Here begins my dollhouse journey!
Ever since I was a child I’ve always been fascinated by dollhouses and miniatures.
I remember saving all kind of shoeboxes and cardboard boxes and pilling them together to create my little own miniature house.
Now that I am more of a grown-up, that fascination for miniature worlds hasn’t dwindled one bit! If anything, now with access to the internet, my interest as expanded and seeing all the possibilities and various styles of dollhouses there is, I’ve been growing more and more determined in creating my very own. A more mature version of what I used to build as a child.
This Doll House built by Paul Cumbie in 1883, is modelled exactly on the Vanderbilt mansion at 660 5th Ave, New York.
I’m not quite sure what appeals to me most about miniature worlds, whether it is the feeling of being in control of your own “perfect life” -or at the very least being able to shape the setting of such perfect life- or if it is the feeling of escapism you get when looking into a dollhouse.
A modern dollhouse by Whimsy Wood Design.
Not all dollhouse aficionados are the same, but for me, there’s an undeniable gratifying sense of voyeurism which is rather paradoxical since the object of your curiosity is also your own creation.
Despite being the creator, when you look at a dollhouse, especially when it’s finally complete, it’s almost as if you become a visitor; an onlooker, a “peeping Tom” rather than the creator. I feel transported into an imaginary world distant from myself when I’m outside looking in. A world where time is suspended but in which I can still see daily life scenes unfolding.
A few months ago, Tom and I found this beaten handmade cabinet at our local charity shop going for a mere £10.
After a good clean, scrubbing, sanding, glueing and hammering it back into shape I finally had the perfect shell to turn it into a dollhouse for Mr Fox & Kitty Cat.
This cabinet is really lovely and the craftsmanship that went into it is gorgeous. I also really like the French countryside feel to it.
For the interior design, I want something in between minimalist Scandi style and a more traditional country home style.
But me being me, after tidying the shell of Mr Fox & Kitty Cat’s future home, the very first things I created was a bed (that you can see in the picture above) and a sofa.
However, I am now trying to focus on creating each room, one room at a time.
So yesterday, I started working in the bathroom. I put together a mood board to gather some inspiration and a feel for it.
I decided to create the bathroom shell independently to the dollhouse’s shell itself, the reason being that in the future if I want to improve certain rooms or shuffle them around in the house, they can easily be removed without leaving a strong impact on the dollhouse’s shell itself.
I’m using foamboard for the inner shell. It’s rather easy to cut but sometimes the foam gets jammed if you wobble a little while cutting, which leaves a messy unfinished look so I had to be very steady and patient while cutting it.
For the outer shell (front part) I used a 2mm layer of cork board, and that one is even messier to cut but it looks ok so far.
Seems like Mr Fox, is very pleased with this look already.
The walk-in shower is in!
For the shower glass, I used a clear PVC sheet and gold washi tape to give it a gold brass finish look. I painted the shower area in aquamarine blue and drew the tiles on a thick cardboard type paper. I then cut each tile and individually glued them over the blue area, making sure to offset them for a more handmade look.
The bathroom is now almost complete and I’m very pleased with it! On the next post, I will show you the final look and how I created the rest of the elements in the bathroom, such as toilet and sink.
