Before continuing with the Rosedale’s assembly, I needed to cut a hole for the second floor staircase, and to do that I needed to buy some teeny tiny saw blades for the Dremel tool. These came from Micro-Mark, and they weren’t cheap, but they’re exactly what I needed. I haven’t used the Dremel much and […]
Category: Dollhouses (Page 23 of 28)
Since I’m adding a third story that wasn’t in the original design, the slanted roof pieces needed to be cut to meet the third floor walls at a right angle. I also needed to create side walls. Since the right wall hadn’t been used yet from either kit, I modified these by cutting off the […]
My dry fit gave me a good idea of how to move forward with the Rosedale. The time has come for the permanence of glue. I started by putting together the new wing. Since there aren’t tabs and slots to connect these pieces to the main house, assembling the wing independently before attaching it to […]
And now… part 2 of the great Rosedale dry fit adventure! Last time I got the first and second floors mostly figured out. Before moving onto the third floor, I decided to add a porch door to one of the small rooms on the second floor, to access the balcony. I thought about bashing the […]
With the Rosedale stairs built, it’s now time to figure out how this house will fit together. I’m calling this “part 1” because I haven’t begun to fit together the new third story and roof yet. For now, here’s the progress I made this afternoon on the first and second floors. No glue yet, just […]
The Rosedale has a really cute stairway. I like how it has a landing and then turns the corner, and also how the stairs are tucked out of the way, like in a real house. Since I’m bashing two Rosedales together, I have an extra set of stairs, so I decided to add them to […]
Last year Greenleaf released a slew of half scale laser cut house kits. I’ve been dying to try them out, but none of the designs really appealed to me. I’m generally not a fan of frilly houses (the Fairfield excepted) so I was eyeing the Rosedale, but I didn’t like that it only had four […]
I’ve been limping along on the Infinite Possibilities Porch… mostly because the color choices are driving me crazy. I initially wanted a periwinkle blue house with some kind of peachy trim and a reddish door. Glidden’s color coding led me to believe that all of these colors would work well together. But alas, it was […]
Yep, that’s really what this kit is called. I’m not sure a porch can truly have infinite possibilities, especially when it’s made out of MDF, which as I’m discovering is infinitely (heh) more difficult to bash than a plywood kit. But I’m getting ahead of myself… Miniatures.com’s photo of the finished project. I had a […]
Over the past few days I finished the last things that needed to be done on the Cypress and Fog roombox. The first step was to get in the tree panels and shoji screens at the top, followed by some remaining trim. Then it was time to stain the box. The exterior of the Oak […]
The Good Sam miniature show is this weekend, and for the past two days I’ve been down in Morgan Hill attending one of their featured workshops, the Cypress and Fog roombox. This is my second time taking a class taught by The Guys from Texas; the first was Oak Shadow back in 2006. This workshop […]
My 1:12 Greenleaf Arthur next to the 1:24 puzzle house Greenleaf, my favorite dollhouse manufacturer, sent out their monthly newsletter this week. It’s a special themed issue all about half scale and includes an article by yours truly. You can check it out here. The newsletter includes a 20% off coupon for Greenleaf’s online store, […]
Earlier in the summer I finished the garden for my puzzle house—all except the trellis. I wasn’t sure how to make it look like it had vines woven through it without adding too much bulk to the back to attach it to the house. Yesterday, with my mom’s help, I did the deed… and it […]
Back in April, after I built a pantry for the Fairfield, I mini-splurged on half scale jars of Skippy peanut butter and Welch’s grape jelly. I usually don’t buy foodstuffs because with a scanner and a color printer, they’re easy to make, but these came in cute little jars, and I was excited about the […]
I have always loved the Westville’s shutters, but it didn’t occur to me until this weekend how much work goes into them. So far I’ve spent about five hours sanding, wood filling, and painting, and could conceivably spend another five hours before they’re all done. Luckily a re-watch of My So-Called Life (for the umpteenth […]
Electrifying a dollhouse is one of my most dreaded activities, and I’m not sure why. It’s not really that difficult, and it’s not messy, and nothing beats the satisfaction of flipping a switch and seeing the lights go on. Of course, if you flip the switch and the lights don’t go on, that’s when it […]
It has always bugged me that dollhouse bedrooms tend not to have closets. In a real house, you can’t call it a bedroom if it *doesn’t* have a closet, but if you want them in a dollhouse, you usually have to make them yourself. Luckily, they’re pretty easy to make. In my first dollhouse, I […]
My copy just arrived, so start checking your local mini store for this issue! I wrote a tutorial for the half scale window boxes my mom and I dreamed up for the Fairfield. The window boxes are made from skinny sticks, clay, and sprigs of fake flowers that you can get for cheap at stores […]
I actually finished this up over Fourth of July weekend, but forgot to post the pictures. Oops. I really liked the trim my dad added to the base of the Fairfield and I wanted to do the same for the puzzle house. Geoff helped with the cutting and mitering. The base is a bit thicker […]
The other day I was mulling over puzzle house path ideas, but wasn’t crazy about either one. Yesterday I came up with a third option that’s a winner—”flagstones” made out of egg carton material. I’ve heard of people using egg cartons to make miniature bricks and stones, but this is my first time trying it. […]
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