Call in the professional!

So where we...oh yes...Brrrring...brrrrring...brrrring

Dad- "Quack, Quack?"

Me- "Hi Poppi!"

Dad- "What's on your mind Duck?"

Me- "Well Dad, I seem to have gotten myself into a predicament."

Dad (very calmly) "Is that so?"

Several days later we were in the basement together examining the contents of the Garfield Dollhouse by Greenleaf.

Let me just start by saying that the first set of instructions says, "Don't Panic!" No joke...see below!

The second page says, "Do not deviate from written instructions." Sorry Greenleaf...my Daddie is an engineer and we were certain we (cough...I MEAN HE!) could reverse engineer and build the house in two pieces. The fun began.

As we dove into the project we realized the platform came on two different sheets! What luck! We only had to alter a few things on the foundation.

We set up a fine workshop on a 6 foot table in the basement. Say, it even has a fancy tablecloth! We are so classy.

Once the foundation was ready we (HE!!!! hehehe) started brainstorming what walls and platforms would need to be altered. Yes, that is duck duct tape! It seemed only fitting for this project. (In the photo he is planning on where to make the cut on the front wall of the house. He decided a straight line up connecting the two left sides of the window frames would be most direct. A second cut was made from the top left second story arch, over to the left.)

Measure twice, cut once. Perfection. The wood was so easy to cut. We clamped it down and used a metal measuring stick for a nice straight line. Then Poppi used a very sharp exacto to cut 3/4 through. The wood was flipped and cut from the other side. Pop. Done. The same technique was used for the separation of the second floor platform. The cut ran between the bedroom and bathroom.

The rest of the walls went up without alteration. Now we had two sections of house. Above is a picture of the "front" which is the living room and entry way on the first floor. Note the super classy support beam!

Note: All joints were only tack glued at the top/bottom, side/side with hot glue melt. All foundation seams were glued only after we were completely satisfied with layout.

Now we had two sections of house with all three floors present! Up until this point no hiccups had happened except needing to take several jam sessions off due to illness. Wisconsin winter...! It's the perfect time to start an epic project!