Figaro's Cottage Custom Dollhouse Construction Done

The main construction on Figaro's cottage is done. Now all that remains is the details. But I wanted to show you the house when it's just a house and not yet a home. 

Next time you see this dollhouse it will have undergone it's Cinderella Moment! 
hugs♥,

American Miniaturist April 2014 & Figaro's Cottage Custom Dollhouse Continues

Pearl Cottage is in the April issue #132 of American Miniaturist.  I loved making this dollhouse. 

And I'm so grateful to American Miniaturist magazine for publishing my work again. Thank you!

And here is Figaro's Cottage today.  The siding and wall shingles are on and painted.

The chimney still needs to be done.  I'm hiding all the wires and switches in here. 

The other side has no windows. I needed a full wall for the furniture inside.

The interior construction is done. 

This is the bedroom. 

 

And I want to thank all of you who have asked about my health.  For those of you who don't know, I injured my calf muscle 5 weeks ago.  Recovery has been soooo slow!  But the good news is that I am not using my crutches anymore. I can now get around limping.  The bruising is healing too.   This injury has been the most serious I've ever had to date. I thought it would take me 3 or 4 days to recover.  I'm now believing the 8 week recovery time is not a joke.  But I'm so happy to be able to get around again without crutches!! Thank you all for being so caring and sending all those hugs and prayers! ♥♥♥  You're the best!

hugs♥ to all of you,

Figaro's Cottage Custom Dollhouse Under Construction

Figaro's Cottage interior is coming together.

I tried out my handmade furniture just to get a sense of the space.  The walls are wainscoting on the bottom.  This is actually ridged cardboard paper from the scrapbook section at Hobby Lobby. It's already white, but also comes unpainted. I aged it with a brown stamp ink pad. You can use your finger or a brush to smear it on.

Above that is a wood railing and a white paper lattice boarder. This paper boarder was cut out with a fancy paper punch.  Then the top of the wall is a coat of plaster(actually spackling from the hardware store). It's painted with robin egg blue latex paint.

The fireplace mantel will have a little fire in it. I bought the light kit here:  http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/fire-led.html .  I took the 3 volt battery and 3mm lights. But I think the 1.8mm lights would have worked just as well.  Then I cut a twig from my garden into little logs and built a pyramid shape around the light bulbs to hide them. I added a couple different types of moss to make it cute.

Next the window molding was glued on.  For this project I'm using windows that open which I bought.  They will go in place when I finish the exterior.

The dollhouse floor is Popsicle/craft sticks painted with white acrylic paint which I watered down a bit for an uneven application.

Upstairs, I have done my accent wall.  I used a printed wallpaper I collected from the internet.

Below that I put another piece of wainscoting. The other roof walls will be the same robin egg blue as downstairs.
Thanks for coming over!
hugs♥

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Back to Work! The Start of Figaro's Cottage

I'm getting back to construction finally! I'm still on crutches but feeling much better.  Thank you all for your sweet comments! It was so nice to read! hugs♥

This is the beginning of Figaro's Cottage which will be Jen's new dollhouse.  Figaro was Jen's cat.  She's already bought a little felt figurine of Figaro to sit on the front porch.  I cut this house out of wood from Lowe's. It's  3/16 x 2 x 2 Lauan Plywood

Before I started up the building again, I worked on furniture and accessories for this house. I could only work a little bit at first because I had to stay off my leg after I sprained my calf muscle 3 1/2 weeks ago. I've never taken so long to complete a project before. But Jen is so patient and understanding. I'm truly blessed with the best customers!  I have 2 more projects waiting on me with equally patient customers.  But I'm back! Thanks for stopping by!
hugs♥,

My Chandelier Tutorial in American Miniaturist Magazine

My chandelier tutorial is in the March 2014 issue of American Miniaturist. 

 

It's the same tutorial you'll find here on my blog.  A quick and easy way to add some sparkly  romance in your dollhouse.  I had tried some more elaborate tutorials online, but quickly adapted a new version when things went terribly wrong. LOL! :)

I've been totally out of commission for the past 2 weeks. No Minis! :(

I sprained my calf muscle.  It's been very annoying. I've had to spend tons of time resting my leg. I hope this is the last few days of not being able to walk.  By the way crutches are horrible! LOL!!! My entire body is now aching from having dragged myself around with them.  Boohoo!

big hugs to all of you♥,

Debbie's Farmhouse

Debbie's Farmhouse dollhouse is ready.

It's a wrap around porch farm.  The front wall has hand carved brick I made from concrete patch.  I decided the bricks should be a very light palette.  I made the flower boxes from left over scraps of wood. I filled them with moss and artificial flowers I got at Hobby Lobby. They are called Heathers. They are sold as a bush in the regular floral department. To make them miniature dollhouse size I cut them into little pieces.

The vines too come from Hobby Lobby.

This side is perfect white siding.

And the third side is rocks.  It's actually patch concrete I carved as rock and painted.

This little house got furniture.  Almost everything is handmade. The only things I didn't make is the 2 kitchen pieces(sink & oven).

The upstairs has a bed I made from wood veneer.  There's an ice cream on top of the comforter.

The little book in the front is a scrapbook. It's actually filled with pictures and images.

Downstairs

The mantel is grey. Then I applied cream paint over it.  I made a cake, dress painting and a glitter house.

The ceiling is scrapbook paper.  The chandeliers are all handmade and battery operated.

The bookcase in the back is made from scratch too.  I used the veneer wood for this . The table in the front was a kit for a dresser. I used the other parts in another project and was left with a table top  and legs. It made a perfect coffee table.

I made the crates from leftover veneer. The little nail heads are painted on with a gold paint marker. The lettuce head is white printer paper I painted green. Then I cut little rounded leaves and glued them together like a rose.

And these little houses are made of clay.
Thanks for coming over and looking at the farmhouse!
hugs♥,