Diary Of Designing A Dolls House
Decision Making
The most important tasks in completing a dolls house project are building (if you have not bought a pre-made house), lighting and decorating the dolls house.
In this diary we will show you using images from our house above how it was completed. The actual step by step instructions for the most important aspects can be found on this site.
I had always wanted a dolls house and I was fortunate that my husband agreed to assist me in the project. But once the house was delivered we did get that feeling of "where do we start?".
We were warned by so many other miniaturists that the hobby is very addictive however at this stage I was still in denial!
Our first decision was whether the dolls house was going to be pre-made or if we were going to buy a kit and assemble it ourselves. Our logo house was pre-made. Sid Cooke is one of the premier designers of ready built bespoke houses and he does I believe a variety of designs and even be-spoke commissions but there are many around.Pre-made is the more expensive choice but the options of the design are wider.
We chose this method, as at the time, we thought this was going to be a one off project and by choosing this option we had more control over how many floors we wanted, the room sizes, the type of windows, doors and even what type of stair design. It was really like building a house in miniature.
We had looked at the kit houses and in many of them the rooms were uniform sizes and the stairs were single flights which at the time limited my imagination, however this was many years ago and kit houses have now improved and become more internally design conscious.
Planning
I quickly came to realise that the key to this project was planning, so before we even purchased the house I started a diary. In which we decided:
The Architectural Period.
The Design Of The House - Number of floors etc.
The External Finish
The Internal Finish
Furniture Choices
Accessories
Landscaping
It became obvious very soon that I was already hooked by the hobby. I started to read dolls house magazines, search the Internet for information, we attended miniature fares, visited miniature retailers and I became a regular bidder on Ebay miniatures auctions.
Electrics
Having read other miniaturists say that you need to do the electrics first this was the first task that I tackled. I had never done any woodwork or anyking of handiwork before so this is where my husband was a godsend. He showed me how to do certain elements and then left me to it. Once started I thoroughly enjoyed the process and it was lovely to see lights in the shell, it gave me an insight into the finished project and spurred me on.
I a
m not going into detail on how I fitted the electrics as this is covered in our
How To Section. I chose the twin wire method as this seemed the easier option of
the two.
However I made all the "first time project " mistakes such as not using a high impact glue on the ceiling lights so they fell off or not channelling the grooves for the wire along the walls, (where they would be hidden by the skirting board) in the first few rooms. Or fitting the ceiling light and forgetting the ceiling rose. The worst being when I realised that, close to the end of the project I had forgotten the front door lights, so these now run on a battery hidden in a cupboard as I could not think of anyway of fixing electrics to front opening doors.
The learning curve is what I think hooks you on miniature work, as how often do you get the chance to be several skilled tradesman during the course of one project!
External Decoration
Having chosen a Georgian design house many of our external finishes were already decided if we were going to keep the house in period. We did some research but in the end decided to take a few liberties and choose finishes we liked rather than what was strictly period.
I decided to brick the exterior of the house after attending a Miniature Fair where
I saw a stall called Grandad's Toys from Burton Latimer, they make miniature building
materials in both 12th & 24th scale.
They also offered bricklaying courses in their
shop, which I attended and found very useful as I had no idea that bricks had to
be staggered to look professional or that if you sanded the ends of the quoins you
achieved a better finish.
They also showed me how to mark the house up to make laying the bricks,quoins, roof tiles & floor tiles easier. They now have a website which I have listed on my miniature links.
Having chosen Fleming Red bricks, White Quoin and Plain Black roof tiles, I painstakingly bricked all the walls of the house and tiled the roof. This took me a very long time as I was only working on it for a couple of hours a night, but the finish was well worth it. When I had finished bricking, although lovely, the only minor issue to me (ever the perfectionist) was that it looked too new, so taking a great risk with some dark brown liquid shoe polish that I found in the cupboard I "aged" the finish of one small area. My husband was petrified that I was going to ruin it after all the hard work I had done, as he knew that if I did not like it I would have to replace that area.
