My first Dollhouse for my daughter! Help out please

[trixylynn4455]

Hey guys,

So I’m making a dollhouse for my daughter and it’s the McKinley and I’m almost done. The way they cut the wood kind of sucks here and there but I fixed what I could. This is my first experience making anything like this, so it was very let’s just say durr for me! lol : but it all worked out pretty well. This project was to be my hubby’s and my project but he has done nothing to it so it’s really all me doing it. He has done some furniture and that’s about it. So I need some help on some cool places to get fabric, decor supplies, ect I live in Vancouver WA so anyone have an ideas that would be very helpful, being new to this I have no clue where to go and where to start on the decor ideas. I do have to say this dollhouse is the most funniest project I have ever done! I’m very crafty and I do so many things as to crafty but this takes it all I love doing this! So much fun and I’m just excited to do the decor part because I’m almost done with this all.

Okay guys help me out! Im new at this and dont know where to get some decor stuff for a good price, what are your thoughts guys?

oh and the pics that Im posting are the first of this project, I really need to take more pics of it now..I'll try tonight!

[havanaholly]

OK, Tracy, slow down and take a deep breath. No go up to the top of the forum page where you see the brown bar and click on "blogs" and then click on the Team McKinley blog.

The way they cut the wood kind of sucks here and there but I fixed what I could.

I'm not sure what your issues were, but usually the dry-fit will help figure out fit problems.

I need some help on some cool places to get fabric, decor supplies

Because I have read nearly every book Patricia King has written I pretty much confine my miniature resource shopping to Good Will and charity thrift stores. Old silk, cotton and thin wool clothes yield wonderful curtain & mini people clothing fabrics and old neckties, especially the wide old polyester neckties with small jacquard designs are perfect for upholstering mini furniture. If you knit & crochet, single strand cotton embroidery floss makes nice "scale" worsted, and you can get small enough hooks and needles from http://www.jklneedles.com .

[nuttiwebgal]

for inexpensive wallpaper you can print your own or you can use scrapbooking paper.

there are alot of wonderful patterns that really look nice as wallpaper.

you have done a wonderful job on your house.

as your windows are in I would recomend making templates of the walls and precut your wallpaper before gluing it in.

e-bay can be a wonderful source for purchasing decorating items also. you will need 3 sheets of wallpaper to do one room but it is always good to have 4...for the ooops factor.

how old is your daughter?

I love the Mckinley...it is a much underrated kit. I look forward to seeing your colors and how you decide to do the inside!

kudos on a job well done!

nutti :yes:

[Peggi]

I can't help with any resources in WA, but if you have a paint/wallpaper place--ask for their old wallpaper sample books. I've used real wallpaper sample for floors as well as for wallpaper.

Alot of us also order on line from miniatures.com for supplies. Look in any Dollar stores for things you can use also. Any Hobby Lobby or Michaels stores near you?

Your McKinley looks very good.

[CJEP]

Hi and :yes: Tracy! All of my suggestions are given above. I have used scrapbook paper for wallpaper and tile floors. I have bought furniture at the Dollar Tree and Michaels. Depending on the age of your daughter, you may want to have more kid friendly furniture though. Ryan's room looks good, I have never used it. Or you can buy furniture kits.

Hope that helps!! Enjoy!!

[Marcela]

Hi!

For roof and chimneys you can use stone-effect paint on spray...i cannot rememeber the brand right now i tell you tomorrow...floor tiles are easy to make from the clapboard siding.

i found very cheap and beautiful wallpaper on ebay with the seller diminutivespecialties ask her if she has more.

on amazon you can find tons of miniture books: food, curtains, finishing touches, etc. take a look!

Hope this help you...

your baby is very lucky to have a wonderful mother like you!!!

[Minis On The Edge]

Welcome to the neighborhood Tracy!! You can print some Wallpapers from your computer! You can go to http://www.printmini.com also http://www.kawarthalakesminis.com/printables1.html This is a site for more printie things for your dollhouse!

You can also look at some of those "stained" clothes from your daughter :groucho: Prints from little baby clothes are PERFECT for minis!

[minilinda2001]

Tracy, you are doing a great job, and your wee girl will be delighted!

Lucky for you that the garage sale season has begun... hit the toy bins first and look for little puppies, dolls ( I found 2 1:12 Barbies for my Buttercup), and sometimes even furniture turns up. Necklaces or beads can be used for perfume bottles, lamps, doorknobs....

