Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I am all for realism when putting together a dollhouse, but it always seems the stairs are in the way, take up too much room, or are in the wrong spot. I want to find a house where I can have a kitchen, formal diningroom and a parlor all on the same floor. I think if I left out a stairway I could accomplish that, but then I think it would look funny not to have a way up to the next level. How do the rest of you feel about this? Just interested in your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mininecessities Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Many houses have no stairs, but my feelings are that you have to have stairs. My first dollhouse we built, followed the pattern but if you studied it you realized that going up the stairs, people will bump there head. Drove me nuts so I rebuilt the stairs. I cannot do a house without stairs. Too much of a realist I guess lol. I think it will be fine no matter what you decide, you just have to decide on what is important to you. When I see a house with no stairs I think oh good grief another house with no way to get to the next floor, but then I have been called crazy before too ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 When I build the Buttercup. Sugarplum or Coventry Cottage I imagine the stairs are in the invisible back half of the house. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 You could get the Beaumont. Plenty of room in that one. I have all 3 in my Beacon Hill, but I know it bothers some people having the dining room in the middle room with the stairs. You might could pull it off in the Harrison as well, if you put in the optional dividing wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Many houses have no stairs, but my feelings are that you have to have stairs. My first dollhouse we built, followed the pattern but if you studied it you realized that going up the stairs, people will bump there head. Drove me nuts so I rebuilt the stairs. I cannot do a house without stairs. Too much of a realist I guess lol. I think it will be fine no matter what you decide, you just have to decide on what is important to you. When I see a house with no stairs I think oh good grief another house with no way to get to the next floor, but then I have been called crazy before too ! lol! Yep - that is my problem. I know I will have to put stairs in - but I still keep thinking about the "wasted" space the stairwell takes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 When I build the Buttercup. Sugarplum or Coventry Cottage I imagine the stairs are in the invisible back half of the house. Good idea! I love your outlook on things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 That's why I only put in one flight of stairs to the third floor in my Fairfield bash; because they're supposed to be two halves of a single house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 You could get the Beaumont. Plenty of room in that one. I have all 3 in my Beacon Hill, but I know it bothers some people having the dining room in the middle room with the stairs. You might could pull it off in the Harrison as well, if you put in the optional dividing wall. I want to do a half scale house next. Still can't decide which one. My husband and I just drove around the part of town here that has all the old victorian type houses. Some have been made into two family - but I notice an addition on the outside of the house that has stairs going from first floor to the top floor. Wondering if I could expand a house slightly to have the staircase run from the kitchen side of the house up to the second floor, and then up to the attic area. That would leave me room to do all the rooms I want to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 somewhere I remember seeing a house where they faked a stairway by making a door you could see through and the beginning of a riser or something, this would only take up a bit of space in comparison to a whole staircase. I keep looking at the space the stairs are going to take up in the BH and thinking about doing something different with the upper stair cases just have not decided just what yet. The first floor stair case I am leaving as is, I think it adds to the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I've also seen that done with a false wall with door and picture of a bathroom, to put in a bathroom where there was no room for one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 somewhere I remember seeing a house where they faked a stairway by making a door you could see through and the beginning of a riser or something, this would only take up a bit of space in comparison to a whole staircase. I keep looking at the space the stairs are going to take up in the BH and thinking about doing something different with the upper stair cases just have not decided just what yet. The first floor stair case I am leaving as is, I think it adds to the house. I agree - some houses just need to have that special staircase - gives it a more grand look. Guess it depends on the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathrynated Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I say if you want the full use of the first floor, go for it. Image the stairs elsewhere. I'm having the same dilemma with my "imagination house" from home depot. I really want some children's rooms, so there's no room for a bathroom. I've designed a few nice bathrooms lately, so if I want a break to use the space for something else, I'll do it. After all, I'm making the house for myself. Better to design it how you like than force another staircase you don't like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 I say if you want the full use of the first floor, go for it. Image the stairs elsewhere. I'm having the same dilemma with my "imagination house" from home depot. I really want some children's rooms, so there's no room for a bathroom. I've designed a few nice bathrooms lately, so if I want a break to use the space for something else, I'll do it. After all, I'm making the house for myself. Better to design it how you like than force another staircase you don't like. I bought the Imagination house as well, going to do it eventually for my granddaugher, but she is way too young for it now - so I have time to think about it. Could always stick a bathroom in the attic of that