My Barbie Project House is still 'Under Construction'

    Back in November,(2012)   I had planned to make my niece a doll house from scratch with the goal in mind of finishing by/to somewhat surprise her with on Christmas morning!? Unfortunately, a month now, after Christmas, and this barbie house is still 'under construction'!?  Oh, it was so really great to think of how wonderful it would be to present it to her on Christmas morning... 

     Since then, I was very quiet about the project around my niece, up until Christmas morning, hiding all parts and supplies and clues of it's production, only working on it during the nights she went to stay at Grandma's or Dad's. Though, I was't able to put in much time to work on it then, as for most of those nights I was just so drained from work when I got home I fell right to sleep.

     I've been making some good progress in the last two weeks.  At this point, all thats left to do on the first floor (interior) is to put in flooring,  then I will start construction of the second floor! yay! I will take pics to share my progress in the new post in a few days.

      Initially,  I spent a lot a lot of time drawing variations of the floorplan on paper and just visualizing the layout in various combinations in my head, before I cut into any of my supplies, of course.  And some of the earlier days in November were used to get ideas online for design and inspiration, while also searching to decide what materials to use.  It would've been so much easier and cheaper,  if I had chosen to take my design and measurements laid out on paper to the hardware store to have them cut all the wood into custom pieces from my specs. Instead of that, I went with posterboard figuring it would be easy enough to cut yet still be sturdy and durable.

A few general guidelines/rules I have adopted, here as follows:
I think she will be most comfortable...

    - 2 story
    - Living Room
    - Eat-in Kitchen
    - Bedroom with Closet
    - Bathroom
    - working front door
    - fireplace
    - staircase, that must not be straight up and down basic diagonal but it should turn,  twist, or curve to add creative effect to it's construction.

* I want to stay away from a boxy/ generic/ rectangular giant 6' ft tall bookshelf. When I think about my niece playing with her dolls, the dollhouse has to be accessible to her within her reach without her having to stand up, sit down and bend all around so much.

Here are some examples of inspiration for my Barbie house:


--------------------------The Higland by Artply---------------------------------

--------------------------The Higland by Artply---------------------------------