Doll-house Building Tips

[Mariah]

Great news! My family is getting a new oven and it's coming today! And of course you know what new ovens mean. Big boxes! Yay! ;D

So I've been considering for a while what to do with the box and decided to make it into the second story of Ms. Gracie's house. Her house is very fancy; alot like the Parkington's mansion. Alot of our other dollhouses are small and tight, difficult for play. So we really wanted to make this one accessable, easy to play inside.

We have already made the first story, it's underneath a coffee table. The coffee table wasn't tall enough to use for dolls so we put few bricks underneath each leg to raise it up a bit. It's very sturdy and it looks great.

So my plan is to use the box to make another story, and I want to try to make it look like a real building. You know, with a roof, windows, and maybe even a little balcony. I bought some wood-looking contact paper and was thinking to cover the outside of the walls with that. For the roof, I am thinking to do shingles of some sort. Do you have any ideas for how to do the shingles? Pictures would be really appreciated.

I have made windows before, but if you have any tips on making them I would love to hear them! I was just talking to my little sister and she gave me the idea of using a flower box for the balcony. You know; the kind with a flat back and a rounded front? I'm not sure just what they are called, but I think I have seen them before and I think that they would work. IDK, just an idea. Do you have any other ideas for the balcony?

I wanted to use wrapping paper as wallpaper for the room inside, but when I've tried to do it in the past with glue, it's never really stuck like I want it to, it's always kind of falling off. I have used a glue stick before which is probably why it hasn't been working. This time I guess I will try tacky glue, but am not sure how. Do you think it would work by using a heavy duty paint brush and just brushing it all over the walls, and then just sticking on the wallpaper?

Sorry for so many questions, you don't have to answer every one. I'd just love to hear about your experiences making your doll houses and how you did it. I'll post pictures of the house when I am finished!

[cora]

My advise would be to look @ Crysal purr's house! It WAS made of cardboard, so just go and look at the old photos on wwwourdolls.net and if you cant find any, ask greta to e-mail them to you.

~Sophie~

[felicityfairy]

You could try and use tacks for the wallpaper or double sided tape.
I love the idea of doing flower boxes! You could hang them off the sides. You could also hang some lights around. Target has some cool lantern looking lights.
Michael's,Lowe's,Home Depot,or Hobby Lobby might sell shingles. My dad found some small wooden ones somewhere but I don't remember where. They were like and inch or 2 long. If you find some you could just glue them on. You could also buy real shingles at Lowe's or Home Depot. But I don't know how well it would work,real ones are a little rough.
I sounds like you have good ideas. So just do what works better for you.

[Mariah]

Thanks for the tips!

felicityfairy- I will definitely look into the lantern lights, they sound really cool.

I found some real shingles leftover from our roof, they are pretty thin so I was able to cut them w/ scissors into doll sized ones. Me and my little sister tested them out on a peice of carboard and although it looked really good it was really heavy, and I don't want the dollhouse to collapse under the weight of the shingles so I'm thinking not to take the chance. I may use black cardstock or construction paper instead just because it's alot lighter.

When we got our oven the man came to intsall it and when we asked for the box he said that there wasn't one. But the back of his truck was open and we saw the box sitting right there.

That's okay though because I called Lowes home improvement and asked if they had any extra oven sized boxes and they said that they would have one available for me to pick up tommorow. Yay! So yes, if you need a big box call Lowes and hook up with the delivery department; they are glad to save a box for you.

[**Hallie**]

Sounds like you have lots of good ideas! I got poster board and cut out strips and taped them to the front to look like shingles. Then I cut a square window and hung up curtains on the inside so the outside looked nice. I bet black shingles cut from card stock and taped to the top of the house would work.
I went by Sears and got three boxes one day and I am still using them!

Good luck, be sure to post pictures when you're done!
Hallie

[Greta]

yes! Big cardboard boxes have so many possibilities!

:-)
Greta

[ox192]

PLEASE post pictures! You should also add a porch if you don't have one.