Friday, March 14, 2014

VERMONT FARMHOUSE JR. DOLLHOUSE {WINTER PROJECT}

This winter, I had the crazy idea to build the girls a dollhouse. I gotta say...this project is not for the faint of heart but well worth your time. I bought the kit at Hobby Lobby. It was $99 but with the handy dandy coupon on their app, I got it for $60. About two weeks (lots of long days and late nights) later, I finished - thanks to my hubby who helped me shingle. :)
I used latex enamel house paint for the siding, the inside walls and trim. The shingles are just as they came because I didn't feel like staining them. They're secured with hot glue. The house is glued together with Aleen's Tacky Glue. For the trim pieces I used super glue because it dries and holds quickly.
The wallpaper on the inside is scrapbook paper that I secured with spray adhesive. I wouldn't say that this is the best way to paper the walls but it works ok. 
There were a lot of options out there for furniture and decorations. I spent hours online trying to figure out how to get the look I wanted. Hobby Lobby carries full room sets but the problem with that is that they run from $20 - $50 a room! Not exactly what I wanted to pay and then have to worry that something would get broken. Plus, there would have been way too much furniture crowding the house and I wanted to keep it simple. I saved a ton by making it myself. I already had a bunch of craft supplies like acrylic paint and fabric scraps in my stash of stuff. It's not perfect but I think it'll hold up a lot better to wear and tear. 
The pink room is Ava's room. I bought the little chair and bench at Hobby Lobby but I made the bed (I'll explain that later), bedding and wall art. The wall art is just a 2x2 canvas. I painted the edges and then printed an image off the computer. I wrapped it in packing tape and attached it to the wall with that rubber sticky stuff. All of the wall art in the house was made this way. I sewed all of the little bed pillows and simple "comforters" for the beds.
This next room is Jaina's. The little dresser was a couple dollars at Hobby Lobby and then I painted it. The mirrors came in a pack of three and the little blocks you see throughout the house are just plain wooden blocks that I painted.
The airplane room is for Little Brother. The black and white picture is of a biplane that I printed off the computer. The little bench came with the other little bench and chair - all plain wood that I painted different colors.
The beds are all made out of unfinished wood pieces from Hobby Lobby. You can get packs of wood pieces for just a couple of dollars. I cut the pieces (with a hand saw) and used Aleen's Tacky Glue to secure the head and foot boards. The legs are unfinished wood finial caps secured with hot glue. The mattress is a piece of quilt batting wrapped in fabric and secured with hot glue. (Have I mentioned that I love hot glue?) To add a little extra touch, I dug through my craft stuff and found some crocheted lace and hot glued it around the edge of the bed. For Little Brother's bed I used bakers twine. I painted everything with the same paint I used for the walls.
This is the whole upper level.
This next room is the master bedroom. The table and chair came with the kitchen set but I had already made a table so it found a home up in the bedroom. The double bed is just a bigger piece of unfinished wood that I cut and painted and made like the other beds. 
I think the bathroom was the most difficult room to finish. I couldn't figure out how to simply make everything for the bathroom so the first thing I did was buy a bathroom set at Hobby Lobby. It was ceramic. Bad idea. I took it out of the package and as soon as I saw the girls playing with it, I put it back in the package and returned it the next day. Then Mom suggested I make it out of clay. Good idea. I bought some Crayola brand clay and set out to make a bathtub. Not easy. I gave up on that and searched online for another option. I came across this Melissa and Doug bathroom set and couldn't believe how realistic it looked for being made of wood!! A dream come true. :)
For the kitchen I bought unfinished chairs and painted them. The table is just another piece of unfinished wood (painted white) with fancy dowel things hot glued on for legs and painted red. The table cloth is just a piece of scrap fabric. I did buy the kitchen set at Hobby Lobby and it's probably the most expensive furniture in the house but each piece has working doors. I wasn't about to try and figure out how to make a whole kitchen set. I love the Dala Horse wall art. 
 Next to the kitchen is the living room. The only thing I bought was the rocking chair. I've had to glue it back together twice...I don't think it'll last forever. The couch is made from the same unfinished wood, glued together and painted. If you look closely, it's crooked. :) The cushions are just thin quilt batting wrapped in fabric and hot glued in place. I made the pillows from scrap fabric. The coffee table is more unfinished wood and finial caps glued on for legs. The little chair is from scrap pieces that I glued together and just wrapped a piece of fabric it. More hot glue. :)
And, last but not least, the family. I searched and searched for dolls. Believe me, there are a lot of ugly ones out there! I finally found the Hape Happy Family. It comes with Grandparents, Mom and Dad, a brother and a sister. I had to find another single girl for the other sister so that we'd have everyone accounted for. Unfortunately, Little Brother has run away from home and we don't know where he went. If you see a little red headed boy, tell him that we miss him. :) 

6 comments:

  1. What a project!! You should be proud, it turned out great and I know it will get a lot of good use!

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  2. Hi! What great ideas! I'm going to be making this same kit dollhouse and am looking for creative ways to furnish it. How did you do the floors? Was there wood floor-looking material at Hobby Lobby? Thank you for sharing your creative ideas!

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    1. Thank you!! The floor actually came that way!!

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  3. It’s amazing to visit again n again coming to your blogs the superb effort is here.
    view it

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