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how do you display your dollhouses?


nursedebbiepink

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topic says it all....i do not know how to display my houses. i have a "dollhouse room" where i just have a couple of houses on tables. i have one by the fireplace in my spare room. i would love to have a lazy susan or turntable thingy so i can turn them around and play with them but i can't find one large enough. so.......tables are in the middle of the room so i can walk behind them to do what i need to do. any ideas?

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I have two of my houses on TV swivel stands. Makes it very easy to turn them around. My granddaughter loved it. She turned my lighthouse around and around and around. I had to unplug it first though. :)

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I display mines anywhere I can. I like to live amongst my houses so Im never going to designate a display room for them. I keep minimal real life furniture and stuff so that I have plenty of room for my houses. You can see my current display set up in my gallery.

Im thinking that once Ive built them all, I will make streets according to the architecture. Like I would have my Tudor village with the Sugarplum, Glencroft, Aster Cottage and Harrison all on that street. Then Ill make a painted ladies street with all the Victorians. I can put my Washington and Bird Feeder along side a cabin, etc. Boy do I need space....lol Ill probably do those displays by rooms.

Anyways, I use wheeled carts to display my houses because they are real space savers. You can push them up against the wall and they can be easily turned around to view the backs.

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The turntables themselves certainly aren't large enough -- so you have to build a base for the dollhouse that sits ON the turntable (and is bolted to the turntable), and then set the turntable on another table or flat surface.

My Garfield, my largest house, is on a turntable that sits on a low garden table, and it graces my living room. My Brimble is on a turntable on the buffet in my dining room. My Washingotn is on a turntable here in my study. My roomboxes -- small enough and with straight backs -- are on my dresser in the bedroom. I haven't worked out places for my others just yet...gotta finish them first! :)

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That's why I'm building the McKinley... it hangs on the wall!!!! Cheating I know!

As for the turntable, as Ann said the turntables aren't that large themselves. I know the 'dollhouse' turntables are expensive, but try looking for a TV swivel stand. If you live near an Ikea they used to sell them very very very cheaply, then you can attach a board like Ann suggested.

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I've come to the sad realization that once a houe is built, I lose interest in it. My first house, the Orchid, sits in one corner of the dining room, easily accessible on a turntable, plugged in and ready to light. But I'll bet I haven't looked inside for the past 6 months. Never did decorate for Halloween, although I have all the fixings from last year, and am not motivated to decorate for Christmas, either.

The Mardi Gras float is on a table in a corner of the TV room. Same thing. I rarely look at it, and the only time it's lighted is when someone new comes to visit and asks about it.

The houseboat is sitting in one corner of my craft area. Can't even get to it easily to show it to visitors. Getting dustier and dustier.

I don't know where Marie Laveau's house (the Adams) will go when it's finished.

A little African shadow box vignette that I made to showcase some beautiful artisan pieces I got at the Bishop Show is on a bookcase in the living room, but it has been there so long that I walk past it without seeing it.

Apparently I don't have anything like separation anxiety when it comes to letting go. The thrill for me is in the creating and looking forward to the challenges of the next project.

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I live w/ my boyfriend, and although he is very supportive of my dollhouse addiction, he does not wish to live surrounded by the dollhouses SO. . . .I have a small room where I keep them on tables. One is out in the living room now, but it's Santa's house, which I'm working on for the holiday season which is approaching.

We have a shed in our backyard, and I USED to keep my houses in there because it was so spacious, but there's mice in there and they literally moved into 2 of my houses- Santa's house and Rosehill cottage. I found one behind the bed in Rosehill who scared the wits out of me and then I found another one in Santa's living room, who was more scared of me than I was of him.

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My houses are sitting in my RL house, wherever I can make a space. I have recently moved to the basement, and 6 of them are lined up like a street, with the recent addition of a barn, on a chair down there waiting it's turn for TLC. I need to make more tables! I still have 2 on top the kitchen cupboards, 1 on the PC desk, 2 in the bedroom and 1 on an end table in the livingroom. The cabin I'm building for my grandson is on the microwave, unless I'm working on it, then it stays on the kitchen table for a bit. I still have 2 kits, a 1/2 inch and a huge Strawberry Patch with both additions waiting in the hallway in boxes. Haven't figured out where they'll get set up, so can't build them just yet. Oh and I have a trailer kit coming from Greenleaf, any day now! My daughter has her huge Barbie Mansion up in her room, and her 2 1:12 houses sit on her dresser.

DH thinks I need to rent a large room, to go play with my houses! LOL

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I've come to the sad realization that once a houe is built, I lose interest in it.

Apparently I don't have anything like separation anxiety when it comes to letting go. The thrill for me is in the creating and looking forward to the challenges of the next project.

Me too! That's why I end up giving them away!

