Finished ghosts with glow-in-the-dark paint on them.
I have been wanting to make some ghosts for a while to inhabit my antique church. My church is a little on the rough side, so making it a bit haunted seems reasonable (without, of course, altering or damaging my church in any way). Anyway, this is a solution I really like.
I started looking for clear glass figurines, and finally settled on a nativity set.
These figures worked out perfect! The base is a bit hollow, so a battery operated votive candle can be used, if desired, to light it up (the figure in the upper left corner is standing on a votive candle.)
These figures will fit well in my church, as they are about the right scale for the building, and also they look holy. I decided that, for my purposes, I wanted them to glow by themselves instead of having them elevated by sitting on candles. The candles would work fine if I had them in different settings, but I like using glow-in-the-dark paint.
The glow-in-the-dark paint I use is just a run of the mill crafting paint that can be found in the paint aisle of many craft supply stores. There are different brands and probably any brand will work. I bought mine from Walmart. I also used a darker paint for shadows; I believe I used payne’s gray acrylic.
I watered down the payne’s gray and put layers of paint in areas I want to be shaded, just to add more definition to the form, because otherwise the clear glass makes it hard to make out details. After the shadows, I put on thicker layers of the glowing paint in the raised areas like the head and hands, shoulders, sleeves, etc.
After painting the shadows and glowing highlights.
In order to make the figure glow, you need to hold it under a light, shine a flashlight on it, or just keep it in a well-lit place for a while to ‘charge’ it. The glow won’t last for very long before it needs recharging with a light source, but it is still fun.
Charged and glowing.The same figure standing on the battery operated candle. It still looks spooky.As viewed through the broken window of my antique church. This church is featured in another of my posts if you would like to view it in more detail.
A few barrels in the storage room of my saloon dollhouse. The pallets they are resting on are from the local Dollar Tree.
While working on my saloon dollhouse, I decided that it needed some barrels in its storage room. I wanted a few, and I wanted them to be open inside so I could use them to store extra accessories for the action figures that I am using to populate my saloon (I mean, do the Ghostbusters actually need to have their ghost fighting equipment while playing checkers?). I discovered that my requirements would not be easy (or cheap) to find, so I would try to make them. While I was pondering this challenge, I happened to glance at what my child was drinking, and the solution presented itself.
Little Hug Fruit Barrels! The empty containers look just like little barrels! Looks just like a barrel!
I took an empty container and cut off the top, just above the ring that says Cash Refund information. Next, I sprayed it with Rustoleum #2 spray paint, which contains a primer for painting on plastics, and holds up pretty well.
Top portion cut off and primed with Rustoleum #2 spray paint.
I painted both the inside and outside of the barrel with the spray paint, then waited for it to dry completely.
Acrylic paints on top of the Rustoleum.
Next I dug out my acrylic paints to paint on top of the Rustoleum. I use the Rustoleum as a base-coat primer to help other paints adhere to the plastic surface. If I had just painted the acrylics straight onto the plastic, the paint would easily rub off, but the primer helps prevent this. I used a mixture of different browns and blacks for the wood and bands.
Painting nearly done.
After the paint was applied, I decided that I didn’t care for the writing along the top, so I chose to cover it up with a band of thin leather I had as scrap. You could also use cloth, or even cardstock.
Thin strip of leather wrapped around the top to cover the raised lettering. It also helped to reinforce the top lip. I then painted the leather to match the other bands.Several barrels being made.
Next I wanted a lid for the barrel.
Inner lip made of a scrap of string.
I cut and glued a piece of thick string as a lip along the inside of the barrel, about a quarter inch below the opening. This will give the lid something to rest on so it doesn’t keep falling into the barrel.
Lid cut from thick cardboard. I put a small hole in top, so that I might eventually make a metal hook tool to help remove the lids.
I happened to have some very thick cardboard material left over from something, and decided it would make a nice sturdy lid. I cut out the shape I needed and then trimmed it to fit easily inside the top of the barrel, but not past the inner lip I had created with the string.
Finished barrel.
There are other possibilities–I could add a beer tap, or maybe a rack for the barrel to rest on. Thanks for looking! Feel free to comment or ask questions.
