The Transformation of a Dollhouse: A Photo Journal

Snapshots From Around My Real House Click Here

   A Bit About Me (Scroll down to see pictures of the house)

When I was a little girl, I spent hours constructing doll's houses out of cardboard boxes. Each "dollhouse" I made became bigger and better than the last, and they grew to two and three story cardboard "mansions" by the time I was 8 or 9 years old. I made paper and cardboard furniture for them, painted them with watercolors, and used old dish rags for "carpet." They served their purpose, but after a few play sessions they would fall apart and I'd have to start all over.    I used to confiscate the Sears Wish Book every year just as it arrived in the mail so I could stare longingly at the latest Barbie Dreamhouse. The Wish Book was just that for me....a place to wish my little heart out for toys I could only dream of.

Eventually I grew out of cardboard architecture....grew up, moved away, got married, got divorced. I walked into Michael's Crafts one day in my early 20's and saw THEM.....these beautiful doll houses with working windows and doors, staircases, shingled roofs....and the dream that never left me came flooding back. Suddenly I was 8 again and looking at the Sears Wish Book....here were all these beautiful kit houses I knew I could never afford. The prices were staggering for someone working two jobs to make ends meet after my divorce. I quickly shelved the dollhouse dream again and plodded on with reality.    I went to Wal-Mart one day a couple of years later and was ambling through the crafts department when, lo and behold,

I saw these boxes on a shelf containing Dura-Craft dollhouse kits. These I could afford! I spent the money, bought the kit, took it home, and put it on shelf. Now I had the resources to BUY a dollhouse, but didn't have the time to put it together! I carted the box around through 2 moves... became able to have only ONE job, and by this time I had forgotten the dollhouse I bought. Then I met Chris. Before I knew it we were engaged, got married, and I packed all my stuff up one more time to move. I rediscovered the dollhouse kit....and finally had time to put it together. I learned tons from that first house. When it was finished, I added an addition to it because it was so small.) Then I wanted something bigger, 1" scale with room to "grow".

Imagine my delight when I found a big dollhouse at a yard sale for $3.00! This was no kit dollhouse, however....it was a terrible looking old structure made of 1/4" plywood. The dimensions were all wrong, the roof was painted a sickly shade of green, and its creator used nails and wood glue quite liberally throughout. But I saw potential....

The first thing I did was tear the entire house apart. The floors had to be raised (there were only about 6" between floor and ceilings). There were also oddly-shaped holes cut in the sides of the house. They were in strange places so I covered the inside and outside walls with white poster board so I could have a "clean" surface to work with. The house also had no front! I made a front to fit it and cut out doors and windows.

You can see here where I was just beginning to put siding up. I was also experimenting with wall placement.

My project became so large I had to buy the dollhouse its own table so I could have room to work. The furniture in the kitchen and bathroom I made from 1/8" basswood, and my husband made the water bed upstairs.

The stairs were made out of Jenga blocks. I used "plastic wood" to cover the word Jenga on the blocks, then sanded and stained them. The railing is made of fireplace match sticks and a fish tank air hose covered with plastic wood, sanded and stained. I spent many hours on the staircase!

The carpet is automotive interior fabric (courtesy of my in-laws!). The lights are a dismantled string of Christmas village light-posts that run on 2 AA batteries. The "linoleum" in the kitchen is wallpaper sealed with varnish to give it that "no-wax shine"....Interior trim of the house is made from balsa wood bought at Ace Hardware in the model airplane section. I got the wallpaper when I went to Allen Funk's Wallpaper store and asked if they had any old wallpaper sample books to give away. I left with about 12 books chock full of wallpaper samples perfect size for a dollhouse!