However I liked the effect so I did all the walls, the only drawback was that the boot polish made the bricks a little dark, so I experimented and lightened it with lemon juice. Please note I do not recommend these processes to anyone else,
I was just experimenting and I liked the finish because it took away that "new" appearance that an old Georgian house would not have but if you decided to try it you may not like the finish as it all down topersonal taste.
After I was satisfield with the finish off the walls and roof,we moved onto painting
all the exterior & interior woodwork, as there was quite a lot, they were laid out
on a trestle table and my husband sprayed them all with a can of white spray paint,
on one side and then when dry on the reverse. Two coats
were given as the finish was
not quite perfect with one.At this stage I also painted all the external edges of
the house in a mid brown paint as I felt this co-ordinated best with the brickwork
and the proposed floor finishes and all the internal edges white.Once we had finished
the painting, I laid all the tiles on the floors,I deliberately set the terracotta
tiles uneven as I thought this would be more realistic in an old house. I also bricked
the back walls of the kitchen and scullery as I had spare bricks. Whilst I was doing
this I realised that I would have liked a pantry as all old houses used to have them,
fortunately the hall was large so using MDF, we sectioned off one corner under the
stairs,
I fitted slatted shelves on two end pieces stuck to the wallswhich was difficult
as space was at a premium but eventually I managed it. Unfortunately it was too late
to add a ceiling light as I had tiled the floor upstairs.My house had its first re-model
and I had not even finished it yet.As finishing touches I sprayed glue on the basement
external area and around the chimney tops and sprinkled small agregate on it, which
held it in place as seen in the images above.
The house was now externally nearly finished, so I moved onto the internal decoration.
Internal Decoration
Many miniaturists will say that this is the best stage of the project as you get to personalise the house to your tastes and search for those elusive finishing touches, but if I am honest I enjoyed the first stages just as much as they were out of the usual for me.
Wallpapering
I purchased several papers that I liked and started to wallpaper the house. As
the
house was already constructed I had to wallpaper within the confines of each room,
which is difficult, given the tight spaces but I managed and got better with each
room. However I made my fair share of mistakes, like allowing bubbles to form on
ceilings that I did not notice until the next day, or trying to cut off the excess
before the paper had fully dried, so it ripped and not purchasing enough sheets as
I neglected to take into account the pattern or border matching.
Overall however it was well worth persevering as it really brings the house to life. Idid not paper the servant quaters as I felt that this would be historically incorrect, so I just painted all the walls white with a sponge applicator after laying a covering of plastic on the floor to protect the tiles.
Cornice and Skirting Board
Because There are 15 areas in the house, this took a long time, I had never done
any coving before, but once I became familiar with the process it became easier,
but the mitre box was a godsend. The hardest bit was coming to terms with whether
you needed an internal or external cut, as in at least 2 rooms I had chimney breasts
which required a different angle cut from the room corners. It was challenging but
very rewarding and it really finished the rooms
off.
Flooring
For all the rooms that I chose not to tile, I fitted either wood flooring or areally fine velvet, which looks like carpet in 12th scale. I cut strips of the velvet to fit the stairs.
Curtains
I purchased a 12th scale mini pleater and made the curtains from thin silks or from
a fine pattern gingham in the servants quarter. With the gingham the biggest problem
is how to get them to drop flat against the wall, that is why I have used tiebacks
in all the rooms except the bathroom where I made a Roman Blind and Pelmet.You can
find instructions on how to make curtains in our How To Section.
Selecting Furniture
I think this is where I was most surprised, the rooms looked quite spacious until you put furniture in them and then you realise that you are going to have to carefully select your pieces so that the room does not look overcrowded. I had already purchased quite a bit of furniture by this time so I have gone for a "Victorian" interior design (overcrowded) in a Georgian house because I wanted to use all the lovely pieces that I had. But as designer,owner you can do anything.
Accessorising
This is the most fun of all. Here you can let your imagination go, I searched
high
and low for just the right accessories and that is how I opened the store because
we felt that we could help other miniaturists look for the unusual as well as the
basic.
Landscaping
I still haven't got around to this but I will.
Future Projects
As an addicted miniaturist I also bought two shops as an impulse buy at a auction that I intend to do up next!!
The Gallery
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Just in case anyone is interested below is a gallery of images of the exterior & interior of the house:
