Dollhouse

Today I am sharing a quick update on the dollhouse renovation. I have made my first ever window! It was a bit fiddly and far from perfect but I am so happy with how it turned out.

I started out by lining the opening with popsicle sticks (affiliate link) so I had a smooth surface to glue the window to. Then I made two squares from smaller wooden dowels (affiliate link). I tried measuring but in the end I just marked where to cut by holding the wood up to the opening. It’s not precise and required some adjustments but it worked.

I glued a piece of clear acetate between the 2 squares and then used some coffee stirrers to make a cross pattern on the windows. I then dry fitted the window and made lots of trims and adjustments and fiddles and then I glued it into place with my wood glue (affiliate link).

I used more popsicle sticks to make the trim as well and that really finished the window off. I cut the angles using my hand miter tool (affiliate link) and I am so happy with the results it gave. I am going to finish it off by painting the trim white.

I hope you enjoy this quick little update. If you have any questions please let me know!

 

 

 

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I am so excited to share with you the latest updates to the dollhouse!

I have made some really nice progress and things are turning out pretty well. I finished the paneling and touched up the paint. If I were doing it again I would have painted the cardboard the same color as my paneling, in my case white, prior to gluing the paint stirrers. This would have made things easier as you wouldn’t have noticed any gaps that way. It worked out in the end but definitely a tip I will keep in mind for the future.

I then decided to give the floor a coat of white paint to clean it up a bit. I had given it a quick sand first and wiped out any dust with a wet rag. I also glued in the wallboard for the kitchen with the purchased tile board. I added some painters tape to attach it and I was hopeful it wouldn’t pull the paper off but unfortunately it did. I am not too concerned since I plan to put cabinets on the wall as well. The process of purchasing the paper has made me realize that I really want to make as many things as I can for my dollhouse. I was toying with the idea of purchasing stairs and if in the end I can’t make them I will definitely go that route but to start off I am going to give it a shot. There is just something much more satisfying about building the pieces myself-at least for this project.

That being said I am toying around with the idea of taking the wallpaper out of the kitchen and starting over. I am going to think it over a bit and I’ll let you know what I decide.

I have started the flooring in the living room. I am using Popsicle sticks (affiliate link) cutting the ends off with my cutting tool. I purchased this a while ago but as I haven’t used it much it shouldn’t be dull yet. Still I found you can purchase replacement blades but I also found a comparably priced tool with 4 replacements blades that wasn’t much more than just 4 replacement blades. I am going to purchase that and then try out the blades in my current cutter as I think it will be handy to have 2 ready to go. The original I purchased is no longer available but the one I am buying next is here. (affiliate link).  Once I cut off the end of the sticks I adhered them with my wood glue. (affiliate link).

I added weight as I went along using various objects I had in the studio to help hold them flat. I will have to see tomorrow how everything glued down. In the end I am alright with the dollhouse looking loved and lived in so things don’t have to be perfect.

With any luck I will get the floor glued down in my next work session and then I will decide on what my plans are for the kitchen-whether I take out the wallpaper I added or not. I also need to figure out the ceiling (probably should have done that before the other projects) and then the windows I think. Once the windows are done I am going to think about the door way to the kitchen and stairs.

So that is all for today. I hope you are enjoying following along with my dollhouse adventures.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases

I am so happy to be bringing you today’s post.  Last week I stumbled upon a dollhouse store! It was so much fun to wander around and the owner was really helpful. I purchased some chair rail and baseboard for the living room along with some tile paper for the kitchen. Originally I was going to make my own but when I saw exactly what I wanted in the shop I decided to purchase it. I was sure to get extra so I will have it should I decide to use it in another project later.

I am using coffee stirrers (affiliate link) for the paneling that I painted white with matte acrylic paint since that’s what I had on hand. It came out really nice. I had some trouble with the part you see in the video below. I think the cardboard was bowed a bit so they stirrers didn’t want to stick. In the end it all worked out and I am happy with the result.

I am planning on lighting my dollhouse as well. I was happy to hear that they sell the lighting kits in the dollhouse shop and the owner said she is happy to walk me through which was comforting since I’ve never done anything like this before. I probably should have done the lighting before the wallpaper but I’m just planning on adding some ceiling lights to the living room and kitchen so I think that will work out fine.

Now I am trying to work out what my next step should be. I think I am going to add the tile paper to the kitchen and then tackle the lighting. Once that is done I think the next best step is to work on the windows and the door but I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

I hope you are having a lovely day! What sort of mini projects are you working on?

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Happy Dollhouse Sunday! How have you all been?

I have a few updates to share but I will save that for another post because I am so excited to share that I am finally working on decorating the interior of the dollhouse!

If you read my last dollhouse blog post you know I was working on deciding where the stairs would be going. I was so grateful for the tips and suggestions that everyone offered-thank you! We went ahead and cut the hole for the stairs (when I say “we” I mean my husband-I am still working on my precision with power tools). I filmed the process and I will share that with you in the next video. I wanted to have the hole cut before I started adding any pretty bits-like wallpaper!

I created a wallpaper design using Procreate on my iPad and I have it for sale in my Etsy shop if you are interested in purchasing it for your own dollhouse. I printed it on sticker paper which made things so easy because I just needed to peel the backing off and stick it down to the cardboard wall board I made last time. The nice thing is you can print it as much as you like and even on fabric if you want to make some coordinating throw pillows which I just may do!

Once the wallpaper was attached I used my Gorilla Wood Glue to attach it to the dollhouse wall. I added some clips to hold it in place while it dried and I worked in sections. The cereal box I used as the wall board is sturdy enough to give you a nice surface but flexible enough to fold over without creases so you can add glue bit by bit.

I plan on adding crown molding and baseboards to cover any gaps and of course I will have window frames to finish that off as well.

I only did the wallpaper halfway down using the bottom of the window as my divider and I plan to do white paneling the rest of the way. I have finished my 6 months of no spend (and I’ll share about that in another post) so I was able to purchase some glue spreaders and the material to make my paneling. I am still committed to using what I have first so hopefully that will yield some fun and interesting content to share.

So that’s it for today’s post. You can watch the full video below and please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to try and answer them for you.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Happy Dollhouse Sunday!

Today I am so excited to make a start on the interior of the dollhouse. Before I begin anything else I needed to figure out where the stairs are going. I have been trying to figure out how I would build stairs for a while now and then I remembered I have another kit that thankfully had a set of stairs in it. (I’ll be sharing more on that kit in a future series). I decided to borrow those stairs and use them as a template to make a set for this dollhouse.

They were a bit tough to put together. The kit is hold and the wood didn’t seem to want to take glue but I was able to get there in the end-even if I did effectively glue it to my work surface.

Once assembled I used the staircase to figure out placement. I am a very visual person and sketching the stairs out on paper wouldn’t have given me a clear enough picture so this seemed like a good way to go. I am so happy I did it because I have decided to go with open stairs. I love how open the downstairs feels with them and it also allows you to see more in the dollhouse and since I plan on lots of little details it seems like the right way to go

Once I figured out the stair placement I made a template out of paper for the living room wall. I am going to then transfer this to my trusty cereal box chipboard and then attach my wallpaper to it and glue the cereal box to the dollhouse walls. This will give a nice surface to either paint or add paper to.

I am so happy with how things are coming along and the dollhouse is really starting to come alive. I am thinking it would be fun to create a story around the house and it’s inhabitants. It really appeals to me and I am having lots of fun mulling this idea over.

Well that’s it for this Sunday’s dollhouse edition. I hope your weekend was lovely and your week gets off to a fun and creative start!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante