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Needing a dollhouse with specific base dimensions


dollsandcats

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Hi! I have an unusual question. I have a cabinet I made years ago to house a tank for small pets. The pets are long gone. I thought it might be nice to use the cabinet for a dollhouse. The problem is that it has a built-in lip around it (which securely held/inset the tank). Ideally I'd like a dollhouse that would be as big as it can be while still fitting inside those dimensions. I'd be willing to remove a porch or something if it's easily done and won't ruin the looks of the house.

The cabinet's lip interior measures 11.25" x 20.25", so a base that size or smaller would fit.

Alternately, if that doesn't work and I figure out a way to prop the dollhouse up securely, the outside dimensions above the lip are approximately 13" x 22".

It seems the Buttercup is the only one that would work with no modifications, but it's so tiny. I have no dollhouse, but did as a child (The Rutherford), and due to limited space would just want one very special dollhouse. One with at least four rooms would be wonderful. My favorite is the Tennyson, but it looks too big at the base.

Sorry this is so long. I'd genuinely appreciate your expertise and any thoughts on what might work! :) Thank you so much!

 

 

barnredcabinet.jpg

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If you want to show the interior rooms facing out, The front exterior would always be hidden. Why not turn the cabinet into room boxes? You could apply wallpaper to the sides, install closets, hidden staircase, lighting, beautiful flooring.....

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If the lip goes all the way around the top, could you not build your dollhouse on a slightly larger base that would fit on top of the lip, and use strip wood around the underside of the base to fit inside the lip?

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My suggestion is you get the house that you really want and worry about the base after you’ve made your choice. If you are building a kit you want to love the kit you choose to stay motivated and excited about the house. The Tennyson has a small footprint. It’s size is in the vertical dimension. 

Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope you’ll start an album and share pics of your build. :) 

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Thank you all so much for your input and expertise! 
---
Khadi, that is a great idea, but I'd like to do standard scale. :) 

havanaholly, thank you for the idea! That's a good thought about how to build it up and secure the dollhouse.
---
After thinking about it, I may want to go small. My childhood dollhouse proved overwhelming, and my dad never fully finished the exterior, and my mom and I never fully finished the interior! As a kid I was more interested in being able to play with it with friends than in getting it all done, and that was one big dollhouse to make! It's a shame I don't still have it to finish, but it was destroyed in a flood.

Does anyone have the Orchid or Tennyson dollhouse assembled? If so, would you be willing to tell me the measurements at the base (width and depth), not including the porch? I don't think either would fit even without the porch, but they're just so close not to ask!

I looked at your photos of the Orchid and Tennyson on the forum. Such wonderful jobs! :) 
 

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39 minutes ago, dollsandcats said:

After thinking about it, I may want to go small.

There's a difference between small and simple. The Fairfield is small in scale but fairly complex to build. If the complexity is what held you up last time, you may want to aim for simple.

The full scale Orchid without porch is 10-1/4 x 18-1/2", so it fits your space, plus it is fairly simple to build.

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KathieB, that is perfect! Thank you so much for the measurements. There's a store near me who carries it (for less than Greenleaf) so I plan to get it locally when I can, and pick up some siding for it online with the current Greenleaf code.

I think I'm pretty set on that one, unless anyone loves one a lot more that is also 11.25" x 20.25" or less at base. I wish base measurements were on the Greenleaf site, but that's probably an unusual thing to need to know.

miniaddicted, room boxes are so neat. I just love the ones of old stores! It's amazing to see people's creativity.

Thank you all for your help. :thankyou: 

Edited by dollsandcats
typo
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4 hours ago, miniaddicted said:

Or you could simply have a larger plywood platform that sits atop the stand, and the house sits on it. 

I just remember that mine childhood Arthur was on a turntable with a relatively small base.  That might be another option.

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7 minutes ago, Khadi said:

I just remember that mine childhood Arthur was on a turntable with a relatively small base.  That might be another option.

Karen - I was just thinking that same idea!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/622256940/dollhouse-miniature-turntable-8-x-8?ref=shop_home_active_83

Put a turntable on your cabinet so that it fills the height of the lip and put your house on it!

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Oh, that's a pretty wood turntable! Thank you both for the idea! miniaddicted, that dollhouse is gorgeous!

I don't have room right now except the footprint of the cabinet, and am so limited for space. But it's nice to know there are other options for using the cabinet if I outgrow the Orchid one day. Very creative ideas. Thank you!

Edited by dollsandcats
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  • 2 years later...

I'm so sorry for posting and disappearing back in 2018. 

To update, I ended up getting the Orchid dollhouse kit. I got it in memory of my childhood dollhouse, which my dad never finished (exterior), my mom and I never finished (interior), and I no longer have. (Edit: I thought the dollhouse was by Greenleaf, too, but it looks like it was by Artply.)

Sadly, not long after I got the kit, my dad unexpectedly had a stroke and passed away. Before that happened I was able to talk with him about how special that dollhouse was to me, and how I was making one in its honor. I've been working on the dollhouse in memory of that dollhouse and my parents (my mom passed too soon, too, years ago). I'm finishing it up and hope to be done in April or May. I hope to post pics and a link to a YouTube tour once it's all done.

In making this teensy dollhouse, I have learned my parents and I made the right call in never finishing The Rutherford. Wow, we would have never been done. Ha ha! My friends and I enjoyed it for years in its partially finished state.

Hope you are all doing well, and enjoying your miniatures. :wave:

Edited by dollsandcats
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Melissa, I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. It's great that you had a chance to talk to him about the dollhouse and can build the Orchid in his memory.

 

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Thank you so much, Emily! It feels good to be almost done. I admire those of you who make more than one dollhouse--it's like so many projects in one--like building a real house, but in miniature! :) I'm more into the minis themselves and look forward to decorating it.

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Just had to share since in this thread you were helpful in regards to if the Orchid could be built without the porch (due to my space limitations).

Instead of doing away with a porch altogether, I cut it way down in depth, and then didn't use the trims. 

Looking at the leftover rails, I thought, "Hm. These look like a fireplace!"

With some other spare wood pieces, I made the porch rails into a "cast iron" stove/fireplace. :) All with spare things I already had, including plastic packaging and a small battery-operated votive candle. For the back piece, I didn't punch out the pieces.

Just wanted to share in the slim chance someone else doesn't use the porch pieces and might want to make a free little fireplace. :)

fireplace.jpg

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Kathie, thank you! How neat to make tables! It was a bit sad throwing away the spare parts since there's always the chance they'd have a future use, but after around 1 1/2 years it was also a relief getting rid of most of them--hee hee! The dollhouse parts seemed a little like Tribbles at times.

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I used them with an octagonal punch-out and tiny blown-glass Christmas ornaments Wally World had one year with N-scale train people to make a little scene but the table top wouldn't stay level; eventually I'll make a better wooden table to move the scene onto and use it in a different house.

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