The House That Lee Built

Here are the girls,

Faces wreathed in glee,

When they found by the tree

The big little house that Lee built :).

Bethani's favorite are the little dolls and the broom.

I say "big" little house because it is obviously small, it's a dollhouse, but it is so comparatively huge that I'm not quite sure where we are going to put it more permanently. It didn't look like it would be so huge while it was in the box!

Here it is from the front...

Isn't it amazing?! 

I had sooo much fun furnishing it :).

The box said "mansions in minutes". It failed to mention that those minutes could also be measured in hours upon hours upon...well, you get the picture. I stained the floors, held things in place while Lee glued and helped with the painting but aside from that Lee did it all. We've calculated that we have spent well over a hundred hours on this project, about 28 of them in the three days before Christmas morning. We were up until six'o'clock Christmas morning trying to get it finished in time!

Here are a fraction of the pieces Lee started out with about six months ago...

Anyway, it's over now. Lee did a great job and the girls love it! It is tradition to put a candy cane shaped tube of M&Ms in the girls stockings and every year it has been inevitable that they make a huge deal over the M&Ms and open them right away. This year they were so excited over their dollhouse that the M&Ms were virtually ignored and they weren't opened until the next evening! That is a sure sign of success ;).

I wouldn't call it a cheap project but we got everything from the house to the furniture to the little "stuff" for 40 to 50% off, mostly by using coupons and watching for sales since last Christmas. It was such a thrill too add up what we saved! One of the cashiers at the craft store where I bought most of the little things during a 50% off sale was amazed at what I got for so little, comparatively. She said you would be amazed at what a lot of people come in and spend on such things. Depending on the size house you get you can really end up spending whatever you budget. A smaller house means less furniture, etc..

Now...on to the next project! This one is bit more ambitious, Lee's planning on doing it completely from scratch, so it could take awhile. I can't tell you what it is because my girls read my blog...won't that put a fun little itch in their ears ;)?

Hmmm, I wonder why Bri is growling as she reads this over my shoulder???