house, but then again - there are no stairs going from second floor to the attic. I saw a dollhouse once where a guy made an elevator for his grand kid in the dollhouse. It was pretty amazing - had an iron grillwork for the sides and front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Peggi's DH designed an elevator for her Coventry Cottage/ dance studio; check out Peggi's section of the team Coventry Cottage build; I think it's the same one with how-to for pin-hinging a door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngeH Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I made my husband cut two new floors for my house so I could leave out the stairs. I wanted lots of room for furniture and "stuff." It doesn't bother me at all. I think in houses where there is no hallway for them, the stairs sometimes don't look realistic anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyckedWood Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 As far as realism I don't think some of those stair wells are very realistic looking...just for the sake of having some stairs,if u have to give up design space that you want, I don't think its worth it. When I build my Willowcrest Im thinking of leaving them out bcause they face backwards anyway. I LOVE the staircase in the BH and would never give that up...but in the small cottages with the little ladder staircase that takes up half a room...not worth it. I also (like Holly) imagine them to b on the back side of the house that you cant see. I never even notice if the stairs have been left out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsea Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Peggi's DH designed an elevator for her Coventry Cottage/ dance studio; check out Peggi's section of the team Coventry Cottage build; I think it's the same one with how-to for pin-hinging a door. Thanks! I'll check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forjenn Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I'm usually a stickler for stairs going all the way up (added an extra to the Fairfield to the attic floor, cause that drove me crazy), but I'm now about to build Lisa's Country Cottage, and the ladder / stairs are going to take too much space for what I want to do. So I'm going to pretend the stairs are in the open wall. :-) I did a huge dollhouse with my dad many years ago, a four-story house but a staircase only from ground floor to 2nd floor. I'm revamping the house now, and I decided to put in a fake elevator to take people to the 3rd and 4th floors. The elevator rests on the second floor, and I have doors only on 3rd and 4th floors to suggest it goes all the way up. I bought a Cherrydale mostly finished, and the builders had added a two-story addition to one end. This made room for a staircase without diminishing space for other rooms (staircase in middle rooms, and extension became kitchen below and bathroom above). I love realism, but I agree, sometimes there isn't room for stairs. I like the suggestion of a door that leads to a "staircase". I've done that when I want to suggest stairs down to a basement. I'll keep that in mind! Jennifer http://www.jennsminis.wordpress.com 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalesq Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I've built illusion stairs for the big Tennyson, taking the idea from the McKinley. I left out the dividing wall on the first floor and have the stairs running up the side wall, disappearing at the top. They are only about an inch wide. See photo in my gallery. I've also considered having the stairway fixed to the open back, and even thought a spiral staircase on the open back might work, but haven't made a model to try yet. I actually like the idea of a doorway with an image to create the illusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I have an "Aunt Ellie" from HTJB and I am putting the stairs on the side of the house. I am making it an old west Dr/Lawyer office or something similar. I will have plenty of room with the stairs outside and having one large room for each floor. As for other builds, I feel the stairs are part of the house. I have another I am building that has no attic stairs. I am creating a drop down ladder so it at least makes sense to get to that level. This is just my personal preference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Happy Heart Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 When I build the Buttercup. Sugarplum or Coventry Cottage I imagine the stairs are in the invisible back half of the house. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GirlPiper Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I had the staicase in the Orchid, but took them out as they were space thieves. That stairway ended up in the medieval tower. Started an inn Saturday, and will put the stairs on the outside if at all...the way to the upper room is in another unseen part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapchap73 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I left the stairs out of where they were "supposed" to be in my Vermont Jr, but ended up making an upstairs hallway with them so my people could get to the third floor laundry room and TV room. Like Holly, the stairs to get to the second floor are in the back of the house. I do like to keep them for realism and hate when the people would scrub their heads. In my Litchfield I made my own stairs because the Houseworks ones were too big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmieO Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I've also seen that done with a false wall with door and picture of a bathroom, to put in a bathroom where there was no room for one. That's a good idea, because I can't do without stairs OR a bathroom! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbytsdy Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Well so far stairs to every single level have been a must for me-- I love staircases and tend to spend alot of time on 'em-- but I am about to break my own rule with the Tennyson. The kit has stairs from the 1st to the 2nd floor, but none to the 3rd (attic); I'll leave off stairs to the attic however because there simply isn't room! I bashed in stairs from the Willow 2nd floor to the attic, but the Willow is a much bigger house and could easily accommodate the addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.