Life with Arthur

Once again Hello
I've decided to document my step by step with the $20 Arthur dollhouse that I scored from the thrift store.  My daughter Sam, my sister Bev and her friend Dave and I decided one day last summer, to do a
Value Village Crawl, by which I mean that in one day we were going to visit every outlet within a certain radius.  We managed to hit 3 in good time but the 4th we were racing to get to before it closed.  With 10 minutes to spare we walked in and behold... there it was, The Arthur.  It was the fastest I've ever shopped!  I even found some additional crafting items but the dollhouse was the 'cherry on the top'. I wanted a little house and to be honest I already have a tinnier little house that I keep wanting to complete but INSPIRATION, that greatly important element, is not leaning in that direction yet.  Having rediscovered so many country pieces that have been stored away for such a long time in the garage, I have decided that I shall at least have a place to showcase  some of them if I can get the Arthur underway.  Space planning is perhaps not my strongest talent but it is crucial for maximizing a 3 walled space.  With The Arthur, the biggest hurdle is the placement of the staircase.  I really dislike the fact that the front door swings right into it and that the open front door entirely blocked the entrance to the kitchen.  Where to put the stairs once removed is now the issue and I have to decide fairly early on so that I can cut the openings and then build around it.  Last night I decided to begin by gutting the house and removing everything I didn't like.  The porch, the door, the windows especially the 2, way too tiny and completely useless little ones in the front above the porch.  I have already sealed them off and I am ready to putty over them.  Goodbye.  I have blocked up the stair opening as well and removed the walls dividing the lower and top floor.  I plan to re-install but not just yet. I am going to have a fireplace either on the exterior wall or in the middle of the house and I also plan to have the house electrified.  By the way did you know that you can usually get transformers from the thrift store that you can adapt to your dollhouse?  They are so cheap there and not so cheap at the miniature store.  The voltage is stamped on the back of them and can be anywhere from three to twelve volts here in North America.   More about that at a later date.  I am looking for a very simple style for the Arthur and will be using a few cliches' in my quest for an American Country atmosphere, BUT I am also making it contemporary.  I'm not certain that it will be as I envision and frankly I know from past projects that at some point the house will 'fight me'.  There is only so much that it will put up with and then it digs in and says,' NO'.
I have slipped in the proposed new door and windows just to get an idea of how it will look.  Not sure yet if I want shutters on the upper level or not but nothing is finalized yet.  So now, let me present
the beginning of my mini dollhouse project; life with the Arthur.