The White Orchid -- the story begins

Once upon a time, not long ago, Greenleaf Dollhouses produced an exceedingly shy limited version of the popular Orchid dollhouse in a gleaming white styrene plastic instead of wood. I was lucky enough to snag one of the elusive little houses, and it spoke to me almost immediately. The satiny smooth whiteness reminded me of a beautiful white mushroom -- one with a red polka-dot cap!

We've had a red capped mushroom on our Christmas tree for as many years as I can remember. It's a sign of good luck. This is one from our current tree. We have six. :)

Then, not long after the house arrived, I found five little elves in the gift shop at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City. They told me a mushroom house in the Bohemian forest would be just the ticket for them as they hopped into my pocket for the ride home. About that time, a fairy godmother tugged at my sleeve and presented her credentials as an elf wrangler. She was a bit big, I thought, but the elves appeared to be in need of a strong hand, so they joined company to wait for me to get started on their house.

There was a bit of a challenge with scale in this project, as the house and fairy godmother are 1:12 and the elves are closer to 1:24. The fairy godmother was beginning to get a bit restless; I'm not sure she understood the full scope of her responsibilities and was somewhat upset when she found a couple of the elves building a still instead of a toy train layout.

But then I found a Santa in roughly 1:24 scale in a 75%-off Christmas sale bin, and the challenge was met. The fairy godmother has gone to do her fairy godmother thing, although she promises to drop back to visit now and then. Santa won't be living with the elves, but since their workshop is on the ground floor and their living quarters upstairs, he'll be dropping in frequently to keep an eye on their progress -- and mine, too, I think!

Here's a picture of the house in dry fit. I'll tell you more about the building process later, but I want you to see the cuckoo's nest above the porch. The Great Spotted Cuckoo will live there.