Gannett News Service
Dick Myrland opens the roof of the full-scale miniature home that is an exact replica of his daughter's house. Myrland did all of the design and building of the unique model, which took him about four years to complete.

Gannett News Service
Myrland's hand reaches through the kitchen door to demonstrate how small the furniture and other pieces appear in the dollhouse.

Intricate dollhouse is daughter's model home

JULIE SNIVELY, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Originally published Saturday, March 23, 2002

When Dick Myrland's daughter was a little girl, he dreamed of using his woodworking skills to build her a magnificent dollhouse.

Busy with his engineering career, Myrland kept postponing the project until six years ago. By then, he was retired and had time on his hands.

But also by then, his daughter, Cindy Kinsley, was grown up and had a daughter of her own.

So the 79-year-old from Rockford, Ill., decided to build the dollhouse for his granddaughter, Katie Giardini, now 18. His goal was to create and furnish a replica of the Colonial-style home where Katie and her family moved in 1991.

"There are two kinds of dollhouses -- ones you play with and ones an adult enjoys," Myrland says. "This is an adult type. It's too delicate to play with."

Dollars for detail

Frankly, it's too expensive to treat as a toy: So far, he has spent about $7,000 on the project.

The detailing is intricate. For example, when the bricks to cover the exterior lower level of the dollhouse didn't look real enough, he added mortar. When he built the family room fireplace, he laid Pez-size bricks one by one.

Myrland traces his interest in woodworking to his own childhood when he carved model airplanes -- not from the snap-together kits available today, but from scratch. By the time he was an adult, he not only was consumed by his hobby but also had developed skills worthy of a cabinetmaker.

"I have had two driving forces in my life -- my passion for small things, and ... a notion that I would build a dollhouse for Cindy," he says.

As Myrland speaks, he stands in the living room of his daughter's house, also in Rockford. The dollhouse, completed two years ago, occupies a permanent space in the Kinsley living room.

In December 2001, Myrland's handiwork was the highlight of an open house hosted by the Kinsleys. When visitors peered into the dollhouse and focused on its 12-by-18-inch living room, they invariably made the same comment.

"They say: 'I'm looking at the same room I'm in,' " a proud Cindy explains.

The house sits atop a special chest handcrafted by Myrland as well. It not only supports the house but has drawers for maintenance equipment. Other drawers provide storage for Christmas decorations and other seasonal items.

Starting the process

When Dick began building the dollhouse in 1996, he and his wife, Jackie, were living in DeKalb, Ill. His professional career included many years as a project engineer and executive at Wurlitzer Co., both in DeKalb and elsewhere. He finished his career at General Electric's motor plant in DeKalb.

In 2000, the Myrlands moved to an apartment at Wesley Willows in Rockford. Before the move, Dick made arrangements to donate his woodworking shop, which contained $10,000 worth of equipment, to the retirement complex. The shop is available for use by him and other residents.

Myrland, an admitted perfectionist, established uncompromising standards for the dollhouse project.

"I'm my own worst enemy," he says with a wry laugh. "It has to be right, or I won't do it."

The dollhouse is built on a standard scale of 1-inch-to-1-foot. It measures about 50 inches wide and 27 inches deep.

The original blueprints for the Kinsleys' house couldn't be tracked down, so Myrland's first step was to make precise measurements of all of the rooms. "I crawled around the place, measuring every nook and cranny."

Then, Myrland spent six months making drawings as detailed as those used by builders of real homes. "This is the way an architect would do it," he says, opening the six-page sheaf of drawings. "I had to have the real thing."

Before he began construction, Myrland decided to document his project by photographing key parts. During the open house at the Kinsley home, he presented a slide show with a running commentary.

The basic dollhouse structure is crafted from three-eighths-inch, medium-density overlay plywood. It is designed with a roof that lifts and walls that slide out, to permit a better view, as well as to give access to the interior for troubleshooting and upkeep.

He also wired the dollhouse for electricity and crafted special clips to pop out the windows for cleaning.

Myrland was a stickler for authenticity. The paneling in the Kinsley den is cherry, so he used cherry wood in the dollhouse version. The entry hall floor of the real house is oak, so he used oak for the dollhouse, too.

Logistics played an important part in assembling the house. Each step had its own place in the scheme of things. For example, walls had to be papered before they were put in place, and the stairway carpeting had to be laid before the second story was put in place.

Myrland made the furniture, too. Some pieces were from kits, which he adapted to achieve the look he wanted. But some were from scratch, including the realistic toilets.

"They don't flush, but the lids do lift," he jokes.

Cindy Kinsley and daughter Katie, a freshman at Illinois State University, are thrilled with the house, and they love showing it off.

"It's truly a museum piece," Cindy says. "The detailing is so unbelievable."

When Myrland is asked how he feels about finishing the dollhouse, he describes a sense of satisfaction. But immediately he reconsiders his statement.

"It isn't finished," he said. "There always will be more work to do."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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