Primrose interior

This is the current state of the interior. It’s always tempting to me to start putting in furniture before the building work is done. In this case it did help me make decisions, for example I divided the kitchen area with different wallpaper from the living room.

This was my first time doing dollhouse wallpaper and it was a bit tricky but I love the way it looks. Here’s my tip: trace the pieces of your house before assembly then you can use this as a template for wallpapering. Looking forward to seeing it with the trim added.

For this house I decided to paint the “hardwood” floors. One of my other changes to this kit was to narrow the top floor to increase the light in the house and make it easier to arrange furniture downstairs. And then I can add a little ladder for access. I hope you are enjoying seeing the tiny house in progress! 

If you visit my Instagram @tinyhandmadedolls you can click on the tag #tinyhandmadedollsdollhouse to see all my dollhouse related posts including the still in progress Glencroft!

A tiny dollhouse

I’ve been building a new doll house for the Tiny Handmade dolls and posting about it on my Instagram account @tinyhandmadedolls. I find it easier to post on Instagram because blogging with my phone isn’t great. Does anyone have an app to recommend?

Anyway, it’s the Greenleaf Primrose kit with some changes. I made mine smaller, added an extra door on one side, and adjusted the windows. I made the door smaller too. I wanted it too look a bit like a cottage/tiny house or playhouse. I’ve added my own trims and details I’ll show more later. I’m considering adding a dormer window as the upstairs doesn’t have a window now. There’s lots more to do but the dolls have already moved in... 

Even smaller

click on the pics to see them larger

So as you will know if you've read my previous posts, I've been working on finishing my first doll house, a 1:12 scale project. But secretly, without posting about it, I've acquired other houses. I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to share but it's been quite busy.

I really wouldn't have room for another 1:12 house, so I've been trying out other scales. I became captivated by the little 1:48 (quarter size) house kits available from Petite Properties in England and picked out a simple house (the Honeysuckle basic house kit) to try. Although I do like the way they're usually finished with a realistic shabby chic style, I tried something different for my house.

This house is inspired by vintage toy houses, that are often painted in simple colours like cream, red and green. I found the kit very easy to put together, but of course any kit can be as challenging as you want to make it. I also tried out a few 1:48 furniture kits also from Petite Properties.

Because the furniture kits are laser cut there's lots of nice tiny detail but they are, of course, very delicate. I haven't finished the interior yet, but it was fun using patterned paper to make wallpaper and adding trim. Because it's so small you can make fireplaces from cardboard and cut trim (and roof shingles) from cardstock. There are still more things for me to do in the interior but you can get the general idea from this picture.

The tiny wooden dog was found in an old sewing box I bought at a vintage shop. Now he has the perfect home.

I had fun dressing the bed with a striped mattress, floral coverlet, sheet and pillows. I had also bought a tiny handmade penny wooden doll on Etsy (Renee Bowen Miniatures), and she is also the perfect size for this house. I made a tiny outfit for her and she is pictured here on the bed.

So really, it was quite practical for me to buy this house, in order to store these 1/4 scale miniatures and be efficient and well-organized.  Right?

Window installation

Francis would like you to notice that he and the house have the same colour scheme

I've now installed all the windows on my Glencroft. That is, 15 windows total! (nine in front, two on one side, four on the other) They all have little screen printed white bars on them that are quite charming and I'm happy with the final results. Incidentally as you can see in the picture I added the flower box and the rest of the brackets that go under the windows and flower box as well.

I realized that I could go ahead and install the windows without worrying about the interior trim yet as long as the frames are flush with the interior walls. So I can still wallpaper before installing the interior window (and door) trim.

The only thing I can say about installing them is that it was a lot of work and I felt like I was installing real windows! Well not really. But here are the steps. Punch out the windows from their sheet, punch out the acetate from their sheet, punch out corresponding window trim and sills. Sand, sand, sand. Prime all the pieces. Paint all the pieces. Paint them all again. Glue the acetate to the frame then glue the other half of the frame and clip to dry. Scrape and sand and cut slivers away from the window gaps and then the windows themselves so that they would fit. Glue the windows in place and wonder why you were ever crazy enough to consider hinging them all.

And voila, the results are pretty windows that fit very snugly and are fun to peek through.

Painted roof

So I did kind of mess up the roof at first. I painted it with some paint I already had that seemed to be very dark grey. It was too dark. So I tried again with a lighter version by mixing the dark grey with the trim light grey colour. The trouble was the dark grey had a lot of blue so the roof ended up looking kind of grey-blue which didn't look right next to the grey trim.

