The doll house

"A wonderful thing is going to happen!"
- Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, Act 2

I thought I would share the photos of the doll house we gave the girls for Christmas. 
Back in late August, a gentleman was cleaning out a window display in my office tower concourse. He was taking out a large structure which looked very similar to Land of Nod’s wooden book case/ doll house (but in cardboard!). I asked him if I could take it. He phoned his boss and said I could have it, if I took it right then.  So I did. The house stayed in my office until the eve of Christmas eve.  My husband tried to pick it up in the car but his efforts were thwarted by a large demonstration which closed the roads in front of my building and kept him stuck for a very long time.
I ended up carrying the house home on the street car.  It wouldn’t have fit in the little Jetta  anyway.  Here is it on the street car.

This is how it looked under the tree. It appears almost as large as our tree.


As part of the gift, we gave the girls some thrifted furniture which I collected over the past couple of months as well as a pad of scrapbook paper so that we could decorate the house together.
Over the holiday week, this is what we put together.


This is the main living room.  The floor has faux bois contact paper. The doily rug is a cake decoration from the 50s or 60s. I always pick up plastic cake decorations, they are great for doll houses and pretend play.   The fixture hanging from the ceiling is an ornament my youngest daughter made when she was two (yarn, glue, and a balloon technique).  The star ornament is from Ikea’s 2011 Christmas collection.

The chairs are wire cage champagne chairs. As you can see from the close up below, the table is made from a balsa wood container (the sort that holds some unripened cheeses) – I added 3 corks as legs, embellished with trim.

I found two helpful tutorials on hanging doll house curtains (here and here).
The pink Christmas tree the girls wanted.

Top floor bedroom with one of the miniature point blankets we created in July.

The sewing / craft studio.  Complete with a dress form, chalk board,  easel, and a stash of fabric.


I have always wanted a room with a fortuny chandelier {image via }

Notice the yellow parasol.  I used ribbon/trim as wainscoting.  You will see another 50ish cake decoration on the side table.

The other end of the same room and another cheese table.

This is the bottom floor bedroom. Lily wanted it in pinks and reds.  The sunburst mirror is an old CD embellished with trim.


The carpeting is an old needlepoint.

The kitchen still needs some work.  It does have a tile floor, a chalk board framed in washi tape, and a mouse hole.


I know very little about the world of miniatures (but now starting to see my world through it).   The scale of this house is not continuously accurate and the furniture is a hodge podge of what was collected and donated.  The house isn’t a family heirloom, but it is for my girls to enjoy. And they absolutely love it.   I think the doll house project will encourage us to create a few miniature sewing projects and perhaps a few beginner sewing projects for Lily.  
Little one has now requested that I stop taking photos as I am interrupting her story.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
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