Around the beginning of the year I mentioned wanting to redo a dollhouse I’d bought off Facebook Marketplace :
I’d had to take off one side of the roof to get it to fit into my car it was about 3 feet tall and about as wide. I’m not sure if the scale was 1:12 or 1:6, but it was pretty big.
I decided to redo it because the wood on the walls was splintering in the middle and some of the second floor was cracked. I recently took the entire piece apart:
The piece standing up in the back right corner is the base, and it’s going to stay intact for the new build. The rest will be cut down for interior walls and other bits I can salvage out of it. The wood isn’t of good quality so it’s not going to be used for the exterior of the house.
This wood is 1/4 in Luan, and it was cut by my co-worker, Dennis. The pieces in the back are the back and front pieces. The front is going to be held on by magnets and be removable. I’ll be decorating from the back of the house forward. The house is also going to have a mansard roof.
I’ve decided to do the outside as a French Chateau with the mansard roof, stone façade and a staircase that goes down both sides of the front doors.
The first floor will actually be the basement area, and the second floor will have the entrance to the house.
I would love suggestions on how to decorate the house. I was thinking Regency era for the interior but then again, I could do modern as well. Please, let me know what you think. I’m open to all ideas and suggestions.
Here are the main tools I am going to use:
I’m sure I’ll end up using other tools as well but for the framework, these are the main ones I’ll be using.
I’m not rushing this build. I’m going to let glue dry overnight and do only a piece or two at a time. The only nails in this build will be the ones for the magnets to attach to. I plan to drill holes for the magnets to be glued into on the front wall, and small nails will be inset into the edges of the side walls. These will all be covered up with glue and either paper or something else. This will not only help them blend into the frame of the house, it will also help keep them from pulling out due to the magnetic attraction. Ara from Bentley House Minis talked about this happening during her initial build of the Beetlejuice house.
I’ll show you what I’ve done to the house next week. Tomorrow, I plan to put on the back wall and Thursday, I’ll put up one of the side walls. I also plan to start marking where the first floor room dividers are going to go. Those will need to be cut to size before they can be placed. I’m planning on going out of town Friday, if all goes well with my car’s front end work and thus, I won’t be able to work on the house until I get back.
Still, this will be a welcome break from my stitching and will keep me from getting burned out on it. I hope someone will be as interested in this as I am. This is going to be a long term project as I plan to make as much as I can of the furnishings and only buy what I can’t make myself. This is going to be quite the journey!!
See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!
Griffin's Nest 