creole cottage straight from the Quarter!

hi all!

as i mentioned inmy previous post about MR Daniels - that is exactly the method i want to use to create mini houses.  with one major difference - she is inspired by tuscany whereas i am inspired by the fabulous New Orleans French Quarter.  i adore strolling through the streets of the quarter and looking at the amazing architecture.  a common style is the creole cottage which looks like this:

so after much discussion, research and back and forth with design ideas my brother drew up some plans and got to work:

here the doors and windows are switched - either way is correct.

and the floor plan - front porch being on the left.  They are basically 4 room houses with two pantry rooms on either side of a back porch - shared fireplaces between each of the front rooms and middle rooms.

and here is some initial construction pics:

here is the base of the house with the subfloor pieces laid.  there are grooves to put the wall pieces into when building.

he does really nice work - the base is framed well.

this gives you an idea of how the walls will go in.  then a floor for each room.  i'd give anything to live nearby so i could hang out in his workshop and we could work together!

what do y'all think?

oh look what i found!

hi all!
i am so sad to say that i have not gotten much work done on my dollhouse recently.  instead we ventured off for the weekend in our new camper trailer - heavenly!  i DID take my stack of back issues of Dollhouse Collectibles magazines.  i think i have read through them each a dozen times!  so now i have a head even fuller of ideas and how-tos.  in addition i have poured over whatever i can find on the internet.  one of the things i stumbled upon was a garden scene inside of a birdcage - LOVE!

so i began hunting around for a cheap birdcage.  not much luck.  then i went in to Home Goods on a whim and found THIS and on clearance to boot!

now i need to decide what i will do with it.  like will i paint it?  will i build garden walls new orleans french quarter style? decisions decisions...what i need is a good bunch of inspiration photos to work from.  i have a couple of great books to start with on new orleans architecture - gorgeous pictures!  i may have to consult with my brother on this too!

I am heading to the DC Big Flea tomorrow - YAY!  treasure hunt time!  i also plan on getting the trim finished and windows started on my dollhouse.  i hope you all have a great weekend!