DOLLHOUSE BEDROOM

The bedroom is almost complete - I ran out if trim for the baseboards and crown molding.

I made the vanity out if matte board as well has the tray of perfume bottles out of beads. The mirror was made out of silver scrapbook paper, cardboard and painted crocheted lace. The stool was made out if a toilet paper tube, large button and fabric.

I'm not sure what else to put in here, it's kinda empty in the middle. Maybe a rug?

MINIATURE SCONCES

I'm having a hard time finding electrical lighting that is affordable. Since I've wired the dollhouse, it seems silly to not use working lights! I need a couple sets if sconces - 1 for the dining room and 1 for the living room. I decided to try and make some.

I used balsa wood as the base, poked a hole for the wiring then glued on some lace.

Next I painted the whole thing gold.

I glued on some gold jewelry findings which will hold my light bulb.

You can buy a 2-pack at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and it comes with a long cord.
The bulbs can screw out and you can be replacement bulbs.
Here's what it will look like with the bulbs in.
I'll probably make a small shade for them to cover them.

MORE MINIS!

I found a lady on craigslist that was selling a lot of dollhouse miniatures and I checked them out today. She had a dining room table FULL of stuff. It was so hard not to buy everything that I liked. I had to picture each of my rooms and think about what I was needing or missing from what I already had. This collection of miniatures was mostly well used, but really old and had a lot of charm.

Here's what I came home with:

 I gathered all my picks together and asked her for a price, she basically gave me all the accessories for free as the whole lot was $40. Some of these tiniest accessories are about $10 each new, nevermind the larger furniture! I think I got a deal! Here's some close ups of some of my favourite items. The things I didn't take a close up of are: baskets, dozen buns, basket of strawberries, ceramic pot with brooms etc. mini bust, ship ornament, toast rack, towels, wind chime, bathroom towel rack, china cabinet, grandfather clock and 2 lamps.

 The next room I'm doing is the library/art room. I love this little ink well and feather!

 Look at this necklace, shoes and doll - all made in England.

 This is what I really came for! desk and chair! Bonus is the lamp, book, newspaper, paper weight and the Bible is a fully printed working book!

 This secretariat even folds down for a desk.

 This might be my favourite thing: A mini dollhouse for a dollhouse!

I've seen a couple tiny ones in the stores, they were just solid wood carved into little houses with not much detail, but this one is a similar style to my house and . . .

It's FULLY functioning! the outside lifts off!

Now I am motivated to get working again on it, now that I have a lot more items for the library to get started on!

MAKING MORE FOOD

Tonight Jared was working, so I thought I'd make a few more miniature food items while I watched TV.

 salmon steaks + lemons

 cinnamon roll

 fish, lemons, herbs + the cutting board

turkey - it looks lonely though

BEFORE + AFTERS

I forgot to put in the before photos. I'll stop posting photos before I'm actually done the room so I don't keep posting a million photos!

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

Bathroom Before:

Today's additions to the bathroom: towels and decor to shelf, robe and bath tub caddy with book.

One section finished. Next section is the dining room and above it, the library/art studio.

BATHROOM PROGRESS (that sounds weird)

Today I worked on the bathroom and got it mostly completed. I just need to add a few decorating things. Sorry for the grainy photos, sometimes I just don't feel like lugging out my big camera which doesn't fit in small spaces like these rooms. The iphone was just so much easier!

 This room is so huge, I'm not sure how to fill it. I added the shelf for towels etc. and hopefully I'll add a towel rack, a bath mat and some artwork.

 I made the toilet paper holder and the thing in the corner will be to store toilet paper rolls on.

 I made it gluing together 2 buttons, a tooth pick and a bead.

 Then I spray painted it.

 Here's a couple of photos of the food actually in the kitchen.

Here's the plate cupboard I made from mat board and hung above the sink.

MINI FOOD

Tonight while Aubrey painted and colored at the table with me, I made some polymer clay food to finish off the dollhouse kitchen. I have watched a few youtube videos on how to make a few things so I gave it a try. I don't have extra money to put into this project so I've been trying to search for any and all online tutorials on how to make anything I possibly can. Surprisingly, there are quite a few!

The next room I will work on is the bathroom. It's a huge room and I don't know how I'm going to fill it, so I'll be doing some more online searching for ideas!

 

 The potatoes were fun and easy. I made the shapes then poked a pin in them and used a utility knife to peel a few scraps of skin off.  You can use chalk to color them but rubbing some chalk on a piece of paper then use a dry paint brush to pick up the chalk dust and brush it on, but the chalk I used was regular chalkboard chalk and once baked was not dark enough so I took some acrylic paint and added more color after they baked.