For my white First Period Colonial style house, I had removed the old shingles (see original post) and hadn’t decided what type of shingle I wanted to put on it. I had always kicked around the idea of slate shingles, but wasn’t sure how to proceed with that. For one thing, real slate shingles for a dollhouse would be very expensive, not to mention hard to find. Also, they would add a significant amount of weight to the house and would be difficult to attach. Finally, after a bathroom flooring project, I came up with the perfect, cost effective idea. I would make my own ‘slate’ shingles out of bathroom floor tiles.
The tiles I chose are from Menards, and are very thick linoleum. They are textured and colored to look very similar to slate.
Close up of the tile I chose. They are nice and thick and will have some substance on the roof.The back of the tile, in case anyone wants to use the same ones.
After selecting the tiles, I had to cut them into squares. I wanted them to be random widths to they would add some interest to the project, so I didn’t use any real measurements when I cut them. I used a scrap piece of wood as a cutting board so I wouldn’t damage any surfaces.
Scoring with a box cutter, using a ruler as a straightedge.
To cut these tiles, I held a ruler as a straightedge and used my box cutter to score a shallow mark along the top of the tile, in the area I wanted to cut. The knife does not need to cut all the way through the tile. It is important to note that you need to score it from the DECORATED SURFACE of the tile, so that when you break it you will have a nice, clean line. If you score the back and break the front, the cut will be jagged and might peel off part of the decoration.
Breaking the tile along the score.
After you score the front with the knife, hold the tile in your hand, decorated side up, and use your fingers to snap it along the cut, from the back side. It should break pretty easily.
Cutting the tile’s paper backing after the front has been snapped.
I chose to keep the paper backing on the tiles as I went, at least until I was done cutting them. Otherwise (I used self-adhesive tiles) the sticky backing will make them stick to the cutting board and cause some difficulty. Anyway, because I kept this paper backing on, I had to make an additional slice on the back of the tile to cut the paper after I had snapped the tile.
I cut the tiles into long strips, about 1.5 inches wide.
Slicing the long strips into shingles.
After my strips were cut, I cut them into smaller sized shingles. I used the same method, scoring with the knife (except for this cut I didn’t use the ruler as a guide as the cuts were so short and it was pretty easy to keep them straight), and then snapping them into small squares. I started out leaving the paper on the backs of these smaller pieces, but after a while I found it went faster to just peel the paper off after they were cut.
A small shingle. Nice, thick edges.
Next comes the fun part.
Gluing the shingles. The glued edge will be laid pointing towards the roof’s top, so that it makes contact with the wood part of the roof. The bottom edge that isn’t glued will be overlapping the shingles below it. If I glued the whole shingle it has more chance of dripping glue onto the shingle below it.
After my shingles are cut, and the paper backing is removed, I dabbed a little glue on one end (because the sticky backing isn’t as sticky as I would like it to be, and I don’t want my shingles falling off), and started installing them on my roof.
This roof has an opening for the attic, so I had to work around it.
When installing the shingles, start from the bottom and work your way up. Overlap them a little bit, so that the next row is hanging over the one below it slightly. In real life, the cracks between the shingles won’t line up, to help prevent water from leaking into your house, so keep them staggered. My shingles are not straight as I wanted a more primitive look.
More shingles done.
Just keep going until you cover the whole roof. In the sections where my attic ‘door’ is, I made sure to keep the shingles around the door out of the way so that it will still open. Then on the door itself, I let the shingles overlap the flap just enough to blend into the shingles on the rest of the roof, which helps camouflage the door but without hindering its functionality.
Finished roof (but this is on the other side of the dollhouse).
Once I was done, I cut tiny strips of shingle and glued them along the top to hide gaps where the shingles of either side meet. (Not pictured). I had initially planned on painting the edges of the shingles to get rid of the white edge, but I feel pretty good about how they look as-is. These tiles were heavy, so they do add a bit of weight to the house, but they sure do look good, and I am sure they are lighter than real slate would be. Feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions!
