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!!

The Rose bedroom

I like messy unmade beds in dollhouses...like someone just got up and walked away.

Vintage handkerchiefs make lovely miniature bedding.

They're usually well worn and very fine fabrics.

I saw a similar real life shelf like this and as I have neither the money nor the space for one in the real house I've made it in miniature.

I've made two of these lights for this room. 

Actually I made a third one but it just didn't need three in such a small space.

I've added a curtain made from another vintage handkerchief!

It's all coming together!

Mother's Day!

I thought Mother's Day would be the perfect time to show you what I've been working on

 in the 'Rose' Bedroom.

I think every dollhouse needs a baby's room.

Perfectly tiny bonnet and bootees made by Susan at Mini Crochet Mad.

A bunch of peach coloured roses for Mother.

'That's What God Made Mother's For' is framed on the wall in honour of Mother's Day.

It's a piece of vintage sheet music I found years ago in an op shop.

That's a tiny knitted mouse I bought at a dollhouse fair.

Part of the bassinet was in a room box I found at an op shop. 

The room box was dated 1982. 

I didn't like the top netting of the bassinet so I've re-made that part but the bottom is covered with the finest cotton fabric and it has age spots on it - which I love! 

I made the dress from an old handkerchief.

I went searching at an op shop (yes, I do spend too much time op shopping) for something to make the blanket from and found a baby singlet that I embroidered tiny rosebuds on...because the world needs more rosebuds!

That teensy safety pin was a challenge to make.

I did make two but one fell on the floor and that was the last I saw of it!

'Shelfie'!

Teddy has been thrown from the bassinet!

The dressing table was a gift from Kim. 

It was originally painted white.

I've added some pink (had to be done!) and vintage style floral paper and made a little basket for nappy storage.

Wishing all the Mums out there a very Happy Day!

Christmas in the Farmhouse

Merry Christmas to you all!

And welcome to Christmas in the Farmhouse...

There's a tree in the children's room

The stockings have been hung

Dolly is waiting

There's a copper tree topper

Tiny sugar glitter houses

Cookies for Santa 

There's plenty of baking in the kitchen

Gingerbread men being iced

Red Velvet Christmas cake

Christmas tree cookies

December has been a bit of a roller coaster ride around here this year. It was fun to finally have a little festive mini time.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy 2016!

Farmhouse bedroom - done!

I can finally show you the finished farmhouse bedroom.

It was going to be the master bedroom but I'm not so sure now.

It's a very pretty room!

Here's the room before - although I'd already done the ceiling before I remembered to take a 'before' pic.

There's a special glassed in area for the bed.

I love to add little references to favourite movies and books in my dollhouses. Sometimes the references are hidden, not this time though!

I fell in love with the colours and cinematography of 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'. 

It's a wonderful quirky movie!

I saw the beautiful wallpaper in a dollhouse on the internet and I tracked it down.

The currency exchange rate with the NZ dollar is not so good these days so it cost a small fortune!

But it was worth every cent.

I bought two sheets of wallpaper this time! Nearly used all of it. I thought it might be a bit overpowering to have the wallpaper covering every wall in the room so I made panels of it for this space.

Now like I said at the start - it was supposed to be the master bedroom.

It's possibly too pretty for a master bedroom...and I had a single bed sitting on my work table so I tried it out in there and well...it just looked like it belonged. So this might have to be a child's room or nursery perhaps.

I really wanted a fireplace in this room.

I found a real life fireplace I liked and did my best to create something similar in miniature.

Finding something to make that ridged backplate with was a challenge!

Another challenge was getting the floor the colour I wanted.

At last count there had been nine layers of paint and stain applied and removed from the floorboards. I'm finally happy with how they look! 

The wardrobe uses the space at the end of the stairwell in the hallway.

The window in the door lets you see through to the hallway.

The 'Crossed Keys' in the transom window are another reference to 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'.

This is now my favourite room in the house.

I am thrilled with out it's turned out...and I'm in love with that wallpaper!

So now the last part of the dollhouse to renovate is the attic - which will become the Master Retreat - as they would say in a fancy decorating show.

Work has begun...but as usual just when I get started life starts throwing all sorts of 'real life things to do' at me!

More to come...