Designing a doll house from an actual floor plan...

[sleuth14]

Has anyone done this?

Being the engineer that I am, thus far I have found that I am not content with merely putting together a kit. I want to design my own, from the ground up.

And being the engineer that I am, I am not content with just having a front- or rear- opening dollhouse. I want to use an actual floor plan from large home designs, with rooms and spaces in the center of the home that you cannot easily access from just the front or the back.

I've been rolling this over in my mind since I began, and I think I'm going to build myself a "dream home" doll house - after I finish my daughter's of course.

I'm going to choose/construct my own layout of what my multi-million dollar estate would look like. :whistle:

All sides of the house, all exterior walls, would be removable.

The hard part is how.

How do you build a house where you can get to every nook and cranny. Closets. Niches. etc.

Well, I think you'd have to have a frame - not a shell.

Everywhere you'd want a wall to open, you have to provide the strength to carry the weight of the wall on hinges, latches, or notches. And since you want the house to be able to stand if ALL walls are opened, you'd have to build a frame.

And you have to be able to "hide" the frame such that when everything is closed up, you won't "see" it from the inside or out.

I have some ideas on how to do this, starting with thin metal L-beams for corners, with wood walls notched out along the edges to seamlessly attach to the L-beam. The joint would be invisible from the outside. From the inside, you'd have to paint or wallpaper the inner surface of the L to match your walls. So the only visibility inside would be a thin line where the connection is. You wouldn't see a big metal L in the corner of a room.

Another idea is a removable roof/attic space.

Of course, if you like your attic spaces finished, you wouldn't do this, but if you just want unfinished attic spaces with nothing in them, what do you care.

These are some ideas churning in my head this morning.

Anyone else have any dreams/thoughts on the subject?

[Bonsaikathy]

There was a gentleman in the mini club I used to belong to that built such a house. The most incredible house I've ever seen. He had a different floor style in each room all built from individual boards and veneer, different fire places in each room, paneling, ceilings etc. etc. If I recall and unfortunately I don't have pictures of it, each floor lifted free from the room below it. So you could see the entire house. It was about 4' by 4' if I remember right. Very large and very very beautiful, everything museum quality. I don't know what ever happened to that house but it should have been in a museum for viewing and enjoying when he and his wife passed away. I sure wish I had pictures of the house.

Good luck and when you get around to building it I sure look forward to pictures.

Kat

[havanaholly]

Craig, I have gotten so far as to have all my patterns drafted onto 1/4" grid paper for a Gustav Stickley Craftsman Bungalow, the front & rear walls will be hinged and the attic will be open at the ends to serve as the children's sleeping porch is warm weather and some family storage. I have all the doors and windows for it, and I have the kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures. I found a book with measured drawings for making Stickley furniture and another for making A&C architectural features. It's my "some day" project.

[KathieB]

Craig, what a grand idea!

Somewhere there is a website with a house made by a couple (in Florida?) who built a house like this. As I recall, it was a single story, and the roof lifted off in sections so you could see the interior rooms. It may have been a model of their real house. I don't recall if the side walls opened or not.

I don't know if you're thinking about ranch house or multi-story, but this could possibly offer some inspiration about accessibility to interior rooms.

Perhaps someone here knows what I'm talking about and can provide a url.

[gemlady]

There is a musuem here in Denver .Denver dollhouse musuem

that has a web sight they have a room with nothing but houses from Noram's he was a great miniaturest he has a house there that is done that way I don't know if the web sight has pictures but it worth a shot to see how he did it

[heidiiiii]

Craig, I have gotten so far as to have all my patterns drafted onto 1/4" grid paper for a Gustav Stickley Craftsman Bungalow, the front & rear walls will be hinged and the attic will be open at the ends to serve as the children's sleeping porch is warm weather and some family storage. I have all the doors and windows for it, and I have the kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures. I found a book with measured drawings for making Stickley furniture and another for making A&C architectural features. It's my "some day" project.

I love Stickley!

I *think* I have a stickley rocker. The age is right and it looks like alot of the ones that I have seen but it doesnt have the stickley markings.

My mom bought it at a yard sale 25 yrs ago for $5. DH had it re-upholstered for me one christmas and the guy doing it wanted to buy it off of him for $1000.

[lumberjacksgurl]

Craig......there was also a thread on here awhile back about houses that were actually framed in mini. There are websites with framed houses as well. They are often used as construction teaching models if I remember right and can then be wired with round wire and the works. Keep the cretive jusices going :whistle:

Jack'sgurl

[Hallowell]

Sounds like an impressive project.

[Brenb]

Sounds like a cool house! I am no engineer by no means, but I am a woodworker and I am working on a house at this time that I dreamt. I the love feel of building and fabricating something that is from my mind and heart. I'm sure your house will be wonderful. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

[beccas1963]

Hello,

I refound this site http://members.aol.com/laminipg2/carpentry.html

Has a picture there of well a miniautre stick build home. Is this what you mean?

Bec

[chesterfieldzoo]

That's the best instructions I've seen for a stick built house yet. Thanks.

[SallyG]

My house is an old bungalow from the 1930's and lends itself well to being made into a dollhouse. There is a center wall running through the house with rooms on each side. There are no hallways in the house. There are 3 rooms on each side. The livingroom, dining room and kitchen are on one side, and each room opens into the next room. However, the 3 rooms on the other side do not...you enter them from the adjacent room. The other side has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom inbetween. There is a front porch.

I envision a house with solid front and back, with each side open. Also, one side of the roof would be open for the attic. I may or may not hinge it.

That would pretty much replicate my house. There are french doors between the livingroom and dining room, and the kitchen has a built-in pantry.

I am still working on my Madison, though, and as of now, I refuse to begin another project until this one is done.

[aggiemae]

I build houses like this. It just takes planning especially for the parts you will never have access to again. Even if it is completely enclosed a dollhouse will have pictures fall off the walls, furniture that needs rearranging (unless you glue it down). You might get loose wallpaper or trim and it will certainly get dusty over years.

So far the best option I have come up with has been building the house in layers that stack so you can at least have limited access to internal rooms and halls. This can be done seamlessly. If you go with true construction, using scale lumber ply and shingles an average size house (1,300 sq inches) will weight over 100 pounds. If you use lighter weight foam core strips instead of "2X4'" studs, build out the internal walls with trim at the doors (use just one sheet of thin ply), use very thin siding and make the trims out of basswood you can reduce the weight considerably and still get a very well built and realistic house. I also make the windows slightly larger than most plans so that you can peek in a view the rooms. Doing this depends on the house style, but arts and crafts and Carpenter Queen Anne houses readily lend themselves to adding and enlarging windows.

It is also faily easy to make removable walls I have never needed to make all the walls removable, but I have made two houses with a solid back, 2 sides that come off (or could be hinged) and a removable front.

Agnes

[dbrazelt]

Along the line of what you visualize, I built a model of an addition to the Mote Marine Laboratory that included floorplans and interior details which could be viewed by removing the roof and each floor in turn. It is not exactly what you are looking for, but it might spark some ideas. You can see photos of it at http://www.homestead.com/davesminiplace/Co...orbuilding.html