Then look for lace trim to use for dust ruffles or curtains. Sometimes cording used for pillows or lampshades can be used as molding. If it isn't the right colour, paint it! Look for leftover RL textured wallpaper - I found a big roll once, which I am using for stucco on exterior walls and ceilings. Try to develop a mini eye, and alternative uses... I once came across a Communion tray which was severely warped. I "restored" it and now use it for storing craft paint!

Another place I regularly haunt is the Dollar store. They have furniture occasionally. Check the flower section for tiny flowers you can use in landscaping or vases. Check the tool section for clamps, files (cheap nail files are great for smoothing in cramped quarters!) Skinny sticks or wodden coffee stirrers can be used for floors. Also consider tongue depressors.

Don't throw anything away!

Clear plastic pastry/salad containers can be used for windows.

Foam meat trays can be shaped into wood details.

Plastic tubing can be used for glasses.

Pencil tops make canned goods.

Dry pepper seeds, and throw them into a bowl. They look like potato chips.

Look at decorative magnets - some are useful.

I have used card for many things - currently siding the haunted house and roffed the Buttercup. It can be glued into a box shape and embellished - oh, I forgot bamboo skewers! They can be split and applied as furniture molding.

Hope this helps.

[SuuS]

You can print some Wallpapers from your computer! You can go to http://www.printmini.com also http://www.kawarthalakesminis.com/printables1.html This is a site for more printie things for your dollhouse!

Thanks for the websites they are great!!!

[LizB]

Great job so far! With a baby too! I just finished my dollhouse (for my daughter and me). I bought a lot of things from the local dollhouse store (flooring, etc..) but if you don't have one near - www.miniatures.com is a good source, they have lot's of sales. And you can make a lot yourself especially if you are "crafty". I also got a lot of furniture kits (House of Miniatures) off of ebay. And like others have said - I made the curtains myself from old material using a "Pretty Pleater" by Anne (shoot, I forgot her last name). But you can get that off of the internet too. If you are wiring the dollhouse - Cir Kit lighting is really good. They have a website also. But if you are going to let your daughter play with it and she is very young still, you might want to make more sturdier furniture until she gets older. (My daughter is 11.)

Good luck!

-Liz

[havanaholly]

using a "Pretty Pleater"

Since these are fairly pricey here's how to make your own (I think it's actually in a post somewhere): on a piece of scrap plywood approximately 9X12 inches you can lay out bamboo skewers side by side cut to the length of your scrapwood. Beginning at the edge glue down every other skewer and remove the unglued ones when it's dry and you have your very own "pretty pleater".

[Nameless1]

For wallpaper, if you have a big art store near you, the 18x24 sheets of patterned paper are often cheaper than scrapbook paper and easier to match at corners. Just don't be sucked in by the $25 sheets of embroidered paper! Stick to the under-$5 sheets. Really heavy paper also works well for tile.

I love spray paint, but a house sucks up an amazing amount of paint, so it's not always all that cheap.

Many years, the best time for furniture bargains is right around Christmas, when the Christmas stores heavily mark down ornaments that are... shaped like dollhouse furniture! Also, be very open to party supply and stationery stores as sources of accessories. And keep a creative eye on Big Lots. For $12, I got a ton of coffee-related accessories by disassembling a mini-Bratz espresso bar (the plastic shell was nothing special). $12 would be a bargain for just ONE coffee machine at a dollhouse shop.

Check local hobby shops for the least expensive Town Square furniture sets. TS also has a line of paint-it-yourself furniture that they sell at A.C. Moore. You can pretty easily repaint and reupholster the finished TS pieces, too, if you want to upgrade them.

[aggiemae]

Shopping tip: Goodwill OUTLET store. There is one in Portland. They sell stuff by the pound. I get all my vintage fabric (cloths) and strange odds and ends for building there. It takes some time to sort through stuff and some of the older outlets are kind of dirty, I would not take a baby, but there are babies there all the time. They have carts like the grocery store. The more you buy the cheaper the price per pound. I found a playmobile dollhouse and almost all the furniture for it back in January that I gave to my grandson. We only go a few time a year, but alway find cool stuff including wish list items like ornate picture frames/glass for roomboxes, tons of barbie stuff. Storagecontainers sometimes even paint and stain. They also sell furniture. I have actuall built several house stands and bases now out of qualiy wood from dressers and desks that wher under 10 buck for many square feet of good wood.

