Our "2nd Home"....(aka...my dollhouse)

I thought I'd take you on a tour of our "2nd home." It's the dollhouse I've been building and furnishing since Christmas. This is the box it came in, showing what it's suppose to look like.


Here is what I've got done. The only things, structurally, that I've got left to do is the roof, putting a magnet on the doors to make them stay closed, attaching the front door and porch and some touch up painting. I've kept track of all the hours I've worked on it. January and February I worked on it 63 hours and March, April and May, I worked on it 45 hours. Since then I haven't done much (because of all the adoption stuff), but my goal is to finish it by the end of the year. I got a lot of the furniture from this miniatures site. I got a lot of ideas from Mary and her amazing dollhouses and room boxes.

First, I had to paint all the walls, back and front and put flooring and wallpaper on.







Next, I put the back on, added stairs, crown moulding and base boards.








This is what it looks like on the inside. There wasn't any way for the roof to stay open by itself, but my husband had the idea of adding the pole you see.

The top floor:

This is the attic. I store the extra furniture and items I haven't used yet here. There's a mirror, a pot rack and a spice rack I haven't hung yet.



This is the extra bedroom. My mother and I made all the bedding by hand. The rug is a doily I found at a craft store. 




The second floor: 
This is the bathroom. I really enjoyed putting it together. Items you'll notice: toilet paper, a plunger, a scale and shaving items. I made the curtain in the window with a toothpick and some lace. The picture on the wall was taken from THE STITCHERY MAGAZINE and I made the frame out of balsa wood using an exacto knife. 

These are the stairs leading to the attic. I got pictures from the Internet, shrunk them and put them into hand made balsa wood frames that I painted gold and silver.

This is the master bedroom. You might notice something peeking out from under the bed. That's a "Play Boy" Magazine (my husband's suggestion). There are also glasses on the nightstand. All the bedding is hand made too. I still need to finish curtains for this room.

The bottom floor:
This is the living room. You'll notice a magazine rack with magazines. I copied magazine covers from the Internet and glued them on pieces of balsa wood. The pictures on the wall are from THE STITCHERY MAGAZINE. They are special ones because they are pictures of actual x-stitch kits that my mother or I made for our own homes. There's also a framed picture on the fireplace of my "real" home in NH. I need to finish the curtains for this room too. I also have a framed photo of my husband, Richard, and his Mom on the table by the lamp and one of him and his Dad on the bookshelf.

This is a picture of the photographs by the stairs. I did this because my mom did this in our home in NH.





In the kitchen you'll see: a pie on the stove and canned fruit on the table. I still need something for the wall, a rug for the floor, the pot rack over the stove and some dishes.

This is the porch. I've only got a china cabinet and table and chairs here now. I want to add some plants and other outdoor items here too.


I hope you enjoyed the tour of our "2nd home." You should really check out Mary's site. Her dollhouses are the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. I could spend all day looking at these rooms. They look so real. It took her 2 years to finish the last dollhouse. She makes most of the furniture herself out of wood or clay. I want to be like her when I grow up.