So I tried painting it again with the light grey trim paint and that looked sort of insipid and not great either. I was starting to sort of not like the house anymore. Between you and me it wasn't the first moment when I had regretted the whole enterprise.

Finally I decided I would have to buy some new paint and found the perfect slate grey in a matte finish from my local paint shop. Then I layered on a lighter grey by mixing it with the trim grey. And finally I like my house again.

I had assembled and primed the doors already, so I also painted the front door in a nice dull red that creates a nice classic dolls' house colour scheme of grey, cream-white and red. The door has a lion knocker on it as well that I bought from the UK on Ebay. For some reason when I had barely started my kit I had always had the idea to get a lion door knocker, so it was nice to finally find one I liked. It also came nicely antiqued. The door isn't attached yet, I need to buy some hinges and doorknobs as well. Does anyone know where to find some that aren't shiny brass?

Now it's time to finish the interior walls so I can add the interior trim so I can attach the windows and doors. Oh, and I have to assemble and paint the windows and doors...

Glencroft roof tiles

My Glencroft kit came with roof tiles so I used the ones in the kit. They were the rectangular ones that come in sheets. I made a few mistakes applying them, so I have some tips to share.

First of all you really need to measure the placement of each row and draw a pencilled line. For some of the small areas of the roof you will need to tweak it a bit to make each facet of the roof line up with the others. So the individual rows may not be exactly the same width apart.

Don't get impatient and start gluing tiles before you've done the pencil lines exactly where you want them thinking you can just sort it out as you go along. You will end up with uneven tile rows that look wonky. Ask me how I know.

I actually started one area of the roof with several rows of tiles lined up vertically and forgot to place them in a brick pattern. I was even wondering why it didn't look that great. Sigh. My big tip here is when you need to remove a batch of tiles don't try to pry them apart from each other, just use your putty knife and pry them from the roof in one piece. Luckily the kit came with lots of extra tiles so it didn't matter.

The Glencroft roof has lots of facets that require you to trim the end tiles at an angle to fit. So I found it easier to just attach each tile one at a time rather than in strips as recommended in the book. That could just be me though. But if you want to stain them this also makes for a nice variation in the wood tones. I think I'm going to paint them though so this process could probably have been more efficient.

And lastly however neatly you've built your roof and covered it with tiles there will be gaps in the ridges. Here is my solution. You will find that some of the wood tiles are more flexible than others. If you try to bend a tile to fold over the ridge it will likely snap in two. But around 10% of them won't. They will bend over the ridge and you can hot glue them in place and it will cover the gap nicely. 

Don't forget to start at the lower or outer end of the roof and work up as you overlap the ridge tiles - like a real roof. Of course I waited until the end to make sure I would have enough tiles. I'm very happy with this solution and I think it looks much better now and matches the real look of cedar shingles.

I am actually planning to paint the roof though, so I'll show you that next. I hope I don't ruin it!

Glencroft trim

The next step to finish the exterior of my doll house was the trim. I painted it grey and I'm very happy with the way it looks. There's less contrast than with dark brown stained wood and I think it fits with a Tudor-style house rather than a historically authentic Tudor house.

Now I'm finishing up the extra bits like the flower box, chimney and brackets. Then I may start on the roof. After that it will be time to sort out the interior. With the roof on I can now finish the ceilings and if I'm going to add wallpaper, and I think that I am, I need to do that before installing the door and window trim (and therefore the doors and windows).

I'm thinking a lot about hinging the windows and doors and would love some tips on that. I'd rather not glue them all in a fixed position, but maybe that wouldn't be so bad for the windows at least. There are quite a few of them!

Happy New Year - house building!

As you've probably noticed, I was too busy for a few months to do much with my Glencroft kit. But I was tired of the half-finished house and clutter of tools and building supplies gathered around it. So over the holidays I stole a couple of days to finish the basic structure. It doesn't seem like much, but there are so many pieces and I couldn't put off doing the beams and those were a bit fussy to do as well.

So the roof is on, the walls are all up, and the next few steps are much less daunting. While there are numerous pieces of trim to put on the outside, in a way I like that step because it's more decoration than building. I'm going to horrify traditionalists, or perhaps Tudor afficionados by painting the trim grey. I just don't like the heaviness of dark brown trim. This is meant to be a contemporary house that looks the way I would decorate it. And I see lots of local Tudor style houses with painted trim and I like the way it looks.

