The Dollhouse Saga: Making Bedding

Making tiny bedding sounds like fun. Yes it is, but it is also painstakingly tedious. Any mistakes are magnified on such a small scale. I followed tutorials from Pinterest to make this sheet and comforter set. Just need to make the pillows and maybe a tiny crocheted blanket for the end of the bed. Here is the link to my Pinterest board full of mini things

https://pin.it/3SCCf4f

The Dollhouse Saga: Making a Fern

The front entry to the dollhouse needed something. A table, a plant? I had a lovely table and a vase. So flowers? Plant? Fern! I had  leaves from some fake flowers I plan to use in the garden. Would they do? Hmmm a bit... big.

So what to do? I took scissors and started snipping. 

Looking more like a fern. I also needed to glue some wire to the back of the leaves. I wanted to be able to position them more naturally. I used floral tape to cover the wire and clamped them in place after gluing.

Finally complete! It looks more really and natural now. The perfect addition to the hall. Now I must get that wallpaper and the floor done!

The Dollhouse Saga: A Matter of Scale

I have touched lightly upon this subject before; items sold that are not the scale they are listed as. When planning and buying items for your dollhouse it is important to make sure the scale is appropriate. My dollhouse is 1:12 so all items need to be that scale to fit. If an item is advertised as 1:12 then one would assume that it would be the right size. This is not always so. Especially with inexpensive items that are imported. I have three items pictured that I purchased because they were stated to be 1:12. The bottle, lamp, and sewing basket are all off. The sewing basket especially as the scissors in it are the equivalent of being almost two feet in height and the bottle nearly three! The lamp is so thick that it does not sit properly on any of the side tables. So what can you do? Ask for actual measurements. Know your scale. If it is a really good price, it is probably cheap and not to scale. Caveat emptor.

The Dollhouse Saga- Repairs

Worked on repairing the electrical today. Also decided I need to run more copper tape in the 2nd floor room on the right. I haven’t started working on that room other than decide it will be a music/common room. I don’t know if I am going to split it like the rooms on the left or if I am adding more windows. I would like to add a set of French doors and put in a balcony. That would be a heck of a lot of work though. I may change my mind. I do that often.

The Dollhouse Saga- Painting Furniture

The past couple days I have been working on getting the bedroom furniture painted and stained. One room will have hickory furniture and the other will have light yellow. I have been painting small flowers on the yellow furniture and also making bedding for the beds. I hope to have the bedding done in a day or two and I will make sure to post pictures then. 

The Dollhouse Saga: A Tale Of Two Bedrooms

It has been a while since I worked on the dollhouse. Storing it in the garage was not the best idea. It was either too hot or too cold to work in there and the cats kept getting into it. So I feel like I am starting over again. So today I decided to work on the one bedroom. After thinking it through, I decided to make it two bedrooms. The house is going to be a B&B so it doesn’t make sense to have just one room. That means I will have to make the bathroom area work as a double bathroom. That could be fun, or it could be a nightmare.

So I cut the vinyl tile for the two bedrooms and decided on the wallpaper. I hope to finish the floor and walls in the next couple days. Then will be the fun of building furniture and decorating. 

I hope to also have the floor done in the cafe/library. So much to do, but it will be so cute!

Peldyn

Dollhouse Haul

I don’t usually shop Dollar Tree. I went in to pick up some cheap storage bins. As I wandered around the store I found myself in the craft aisle. I was very surprised to find unfinished dollhouse furniture! I also found craft sticks in different sizes. The craft foam is embossed so I thought it would look good sprayed with metallic paint and turned into kitchen backsplashes or tin ceiling tiles. Then since Walmart was close, I stopped in and found dowels. These items will be made over for the bedrooms in my dollhouse.  So excited to start work on it.

Macarons - The Dollhouse Saga

Moiren and I had spent a day making teeny tiny french macarons from polymer clay.  We bothe had so much fun!

 

We even made some little lemons!

It has been so, so hot that doing any work on the dollhouse is just misery. I do hop to finish the tea room by the end of September though :)

Peldyn

Seeing Green - The Dollhouse Saga

Painting furniture for a dollhouse I haven't even started to build yet *LOL*

Be prepared, right?

Peldyn

Tea Room Floor - The Dollhouse Saga

I had not been feeling well so work paused for a bit on the dollhouse. This past weekend  I felt better so I went to work cutting up wood-look vinyl tile for the tea room floor.

