Doll House Part 3: House Front
2:13 PM
Planning the actual doll house was a process because I'm not the best carpenter, so my it had to be pretty easy to build.
But I wanted something that looked kind of special, so I designed the front half to open up like cupboard doors.
So once the actual house is ready to go, the facade of the fronts will be nailed onto the house, but had to be finished on their own first.
I'm pretty excited about this part of the process!
So once the actual house is ready to go, the facade of the fronts will be nailed onto the house, but had to be finished on their own first.
I'm pretty excited about this part of the process!
This is my inpsiration dollhouse found on pinterest:
So I drew up plans, and got stuck trying to think of a cool way to do the windows with my limited tools.
My mom came to the rescue with her scroll saw.
I mailed her the template for the house front halves and all the windows, and she cut them all out and brought them to Thanksgiving.
My mom is pretty awesome, she cut out all the above stuff for the dollhouse, the worst probably being all those windows!
Once dry, I just glued the window frames to the house front along with the windowsills.
I mailed her the template for the house front halves and all the windows, and she cut them all out and brought them to Thanksgiving.
My mom is pretty awesome, she cut out all the above stuff for the dollhouse, the worst probably being all those windows!
The base of each house front is 1/2" MDF, having the holes for the windows and arch for the front door.
For the windows, she cut the basic frames from the templates I sent using 1/4" thin luan scraps she had
For the windows, she cut the basic frames from the templates I sent using 1/4" thin luan scraps she had
Then she added the perimeter from 1/8" hardboard for dimension.
She also went above and beyond by making windowsills.
Each windowsill is three layers of the luan glued together, the middle layer being longer than the top and bottom.
I painted all the windows white with spray paint/ primer.
For the actual house front, I had bought a package of hexagon shingles from Hobby Lobby.
One package was around $3.50 I think.
One package was around $3.50 I think.
I marked lines on the top 1" apart, then just used wood glue to attach each shingle.
I staggered the rows, breaking the first shingle in half vertically so they would layer on each other overlapping the seams. The last few shingles on each row had to be sawed down with the house angle once dry.
I found a lot would just break clean at the edge by hand too.
I found a lot would just break clean at the edge by hand too.
Next I spray painted the shingles once they dried.
Then the house front became robin's egg blue.
I've used the paint on a lot on different projects, and this dollhouse will be the last unfortunately--the one quart is almost gone!
Once dry, I just glued the window frames to the house front along with the windowsills.
This was a really fun part of the process, now to put the whole house together!
16 comments
The dolls and the house look AMAZING! You inspire to be more creative
ReplyDeletethose windows are AMAZING - wowza!!
ReplyDeletethanks I'll tell my mom!
Deletelove it! can't wait to see it all put together!
ReplyDeleteThis dollhouse is going to be awesome! I'm sure your girls will cherish it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mandy, absolutely AMAZING! Your mom did a fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible. I would say your mom is incredible-- but I know I've said it a million times already!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great!!!
ReplyDeleteWow - can I borrow your mom sometime? :)
ReplyDeleteThe house looks amazing - it makes me want to build one so I can play with dolls again. You are an awesome mom to build this for your girlies.
have to echo Sarah and add that all of this is while doing all your other responsibilities and being pregnant at the same time. Kudoes to you.
ReplyDeleteWow. This looks so awesome! Thanks for sharing your how to.
ReplyDeleteYou are so ambitious and equally talented! My little girl is about to turn one. I might wait a couple more years, but you have definitely inspired me. This is just lovely!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how this will go down with the younger sister as well once she's in the grab and eat phase. May just have to put little things up. Hopefully this will turn out if you end up making something similar!!
DeleteI love those windows and the little shingles... it looks like a lot of work, but so worth it! =)
ReplyDeleteWOW! A family treasure in the making! Such lucky sisters to be able to say their mother made them a wonderful doll house and their grandmother worked on it also.
ReplyDeleteThe doll house is beautiful!
Let me tell you this is so cool watching you built this doll house!!! You are doing a wonderful job!.. and your Mother also did a wonderful job on the windows,sills and all those little extra detail. The people are wonderful also.......it always amazes me at what a craft person can do!
ReplyDeleteI know your daughter will love it and enjoy it for many years!
Thank you for letting us be part of the process!
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