Then there are other bits to do on the outside such as the roof shingles, the chimney, brackets, and flower boxes. I'm not planning to do a garden or the fence in front. I just want a freestanding house.

Then after all the doors and windows it will be time to finish the interior.  I can't wait for that part.

Right now I've been adding polyfilla to the gaps in the exterior and sanding it down because I don't like the tabs to show. It's extra effort of course but well worth the result.

Anyway, if feels good to be here, and not procrastinating with the furnishings. That will be my favourite part. Because to be honest this kit has roughly 4 million pieces in it, and each piece needed to be punched out of a sheet, sanded, and quite often trimmed more than once to fit in place properly before priming, painting and gluing in place. Definitely not something you can whip up in a few days!

Dollhouse doll update

These EFA dollhouse dolls were for the Yahoo vintage cloth doll making group, and the lady was rushed a bit to meet the deadline. I wasn't quite happy with her yet.

So I went back to add a few details and now she has a blouse and petticoat...

and a new hairstyle - my favourite style of braids worn up. Which incidentally was my favourite hairstyle when I was nine. Possibly the style I will return to in my old age?

She didn't exist two days ago and now I love her. I know, I know, I need to finish her house now. Believe me that is a long term project!

EFA dollhouse dolls

As promised, here are some Edith Flack Ackley dollhouse dolls that I just finished yesterday. The man has a brown knitted sweater with plaid trousers. The lady has a pink floral skirt and a top made from a bit of trim with a ribbon belt. They both have painted shoes, the cloth shoes just looked too bulky at this tiny size.

In case you didn't know, Edith Flack Ackley published a lovely book called Dolls to Make for Fun and Profit in the 1930s and her sweet designs have been popular ever since. In the book she has patterns for dollhouse dolls which I adapted so that they are a bit smaller. So the man is 6" tall (still a bit on the tall side) and the lady is 5 1/2" tall. I also made up my own clothes so they would be more up-to-date for my sort of up-to-date dollhouse.

Generally they are made exactly the same way as all her dolls, including the sewn joints, but it's just a bit more fiddly. The two tools that made sewing these little dolls possible: fray block to keep tiny seam allowances from coming apart and hemostat scissors for turning tiny legs and arms right side out.

Dollhouse bed updated

Dollhouse bed "after"

I had trouble finding a bed I liked and finally compromised on a new one from Ebay. It had a nice shape but I didn't like the reddish finish to the wood (it also clashed with everything I already had) and the mattress was a piece of yellow foam with the coverlet fabric glued to it. Ick.

 Dollhouse bed "before"

So I stripped it all down and washed off the glue (easier said than done). I painted it my new favourite colour, Martha Stewart's bone folder, a simple creamy white with a vintage look. Then I made a new mattress using some foam with a quilt batting sewn around it for extra cushioning. The best part is when you use thread to add the lovely tufting. I love the results! I even created a little free tutorial to share:

Just click on the image to see it full size and go ahead and print it out and make your own dollhouse mattress. My own EFA dollhouse doll (more on that next) and the pug have been lounging on it non-stop.

Dollhouse rugs

Upstairs rug - with a new bureau waiting to be finished

I've been meaning to do this for some time, and I'm glad I finally did because it was such an easy project but with such satisfying results. These are dollhouse rugs made using little sample pieces of fabric. I found these fabric pieces at the Textile museum sale and because they were so small they cost next to nothing.

Downstairs rug

If you'd like some nice rugs like this for your dollhouse it's so easy, here's how you do it. I used small pieces of woven fabric. It works nicely with a patterned fabric with texture, it doesn't have to be miniature scale since contemporary rugs often have large scale patterns. I wish I could make a full sized rug like this!

Because they were sample pieces the edges were already serged using clear thread. This means you can barely see the stitching at all but the edges won't unravel. An alternative to this would be to just use fray block or some watered down white glue dabbed along the edge.

I unravelled the serging on the two ends and squared them up by gently pulling the weft (crosswise) threads out and then trimming the edge straight. To make the fringe, continue to pull the weft threads until there is a fringe leftover of warp threads that's the length you want. If the fabric seems secure you can leave it like this, or use some fray block to make sure it won't unravel any further.

That's it! I love my new rugs, they make the rooms look so cosy.

