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Have you built a doll house from kit/own design? - need advice!

3 replies

TheWorstMotherInTheWorld · 14/10/2007 15:30

Hi, i have designed a doll house but since i've never built one before am wondering if it would be better to start with a simple kit instead. However since i have been planning this a long time i already have doors, windows, stairs etc bought - what to do??!!!

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coffeepot · 14/10/2007 16:41

Hi,
I built a 12th scale model of the house I was living in as a dolls house in my time-rich pre-children days. Before I started the main project I did make a 12th scale single room based on a pattern in "the Doll's hpuse do it yourself book" by Venus and Martin Dodge., but I really didn't have much patience for doing simple kits when I had a big project planned.

I had never done any wood work before but picked it all up pretty quickly. Most useful tools were a mini mitre block, good quality assorted small saws, stanley knife, metal ruler, and very small drill bits for an old hand drill. I reproduced most of the furniture myself and became an expert at using cut-down and thinned cocktail sticks as tiny dowells for the funiture!

Good luck!

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MaureenMLove · 14/10/2007 16:49

Dh & I have built a 12th scale one too, although ours was a kit. I take it you've got the Dolls House Emporium catalogue for ideas as well? If you've got the time and the patience - good luck to you, I don't think I have! I would think it would be quite difficult to get the right scale for the walls tbh.

How about buying a second hand house and replacing windows and doors instead? It'll be just like refurbing a real house!

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TheWorstMotherInTheWorld · 14/10/2007 21:25

hi, thanks for the tips,
i'd really like to do my own design, it's a long, low cottage with an attic, but from past experience on projects of many types, i know that i'll make a good start and then run out of steam and patience and it may end up in the cupboard with the other unfinished stuff. However i havent found any kits that appeal. I have the Dolls house emporium catalogue and their site bookmarked! My sister has made some quirky one-off houses and she says it doesnt really matter if they arent perfect. The scale is not hard to work out - just take the height/width/length of a RL room and divide by 12. Can't get second hand stuff for refurbishing here (Southern Europe)and too heavy to buy off ebay and have posted, otherwise i would...