Stairs, Doors, Windows and Bathrooms etc

[wonderwizzy]

It occurred to me yesterday that I'm really not bothered by whether or not my dollhouses have a bathroom... or interior doors... and windows are nice but I can manage without them and the same with stairs. Fireplaces though... I kinda like them. (I guess my dolls would be trapped in one windowless room without a bathroom but at least they can stay warm LOL)

This realization caught me by surprise and I got curious about what other people can do without and what they absolutely MUST have otherwise it just doesn't say "dollhouse" to them.

What do you need to have in your dollhouse to be satisfied that everything is in order and adequate?

Wizzy

[fov]

I used to insist on my houses having stairs AND a bathroom. I've become less rigid about the stairs but still feel strongly about the bathrooms. Fireplaces are not so important to me. I used to be adamant with interior doors too but got over that recently when I decided to leave one out on the McKinley in favor of putting in more kitchen cabinets.

I like to get closets in, if I can figure out a place to put them.

[minilinda2001]

Wizzy, the room I can do without is the kitchen (in RL too, LOL!)

I need couches and carpets and chesterfields, bedrooms.

Lavvy is not necessary, IMHO.

Of course, always a maid of all work - just wish she existed outside of my imagination!

Linda McD from NOTL, ONT, Canada

[nuttiwebgal]

hmmmm what a poser!?

I would like to do without a bathroom but Im not sure how to do it....I am not fond of messing with a bathroom.

but all the houses Ive made so far have been for little girls and they have to have bathroom and kitchens

stairs are good if they enhance the house...but if they take up to much room or cover a door than leave them out. they can be in the absent part of the house.!

nutti

[Nameless1]

Let's see... I have complex and completely arbitrary rules.

In 1:12, I remove all stairs. In 1:24, stairs to the second floor are mandatory, but I am less concerned about attic access (translation: anyone who thinks I'm cutting a hole in the third floor of my 1:24 Vt. Farmhouse Jr. is nuts -- that thing fights back).

Kitchens and baths are both absolutely necessary to me. Even restaurants must have kitchens and baths, not just the dining area. Storage, on the other hand, is in the "missing bit" of the building.

Interior doors and doorways, I don't care -- it depends what the kit came with. Some houses have 'em, some don't.

In 1:48, anything goes.

My houses have to have inhabitants. Everything follows from the home's residents.

[mariaskid]

When I was a child I was given a little dolls house.... it had two rooms, one up and one down. No stairs. This worried me as a child and I never really enjoyed that house - it just wasn't realistic enough. My next house (a few years later) had a stair and - oh joy - a lift as well, my father had made this house for me and as I used a wheelchair, naturally some of my dolls did as well. This house unfortunately didn't have a bathroom, but I made do with the space under the stairs. Now I still have to have stairs..... or at least some indication that stairs actually exist.

I also have to have a bathroom, preferably squashed in somewhere so it doesn't use up a whole room. Also i like doors ... but I am toying with the idea of having the doors just stuck on the back of the room... (I am talking of front opening houses) so that you feel that the hallway is out back. These doors dont have to open, or if they do you could paint the hallway in the opening!

I did in one house (George Street) build a bathroom in the back of the hallway (there was already a window there)... I decorated it before i stuck in the wall which already was decorated with the door in place. so now you can see in the bathroom through the door or window, but you cant really get in there... but it keeps me happy!! Sometimes I wish I was a bit more flexible about stairs etc - I lie awake planning how to squish them into the smallest possible space... but I'm not obsessed hahhahahahah

[nuttiwebgal]

oh my gosh Mariaskid

your avatar is too cute!

I have to have a lil old lady just like her.

Im gonna try to make my own. I hope they turn out as wonderful as yours!

I do not own any dolls yet though I would like to very much.

none of the dolls even the very exspensive have no charactor. everyday normal people are not models or porceline dolls.

Id already tried one if I had any stockings around here.

but it is on my list.

do you use fiberfill or quilt batting?

I have fiberfill so I will start there...unless I hear different.!

nutti

[LPCullen]

I can do without stairs, but I MUST have a kitchen and a livingroom ...

[AllThingsMini]

I have to have 'everything'. The more realistic, the better for me.

[judithfa]

For the most part, I agree with Marie, but I am learning to be a bit more flexible, and having some things on the "fourth" wall or in the wing you can't see.

In Toad hall (a Glencroft) I left out the bathroom because the story that went with the house needed two bedrooms. Then I bashed the house but I added a den because that fit the story. I also made the stairs removable because I wanted stairs but I also needed more room in the living room.

I like a house to have stairs, but I sometimes I omit any other stairs if I need the room for something else. In my Thornhill, I only put in the first couple of steps to the attic because there was no room left in the hall. Sometimes I add faux doors to faux staircases.

Must have a kitchen even if it's small; must have some interior doors; must have windows.

[AllThingsMini]

In my Thornhill, I only put in the first couple of steps to the atic because there was no room left in the hall.

So where are your pictures, Judith? Hmmm???? B) :o

[shutterbugkc]

I am all about the realism. Stairs are a must. However, I could see going without a bathroom if the time period is right. Just slap a simple looking outhouse in the yard and all is well. :o

[mariaskid]

Nutti.. fibrefill is best.....

