Step by step dolls house renovation 2

I have carved out a v shaped groove into the upstairs floor where the ceiling lights will run through the house. This is so that the floors sit flat once slotted in.

The next thing was to put together the light shades. So far I have only created one. I used a flat black bead for the top that will fit to the ceiling and a long black bead to separate it from the round metal frame with a cross through it I took from a broken mobile. From that I threaded on strings of glass beads. Once secure I added the wires, plug and bulb.

While out and about I grabbed a bag of lolly pop sticks and used them for my second floor. Taking the sticks I cut off the rounded ends and stuck them to a piece of card I fitted to the dolls house living room. Through the centre I used matches to add the pattern, then chopped off the excess lolly pop sticks to fit. Once sanded and stained I varnished it a couple of times to give a high shine.

Now for the decoration. As I want to hide any of the wires I have made card to fit each wall and added my wall paper to that so I will get a flush finish when I put it into the house.

Now back to the wall paper. I have actually used scrap booking paper. You can buy this in all sizes and it costs less than dolls house wall paper, also I found more choice.

Using Lolly pop sticks I made the window frames, stained them and stuck them on. I have skirting boards to add yet. Then I made the curtains by cutting out card and folding it over at the top and back to create a pelmet. I then covered this inside and out in material. For the actual curtains I measured the windows, added a bit then cut the square from card. I cut this in half and folded it length ways like a fan. Again I covered it in material front and back.

Once dry I inserted both curtains into the pelmet leaving a gap in the middle. I tied the curtains back a little to add more realism. 

For the blind I used a cocktail stick as the rail. I need to add a bead to each end yet, then I added a piece of material that I had folded in half and cut squares from the top. I added detail to the front and back of the blind and a beaded chain ending in a larger bead as a pulley hangs to the side.

Even more to come so keep on checking back.

  

Step by step dolls house renovation

I have decided to do a step by step account of my dolls house build. I will not venture to call it a tutorial at this stage as this is my first attempt at a total renovation and it could all go terribly wrong!!! But lets hope not. 
I started by buying a 1.12 scale dolls house from e bay for £30, as potentially by the time I had bought wood etc it would have been quite costly to build the shell.
Plus as it's my first time I decided this would be good practice for the next one.

I started by taking the house apart and putting all the screws in a safe place. I have not seen them since so if I were you I would just pop them where you will think to actually look! They may or may not put in an appearance once needed but till then i'm not too worried. 

Once in bits I gave it all a good sand down and eradicated all the pink from the windowsills and door frame giving them a nice green and under coated the wood in gray on both sides, front and back of the house. Once dry I gave it all a couple of coats of white glue and water to seal it ready for the brick work to go on.

I marked off both sides and along the back where the back slots in so I do not overlap the bricks and it still all fits together. 

Once all was dry I began to add the bricks to one of the front pieces using white glue to put them in place. For some of the harder to fill places I had to cut some of them. I found some gardening secateurs extremely handy, also a sharp craft knife and metal ruler. I placed the bricks over the area I needed to cut them for and drew on with pencil roughly where I wanted to cut them. Once cut out, and trust me I broke a few in the process I stuck them in too and painted over a few coats of white glue and water to seal the lot. Once all the bricks are on all of the sides I will grout them. 

For now though I am working out where the lighting is going to go. At the moment the house has a sealed roof with no attic, I intend to open it up adding a floor and a place to conceal the plugs socket. In the right hand up stairs room I will just have the one in the ceiling as it is only a small  room. The larger left hand side room will also have a ceiling light but I want a lamp in there too so I need to work out where I will put it so that I can see where the wires will lay. So far I have a planned out the ceiling lights up stairs and again taken into consideration where the floor slots into the sides.

Next time.....

Plans done for lighting, v shaped grove making to hide the wires in the floor and as much more as I can possibly get round to doing.

                 

FREE printable's

Here are a few handy printable's that I have found around the internet. Just right click on the one you want and save as. More will be added as I find them.
You may need to alter the size of some pics it depends on what you want.

                                                      Victorian newspapers 

             
                                                                 Comics

                                                                    Magazines

                                                           Clocks

                                                               Ouija board

                                                           Bottled fairy's

                                                              Chandeliers

                                                             Palmistry hand

                                                               Boarder    

                                                               Apothecary labels

Owls 

                                                                 Apothecary labels 2

                                                                    Maps

                                                          Spell book page

                                                               Spell book page 2

                                                              Spell book page 3

                                                               Spell book page 4

                                                         Spell book page 5

                                                          Boarder 2

                                                         Boarder 3

Brick 1

                                                               Brick 2

                                                               Brick 3

                                                                  Books 1

                                                                  Books 2

                                                          Stereoscopes

                                                          Old photographs

                                                              Treasure map 1

                                                           Treasure map 2

Box

                                                     
                                                                     Box 2

                                                                    Box 3

                                                                 Box 4

                                                            Cds and Laptop

                                                              Bird house

                                                          Box 5

                                                              Box 6

                                                      Wall paper or tile

Apothecary labels 3

Apothecary labels 4

Alice in wonderland trim

Alice in wonderland bottle labels 

Globe

Apothecary labels 5

Apothecary labels 6