Where do you buy stuff?

[Gayle]

If you want to try your hand at making your own stuff, check out your local library. They should have a section on dollhouse miniatures. I've just about exhausted the supply at my library and will occasionally purchase books from Amazon.com.

[queenannediva]

I have four wonderful mini shops within 2 hours driving time from me and I also shop mini shops I can find when traveling. I buy from a few select ebay sellers and an online dealer I like very much is SP Miniatures - http://www.spminiatures.com

Valerie

[ilovecats]

I mostly buy stuff from ebay. Some from HBS, Manor house miniatures and Dejoux. There are alot a great shops out there.

[Angieaug]

I buy almost everything online, except for the stuff I make and a few odds and ends from Hobby Lobby. There are a handful of ebay retailers that I buy from frequently who have reasonable shipping prices - Kerbey Lane Miniatures, Grandma Holley, Tiara's by Tamara are a few of my favorite ebay stores. Mainly Minis is also a good one, but now I shop directly from her website since she offers free shipping.

[CJEP]

In Mass there is Den of Antiquity in Danvers.

That is the one I go to that is 10-15 minutes away from me. It is small but has good stuff when I want to see it in person before buying it. Eventually I'm going to go to Earth and Tree in New Hampshire. It is only about an hour or less from me. Dh and I keep talking about going one of these weekends.

[havanaholly]

Where do you all buy stuff for your houses?

I make almost all of mine. On the extremely rare occasions we find a real, honest-to-God mini store I go for kits and metal items I can't make cost-effectively.

[Just One More]

Hi,

Decatur, Illinois has absolutely no miniature stores. If store rent wasn't so high I would open one myself. I collect dolls also and would love to have a shop of doll houses, mini furniture, and doll repair. For customers I'd have cinnamon tea on the stove and cookies . I have lived in ten states, but didn't get into dollhouses until I lived in California. I got quite a bit there, and then moved to Illinois. Downers Grove used to have a great shop but they closed. Now it's do it yourself, Hobby Lobby and HBS to keep within my budget. I've been to the Chicago miniature show but now it's about 200 miles from here which is kind of far for me to go.

Pat

[frillyfroofroo]

I can't remember her name, but one Ebay mini seller charges $2.50 for shipping no matter how much you buy.

[havanaholly]

Where do you all buy stuff for your houses?

I should add that since I make most of my stuff I have a number of places I shop for component supplies. Diners and fast food restaurants have wonderful single-serving containers of various shapes & sizes that make wonderful minis, the single-serving jelly packets can be used, for instance, for commode or water closet tanks, wall niches, kitchen sinks, lavatory basins and drawers.

Thrift stores have lots of goodies; I love the Good Will store in Bainbridge, GA, because many people there seem to favor silk shirts and donate them when they get tired of them, so I can dress dolls & windows & beds; old polyester neckties make terrific upholstery; I found a miniature Burmese-style Buddha once. Old costume jewelry and link-belts yield terrific mini components! Butterfly earring backs make wonderful plumbing faucets and the little barrel earring backs make lovely taps, especially for bathtubs.

Back before Wally World decided the only "creative" hobbies people have are beading and scrapbooking I could get plastic items for decorating wedding cakes. I painted a mini birdbath faux marble to use in my Cambridge's front yard and I have a gazebo and grooved columns for the Craftsman Bungalow I'm designing; and I could count on them for dowels and woodsies; now I get many of those items at the craft stores (until they stop carrying them) or the big hardware stores.

I've found broken jewelry bits in parking lots. "Dime" stores and Dollar stores yield all stores of raw materials, too. And many empty kichen containers can be recycled into mini components.