This house was an unfinished kit that I bought on Facebook Marketplace. It still had the instruction manual, plus an old sales catalog from Frank’s Nursery dated 1982, with this kit circled. I am guessing that was when it was purchased, and it had never been finished. It has a lot of dust on it.
Something about this dollhouse makes me think of a large saloon and brothel in an old west town. We just finished watching the old ‘Deadwood’ series (HBO) and I can’t help envisioning Al sitting on the upper porch drinking his coffee. When I found this house available within easy driving distance, at an affordable price, especially in its unpainted state, I dove for it!
After the porch railings were finished. It looks more like a saloon to me now!
The first thing I did was finish the porch railings. The kit hadn’t been completed, and fortunately they included the instructions and the unfinished parts. It was easy to follow the instructions and install the porch rails.
Once the railing was installed, I turned the house around to focus on the inside. None of the inside walls had been installed, so the inside was a blank slate, which is great for me and my saloon intentions. However, without the support of the inside walls, the floors had sagged with time. I think someone probably used it like a shelf, which would have added to the problem. I decided that it needed some support, but I didn’t want any extra walls to break up that glorious open space on the bottom floor, so what to do?
Bracing the inside floors.
I bought some fancy decorative wooden trim from Menards and glued it along the front edges of the floors, where it sagged the most. I clamped it until the glue was dry. I used pieces of wood to brace it up as it dried to it wouldn’t sag anymore. This would work temporarily, but I knew that it would be weak over time if it didn’t have some better support. Before I could add any extra support, however, I would need to get the floors done on the bottom floor.
I also cut one of the front windows bigger, making it into a door. I bought a swinging bat-wing door on Amazon and glued it in place, but there is a gap on the top that will need to be repaired.Installing flooring strips.
The kit came with flooring strips (YAY) so I worked at cutting and gluing them down. I kept the lengths staggered so there is no pattern to the wood that would draw the eye, just like a real wood floor. The pieces were so thin that the wood glue I used made them curl up in some areas. I weighed them down with heavy glass cup holders until they were dry.
When the floor was laid, I cut some square wooden dowels to make a bracing framework across the middle of my floor. Eventually I can make some sort of fancy corbels or something to spruce it up, but I am confident that it will help to brace the floor above just as a wall would. In this picture you can see the trim I added above the doorway to cover the gap–it wasn’t quite tall enough, so I added a strip of leftover flooring above that. It seems to blend in the with the wood of the walls enough that it works.
Next I need a bar.
This was made with leftover fancy trim from what I used to brace the edge of the floor, plus jumbo craft sticks and square dowels. I used small round dowels, cut in half length-wise, for the round edges on the ends. Bar in place, with a couple of dolls posing. I built some narrow shelves around the doorway to the back room, lining them with alcohol bottles I found on Amazon and Ebay. The mirror behind the shelves is from the back of a mirrored phone case I bought at dollar tree. The foot rest at the bottom of the bar is made of coffee stirrers (I shoved round toothpicks inside for support) and pieces of square dowel. I bought the spittoons on ebay.
This is where I’m at right now. I plan to get more dolls. I want some bored dancing girls, some patrons playing cards, rooms upstairs, and a storage room behind the bar. Stay tuned!
This is my haunted/abandoned Beacon Hill dollhouse. Its main resident is Ash from the Evil Dead, who is visible on the front porch, enjoying a smoke and a beer with his zombie friend (hey, it’s make believe, darn it!)
This is my Beacon Hill, which has been featured in past posts. It is, of course, a work in progress, much like my other houses/structures. I work on different projects sporadically as my time, interests, and supplies allow. I thought today that you might enjoy seeing the insides and some of the modifications I have made to it. At the moment it is decorated for the winter, with snow on the roof. The snow, by the way, is just a fuzzy fleece sweatshirt that was cut into pieces and laid on the surfaces.
Ash (a Neca action figure from the Evil Dead series) with a glass of beer and cigarette that were purchased on ebay. His friend is a zombie that I am guessing could be from the Walking Dead but I really don’t know. Their metal lawn chairs were from Dollar General, in the Fairie Garden section.So, for the life of me, I cannot get this image to upload in the correct orientation. It is tilted sideways for now until I can figure it out. Anyway, this is a full view of the back. I keep it covered (at least the bottom couple of floors) with a piece of plexiglass that is velcroed to the back of the house. It helps keep out dust and cats. A closeup of the kitchen. I have a metal Roper range (and love it so much!), a Dee’s Delights wringer washer, a (I believe) Reuter’s kitchen sink, a wooden chopping block, and a Peripera makeup refrigerator. (I might paint that sometime so it looks more like a realistic vintage fridge. ) One of my ‘broken’ windows fell out and I didn’t catch it before taking the photo. Dining room. I cut a small storage under the stairs. I still need to make a door for it. The front doors of the house still need to be re-attached, but for now they look fine as being caved in, as though it was broken into.Here is the living room. I have a denim-covered couch that I love, a leg lamp (it is actually a night-light version of the famous Christmas Story lamp), and a few other pieces of furniture. The white chairs are my version of old fashioned table chairs. They aren’t finished yet.Upstairs sitting room. It is occupied by my child’s toy kitties lol!Bathroom. It is also occupied by pets. I used watered-down paints to dirty up the appliances a bit, and also the floor. I am still working at painting the trim brown. It was all white when I bought it, and, while it looked very nice, it just didn’t give me the ‘old house’ feel that dark wood has. The back of the roof tower. It didn’t originally have a door, so I cut and added one. I might add a ghost in there eventually. I made the shingles out of jumbo crafting sticks, by cutting the rounded ends off and overlapping them. This was originally decorated as a nursery, but I am converting it to a secret room. I made a shallow book case to block the entrance (will eventually add hinges to it), and then managed to find a vintage METAL spiral staircase kit on ebay! This is, perhaps, my favorite feature of this house, so far. I painted it black, and then used some brown paint to add a little ‘rust’. I used a rotary tool to cut the hole in the ceiling for the stair opening, and then patched around it with cloth and glue. i plan to paint over it when I eventually repaint the room, and make the loose cloth look like falling plaster.The spiral staircase leads to a tiny greenhouse on the roof. I made the greenhouse out of a fancy metal cage that once held scented potpourri. I covered it with clear plastic that I salvaged from plastic food containers. The fence in front of it is a work in progress that I am still figuring out. Eventually I hope to make it encircle the rooftop.The upstairs hallway. The ceiling needs to be patched where there was a gaping hole leading to the tower. Since I made the tower an actual room, I need to put a floor there for it. I bought the bookshelf on ebay, and now I need to stain it and add books and decorations. Ash’s bedroom, top right room, with a skeleton friend. Pennywise in the guest bedroom (middle floor, right side). Pennywise is a Neca figure. He has balloon dog christmas tree ornaments as props, and a giant praying mantis as a dinner guest. I like to position him in fun areas, like in the closet, peeking out a window, etc. Behind him is a small glass display case that I am currently pretending is a large fish tank, with ‘Safari’ brand deep sea fish in it.
This is the progress I have made on this house so far. There are still projects left to do before it is ‘done,’ but, in reality, I will probably always find more things to do with it. It would be fun to add artwork sometime, or black-and-white photos, and I would REALLY like to make a basement that I can set the whole house on top of, with a stairway that leads outside, like some of the really old houses have. Then I could make a boiler and laundry room, and make it damp-ish looking and creepy–an ideal place for Pennywise to hide. Hmm…
Outside view (As I bought it.) The paint was just AWFUL!Inside view (before).
This house spoke to me for one reason or another when I found it on Marketplace. For some reason it feels older to me than the 1980 signature on the bottom. I have seen other, older houses that share the same basic shape but have different porches or a balcony on the window. I don’t know if it was built from a kit or maybe (and more likely) from plans. It has handy dandy wheels on the bottom and rolls so nicely!
The first thing that had to go on this house was the atrocious paint job. I cringed each time I looked at it. I swear someone decided to ‘spruce it up’ with chalk paint before listing it for sale, and they painted it so sloppily i just… well, I just had to fix it.
First I tried a little acetone on a cotton ball to see what exactly was underneath the paint. Was there some grand finish that begged to be restored? No–it looked like it was just white paint underneath, and it would be a mess to clean off the old paint just to get it back to white. I could just paint over it.
It took me a while to decide what I actually wanted to do with this house. I had plans for a saloon at some point, and a 1920’s style house party, with flapper girls and a grand banquet. My first thought was to make this a saloon, as the covered porch might be made old-west-ish, I suppose, but then just a week or so after I brought this house home I discovered a saloon-of-my-dreams house (actually it is a Duracraft Deluxe Victorian Mansion) that will make an awesome saloon and brothel. So this one will be my 1920’s house, and I think I am happy with that decision.
I started with some new siding to try to spruce up the outside. My mother had just re-sided her dollhouse with craft sticks, and I liked the result, and so I decided to try it myself.
Jumbo craft sticks with curved ends trimmed off (using miter shears). I used hot glue, applied only to one edge of the stick.
I used jumbo craft sticks, cutting the curved ends off to make them squared. Using hot glue (or I am sure that wood glue would be a better choice, but with a bit more patience needed for drying), I glued one long edge of the sticks at a time, overlapping them and keeping them staggered so they looked randomly applied.
Start at the bottom, doing one row at a time, and work your way up, overlapping the rows just slightly. Also try to keep the stick lengths random so you don’t form a pattern that will distract the eye.Window trim
After I got the siding done, I cut some sticks length-wise to make slimmer window trim, and then glued them in place over the siding.
Siding and window trims in place.White paint.
Once siding and trim were in place, I painted it white. It took several coats of paint to cover the wood and especially the black porch, but I am much pleased with it. I haven’t decided what to do with the roof, so for now, it will remain messy black. I will probably paint it, maybe like slate? I’ll have to do some research.
The porch still troubles me a little. I want to get more of an art deco feel, but something that will still fit in with the rest of the house. I am considering railings and corbels, to fancy it up a bit. Of course it still needs doors and windows, but that will come later.
I haven’t done much on the inside, yet. I am really hoping for some sort of grand staircase, but somehow without cutting into the wood floors. Hmm. Maybe a freestanding staircase that can be moved around? Lots to consider. I will, however, add a railing to the second floor so I can have guests leaning on it and looking down. And also, perhaps, a speakeasy in the attic. So many ideas!
12/26/2022 UPDATE: I’ve been toying with different ideas for a while on this one. After initially writing this post, I came across a different house that I want to make into a flapper girl house, so I wasn’t sure what to do with this one. I decided to try a 1970’s theme. I repainted it gold for now, and plan on adding shingles. Here is an updated pic:
Looking for that ’70’s look.
I have also added a lattice handrail made from tin ribbon. I might add triangles of that ribbon into the upper corners of the porch posts for decorative brackets. I have toyed with the idea of painting the trim brown but I don’t think I can bring myself to do it.
The idea for this house is now to decorate the inside with golds, browns, oranges, and greens to catch some of that 1970’s feel. I always loved the show “That 70’s Show” and hope to recreate some of that.
This barn was once part of someone’s railroad table. I had been looking for a good barn project (I love old farms, especially the barns, especially when they once had horses in them. I am a now-horseless horse-nut).
This barn was originally made to sit flat on the ground, but I wanted a lower level with livestock pens, more similar to my grandparents’ bank barn. In order for that to happen, I would have to build a base for it to sit into.
Building the base.
I started with a good plywood board for the base, set the barn on top, in the position I wanted to permanently affix it in. I traced out the barn’s outline.
Next I decided on the locations of doors and marked them with a pencil. I then cut lengths of square dowel to fit the walls, leaving open spaces for the various doors. I built up layers of dowel, alternating overlaps in the corners for structural strength, gluing them down as I went.
Original version of barn, sitting on top of its new base. I forgot to make the windows, so I later disassembled a few areas to cut out the windows and then glued it back together.
When the bottom of the barn was as tall as I wanted, I customized the dowel placement so the original barn would sit comfortably on it without moving. The main upper section of the barn is not glued onto the base, so that I can lift the top original barn off and see the inside of the lower level.
With trim on windows and doors and a little paint added.
I used halved craft sticks to add trim around the windows and doors. This helped to give the edges a more finished look.
After first coat of primer.