Dollhouse doll dressed

I've finally wigged and dressed the dollhouse doll. Wigging was something I knew nothing about but I just finished my first Gail Wilson doll kit and so that taught me a nice way to do it with wool top. I even managed to use the leftover wool from the doll kit to make this miniature doll's wig.

The only concern in this case was that the head was a bit large as there was a molded hairdo, but I thinned out the wig as much as I could and I'm content with the results. The Gail Wilson kit also taught me about stuffing the doll more firmly, so I applied that to this doll and now the head is held up firmly (instead of flopping due to the heaviness and a soft cloth body) and the doll stands easily.

Working on clothes this tiny is pretty fiddly and kind of frustrating. I really wanted to make a proper dress that had sleeves and some detail. The sleeves were probably the trickiest but I just did each step the way I normally would but a bit more painstakingly if you know what I mean. In the end this dress turned out well, it even has a bias trim enclosed neckline.

I could use the sewing machine in some areas but it did require some handsewing. Also working this small you need to be careful about fraying so the gathers around the waist are lined on the inside. The dress is even removable.

The real treat was being able to use a little scrap of vintage fabric for the dress since it required so little. I love this print so much! It is one of many tiny hoarded scraps I have, so it was nice to finally have the perfect project for it. The pink and red floral print even works with her rose pink painted stockings. The petticoat is made from eyelet trim that was already ruffled and bound at the top.

Now that I have the first inhabitant ready, I really should finish the house...

Working on a tiny doll

I'm still intrigued by dolls lately, so here is another dollhouse doll. She came with a pink cotton body, but it was a bit floppy and also stained and looked fairly new so I didn't have any compunction about changing it. I used a nice linen and stuffed it firmly with wool.

I learned how to sew together a china doll cloth body (and attach the arms and legs) from the book Making Old-Fashioned Dolls by Venus A. Dodge. This book is chock-full of detailed doll-making information.

Her hair seemed nice in the photos but in the back it was just a crusty mess of glue. So I used some hot water to soften the glue and remove the wig which I will probably replace with a new one later. But underneath her head is molded to look like a hairstyle. Unpainted, it looks almost like a Marie Antoinette style. I would like new brown wool hair though.

And lastly, this doll was described as an antique doll but I don't think she is.

There's a small inked mark on her shoulderplate, which seems to be an initial that looks a bit like pi, along with the numbers "76". I think this refers to the year 1976, and it was possibly an artisan making a reproduction antique-style doll from a kit. Any ideas anyone?

Next I will have to make her a dress and think about wig options. I love her sweet face and contemplative expression! And at a diminutive 5 1/2" she will do very nicely for my dollhouse.

Tiny dollhouse doll

So far I've collected a few little animals from around the house that seem to like living in the dollhouse. But I wanted to try my hand at making my own little people.

As you can see from my needle book blog, I've been working on dolls lately. I've been trying different patterns, such as the vintage patterns of Edith Flack Ackley, and working out some of my own.

And now I've finished my first dollhouse doll! I've added her to my Etsy shop - she's here. She has a lovely purple floral Liberty dress and lace trimmed petticoat. It was hard to cut into some of my precious Liberty fabric, but it was just so perfect for this. The lawn stays in place nicely. Not every fabric will work on such a small scale. I was happy to find this tiny lace amongst all my trim. These supplies are gathered up by me over the years and every now and then the perfect project comes along.

Strombecker kitchen set

Well once again in the interests of putting the cart before the horse, this is the furniture I bought for the kitchen which has yet to have the floor finished. These pieces are from the 1930s, a wooden table, chairs and stool set made by Strombecker.

After I bought it I found out that this set sometimes comes with a little floral decal on each piece so I'm sorry they don't have that, but they're still so charming. I love the vintage green colour and the detail of them, they're quite simple but still nice.

I can't decide whether or not it would be ok to paint flowers on them myself. They aren't particularly valuable or anything but I don't like to mess up something in its original condition. I thought if I painted them they would have a bit of that Tynietoy style that I covet. 

The little bowl is actually from a tiny incense set. I keep finding little things like this around the house that I bought at some time because they were tiny and nice. Then finding that they'll work perfectly in the dollhouse!

Details

I've been doing various odds and ends on the house, but not really finishing anything. I keep doing little details like putting logs into the wood box when I should be getting the shell completed.

