Dollhouse fireplace

I built the fireplace solving one problem at a time. I had no idea how I would do it so I found a photo of a Victorian fireplace and used elements from it. I didn't think ahead so that I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I used matboard, card stock, spakling paste, wood glue, jewelry elements, packing tape, blue tape, gold gel pen, craft paint and spray paint.

I got the flickering battery operated fire logs from Mainly Minis on eBay. They are great! They have a small on and off button on the wire that I can slip under the outdoor side porch.

I had to cut 1/4" off the resin logs using my bandsaw. Thank goodness it was a smooth and easy cut!

Despite the fact that I had to bypass a lot of wonderful details that were in the original fireplace that inspired me, I still dig it! After all, I like to look at creating miniatures as creating an illusion. Once all the furniture and accessories go into the room I won't see all the small things that could have went better in the build.

I will be making a fireplace for every floor and they will get more elaborate and antique as I go up.

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Dollhouse door hinge tutorial

This is smaller than normal door because it is a door in the back of the stairs, but you can use this same idea for your own handmade interior doors throughout your dollhouse.

If you will be opening and closing the doors a lot then I would recommend something more durable than card stock.

Cut a piece of 24 gauge wire to the height you want your hinge to be.

Cut a horizontal piece of card stock at the same height and about 1 inch wide.

Use a toothpick to put wood glue in the center of the card stock piece.

Use your tweezers to drop the piece of wire onto the wood glue.

Press it down with the tweezers.

Use your toothpick to put a tiny bit of glue on each side of the wire.

Fold the piece of card stock over the wire and use your tweezers to pinch in close to the wire to get the paper secure around the wire.

Quickly open the paper back up and press flat on a surface and be sure the paper is straight. Don’t wait too long or the paper will be glued together.

Let this completely dry

Determine the thickness of your door and cut the hinge to that width.

Paint your hinge front and back the color you would like it to be.

(I choose to paint mine shown here after I had glued it to the door.)

Glue one side of each hinge to the door where you want the hinges to be

Keep the hinges open so that the glue doesn't seep through the paper.

Once they have dried put glue on the other side of the hinges and glue that to the inside of your doorway. 

Brace with paper shims if needed until it is dry.

The card stock will be pretty durable, but you can also paint the paper with Modge Podge to add some strength.

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Dollhouse wainscoting

First, I drew out the design on card stock. Standard wainscoting is 3 foot tall so in 1:12 scale that's 3".

Then I cut the mat board to size and glued it onto the card stock with wood glue. Then filled in any gaps with a light spackling paste.

For the base molding, I used fine sand paper to round the top then made two slices with a craft knife at an angle and pulled out the center strip leaving a small gap.
Spray-paint the entire thing with an enamel paint. This is really important because if you don't the card stock will ripple when you paint it with a water based craft paint.
I painted mine with satin Behr paint because I had it left over from my real house.

Put wood glue on the back, but only behind the mat board. Again, if you put it on the card stock it might ripple.

There it is!

William Morris wallpaper. I have loved William since I discovered him back in art college. He was an amazing designer so I always try to have at least one wall in each dollhouse of his design.

As always, I hope this will help others bring their little dream house to life! :)

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Finished dollhouse stairs

I made the railing with paper clay. First I made a long tube of clay and placed it on the spindles, pressed it in, and shaped it. Once it dried I sanded it with sandpaper and carved at it with a knife, glued it onto the spindles, and because this clay shrinks I added more to the end where it touches the post along with some wood glue so it wouldn't pull away as it dried. 

Once dry and sanded I painted that end with the dark wood stain that I used on the post and then highlighted it with a lighter brown acrylic paint.

The rail cuts off before the last spindle on the second floor so I can add to it once I get up there.

Click here to read how I did the rest.

Ah I'm so happy! That was the one part I was worried about. The rest will be fun, fun, fun!

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Dollhouse stairs

I loath making dollhouse stairs. I actually promised myself after the last build that I would never do it again, but I got suckered into it once again! 

I had a stair kit in my stash so I cut off the top step and then shaped the base to look like I wanted. 

The step tops were separate pieces of wood with predrilled holes for the spindles. I sanded the edges round and painted the edges with brown and then covered them with the same flooring print out using Yes Paste. The base step is mat board.

The railing will be the last step, but I will put it off as long as possible because It’s the worst part for me.

I build out the sides with wainscoting and added a small coat closet in the back. This is as far as I have gotten with them for now. Once I get to the upstairs I will finish them off.

I will be sharing a wainscoting tutorial once I get to the dining room. The part going up the steps was much to complicated to explain in detail.

I must say I like them so far! 

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Dollhouse molding

Once the wallpaper was put up the molding was created using mat board.

I had a large stack of matted frames with beveled edges and decided to get some use out of them!

I used the rest of the board to make the straight pieces.

 Asleep on the job again!

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Building a dollhouse using foam board

I am pulling inspiration from these three houses.

After much thinking and planning I decided to use a tab and slot technique to assemble the house. This would make it nice and sturdy. Foam board is a dream to cut with an EXACTO knife.

I would highly recommend buying a knife with a soft body and glue gun finger guards. The tips of my fingers became numb and I had a blister.

After cutting tabs into the floor I worked on one wall at a time considering the floor, next wall, ceiling and the same for the next floor up. Once all the walls were finished I cut the ceiling/send story floor and then the third story floor. I was amazed I only had to make a few simple adjustments and it all fit together easily! 

I used wood glue for some of the floor tabs and a hot glue gun for the rest.

To secure the walls in the interior I pushed a pin through the second story floor down into the center of the first floor wall.

I have made a house with the tab and slot method from wood and I have to say foam board is so much more fun!

Foam board tips:

Purchase board that are the least warped. I bought the foam board dilly board packs because they were a little thicker and less warped.

When cutting focus on keeping your blade angle straight down to you don’t get beveled edges.

Discard dull blades, keep them sharp.

Glue gun tips;

Be sure there are no thick blobs. Melt them down with the tip of the gun as you go. 

Hold seams together until glue cools.

My original drawing plans:

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