Dollhouse

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Note* Sorry if you checked out the video last night and it wasn’t complete-my internet went out and apparently the full video didn’t load. Thank you to one of my viewers for bringing that to my attention!

Happy Dollhouse Sunday!

I have been so excited to share this week’s blog post with you all. I was able to get the scalloped siding finished and I am really happy with how it all turned out. I used my trusty cereal boxes to make the scallops. I had some of the siding pieces I cut for the lower half and I just used those for the scalloped side. These were cut to 3/4″ (1.9cm) wide and I used a plastic cap to trace the shape of the scallop.

I put 2 marks on the cap that I lined up on the edge of the cardboard so that the sizes were pretty close to the same. The nice thing is it wasn’t very noticeable if the shapes were off a bit here and there.

I glued them on with my Gorilla Wood Glue (affiliate link).  I was able to easily cut the pieces along the edges by creasing them and then coming in with my craft knife (affiliate link) once the glue had dried. I still need to go in and cut around the windows which I will do before I paint.

Once the siding was done and dried I went in with some primer. I used a primer called Triple Thick only because we had some left over from a house project but any primer you have would work. I wanted to prime the siding to hopefully give the color a better surface to adhere to and to give me more even coverage.

I might do a second coat but I am going to see how the first one dries and take it from there.

In other dollhouse (and book club) news I started reading “The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone” by Audrey Burges (affiliate link).  I hope to have it finished for this week’s update and I’ll share all about it with you then. I will say that I recommend it as the story is really unique.

Well that’s it for today’s blog post! I hope you enjoy watching the video and if you have any questions about how I did anything feel free to comment below and I will do my best to answer.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

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Happy Dollhouse Sunday! Today we had an amazing day at our church picnic and then took a trip to the store to finally buy our anniversary present! We celebrated 21 years married a few weeks ago and were trying to decide on a gift and finally settled on a new grill! Our old grill is about 15 years old and really needed replacing. We have been really enjoying cooking and eating outside so it seemed like a perfect gift. That combined with a lot of really nice family time has me uploading this week’s dollhouse video a bit later than I planned-but I think it’s worth it!

I originally planned on spackling the siding where I removed all of the decorative elements, sanding and then painting-which I did but I wasn’t happy with the results. The wood is in pretty rough shape and so I came up with the idea to “vinyl” side the dollhouse.

If you watched my first video you know that I am looking to completely change the look of this dollhouse and add a bit of cape cod feel to it. I think the siding along with a scalloped peak, will really make this house beautiful!

Since I am always trying to use what I have available or to hand I decided to give it a shot with cereal boxes. If you have spent any time on my blog you know I love cereal boxes from dollhouses to making journals. I wasn’t quite sure how it would look with the paint or even how it would take paint so I did a sample piece and it really came out nice! With the sample piece looking like a winner I decided to go ahead and start siding the whole house.

I cut my strips to 3/4″  (1.9cm) high and as long as the cereal box. Then I marked a line 1/4″ from the top (.64cm) that was my guide for lining up my pieces. I began gluing from the bottom and started to work my way up.

Since I was able to use full strips along the bottom I did and once I got higher I made sure to stagger my seams so they wouldn’t end up in a straight line. So far I am really happy with how they turned out. I am going to continue working this week so that next week we can focus on the scalloped peak which I think is going to be so much fun!

I hope you enjoy the video.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend is going well and maybe you have had some time to indulge your love in all things mini.

I am so excited to be bringing you this week’s episode as I am finally painting my cardboard dollhouse roof! I have been thinking this one over in my mind a lot and I am so excited to share the process-and results with you today.

I started off by mixing up a gray with just some basic craft acrylic paint. I wasn’t too worried about getting the same shade as I worked on the room because I knew I wanted variation but if you are going for a consistent look make sure to mix up enough of your color to do the whole roof.

Once the first color was down I went back with a little lighter gray. I used some foam packaging I saved as sponge to dab on the paint and give some automatic texture. Once that was done I did the same with a bit of black and can I just say how happy I am with it?

The whole thing turned out way better than I imagined and it is looking like a real roof now!

I hope you enjoy this week’s video. I would love to hear what type of miniatures you are working on so please leave a comment below. I will be back next week when we tackle the front facade of the dollhouse.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante.

 

It’s Dollhouse Sunday! In today’s video I am starting the interior demo of the dollhouse. I remove the divider walls and start with the attic to take down the paper I put up when I was about 12 years-old. There was a stubborn spot that I just couldn’t remove and while I was scrubbing at it I remembered putting up the paper. I remembered how there was one little spot that wouldn’t stick and for some reason I was determined to glue it down. I worked on it for a while to get it to finally stay down and apparently I did a great job! It was nice to have this memory come back to me while working.

I then went on to the other rooms taking out the carpeting. Some of it crumbled and I had to scrape it off but when I finished that I moved on to the rest of rooms. I was just using plain water in a spray bottle and a scrapper to remove the paper and I will have to go back and sand the walls as the paper was stuck on pretty well.

My next step on the interior will be to sand the walls. Before I start any decorating though I will be sure to sketch out my interior and determine where the rooms are going. And stairs, *sigh* I need to figure out stairs. If anyone has any idea on how to build them I would be happy to hear! If not, we will have fun learning together.

I hope you enjoy watching Episode #3 and have a wonderful weekend!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Welcome to another installment of the Dilettante’s Dollhouse.

Today I am working on the exterior of the dollhouse and removing the extra trim. Some of it was a bit stubborn but all in all it went much easier than I expected.

I was able to use a flat head screw driver to remove the facade and the balcony. There is some damage from the removal that will need to be filled in but I think that will be an easy repair.

One thing I missed was taking photos as I went along. I will try and do that going forward. I know some of you prefer to read and see the photos rather than watching the video so I will keep that in mind.

My routine has been off the past few weeks and I haven’t had as much time in the studio as I would have liked. With Mother’s Day over the weekend I am getting this post to you a day later than I planned but you can expect them to arrive on Sunday’s going forward.

I also want to thank all of you that have watched, subscribed and commented on my first video. It was so much fun to see how many people are enjoying this hobby. I am excited for this section of my work to grow and expand over time and I am so grateful to have you all to share it with.

That’s all I have for today. Wishing you a lovely day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante

As I am not a professional I would encourage you to use your own common sense and do your own research on the proper use of all tools.