The Willow Dollhouse still in its box

The Greenleaf/Corona Concepts Willow

I bought the Willow about a month ago and hid it from my family because I still haven’t finished the Coventry cottage yet and I don’t want them to think that this is getting out of hand, yanno? >_>

I still haven’t finished the Coventry Cottage, and I have other projects lining up, but I really, really, REALLY wanted to start building the Willow so here I am.

Comparing the Willow box with the Coventry Cottage box, its huge!

The Willow box is HUGE. It was certainly bigger than the Coventry Cottage. Pictured above is just a comparison between the two boxes.

Unboxing the Willow dollhouse

Now for the unboxing. Can you smell the wood?

They're so generous with their sandpaper

I think its pretty hilarious that they even bother supplying any sandpaper at all. This dinky piece is NOT going to cut it.

Organizing the Willow pieces

So I start organizing and sorting the pieces.

Damaged wood from the Willow dollhouse kit

The thing I don’t like about Greenleaf/Corona Concepts, is that their wood really sucks. I know thats part of how they keep the cost of the kits on the low side, but it doesn’t help that their die cutting process is pretty bad along with their wood. When I tried to punch these pieces out, the back pretty much crumbled.

More damaged wood from the Willow dollhouse kit

Here’s some more damage.

There was actually a lot of bitty damage here and there, but these two pictures were the worst of the worst. I know I can ask for some replacements, but I’d rather not wait. I am comfortable with using my own wood to create my own replacement parts.

Sanding the Willow kit pieces

So here I am sanding the pieces down. Sanding is one of those things I really dislike doing, so I’m using power sander to cut down on the time. I made a makeshift sanding station outside.

Dry fitting the Willow dollhouse kit

After bringing all the pieces back inside, I dry fit them together to get an idea of the size that I’m dealing with. Its pretty HUGE!

Hiding the Willow dollhouse kit from my family

All in all, it was a good day. Even with the size of the DH, I still managed to hide it from my family in the garage. The best part is that they didn’t notice!

I’m really not sure its even possible to work on the Willow on the sly, but we’ll see how long I can hold it up.

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5 Responses to The Greenleaf/Corona Concepts Willow

  1. Debra Frazier March 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm #

    Hi: Was hoping you have some more to blog about the Willow. I just purchased the kit and am looking for inspiration! Love your Coventry House.

    • Ann May 4, 2014 at 5:47 pm #

      Hi Debra, the Willow is still unfortunately not done. It’s still in its “dry fit” stage. It been like that for about 2 years now! I really need to get back to it… and miniatures in general.. the itch is definitely coming back!

  2. sheri November 14, 2018 at 7:58 pm #

    hi I just purchased the kit from a lady that was supposed to build it for her granddaughter but did not complete, we found that they have not given pictures of how to put the windows on, any advise

    • Ann Nguyen November 18, 2018 at 11:28 pm #

      If you look up the kit name and manufacturer and search with those key words, I found that other builders often give ideas for that particular kit build. Good luck!

  3. Maria November 25, 2020 at 3:00 am #

    I’m sitting here cracking up because I just bought The Willow and hid it from my family in my room under some clothes. I’m currently working on Greenleaf Lily. I want to start The Willow soon but I don’t want the family to think I’ve gone mini crazy.

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