Marg is a Utah native but she has always had a bit of wanderlust ever since the tender age of 18. She would like to make her last move to be to Colorado where she will settle down and eventually retire. Marg comes from a large family of seven siblings. She has been a registered nurse for 13 years. She works in the field of women`s health, which is her favorite field of nursing. She currently works with elderly patients which is very rewarding to her. Marg loves working with people and she feels lucky to be able to work with the same patients several days a week. Marg is on a weight loss journey. She has lost almost 40lbs so far and wants to become more physically fit this year. She has always wanted to travel to England and as a reward for reaching her weight loss goal, she is planning a two week trip in September 2009. She is very excited. I would be too. Think of all the dollhouse kits and miniatures she can find in England!

Marg thinks she first fell in love with dollhouses unconsciously eight years ago when she lived in Texas. She discovered a store called Hobby Lobby. She would walk around daydreaming in the dollhouse aisle and she would tell herself that one day she would get one. Her introduction to dollhouses happened much earlier in her life though. When she was little, her family had a metal dollhouse with a pre-painted exterior. She did not get many toys as a child but she did love dolls. Apparently, Marg pulled the heads off all of her dolls. Every time her sisters would get a doll, Marg would feel sad because she did not have one. She would make up for that in her adulthood.

Four years ago, Marg succumbed to the urge and bought herself a Garfield. She was living in rural Nevada at the time and one day it just hit her. She started searching online. She was going back and forth with her decision as to which house will be her first. The Garfield really caught her eye and she bought it. This began her self proclaimed dollhouse/miniature obsession that still plagues her to this day. If the saying “The first one to die with the most dollhouses wins” is true, Marg will win, hands down! She is a admitted collector/horder. She has a large number of kits and a dollhouse store sized collection of furniture and accessories. Marg has completed a number of houses but many more are still under construction. She has a hard time committing to which furniture pieces should go with each house. She feels that is the big reason why she has not decorated her houses. She has made a start on decorating recently but they are only partially done at this point.

 Marg loves all the aspects that come with owning a dollhouse. She feels she is a builder, collector, and designer. She loves taking the flat pieces of wood and creating a structure. She enjoys wallpapering and installing flooring but finds that cutting and prepping trim work to be tedious. Marg also dislikes is shingling. She does like how shingles can completely change the look of a house though.  She looks at every dollhouse and sees different ways to kit bash them. She worked on one house this summer that was her first rehab project. This was the Granville.  

It is complete on the inside but exterior still needs a few minor finishing touches.

When she started working on the Garfield, she was very excited. Shortly after purchasing it, she moved back to Utah and purchased the RGT Federal Manor. She jumped right into building it and was not intimidated at all. She admits she made some mistakes but was able to work around them. There are some aspects that she would have done differently but for now she is happy with how it turned out.

 Marg`s miniature dream is to get her Foxhall Manor completed. She has it in her office next to her desk. She likes to look at it and daydream. She is slowly collecting architectural pieces to make it into a grand manor. Something that is beautifully decorated, designed, and lighted. She wants to make this dream a reality this year. Her plans for 2009 are to work on and complete her Foxhall and Garfield.  She would like to do a couple room boxes and complete some of her other *in the works* houses tucked away. Marg would also love to work on 1/144th scale houses, wig and dress dolls, dress beds, make window treatments, and actually install lights in her houses.
 
Marg had a really really hard time trying to decide which house was her favorite out of all the rest. She could not decide between the Foxhall, or the Garfield. Then across the room her Glencroft said *Hey! What about me?* If I had to pin her down and force her to choose, she would decide on the Foxhall. She chose it because of the number of rooms the manor will have. There is the main house, two extensions that are each two storied, and two conservatories. Wow. That is a huge house!

As with all the MoMs, I asked Marg to give some advice to the novice dollhouse owner. She said to just relax and enjoy yourself. Do not get overwhelmed when you open the box. If the instructions stump you, look at the photos and use your creativity to help you to get through the spots that seem hard to do. Build the house that speaks to you even if it is the most complicated or largest one there is. Marg says to experiment in as many areas of the miniature world as you can. You may be surprised at what you are really good at. Most of all, have fun!

You can look at all of Marg`s eyecandy in her gallery and her blogs.

For participating in the Member of the Month article, Marg will receive a $25 gift certificate to the Greenleaf Store.

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