Dollhouse

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse Episode #6 DIY Siding out of Cereal Boxes

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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

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse Episode #5 Painting a Textured Roof

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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.

 

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse Episode #4 Creating Roof Shingles from Cereal Boxes

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Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but it doesn’t cost you and more money.

Welcome to Dollhouse Sunday!

I have to start off by saying, “thank you” for all the lovely comments and new subscribers to my channel. It has been so much fun reading everyone’s suggestions and thoughts and I am so happy I decided to share this journey!

I also learned something very interesting about my dollhouse from Kathy McNeely at My Mud Life Studio. Turns out that she has the same dollhouse! She rescued it from a yard sale about 15 years ago and apparently there plans with her dollhouse. It seems they were plans you could purchase which is really fun for me to know. I knew it was made by a family friend for me but beyond that I really didn’t know much about it. It’s amazing the wonderful things you can find out from the creative community!

So this week I am really excited to share my shingle project! I had been thinking and imaging this process for weeks and I finally decided to give the interior wall paper scrapping a break and work on the roof.

Using cereal boxes for chipboard I measured, marked and cut my pieces to size. The shingle depth is 1 3/4 ” (or 4.445cm) and the length of my cereal box. I then marked 1/4″ (0.635cm) from the long edge to make a straight line so I would know where to line up the second row of shingles to.

The ridge vent was the length of my roof and 2″ (5.08cm) wide. I marked a line right down the middle and then gently folded it over the roof to get the crease started. Once that was done I used a bone folder to make a nice sharp crease. I applied Gorilla Wood Glue (affiliate link) to the chipboard and then applied it to the peak of the roof. I held it down for a bit while it took hold but it really came out very nice! It is so satisfying to see a project come to life like this.

In next week’s post I am going to be spackling the front of the dollhouse and painting the roof shingles. I cannot wait to share that with you.

I hope you have a wonderful week and thank you for visiting my dollhouse.

 

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse: Episode #3 Interior Demo

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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

Dollhouse Renovation: Season 1 Episode #2: Exterior Demo

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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.

Dollhouse: Season 1 Episode #1-An Introduction to My Childhood Dollhouse

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I am so excited to be sharing with you the first blog post solely about my latest project-renovating my childhood dollhouse!

I shared a bit about this project when I first mentioned it and have been working on it slowly for a bit now and filming the whole process. It has been so much fun and I truly enjoying the process. If you love doll houses and miniatures an would like to subscribe to this series alone you can do that by clicking “subscribe me” on the right hand side of the blog and clicking “categories.” From there you will see “dollhouse” as a choice and if you only check that box you will only receive an email when I post new content to that category. I have also set up a new YouTube channel focusing just on the dollhouse project and you can find that here. I will of course be including the updates in my newsletter so if you are subscribed to that you will know when I post new content.

My plan is to share weekly updates on the project so I do hope you enjoy them!

In this week’s post I am introducing you to my dollhouse. Below is a video you can watch that shows the dollhouse and where I chat a bit about my plans.

The history of this dollhouse is that it was made for me by a friend of the family when I was young. I don’t remember receiving it actually but I know I have had it since I was around 6 or 7 years old. The dollhouse was well loved and used.

When I was about 12 I decided that I wanted to spruce it up and make it a more “adult” dollhouse. I saved my money and purchased furniture, added some wallpaper to make another bedroom and even put together my first piece of furniture that I made from a furniture kit. The kit was something my mother had been given (I believe) but never put together. When I embarked on my decorating journey she gave it to me to put together. The kit was this one here and I still have the finished piece. I am planning on updating it to fit the look of the house but including it in some way.

Once I finished my spruce up the dollhouse sat for many years until my children started playing with it. The shoe boxes that held all the furniture came out and they were played with once more.  My son added stickers to the roof and quite a few pieces were broken but the dollhouse was still loved and played with.

When my mother passed away the dollhouse came home with us and initially my son had it in his room until he decided to make way for other things. It sat in the attic while I enjoyed hours of miniature artists videos on YouTube and Patreon.

Finally, I was inspired to bring the dollhouse down and give it a complete renovations. New roof, door, windows, flooring, wallpaper-the entire house is going to be made brand new. I knew I wanted to share the journey-maybe to inspire others to delve into this beautiful hobby-but also to document the journey for myself. Even if you don’t have a dollhouse you may, like I do, enjoy watching others make theirs.

The dollhouse needs a lot of work but I am seeing this as a slow project, a hobby that will give me space to create, to think and most importantly to image the goings on of this tiny little world I am building.  I hope you enjoy the journey.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante