The Beginning

 

I always dreamed of building a dollhouse. In 1995 this dream became reality when I decided to have a serious look at the cost of a dollhouse kit and everything related to it. From looking to buying is just a small step these pages show you my pride and joy, from the beginning to the present, which is far from the end!

The end of 95 was D-Day (Dollhouse Day); I ordered a dollhouse. 

A friend joined me to pick up the box in Gouda. 

When we got back home she made this picture of me with the box, which was quite heavy.

I went to work immediately, the box contained drawings and an assembly manual that were easy to implement.

Yet it didn't go as fast as I had expected, I am not the patient kind If I see something I like, I want it, preferably now. 

You understand I wanted nothing less than to start decorating, but that wasn't going to happen for a while.

Empty bottles of glue started to pile up and I was spending every free minute in the hobby room. In the mean time I started buying furniture and I was decorating in my mind.

The exterior materialized really fast; here you can see me and Belle, who wants to check everything out up close. Belle was less than a year old and kind of jumpy, kind of a ping pong ball on four legs, you can imagine I was very cautious with Belle anywhere near the house.

We are a few weeks ahead now, the shingles are on the roof and I am working on the frames around them. 

The stairs are finished, that was one frustrating job.

I wasn't talking about anything but the dollhouse. 

At first, when I had bought yet another lamp, they would ask if it was for our real house. Later on they would it could only be for the 1/12 size house.

It's progressing nicely; here I'm working on installing the windows, a little job that requires a lot of attention. By now the little frames on the outside are in place as you can see.

The windowpanes aren't glass; they're plastic...

One of the last things I did was putting up wallpaper and doing the floors. The doors still need to be installed, and of course some finishing touches such as gravel on the roofs and in the garden.

I am hiding the electrical wiring for the lights via the rear of the house. This is the best solution for hiding these kinds of things, since there are no doors at the front of the house that can open.

Ready!

After eighteen months the house is completely finished

In February '97 the major task of moving the dollhouse downstairs was announced. It was scary to realize that you're carrying a house down a narrow flight of stairs

Visitors can examine the house through the tiny windows, a fun occupation for visiting little nieces, or I turn the dollhouse around so they can really admire the complete interior. I have to add that I don't do this often, except when it is necessary for cleaning or changes to the decoration. The dollhouse has become quite heavy, turning it around has become hazardous to tip thing over, like a plant or the goldfish bowl. You'll understand that I'd rather leave it like it is

Now the party can really get started: decorating!
Over the last few months I've been buying and building quite a bit of little things and now I can finally give them a place. There is nothing like decorating a dollhouse, well, yes, you can do your own house, but it is not that easy to move a real cabinet about.  

 

I have ten rooms to keep me busy: the kitchen, two hallways, a living room/dining room, two bedrooms, the sewing room, the bathroom, the office, the attic and the basement. I like the garden best, because the result is immediately visible.

Photos [updated December 2006]

The picture above shows the house as it was in the winter of 2006, I made the pumpkins myself out of fimo clay. If you are a just a bit creative, you can make so many wonderful things for your dollhouse. The house, of course, changes with the seasons

If you want to see more of the interior, click on the thumbnails below, a larger picture will appear in a popup window. I will keep adding new pictures, be sure to come back!

2006/2007

 

I am merrily tinkering along at my dollhouse, I still have so many plans, I am collecting trinkets to build a library.
Will I ever build a new dollhouse? I don't know, I honestly wouldn't know where to put it, because I like having the houses in our living room. I still enjoy this house so much and, as I wrote above, I still have so many plans for this one; I am far from finished!

 

I hope you enjoyed reading and watching the story of my dream house taking shape.
If you have any questions, or if you just want to tell me you enjoyed my story, just send an E-mail to
poppenhuis[at]gadies.com (make sure that you replace the [at] by @.)

If you want to learn more (in Dutch) about dollhouses and the people that love them take a look at
http://poppenhuizen.pagina.nl/ or http://poppenhuis.startkabel.nl/

 

I also would like to thank Ed {Tine's hubby] for translating my ramblings from Dutch to english,thank you so much!

 

Regards,
Gadisa