IndyCindy Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Hi friends! I'm curious about the McKinley . . . and am intrigued at the notion that it is a wall-mount house. How does it hang to support all that weight securely? Maybe it's lighter than I think. Is the wall side just unfinished and flat? Is it deep enough to accommodate most normal 12th scale furnishings? Please share your trials and triumphs, and likes/dislikes about this house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I’m working on the McKinley at the moment. I started it because I just don’t have the room for a massive dollhouse. It’s supposed to hang on the wall by two reinforced holes on the back of the house. I’m nervous about that, so I currently have it displayed on a table with the back to the wall. The back is flat and unfinished, although I will at least paint it when I am done. I have decided to bash the windows and doors as well as build it reversed. The kitchen is very small, as long as your furniture is not oversized it will fit things nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 These are the custom windows and door I built for it. Not sure why it is loading sideways though. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyCindy Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) Your windows and door are stunning! That photo alone makes me want to build one! Edited June 10, 2020 by IndyCindy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 This is the fireplace I built for it. I wanted a bit more realistic detail than I would get from the kit by itself. I need to get back to work on it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 A more overall view., I also changed the staircase railings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Going for an older farmhouse style. Having fun so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I staged the furnishings in my McKinley album, since my middle son's wife wanted it and she had collected furniture for it. The bathroom fixtures did go with it, since they were made for that house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 2 hours ago, Kabrina said: This is the fireplace I built for it. I wanted a bit more realistic detail than I would get from the kit by itself. I need to get back to work on it. I love the realistic looking bricks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 The McKinley is a very shallow house. There isn't a lot of room for furniture. Closing off the doorway to the kitchen, or moving it to the front edge of the house helps make the kitchen more functional. Also I think you can leave out the bump out in the bedroom to make that room a little larger. The attic has a lot of wasted space but you can gain more space by bashing the ceiling between the two gables to be flat instead of sloped. I don't know if you ever work in half scale, but the Victorianna is a 1:24 version of the McKinley that's twice as deep. So if you just like the look of the house but want "bigger" rooms, that's an option. (They're not bigger, obviously, but they are bigger in 1:24 scale than the McKinley's rooms are in 1:12 scale.) The downside to the Victorianna is that it's been discontinued for a long time. It turns up on eBay now and then, but not often. Also, because the rooms are deep, they're shadowy unless you add lighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thriftymini Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 The McKinley is one of my favorite builds. Love that it is a space saver. I do have it sitting on top of a bookshelf as I did not feel comfortable hanging it on wall, but I have seen others who do hang it on a wall. I do have pictures of it in an album in Members Gallery. My husband wired the house for me. We ran the wires to the outside back of the house. If you do a search on the McKinley here on the forum and even in Google you will see what I and others have done with the McKinley. That is how I got some ideas for mine: changing the roofline and also using darker colors on the back wall(s) to add the illusion of depth to the rooms. I found Gina's blog, More Minis Dollhouses, very helpful, especially, when it came time to do the tower roof. Because it is not a very deep house, the doorways are narrower than typical 1:12 scale doorways. Another reason I like this house so much is that it didn't require a lot of elegant furniture (unlike my Beacon Hill). The bedroom (even with the bump out of the stairway) still has room for the bed and dressers. I do like the idea of stairs in my dollhouses. Love the drawers as they make convenient place to store small seasonal items. The wood in my kit was in very good condition -- so the pieces fit together very well. As I built, I kept seeing Olive Oyl walking through those narrow doors -- so went on Ebay and bought her and now it is her house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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