it is completed!

BUT I have plans for the kitchen and I am meeting with the cabinet people next week when the kids are back in school...ohhhh it's getting closer and closer! More on that later!