Dollhouse Renovation

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

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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

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.

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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