Dolls' house help!

[7catsisnotenough]

Hi all, I'm renovating a dolls' house for my daughter (26!) and I'm looking for a paint to simulate the colour of Bath stone. Can anyone recommend one that they have used to me please? It's a red brick Georgian house and I want paint for the quoins. I'm happy to mix my own colour if I can't buy one but it would be so much easier to get one off the shelf!!

I'm also considering adding some texture to the paint for realism, play sand or fine decorative sand have been suggested to me, any ideas on this would be lovely too.

Any suggestions/ advice gratefully received, thanks everyone!

There is a bath stone paint colour. They do a tester pot
www.davidneillmica.co.uk/product/services/little-greene-paint-mixing/lgp-a-m-tester-bath-stone-no-64/

Dulux heritage bath stone beige have a tester size but you may have to order
www.duluxdecoratorcentre.co.uk/dulux-heritage-testers?gclid=CjwKCAiA4KaRBhBdEiwAZi1zzvS9geFcg7XHOpUjEciYiKo_hXYZEny18U6WV1RDH9KKJFU6c_sq8hoCs7wQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&v=Bathstone%20Beige,5381244

Fantastic, thank you! There are so many variations and some just aren't the right colour at all! DH was a stone mason so I'll never hear the end of it if the colour isn't right 🤣!

Just following because I'm 50 and have never had a dolls house but would really like one. I love visiting Uppark to gawp at the one there...sigh...

@OldTinHat buy one!! They're very addictive...!!

I've been coveting them for years! I'm hoping a car boot sale will provide...tadaaaaa! One day... 🤞

But, please, lots of photos of your daughter's would keep lots of us happy here without question!

@OldTinHat depending on where you are I've had some success with buying bits on Gumtree, so that might be worth looking at for you?

Whilst you're looking for your house you could do a room box (or several 😉). That way you can hone your ideas and decorating skills and gradually build up some furniture and accessories, kind of a 3D mood board. Then, when you finally find the house, you'll have several room's worth of ideas ready to go with furnishings all ready to move in 😊

There are some brilliant YouTube channels to watch if you enjoy that type of thing too.

I'll pop a few pictures up over the weekend so that you can see how it's currently coming along!

@7catsisnotenough addictive and expensive . I've got a 4 storey house, a potting shed and a beach hut. There is also a kit in my attic which I'm going to give to my niece in a few years time which I expect will probably stay in my house.

@TroysMammy wow!

I have DD's house, an early 20th century mock Tudor and an original 60s Lundby 😍

The mock Tudor has some original wallpaper and needs extensive restoration, it's next on my list!

Then I just need to wade through the boxes and boxes of vintage furniture I've acquired...!

Lucky you, with your acquisition of vintage furniture!
Mine are all packed away at the moment, pending some work in the (big) house and I am having such withdrawal symptoms…

For those who have always wanted a dolls house I would say don't hesitate any longer, it has been an amazing and rewarding hobby.

But be warned that it is totally absorbing and addictive, it will take up more space and money than you can imagine and it will change your brain for ever.
By this, I mean that you will find your gaze alighting on some piece of rubbish or household article, and you will see it not as it is, but as it will be once you have transformed it into a miniature something.
You will accumulate cupboards of… well, let's say materials.
You may even join a forum or Facebook group and go to dolls house fairs and events.
We are lost…

Oh no...I've fallen into the YouTube rabbit hole of dolls houses. I blame you all!!! 😆

Gumtree, great idea. Hadn't thought of that. Also doing a room rather than a house is another really great idea. I've also looked at book nooks which look amazing.

Definitely post some pics over the weekend OP, I'll be sat here waiting and making notes!

Interesting...... I've been trying to think of a craft based hobby to take up .

I have my childhood dolls house in the loft, which I'd pretty much forgotten about. I kept it with the vague idea of renovating it in the future, but had neither the space nor the time . Now have a spare room since DS moved out and a lot more free time . I have always loved things in miniature. I think this will be a perfect hobby for me .

Thanks for the idea .

Welcome to the miniature side...mwahaha! 🤣

I adored my childhood dolls' house (which was a very simple one made for me by a friend of my grandparents). After I left home it lived in my parents' loft for years but when they downsized I stupidly said they could get rid of it, I really regret this now. I did keep all the furniture I lovingly bought and made for it in the 1970s and early 80s, and I have the dolls too. I managed to find a really similar home-made one on a local recycling page a couple of years ago and I now have it in my own loft....it needs a lot of restoration though and I struggle to find the time just now. One day I will do it! Would love to see photos of what others have done with theirs

I typed out a long post last night, attached some pictures and posted it ...??! I have no idea what happened to it 😞

It's probably ended up on a totally unrelated AIBU thread, or (more amusing!) DIY/ Property thread 🤣🤣🤣

Imagine pictures of the dolls' house, with no roof on, in somebody's "money pit" property thread 🤣They'd be thinking "Thank goodness I'm only dealing with xxxx!) 🤣🤣🤣

There's a company called something like Versi that do very realistic cardboard stone tiles. stones, slates, cobbles etc, so you can completely re-tile the outside of a house. They also make the same but out of real stone only very thin,.

I've seen stonework made out of egg box cardboard. If you are on Facebook I can tell you which miniatures pages I've joined.

Trying again to upload some "before" pictures...

Success!!

Ahem (adopts estate agent persona)...

Here we have a detached one bedroom property, currently vacant for some ten years.

Whilst structurally sound in the main, the front roof suffered a large amount of damage during the onslaught of "Storm DTGC" and is in need of major repair.

The interior of the house, whilst relatively unscathed, is dated and in need of modernisation.

Currently the glazing to several windows is broken or absent and the front door has not been present in living memory.

In summary, a detached property in need of some structural work and a complete overhaul to bring it up to its full potential.

I think that's probably a decent description 🤣

@TroysMammy I'd love to see pictures of your houses if you're happy to post them?

@OldTinHat have you been scouring eBay and Gumtree???

@Ariela I'd love the links if you're able to post them please? Do you have a dolls' house yourself? Always happy to see what everyone has done with theirs, or is in the process of doing...#neverendingtask!

Impressive property @7catsisnotenough It will be lovely when the renovations are completed.

@Insanegotnobrain it has delusions of grandeur, it's going to be a red brick Georgian mansion when it's finished (🤞!)

Oooh @7catsisnotenough the rear view of your house is so similar to my own restoration project! (Yours is much grander at the front though). Really keen to see what you do to it both outside and in!

Or I should say the picture where the front is opened up...