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The houses I have now are too long to put on a turntable because they would have to be int he middle of the room to use it. I am moving one into my bedroom to make room for the next one thats almost finished but I will have to put it on a desk with the back to the wall to keep critters and kids out of. I think its kinda cute though when the lights are on shining through the curtains and you can peek into the windows. I wish now that I had finished the back of it to look more realistic this way. Then you could open it to see inside or leave it shut and not have to look at the real wall. :blink:

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i'm almost positive my husband would not allow me to display houses throughout my home although he is supportive of my habit. i like the idea of swivel tv tables. will have to look into that one. and yes, i agree that the dollhouse turntables are quite expensive.(more than i care to pay) i might have to try to sneak one of my smaller ones in my dining room,he probably wouldn't even notice!!)

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My husband is not into dollhouses. He doesnt participate in their builds or decorations. Hes just not interested at all. He does like the technical part of it, like me keeping a blog of the builds. For some reason that does fascinate him but nothing else.

Thankfully, he doesnt say anything about me keeping my houses around my real house. Its just like keeping any other type of decor around your house that you like to collect or look at. He is proud of my creations and likes to show them off to interested visitors. He is also happy that they bring so much happiness to me. Some people collect art or sculptures and I happen to collect dollhouses. I cant imagine not being able to display them all. I enjoy the builds and displaying them.

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I've come to the sad realization that once a houe is built, I lose interest in it.

Apparently I don't have anything like separation anxiety when it comes to letting go. The thrill for me is in the creating and looking forward to the challenges of the next project.

I am the same way. I have been trying to find a new home for my Woodstock, but that is not going anywhere. The DC Madison I have screwed down to an endtable I got at Goodwill for $4. I covered the top with 'grass', have sliders underneath so it is easy to move and it is sitting on my front porch (enclosed) for all the world to see. I have a room for the houses I have, but I want space for the future Sea Side Villa.

I have also picked up dining room tables, cut the legs down shorter so it is about knee high, put them on sliders so I can move them easy and that seems to work fine

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my real life house is a shoebox :)

my beacon hill is in the loungeroom , the barrington is in the kitchen/dining and the others have to be crushed into my craft room :boat:

But i am now building my scratch WW11 house :blink:

where she will go i have no idea but i HAVE to build her..."if you build it there will be room" thats my new motto :yes:

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  • 11 years later...
On 11/7/2008 at 6:02 AM, More Minis Dollhouses said:

I display mines anywhere I can. I like to live amongst my houses so Im never going to designate a display room for them. I keep minimal real life furniture and stuff so that I have plenty of room for my houses. You can see my current display set up in my gallery.

 

Im thinking that once Ive built them all, I will make streets according to the architecture. Like I would have my Tudor village with the Sugarplum, Glencroft, Aster Cottage and Harrison all on that street. Then Ill make a painted ladies street with all the Victorians. I can put my Washington and Bird Feeder along side a cabin, etc. Boy do I need space....lol Ill probably do those displays by rooms.

 

Anyways, I use wheeled carts to display my houses because they are real space savers. You can push them up against the wall and they can be easily turned around to view the backs.

This information is very helpful.  What scale are your dollhouses?

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On 11/7/2008 at 6:06 AM, uppitycats said:

The turntables themselves certainly aren't large enough -- so you have to build a base for the dollhouse that sits ON the turntable (and is bolted to the turntable), and then set the turntable on another table or flat surface.

 

My Garfield, my largest house, is on a turntable that sits on a low garden table, and it graces my living room. My Brimble is on a turntable on the buffet in my dining room. My Washingotn is on a turntable here in my study. My roomboxes -- small enough and with straight backs -- are on my dresser in the bedroom. I haven't worked out places for my others just yet...gotta finish them first! :)

Thank you for this information.  What scale are your dollhouses?  My dollhouse is 1:12 and I'm trying to figure out how to display it.

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  • 3 years later...

Hi, Cher. :wave: Off the top of my head ...

If you want to give it away, check in your area for a worthy cause seeking donations for a fundraising auction. 

If you want to sell it, check with antique dealers, who may be interested in the cabinet but not the contents. Or list on Ebay either as a complete cabinet or combine some rooms into sales lots and sell individually. Check with miniature stores if you are lucky enough to live near one; if the contents are of good quality, they may be interested in buying some of them. 

 

Good luck!    

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I just bought my 5th house after having to get rid of all of my houses from a couple years ago. I decided that's I'd concentrate on this one house and let the other four go - they're being displayed in their boxes right now (never built). But when this new house is built, it will have to be displayed on a 2ft x 5ft board placed on an end table or something. And what's really fun is that the trailer I'm living in right now is only 7 1/2 ft wide.

So I'm open on any way at all as to how to display mine, too. I've even thought about suspending it from the ceiling with a chain and ratchet that I can use to move it up out of the way when I'm not playing with it.

I won't be starting it till spring though, so maybe I'll be in a new trailer by then.

 

On 11/7/2008 at 6:44 AM, KathieB said:

I've come to the sad realization that once a house is built, I lose interest in it.

Holy Moly! I love the houses once they're finished, but boy, do I hate building them. I don't suppose you'd be interested in a job...?

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