I used a guillotine style cutter. I just had to be careful that the tile did not shift as it was cut.

I then started laying the tile down.

Partway through doing this I injured my thumb pretty badly. Cracked the nail in half, damaged the nail bed. After a couple days of ice and anti-inflammitories I can use my hand a little bit. So today I decided to test out a technique I saw on Pinterest of using shoe polish to finish wood vinyl floors. 

It fills in any light colored spots and gaps. I really like the look versus the untreated areas. Getting all the way up to the edge by the walls will be a pain, but so worth it for the finished look. Hopefully when my thumb is all better I can get the floor completed. I did get the ceiling covered with embossed paper.

It will look excellent once the crown molding goes up. So, still need floor to be finished, wainscoting, crown molding,  and trim around doorways and windows. Other than that it is coming along!

Peldyn

Making Plans - The Dollhouse Saga

Now that I am starting on the tea room/ library it is important to follow a plan of attack. Things need to be done in a certain order to make it all go easier. First I put up the wallpaper. It is looking pretty good. I also painted the last window that was not installed and put that in.

Before paper this room is awful.

I matched up the edges of each paper piece, overlapping slightly. To stick it on the walls I used tacky glue thinned with water. I had the paper extend up the ceiling about 1/2 inch so there would be no gaps when I put up the ceiling treatment.

Now I definitely need an ordered list so as to not mess up.

So this is what gets done next: 

1. Ceiling treatment

2. Crown moulding

3. Flooring

4. Window and door trim

5. Wainscoting

6. Chair rail or trim

I will most likely paper the hallway before the flooring goes in as I plan on having the same floor throughout. 

I saw an adorable little saw on Amazon that would make all my cutting so much  easier. I think the hubby might like it for Father's Day ;)

Peldyn

A Tiny Rug - The Dollhouse Saga

Since I put my back out this week I am stuck mostly on the couch binge watching Bones on Netflix and crocheting a tiny rug for the dollhouse kitchen. Of course before I started I had to get a consensus from my friends of which yarn to use. The blue was unanimous.

The rug is done in chain stitch.

 Instead of joining together in a round I chose to use a joining stitch with sewing thread. This I believe makes the rug less bulky.

I continued in this vein until the little rug was the size I wanted. I wet it thoroughly and pinned it to my ironing board to block it.

After drying completely it is ready to place in the kitchen.

I had envisioned maybe a lighter colour, but the blue is a nice pop. I think our little deer family are happy with it.

Peldyn

Kitchen Achievement Unlocked!- The Dollhouse Saga

With the walls and floors done I needed to do the final placement of cupboards in the kitchen. I set things out on the table to get on idea of how they would look and fit together.

I decided there needed to be a little shelf under the range hood.

I used Popsicle sticks, tiny corbels and the a tiny rod for a rail. It got a coat of white paint and then green.

After I glued everything in place I put in the rest of the furniture and decorations.

I still plan on putting more faux food in the cupboards and I think a broom and maybe an apron on a hook, a little rug under the table. Until I get around to that I am going to start wall papering the tea room/library. I have lovely plans for that room. Delicious plans.

Until then, anon dear friends!

Peldyn

Kitchen Wainscoting Done and Mini Rant-The Dollhouse Saga

Still on a roll, I kept working and finished the wainscoting today. It sure feels great to have accomplished a major goal!

Partway through I got excited and put up a little plate shelf I had made. Then on to chair rails and the white washing!

Last step was putting on a coat of sealing wax.

Now to the rant. I have been purchasing many little decorative items off of eBay and Amazon for the dollhouses. So far it had been a positive experience and any problems with items were dealt with swiftly and professionally by the sellers.

Until I decided to try out Minidreamworld.

They sell on eBay and Amazon. I purchased an assorted order of kitchen food items and they came from China fairly quickly. They were all super cute but one package of wine bottle looked awfully big. Twice the size I expected. The listing stated "good for 1/12." I wrote the seller and let them know they should change the listing to reflect that in fact these bottles are too big for 1/12. I get a reply back that they sell a lot and I am the only one who is complaining. I am totally floored by this reply. As you can see from this photo, they won't even fit on the shelf of my doll cabinet.

I had ordered another package of mixed bottles and you can see the difference in size.

All I had asked was that future listings be corrected as to scale. What was to be a positive transaction has now devolved to a neutral at most. I will never order from them again either. Buyer beware.

Peldyn