Also an outhouse is just fine for me too..... I hesitate to say that in my early youth.... we had an outhouse.. very nice flush loo.....but we had to go outside to use it!!!!!!!

[fov]

I like a house to have stairs, but I sometimes I omit any other stairs if I need the room for something else. In my Thornhill, I only put in the first couple of steps to the atic because there was no room left in the hall. Sometimes I add faux doors to faux staircases.

That's something I really like about the stairs in the Glencroft and the McKinley. They're there, but out of the way, and sort of an illusion.

[Minis On The Edge]

I normally don't like stairs because they take up so much room but in the Mckinly & Glencoft I REALLY like the stairs. Also I loved the stairs in teh Chantilly house because the space in that room was still very large.

I did not used to like bathrooms in my house but for the past 5 years or so, I don't like a house to be without one. :o

In My Glencroft, I keep tossing back & forth the idea of having a bathroom or to make the second room upstairs a study......

[Nameless1]

In My Glencroft, I keep tossing back & forth the idea of having a bathroom or to make the second room upstairs a study......

Even I, the squid who must have facilities everywhere that the Health Department requires, was thinking seriously about not having a "visible" bathroom when I build that house. That second room is just so large... all my houses end up with insanely huge bathrooms because the space is meant in the design to be usable as a second bedroom. I would at least go for a partition with a much smaller bath and some second use for that room.

[molmrath]

My dollhouses don't feel complete if they don't have bathrooms or stairs. I'd like interior doors, but I can live without them. Kitchens are also a must. I think that's one of the funnest rooms to work on.

[Minis On The Edge]

. I would at least go for a partition with a much smaller bath and some second use for that room.

Calamari, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You!!! That is JUST what I am gonna do. Oh My, I did not think of that. I have a super duper idea now. I can use the ek success stickers for the bathroom to givethe apperance that there is more in that room. I got the Bath & sink......

:o

[hollyclyff]

I absolutely have to have stairs. I've even added them when the kit didn't include them. It just doesn't seem right to me without them. I like interior doors, but can live without them if I have to. So far, I haven't built a house without a kitchen and bathroom, but I might. I've just inherited a southern plantation style house that my grandfather built for my grandmother many years ago. It needs serious restoration work and I may not put in a bathroom or kitchen (the kitchen would likely have been in a separate building at that time). But, it still has to have stairs.

[hydroped]

This is a great question! And I'm chiming in late with my list heh

Things I do not need or sometimes want in my houses:

Bathroom

Kitchen

Garage

Kids room and/or toys

Interior doors

working lights (though someday I will tackle electrification of a dollhouse)

Must haves:

Windows

Staircases with banister (I get nuts seeing no banister on stairs) LOL

Fireplaces

Some kind of finished floor, wood, tile or carpeting

A finished cieling.

and if possible a plant or animal

-David

[William]

Hi:

I think a dollhouse should have all the things a real house has, you want it to look as close as you can to a real house, that is why they sell all the things they do, re: windows & doors that work, bathroom fixtures, all kinds of molding and anything a real house has in it.

[Bee]

Well, for me kitchens, bathrooms, stairs. windows and doors are all optional.

My Allison (which has two other names, depending on the manufacturer) faces the wall, and has no exterior doors because I like to look through the open doorways to see the decorated porch on the first level and the balcony on the second. No stairs because they would also block the view, as well as crowd the living room.

Only my Victorian house has a bathroom, and that is because Reutter makes a Victorian bathtub that my "bathtub man" can fit in. The Victorian has stairs in the first floor entry, but not in the upper floors. I'd rather use the space for proper rooms.

I don't think of dollhouses as being realistic at all. The traditional 19th-early 20th century dollhouse was one room deep, and the first floor typically was kitchen- entry hall- dining room. That is certainly not like a real house. In real life kitchens were never in the front of the house-- they were in the back or below stairs. Until the 1940s real kitchens were pretty drab, too, and contemporary dollhouses did nothing to make them prettier. I've had the Victorian over ten years and I keep taking the kitchen out and putting it back in. I've never known exactly what I wanted, and I keep thinking that a billiards room or a gentlemen's smoking room would be a lot more interesting.

Bee

[Anne]

I display my miniatures in a showcase so I think stairs, windows, doors and even the dollhouse itself aren't essential. But I would prefer to have a dollhouse with all the things a real house has. Wallpapers and floorings are the most important things in my point of view to give the impression of real rooms. The dollhouse I'm planning to build will have a staircase, doors, windows, electricity, bathrooms, a kitchen and maybe even a basement. As a child I was so disappointed that my dollhouse had no stairs.

[hydroped]

I have to agree with the people who said they don't think a doll house needs everything a real house does. I've seen miniature dollhouse fawcets that run real water - wow- but for me I don't need that, nor would I really want that. Plus to have all the rooms that real house would your house would need to be back and front opening - some are, but most aren't, most are just open on one side which means you basically either have a one room house (if it's real small) or half a house - not all doll houses are even designed to have bathrooms in them, but of course if you need one a kit can always be bashed.

I think it all depends on the individual wants/needs of the builder, on their personality and their dream of the house they're building. That's one of the great things about sharing our mini ideas, quirks and thoughts - being able to see all the diferent aspects of miniatures through many sets of eyes

-David

[judithfa]

Well said, David

:lol: