So, many of you have been asking (and asking) to see the final photos of the dollhouse in its finished glory. I have debated posting because, in all honesty, it's not completely finished. I haven't trimmed out windows or built doors, there are no window treatments or light fixtures. But for some reason, it feels complete to me. In fact, I have my eye on a couple CL dollhouses to buy and makeover now and am waiting to hear back about.
Also, I am planning to list this house in our student auction at church to raise funds for mission trips this summer.
I hope you are as enchanted as I with this diminutive dwelling. It captured my heart from the moment I started and I have had more fun crafting bits and pieces for it than I ever thought possible.
Without further chat, here we go.
The exterior began as a muted yellow, with overspray paint on most of the windows. I cleaned them as much as I could without damaging the window sheets, painted the siding white and used gray for the porch roof and base.
Here is the interior as it was when I got it.
Let's start at the first floor and work our way up.
The Kitchen
After quite a search, I found a cheap kitchen set on Ebay that I made over.
I pulled the existing hardware off and painted the stove and cabinets black, leaving the tops unpainted to look like butcher block. Then, using leftover wood pieces, I cut and painted them gold to glue on the doors for modern looking handles. Finally, I used an old Altoids tin, spray painted white, as the vessel sink, with more wooden spindles painted for the taps.
I made the apples out of Sculpey clay and painted them green.
I found these apothecary jars at Michael's and filled them up with real spices before gluing the corks in.
The rug is a piece of drop cloth canvas with a pattern drawn on with a Sharpie.
Dining Room
This is probably the most simple room. I never found dishes I really wanted to buy, so I kept it rather plain. All the more fun for the next owner to personalize.
I made the modern table out of balsa wood and whitewashed it. The chairs came from an old dollhouse. The rug is a scrap of burlap that I ironed flat and left with unfinished edges.
The atomic sculpture is made from clay, toothpicks, and paint.
Living Room
I probably crafted the least in this room, as I had some pieces leftover from an old dollhouse of Fiona's. I painted the sofa and chair, cut a rug out of faux fur fabric, painted a plain fireplace, and added a dollhouse plant from Michael's. The only thing I made was the leather-look ottoman. I used the cap from a bottle of spray oil (Pam), covered it in masking tape and then rubbed brown shoe polish over it. Like those vases we made in kindergarten for Mother's Day. Remember?
The wall art is something I found in a drawer and painted. I used craft paper for the wallpaper.
Second Floor
Master
You can read more about the pieces in this finished room here, but I'll throw in a few shots anyway.
Main Bathroom
This bath is made up entirely of pieces I created, except for the mirror.
My biggest challenges were the tub and toilet, as I didn't have the money to spend on the ones I wanted online. I finally figured out that my butter came in a tub just right, so I cleaned it out, scrubbed off the labels, and painted it. Then I found some flatish glass marbles, like vase filler, and sprayed 4 of them gold and glued on as feet. A bent brass tube is the tap on the tub and sink.
The commode involved a lot of trial and error, and isn't perfectly to scale, but is rather ingenious. I used an old K-cup pod, cleaned out as the base, cut and painted the lid from a soft piece of balsa wood and added a balsa wood tank on top.
The counter and sink are both made from more balsa wood.
Office
This could easily be another bedroom, but I thought a home office would be fun, especially as I had some perfect pieces for it.
The wing chair came with the house, but was green and white. I painted it white with chalk paint and used an old dining room table for the desk.
I made some manilla folders, a family photo for the desk, and ipad, a custom painting, and bulletin board for the opposite wall. Also, the second floor flooring was done by cutting and gluing down craft sticks. Not perfect, as I learned some lessons in the process.
Oh yeah, I used a framed print that came with the dollhouse for the 'hello' art. I just found a font I liked and printed it out to size. I also painted a mini painting for the other wall.
Here's a close-up of the painting.
Third Floor
After a lot of fiddling, I finally decided to make the third floor a master suite. Or maybe the perfect apartment for the twenty-something daughter who won't move out.
Bedroom/Sitting
Like the other bedroom, I found a box to paint to use as the bed base. I made the linens and pillow from fabric scraps and Fiona knitted the afghan.
The loveseat matched the office chair and I painted it white too. I made the table from balso wood and Fiona printed out tiny book covers, glued them to cardboard and made mini books.
The side table is one of those plastic thingys from pizza boxes, and the rug is a piece of felt from Walmart. The dresser is a piece I had from an old dollhouse that I painted, turned around, glued strips of balsa on for the drawer fronts and glued handles to.
The half wall is covered with some retro craft paper on both sides.
This bath was done similarly to the downstairs bath. This was the first tub I made out of a cardboard box I painted to look like marble. I made the rug and little stool using leftover wood pieces and faux fur fabric.
The flooring throughout just got a coat of gray paint.
If I had a family of Borrowers living in our home, I think they'd move right in. Wouldn't you?
I can't wait to get my hands on my next project. Actually, I am probably working on two, which will both have a modern vibe when I'm finished with them. I'm thinking I will probably sell them when I am finished rehabbing them, but we'll see how attached I get.
There you have it, for all of you who were curious as to the final product. I'm happy with how it turned out, and thrilled with a hobby that helped make winter a little more bearable.
I'd love to hear your comments about The Dollhouse. Unless they're negative. Then I definitely don't want to hear them...
{alison}