A teeny dollhouse for the Farmhouse

This has been a crazy year for me with little time for mini making.

However, I was so inspired by a picture of an antique dollhouse I saw on the internet I just had to make time to do some serious mini making.

The Farmhouse girls bedroom needed a dollhouse.

It was fiddly folks! 

But then most mini making projects are fiddly to say the least!

Fiddly but satisfying.

Built mostly from cardboard.

That roof took three attempts to get right.

A peek inside!

I've painted some tiny metal furniture I had. 

It's a little over sized for the house but I remember my first dollhouse when I was a little girl had over sized furniture.

And I made a teeny tiny version of the dollhouse to go in there.

So the dollhouse dollhouse has a dollhouse! 

So you can see how small it is! And there's the teeny, tiny dollhouse dollhouse dollhouse too.

This is the actual 19th century Swedish antique dollhouse that inspired me so much. 

You can see it here.

I could sit here playing with my little house all day.

but there are more things waiting to be made...

Thank you all for the comments you leave. They really make my day!!

A better bed for the attic room

You may remember from my earlier post about this room (or you may have forgotten because after all it was quite some time ago!) I was never happy with the bed I originally had in here.

 I realised this room was crying out for an iron bed.

 So I played with some wire and beads and exercised some great patience to make a new, old looking bed.

A red velvet chair like this was in a big bag of dollhouse furniture I was lucky enough to find at an op shop!

The style was right but the red velvet and mahogany had to go...

    The chair was transformed with a little paint and fabric.

Finding something tiny enough to use as upholstery nails was a challenge...but you know I enjoy a challenge!

It was my good fortune to find the cutest box of vintage 'Lilliputian' pins at an op shop.

 The bed cover is an exquisite vintage handkerchief. 

I've purposely made the bed look a little lumpy and lived in...it's supposed to be an old bed after all.

Luckily the handkerchief was the perfect size for the bed.

I don't like it when I have to cut vintage handkerchiefs up!

 There's some old paper above the bed.

Time to fill the shelves in this room...

The Princess and the Pea!

One of my favourite books that Father Christmas gave my daughter when she was little is 

The Princess and the Pea - the Lauren Child version.

I had always known that one day I would make a Princess and the Pea bed. 

Last December I thought I would make it in miniature for a wonderful friend of mine.

The bed was fun to make. 

Hardest part was deciding what fabrics to use for the mattresses...as usual I just used what I could find at home - that's a challenge I like to set myself when making things!

There are twelve mattresses just like in the book.

I'm no doll maker...this little Princess was a huge challenge to make. 

I wanted to give up several times but you know I'm not a quitter!!

I made her dress from a vintage handkerchief (Oh how I love vintage hankies!)

I searched the shops for a couple of weeks trying to find something suitable and affordable to make her hair from and then found the 'hairy wool' in a cupboard at home.

Liberty needle felted the perfect pea.

I found a tiny Lauren Child version of the book to give to my friend with her!!!

Too cute!!

The Princess went to her new home on Christmas day... 

(she was definitely hard to part with in the end)

My friend was thrilled!

If you haven't read the Lauren Child version you should go look for it. 

It's a mesmerising re-telling of the story that makes it a pleasure to read for

 adults and children alike. 

And as for the pictures...it's all dollhouse miniatures and cardboard cut out perfection!

You're never too old for a good children's book!

Adding to the Farmhouse Bathroom

It's been a while since I made any progress on the bathroom

Sometimes it can take a long time for inspiration to hit!

I knew I wanted to create a shower over the bathtub but I had no idea what it was going to look like until I saw a picture in an old magazine...

It was a challenge to make but I like a challenge!

My next trick was to make a shabby toilet.

There' a fine line between 'shabby' and 'gross' when it comes to toilets!

I bought the cupboard years ago on my trip to The Netherlands. I just gave it the shabby treatment.

The toilet roll holder was fun to make!

There are still plenty more details to be added.

Well, since I started this post I've added other things...seems like I never get time to finish anything these days.

I made a vintage style laundry hamper...it was a real pain in the neck to make!

It's wonky...won't stand up straight...I filled it with laundry to hide some of it's faults.

Couldn't resist making a tiny onesie to throw in the laundry hamper. 

I might have a go at making a tinier onesie when I find the right fabric...and I'm in the right mood!