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Hi everyone!

I'm very new to this hobby, but I was recently gifted a Duracraft Victorian Mansion (VM800) from my aunt. She got it as a gift in 1986 and never built it. I'm pretty into old houses and antique furniture but you can only do so much with your own home, you know? Plus my home is a Craftsman, so the dollhouse should be a fun opportunity to play with Victorian styles.

So far I've assembled all the siding and primed most of it (should finish the rest tonight). I feel confident about the house assembly, but the paint, wallpaper, and flooring are looking pretty daunting. There are a lot of decisions to make and my budget is really tight. I already spent my fun money for the month on glue, sandpaper, one of those right angle ruler things, and an exacto knife set. Hopefully I can get a lot of tips from here on how to make my own stuff and snag good deals for all the decorations and furniture.

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Welcome Cayce,:wave:

For wallpaper, a cheaper alternative is scrapbook papers. They go on sale at the major craft stores all of the time...

I recommend this blog by Kris Comfort. It will inspire you to make your own furniture...http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/

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Hi, welcome! 

You can make furniture yourself, potentially temporary bits which you can replace over time as funds allow. Just look at any little boxes and think - could that be a cupboard, bed, table or chair? Shallow boxes can have card shelves glued in, deeper ones can have cupboard doors drawn on, drape a piece of cloth (too small clothes?) over one as a comforter on a bed... 

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Welcome to the little family, Cayce.  Didn't your kit come with flooring?  My first two kits were the Dura-Craft San Franciscan (the 555 version) and the Cambridge, and they both came with flooring strips.  Scrapbook paper makes for lovely affordable wallpaper and Dover publications has this:  5135lRZ5SDL._SX365_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

and this is an excellent source for making Victorian furniture:

41KSP3PPBML._SX354_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

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Just looking for inspiration to create/bash (alter) my own furniture and came across these pictures. They show a little of what you can make with everyday real life objects. 

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Hi Cayce! Welcome to the neighborhood!  Scrapbook paper is an inexpensive alternative to the strip flooring that should come with the kit.  If you have a printer at home you could even print your own flooring paper as long as you seal it so the ink doesn't run.  Take your time in each room.  The beautiful part is you dont have to do everything at the same time!  Hopefully you will post photos of your progress as soon as you have access to the albums (after 5 posts).

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Thanks for the welcome and resources everyone! I will definitely be looking into that stuff. I do have access to a good printer so printables are an option. 
 

Holly, I have flooring included for the lowest floor but no others. I would love to try staining some popsicle sticks and doing patterns/parquet! I also browsed Home Depot tonight and there are lots of samples with potential. No one will notice if I take like 4 samples, right?

Also picked some exterior paint colors and bought a hand saw and some clamps. 

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20 hours ago, Muriel said:

Hi, welcome! 

You can make furniture yourself, potentially temporary bits which you can replace over time as funds allow. Just look at any little boxes and think - could that be a cupboard, bed, table or chair? Shallow boxes can have card shelves glued in, deeper ones can have cupboard doors drawn on, drape a piece of cloth (too small clothes?) over one as a comforter on a bed... 

I have already started collecting “good boxes.” Lol

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9 hours ago, Qubanqtee said:

Hi Cayce! Welcome to the neighborhood!  Scrapbook paper is an inexpensive alternative to the strip flooring that should come with the kit.  If you have a printer at home you could even print your own flooring paper as long as you seal it so the ink doesn't run.  Take your time in each room.  The beautiful part is you dont have to do everything at the same time!  Hopefully you will post photos of your progress as soon as you have access to the albums (after 5 posts).

Thanks Qubanqtee! What do you use to seal the paper? I’ve got polyurethane, would that work?

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I have used poly to seal paper after I've laid it and the glue had dried.  For flooring strips I have become addicted to iron-on wood veneer that I buy in rolls at the hardware store and split and cut into 6" lengths.  Before that I used to take my cork-backed steel ruler and turn my Stanley utility knife/ box cutter upside down and use the back of the point to scribe my "boards" directly into the plywood of the kit.  When I applied the stain and then wiped it off the stain that stayed down in the scribed lines picked out the detail:

pantry.JPG

Other floor treatments I have done include painting linoleum:

2 kitchen.JPG

wallpaper:

P3150069.JPG

spackling compound:

KathieB's views:  the bathroom

vinyl tile pieces and paper:

making floors: all three floors

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17 hours ago, justincayce12 said:

Thanks Qubanqtee! What do you use to seal the paper? I’ve got polyurethane, would that work?

I usually just use Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic coating.  There have it in gloss and in matte depending on the finish look you'd like.  Where I live its about $13 a can.

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