I need to touch up the stairs before I put that outer wall up, and that's the next step before doing the roof and other additions. The stairs had some primer and paint spilled on them - as I've already said I should have added them in later - and after sanding that off I need to add a fresh coat of polyeurethane. I'm waiting for a warmer day when I can air out the room afterwards.

So I think I'm kind of stalled a bit! I've also spent a lot of time on bits of furniture that aren't done yet. Although I did finally sand, prime and paint the living room floor.

I also bought some baseboard trim and thought I would try that out. But I realized I would need to add the door trim first, and the instructions say to add the door hinges before the trim. Which means getting the doors ready and figuring out the hinges. So I just tried out the baseboard on one of the plain walls. I love how it looks!

Adding the mitred corners is a bit trickier but I found a good little saw at a local hobby shop. I wasn't sure about going in as it seemed to be mostly boat, airplane and car kits, but they had lots of handy tools and the man I talked to had helpful tips and used to work on dollhouse furniture himself.

So that's the update for now, I really am going to finish the shell someday, but it could take a while!

Books!

So I think I spent most of my childhood making books, particularly miniature books. I had a whole series of tiny books with illustrated stories in them and a staple holding them together. I wish I still had those! Someone told me once he remembered me bringing them to class for show and tell. I had forgotten about that and I was embarrassed when he told me but now I'm thinking it's pretty cute.

I spent the rest of the time trying to acquire miniature books. They used to have miniature joke books in bubble gum machines but the tricky part was getting one because most of the bubbles just had gum. You could spend a lot trying to get a bubble with a book! Several years ago I found some on ebay though, so I have 3 of those.

Anyway I just finished making my HOM secretary desk and decided it needed lots of books. I thought the joke books would work but they were just a wee bit too big. The shelves aren't very tall so the books have to be really tiny. I measured a paperback and Bradley helped me work out the right size for 1:12 scale and it was smaller than the joke books.

So I made lots of books. They're perfect bound - a glued spine - with origami paper covers. They have real pages that are blank like a little notebook or sketchbook. While I was at it I made a couple of sketchbooks that are a bit larger and thinner and a few smaller notebooks. The sketchbooks and notebooks have brown paper backs to look like the cardboard back of a notebook. Then I even made two really tiny plain notepads.

These are my first tiny handmade items for the "tiny handmade" section of the needle book shop! I'm selling little book sets with combinations of books, sketchbooks, notebooks and notepads.

the teacup is a little wooden one, the only remaining piece from a set I bought in Scotland when I was little.

The desk still needs some knobs and a bit of touching up, but I think it looks cute with all the books. I'd like some little mugs/cups as well for the pencils I'm going to make. But for now I accessorized with a plastic thimble, little cup shaped button and a tiny dish from the dish set I showed you before.

White HOM chest of drawers

So as I mentioned there are these House of Miniatures kits that make nice little 1:12 scale furniture pieces for dollhouses. They're from the 70s and 80s but some are replicas of 18th century furniture by Chippendale such as this Chest on Chest piece.

I love these kits, they are generally perfect, the pieces match up beautifully and are nice wood with lots of charming details. They're easy to make - the main trick is to figure out the right amount of glue for a secure bond without too much oozing out the sides.

I decided I wouldn't really have such a grand piece of furniture in my house, so I painted mine white which I think is pretty for a chest of drawers. I also changed it by adding green glass knobs (flower beads) instead of the brass fittings that came with the kit. It just seemed like too many tiny brass bits on the drawers as there are also the keyhole escutcheons. I think I may even paint over those later. It would be nice if they darkened up but that could take ages. (I want green glass knobs for my own bureau but when you need to buy ten the cost adds up. So it was nice to have them for the dollhouse.)

The final touch was Japanese paper drawer linings. I did paint the insides of the drawers as it's so easy with a little piece like this, I thought I might as well. It's less realistic but I thought it was pretty. 

Then onto the styling. I crocheted a tiny granny square bureau doily for the top from a single ply of cotton embroidery thread. I just learned how to make a picot edging border, I love it! Then I added a little pot from The Little Dollhouse Company shop. I had some tiny flowers that are used for bridal embellishments, I liked these ones that look like some kind of spring bulb. I was disappointed I didn't have clay for the soil then remembered I had tea leaves in the kitchen leftover from my morning tea. It's absolutely perfect for potting soil!

I'm starting to get caught up in these decorating details but I need to finish building the house. I guess I will start on the ceiling beams soon...