It's been awhile...life and all. I finished the dollhouse. Overall, I
think it was a success but I would probably do things differently next
time.
After painting the bookshelf "ceilings" white, I made a plan of attack for the furniture and decor. My mom and I selected scrapbook paper to use as wall paper.
I selected which flooring I wanted to use for each room and put everything together in piles so I could keep everything straight.
Here is where I wish I did some more research. I used regular glue...spread with a paint brush. No matter how much I smoothed the "wallpaper" down, it still ended up with wrinkles. I should have used spray glue (noted for next time). I cut the paper to fit with a little to overlap so that there weren't any exposed wood.
I just worked my way down, overlapping, gluing, cutting... I let them dry overnight.
From the samples I picked out floor tiles and carpet samples to use for the flooring. I hot glued this tile to the bookshelf to use as the bathroom floor.
I went through the samples and peeled off all these tiny color samples.
I arranged them by color.
Then I arranged them in a pattern to make a multicolor carpet for the bedroom.
Here is the bathroom and bedroom carpets next to the wallpaper. Remember when cutting the wallpaper or preparing the flooring that you measure! I measured the wallpaper to match the tile since paper is obviously easier to cut than a tile and bathrooms are supposed to be smaller than bedrooms anyway.
I did an accent wall in the bedroom...for fun. I was worried about the little carpet squares (hot glued) and whether or not my destructive toddler would peel them off. She's been playing with it for 4 months now and the carpet looks the same as it did the day I made it.
The carpet samples I picked for the living room and office weren't wide enough to fit on the shelf SO I decided to take some wood tiles and cut them to go around the edges. Now it looks like a giant area rug is sitting on hardwood...very classy. All this was hot glued to the shelf. (Side note, I should have found a better way to cut the wood tiles, scissors hurt)
I originally selected some tile similar to the bathroom for the kitchen and some wood tiles for the dining room, but while playing around with the layout they weren't fitting right. So I painted the floor white and made a stamp with some foam and one of the square blocks I am going to turn into a microwave.
I stamped a checkered floor. This is the first layer. I stamped a second layer and used a paint brush to tidy up the lines later.
I found a packet of picture frames that I decided to use for windows. I painted them white and went through some old magazines to find pictures of outdoor things. I tried to pay attention to what "floor" the windows were on and put pictures that would match. The top floor got the sky.
The first floor got some gardens. Here you can see one of the errors I made in measuring. The wallpaper from the floor above goes below the ceiling, but unless you are looking up from the ground, you can't see this mistake.
I went through all the furniture pieces and painted them all with a white base coat. Except for the pieces that I wanted to look like wood.
I also assembled things like the chairs and tables. The tables are just flat rectangles with mini flower pots as legs. The chairs are just cubes with flat rectangle backs. Everything was hot glued.
Here I added sides to the couch and chair for the living room. I just glued the back rectangles higher so they came up above the "arm rests" and I glued the sides lower so that the chair and couch have "legs." I found a wood craft flower and glued it to a rectangular prism to make a coffee table.
In the office I made a table with a flat rectangle and two rectangular prisms. I used three longer rectangular prisms for book shelves and made a chair similar to the dining room chairs.
For the bed I just took a big-ole block of wood and glued a flat square to it. For a night stand I glued a circle to some cylinder thing. The dresser is a another rectangular block similar to the fridge.
The toilet was my most creative piece. I glued a flower pot to a square and because it only had one point of contact, I glued both of those to a wood craft flower for extra stability. (The toilet was the favorite piece of furniture, unfortunately it is in need of repairs because the dog chewed it up...)
Here's the dining room set painted. I added a long rectangular bench.
I painted the living room furniture black.
Painted the bathroom furniture white and the bedroom furniture brown. Everything painted brown I only did one layer so some of the natural wood shows through and makes it look like wood furniture.
I then went through all the furniture and added some details. Here's the microwave.
Added some simple lines to the fridge.
Added lines for the cabinets, sink, and painted a stove.
Added a sink to the counter in the bathroom.
Made a tv out of a flat rectangle and a tv stand out of a little rectangle. Not pictured, but I also painted a computer for the desk.
I crocheted cushions for the living room chair.
And couch.
Here they are together.
I crochet a kitchen rug.
I crochet a throw blanket for the bedroom.
My mom sewed the bed comforter and stuffed a pillow.
I painted some awesome detail on the bookshelves.
I crochet a rug for the office (she uses it as another blanket though).
I painted Spongebob on the tv.
I added a toaster.
The dollhouse fits Barbie's little sister really well. So far we've used every type of toy in there...including some 18 inch dolls (toddlers are funny).
Here she is playing with it. For a long time she put the toilet on the bed and would remove everything from the office to the first floor. And the only thing she's destroyed is peeling off a couple of the windows.