I am in Oregon, I can pleat some curtians for you, I have tons (literally) of fabric or you can mail me some. But kids seem to like curtians on rods better. I use skewers with a bead on each end. I put them up with wire brads that I twist into hooks and jam into tiny holes on the window trim with a bit of quick grip. The hook part of a hook and eye set glued to the window frame. If you want them painted string then on a piece of fishing line. The eye par make good drawer pulls :w00t:. Is there is a Big Lots store near you? I get great bags of scrapbook paper for wall paper, it is easier to put up and take down and kids do like to redecorate. You can also print the scrap book paper (also rugs) onto fabric and seal it. There are lots of websites with the instructions. I make all sorts of things like this for my friend Ruby who is goiing to be 7 in August. Ruby is definatly into quantity when it comes to stuff for her house. It's playscale. I find all sorts of barbie furniture and accessories for cheap and air brush it but there is special sprap paint in cans for plastic now. I just used the burgandy/wine and a gold pain pen for an empire style barbie love seat that was bright blue and barbie pink, it is still garrish but at least the colors are more authentic.

Hope this is helpful!

Take care, Agnes

Kid houses are my favorite to make, I hope you suggestions are helpful

Edited June 2, 2007 by aggiemae

[nuttiwebgal]

Kid houses are my favorite to make,

Mine too!

side note...I am told by mommy that the new Shrek toys from Mcdonalds are a great fit for the HH kit. Maddison who is 3 LOVES the "mommy and daddy and baby" she has.

gotta get miss Pixie some!

nutti :w00t:

[Anna]

Mine too!

side note...I am told by mommy that the new Shrek toys from Mcdonalds are a great fit for the HH kit. Maddison who is 3 LOVES the "mommy and daddy and baby" she has.

gotta get miss Pixie some!

nutti

There are suitable SHre figures avaliable???? :w00t:

OK, better go and sit in the silent corenr trying to get that idea out of my mind as I have a HAunted house screaming for something different....

Hugs

[nuttiwebgal]

YES ANNA!

Mc Donalds has them

and I just did a search on E-bay and I should have a set in a few hours...have to wait on the bidding.

I was thinking what a kewl idea for my Allison kit.

there are 10 figures in all.

nutti :w00t:

[havanaholly]

Anna, if Mickey D's hasn't hit Sweden yet, perhaps some of the US members could get you a set & send them? (not me, the entire McDonald's corporation doesn't have enough money to pay me to eat their food!)

[Anna]

Anna, if Mickey D's hasn't hit Sweden yet, perhaps some of the US members could get you a set & send them? (not me, the entire McDonald's corporation doesn't have enough money to pay me to eat their food!)

LOL, well we do have that yellow arched "food" place over here as well. it is just that they don't follow the US campaigns at all... :w00t: and eventhough that place is only about 4 minutes bikeride form home I think I Have set my foot in there appr 3 times during the 6 years we lived here... Nutti mentioned that they might be around at ebay, will have a looksie after you hopefully get your set complete then...

I think that using my HH kit might be a cool setting, or perhaps I will only make a roombox kind of setting, not sure we are still in the process of "discussin" possibilities here LOL as we have gone through a couple of ideas and discarded themallready....

Hugs and thanks for the ideas!

[justmesue]

I agree with the Yellow arch statement, ate there once, FOOD POISONING- enough said!

The house is looking good! You can buy their toys without purchasing meals, luckily, lol. Dollar stores if you have any close by sell scrapbooking paper that makes excelent wall paper and floors. Good job so far. Thanks for sharing.

[JewelsRus]

This thred it just packed with good info and ideas. To those of us that are new this is awesome. Thanx for all of the wonderful info!

[MommymakesStuff]

I agree with the Yellow arch statement, ate there once, FOOD POISONING- enough said!

The house is looking good! You can buy their toys without purchasing meals, luckily, lol. Dollar stores if you have any close by sell scrapbooking paper that makes excelent wall paper and floors. Good job so far. Thanks for sharing.

My local dollar store has Shrek figurines and they just got classic Pooh in too. They are good for small figurines. Ours even has a craft section! Don't forget that the arches also have madame alexander's at times too. I bought the whole disney set a year back and used them on my christmas tree. I think the people thought I was nuts when I left with thirty dollars or so worth of happy meal toys!