 Breads: I had a piece of shiny silver scrapbook paper that I made a bread tin out of. I used a pin and sandpaper to create a textured edge on the cut open sides of the baguette.

 I didn't have different color polymer clay, so I just painted it after. I also made the cake stand.

The dough was obviously easy to make. I made the cookie cutter out of the same silver/metallic paper as the bread tin.  I also made a few eggs to add to the baking scene. I'd like to make a flour sack to put under the island, on the shelf and I'll attempt to print a graphic on fabric using freezer paper - we will see how that turns out!

THE LIGHTS ARE IN

I figured out how to wire the dollhouse for lights all by myself. I had some help from online tutorials and the local dollhouse shop was very helpful with any questions I had. It was easier than I had originally thought, I almost scrapped the idea. I'm glad I did it as the little lights are an added help while working on the inside!

Today I finished the kitchen. I just have to put up a shelf molding on the walls where the wall paper meets the paint and then some crown molding.

 I added a tin ceiling, but I'm thinking about painting it gold or copper as there's nothing silver in the kitchen - any suggestions?

It's really hard to get a clear photo of something so small without a shallow depth of field!

The two white pieces of furniture were previous unfinished pieces I had, so I painted them and added the curtains to one as well as under the sink and the windows. The island was an unfinished table I had, I just added a shelf underneath and painted it. The plate shelf above the sink I made out of mat board.

DOLLHOUSE RESULTS

I finally have the exterior done! (well, almost - I need to paint the base and maybe add a few steps up to the porch). Making miniature things is very addictive!

 I bought the front door but couldn't justify spending $6-8 for each window plus $20 for the large one! So I found some skinny Popsicle craft sticks and made my own. I'm sure I could have done a more professional job if I used wood glue and clamps - but I'm not that dedicated.

So instead I just used a hot glue gun. I also made the shutters from regular popsicle sticks and mat board. The window flower boxes were also popsicle sticks and I found the smallest fake flowers I could find at the dollar store. They were only white, so I painted some of them.

 The porch was the last big piece to put on. I needed Jared's help to coordinate it and to wood glue and nail the base on.

 What's a porch without a swing? Last night I made the swing (popsicle sticks, tooth picks and a necklace chain) and the window boxes.

 Today I used overhead transparency sheets for the glass of the windows and made this little table out of (you guessed it) popscicle sticks. I had these little wooden pots, so I painted them and added some more flowers and leaves made out of florist tape.

I found my butterfly punch and couldn't resist making a tiny butterfly to perch on the flowers. Can you spot it?

Can you believe I only had to put about $15 worth of supplies into redoing the whole exterior?

The only supplies I bought were: yellow paint, popsicle sticks, flowers and the front door.

Now we're trying to figure out how to wire it and then I can work on the inside.

What color curtains do you think would look best hanging in the windows?

Right now I have a yellow and white stripe, ivory and black stripe, white with black polka dots or an ivory botanical pattern - or none of the above?

DOLL HOUSE UPDATE

I searched online and found the company that made our dollhouse and it's from Vermont. It's nice to see some photos of what the finished house is suppose to look like. It's also nice to see what pieces I'm missing or need.

This is our house but we have an add on 2 rooms on the left.

 I'm missing the porch steps, the chimneys and some trim. Oh - and all the windows and doors!

Everything else came with the house and it took a while to puzzle all the pieces together to see where they go, this photo would have been a huge help a couple days ago!

The price on the house online was $419! I think I got a good deal!

This inside photo is also helpful as now I see that I'm missing all but one room divider! I called the company to see if I could order the individual pieces I was missing and I can. 

Then I went to a dollhouse shop and asked them if they carried the items and they suggested that I just make the room dividers out of foam board (cheap and easy to glue in) - they do it all the time. They also showed me how to make the stairs and other pieces out supplies they sold. 

They were also very helpful in describing how to install the wiring system for lighting.

Today I finished painting the whole exterior (I got rid of the blue), and put up all the gingerbread trim work, two days ago I shingled the roof. I bought a door yesterday and all that's left is to buy windows then put on the front porch on the exterior.

On the inside I have to make all the room dividers which will hopefully be simple as the company I contacted sent me a pdf file of the instructions which included all the room divider dimensions!

Then I have to wire all the rooms and wall paper and finish. I bought scrapbooking paper for wall paper and some flooring. I'll take photos of the exterior when it's completely finished.