Making it Lovely

Tag: dollhouse

  • Star Wars Guys in Bathtub

    Star Wars Guys in Bathtub

    Eleanor has created an art installation. She has titled it: Star Wars Guys in Bathtub. They’re taking a bubble bath, just so you know. I’m so proud of my little conceptual artist!

    OK, for real though… The dollhouse? It’s slow-going. E is enjoying playing with all of the furniture, and I’m enjoying the idea of the dollhouse, but construction has yet to begin. The dollhouse kit (sanded and primed, thanks to my mother-in-law) is currently living on my dining room table.

    Have you all been following along with the “I’m a Giant!” Challenge? Some of the people playing along on twitter are rocking it, but I’ve noticed a lack of activity from everyone else lately. Perhaps I’m not the only one preparing to make a mad dash toward the finish line.

  • The Dollhouse Floor Plan

    The Dollhouse Floor Plan

    The dollhouse is starting to take shape! Figuratively speaking. The actual dollhouse is still very much in its flat-pack form. I’ve been waiting to assemble it because the instructions recommend painting and wallpapering first. So that’s what I need to concentrate on now: choosing paint colors, determining the layout, and deciding which wallpapers to use where. Here’s the plan so far:

    I’ve shown the pink/lavender bathroom fixtures to you before, and the dollhouse wallpaper and stair runner choices too. As for the layout, there’s an eat-in kitchen on the first floor, along with a large living room. The second floor will house the bedroom (with a bed like this, perhaps?), bathroom, and nursery. Two kids are sharing a bedroom on the third floor (inspiration photo here), but I’m not sure what to do with the other room up there. I thought about leaving it as an unfinished attic, complete with boxes and miscellaneous stuff strewn about, because come on. That’s funny. Right now I’m leaning toward making it into an office space, or maybe a craft room. Any ideas?

  • The Dollhouse Wallpapers

    The Dollhouse Wallpapers

    My dollhouse has seven rooms. Eleanor and I went to Paper Source to pick out some wallpaper for it, and we came home with three pretty papers to go along with the one I had already picked for the bathroom. I think wallpapering four rooms in the dollhouse is probably the maximum allowed to avoid pattern overdose, so I’ll paint the rest.

    The stairs are getting a striped ribbon runner, but I’m still not sure what to do with the stairs themselves. Paint them a fun color? Or shiny gold? Or go more classic with wooden treads and white risers?

    I love planning these little details.


    Walton dollhouse from Melissa and Doug — They’re offering my readers 15% off wooden dollhouses with the code “DH15”

  • The (Mini) Bathroom Fixtures are Here

    The (Mini) Bathroom Fixtures are Here

    Hmmm. I wanted them to look like candy, but um, they don’t. They look like badly glazed dollhouse furniture.

    Do you think I should try to repaint the fixtures, or leave them as-is? I do like how luminous the glaze is, even if it is terribly uneven. The bathroom will be the small room on the second floor of my dollhouse. I think I’m going to use that gold patterned paper as wallpaper, and I’ll probably make a different mirror to go above the sink. The ceiling will either be wallpapered along with the walls, or it will go shiny gold.

    I’ve been thinking about this whole dollhouse challenge. I think there are two ways for me to go about decorating mine…

    • Tastefully decorate the house so that the only way you could tell it’s a miniature is with a coin in there for scale. Design each room like I’d design a real room, just scaled down.
    • Go crazy and kooky. This is not a real house, dang it! Why not have gold ceilings and pink fixtures and hot pink stairs with striped runners (not that I’ve decided yet)?

    I’ll tell you, I think the second option sounds like a lot more fun. It’s a fantasy! Why not fully embrace that?

    How many of you are working on dollhouses along with us? How are you approaching yours?

  • Teeny Tiny Staircase Inspiration

    Teeny Tiny Staircase Inspiration

    I have two new flights of stairs to decorate. Yes, they’re for the dollhouse. And yes, I may be obsessing over getting them just right.

    I’ve saved a ton of inspiration photos to my Pinterest board. I won’t post images to my blog that I can’t source (even though I really love some of those images), so go check them all out on my Stairways to Heaven board if you’d like to see. Below are just a few (the ones that I could trace back to their sources).

    Jonathan Adler Beach House Stairs

    Black and White Stairs

    Numbered Stairs

    Stenciled Stairs

    I painted the stairs to our basement green, and now I’m thinking I should add a little something to them. For now though, I’ll stick to the miniature stairs. But what to choose? Pattern, a faux-runner, numbered stairs, quotes, stripes, fun colors…

    Although it should be noted that our resident luchadores don’t mind the stairs being plain.

  • The “I’m a Giant!” Challenge

    The “I’m a Giant!” Challenge

    I’ve really been feeling the urge to just start decorating a whole new house from scratch. I love our home, but there’s something to be said for starting at the beginning again. So I’m going for it. A whole new house!

    OK, a whole new dollhouse. Is it weird to be as excited as I am about this? Because I am very, very excited here.

    Emily Henderson is putting together the biggest little challenge in blogland: The “I’m a Giant” challenge. Here are the bloggers participating:

    …And you! We would love to see what everyone else out there can come up with. Oh man, Etsy. Prepare thyself for the onslaught of searches for dollhouse furniture.

    “Eleanor is going to have a really awesome dollhouse someday.”

    That’s what I said two years ago when Brandon gave me the miniature designer chairs that you see above. So I have a good start, but dollhouses are not furnished in chairs alone. I’ll be looking for miniature furniture, making things, bringing in lots of color and pattern, and decorating my heart out. I loved making shoebox dioramas and decorating my dollhouse when I was a kid, I loved creating models when I was studying architecture, and I’m going to love this challenge. I’m doing this for me, but also for Eleanor and August. I want to create something so magical for them that not only will they love it, they’ll also want to share it with their kids and tell them about how their mom made it.

    I adore the way Emily describes the challenge.

    It’s like a virtual Quilting Bee. Just a bunch of people crafting together and not making each other feel weird. Let’s not be ashamed of having a ‘hobby’. Let’s not be afraid to love the detail that goes into miniatures, the workmanship, the obsession. It’s a forgotten craft that we are going to give its due respect.

    There are big plans to organize a show in LA of the finished houses, and we’d like to feature your projects there and on our blogs. So, do you want to get in on the fun? We’re going to start now and finish our houses by December 15. Of course we’ll all be sharing our progress as we go. I’m using a Walton dollhouse courtesy of Melissa and Doug for the challenge (and they’re offering 15% off with the code DH15 if you want to use one of theirs too). You could also make one, get your own, or maybe find a vintage house that needs some love. It doesn’t even have to be a traditional dollhouse, or even a room! Think art project. Think conceptual. Just think of something, because we want you to play along too. We want to spread some fun, see some creativity, and work on a big internet craft project. Together.

    Obviously I’m in. Are you?