Whitebrush Manor - The Day The World Stopped

Okay, so maybe the title is slightly melodramatic but as my daughter says, I always over-exaggerate everything.

Basically, I screwed up.



Remember my last post where I was all pleased about the progress I'd made over Memorial Day weekend? I'd gotten the corner posts glued on and they made the walls much more sturdy.

WELL.

This is a supremely crap-tastic picture, but what I am trying to show is the fact that when I used rubber bands to hold the posts onto the walls, the bands just barely pulled the groove for the connecting walls off-center.

In fact, it was so minor that I didn't notice UNTIL I went to glue the side walls and the flooring in. The flooring wouldn't fit into the three walls and lie flat since the two outer walls pointed inwards.

I'll leave out the part about me running into the bedroom sobbing so hard that I could barely tell my husband what'd happened. I think he thought someone died or I'd accidentally cut off a major appendage with my hobby saw.

Once I calmed down and was able to think rationally, I realized my choices were to destroy the posts getting them off, sand down the flooring to "make" it fit, or try to get the posts off without breaking them. I decided to go with the last option because Dura-Craft is out of business and finding posts exactly like these would be impossible. Also, shaving the flooring down would work in the short-term, but who knows how it'd affect the final assembly?

I'm a horrible blogger, so I don't have any pictures of me sticking the panel into the oven to try and warm it enough to loosen the glue. Trust me, it looked weird.

Also, it didn't work. Boo.

My husband suggested that I contact woodworkers in the area to have the pieces custom made. I called one place I liked because they advertized that no job was too small. But when I told him what I needed, he LAUGHED AT ME and said, "I don't know when I'll be able to get to that because it's such a small job".

Wait. Isn't that what your website said wasn't possible??

I won't even publish their name here because I don't want them getting any publicity whatsoever. Let's just say that when it comes time to upgrade any part of my real house's cabinets, etc., they will NOT be getting my business.

Then I remembered an eBay seller that I ordered some things from. They're based out of Michigan, and I remembered seeing on their website that they had some replacement Dura-Craft parts. I didn't pay much attention at the time since my kit was complete, but boy... it sure would've been nice remembering that BEFORE I was the laughing stock of the cabinet industry (I always over-exaggerate, remember?).

Sure enough, they had the EXACT pieces I needed! And they were only about $2 each! Congratulations, guys... you've just earned a spot on my "favorite websites" page!! Thank you for saving my bacon!

I ordered replacements and started the process of ripping off the pieces that were glued incorrectly. It took a while and I had pretty sore thumbs when I was done, but just knowing that I hadn't ruined my dollhouse after all made it all worthwhile.

One corner post mostly off, one to go:

 

Once the major pieces were removed, I sort of sanded down the edges to get off any remaining glue and repainted the front where it had pulled off.

NOW I am ready to get the bay window walls assembled!