I didn’t like the original shiny red finish, so I sprayed the barn with two coats of Rustoleum 2x gray primer and paint to prepare it for acrylics. However, when I started painting, I discovered that the texture just didn’t seem right. The barn’s smooth wood was too flat to look like real barn wood, even with painted texture. I ended up using a pallet knife to apply a thin coat of wood putty, then scratched into it with the edge of the knife to give it texture.
Adding some wood putty for texture.One end painted. Also with some shingles applied.I decided to make my roof look rough, so I staggered the cedar dollhouse shingles on the roof. I started out painting the shingles first, but finally just put them all on and then painted afterwards, as it helped to keep the colors coherent.Shingles done, front partially painted.
I used a mixture of browns, payne’s gray, and black on the wood, with a tiny bit of green for highlights.
This is a closeup of some of the texture from wood putty under the paint. This was before I was finished painting.
In case you were wondering, the animals are mostly vintage Auburn Toy Company plastic animals. I used to play with similar ones at my grandparents’ when I was a child. When I made arrangements to get this barn, I glanced at marketplace and found these animals for sale, and was able to snatch them up. I almost cried when I found them, as I haven’t seen any like them since my childhood. I have since found others on Ebay.
I have plans for further projects, including a small milk house/barn hill, beams in the hayloft, and possibly some horse drawn machinery. I think it would be cool to make stalls for the animals and milking stations. Stay tuned!
This is above the door.It even has a little wooden church organ!Lots of damage on this side. Most of the tissue paper windows are gone.
This structure is actually an old model of a long-gone church. It was reportedly made by an early boyscout troupe. The couple I bought it from says that they purchased it online through an auction, and that it was damaged during shipping. They didn’t remember what state they bought it from– possibly Wyoming or Wisconsin. They had made a few repairs, but this is what it is, now.
The stained glass windows are actually made of old tissue paper, that might be original, as it is brittle and discolored, and has remnants of some of the (I think) original paint on it. I also have discovered some tissue paper pasted to the floors in designs. There are small pews made of varnished cardboard, and a ‘priest’ made from a small Kewpie doll :).
I don’t plan to alter this piece. My ideas include placing clear plastic sheets on the floor to preserve the papers (they are flaking off and look very messy). I also would like to make a few clay pigeons to perch around inside and out, to give it an abandoned feel. I may add a tiny paper wasp nest and an owl.
I made a cardboard base that is covered with fake turf, and have been working on a tiny graveyard for the background. I will post pictures when it starts coming together.
Front view.Side view. Panels on the side lift up on hinges, and have a wooden dowel that helps hold them up while you play.
As you can see, this window needs some restoration. I eventually used Museum Wax to stick the glass back under the thick paper frame.
My cat’s back is in this shot- don’t be alarmed, it’s just Teracles :).This is an upstairs room. Old wiring in the attic, that was modified by a recent owner with a more modern plug. Not sure how safe this would be to plug in, so I choose not to.
This is another marketplace find. The couple I bought this house from had found it in an antique shop many years ago. Apparently it was built in 1887, by a doctor, to give to his daughter. I confirmed with members of my antique dollhouse group on Facebook that this is probably authentic, as the glass is thick and imperfect, the wood looks to be from old-growth trees, and it was popular at that time to make houses out of crates. This house also appears to have been modified slightly through the generations, as someone added electricity via antique Christmas lighting.
It came furnished with a variety of Strombecker furniture, plus a pair of Erna Meyer dolls. I have decided to decorate the downstairs as a small general store (1800’s style), with the store keeper and his wife residing in the upper level.
When I was younger we had the opportunity to walk through a General Store that had been closed up, with all goods intact, for many decades. It was a magical moment to step into the past like that, and I would like to try to recreate that feeling (at least to a degree) in this dollhouse. The old store had a post office inside, goods on shelves and hanging from the ceiling, lots of old displays, and all sorts of stuff.
I don’t plan on altering the house itself in any way that can’t be undone. I have decided that any beams that I add for hanging goods will be held in place with museum wax so they can be easily removed.
Some of the included furnishings.
I moved all of the ‘living’ furniture into the upper floors of the house, and any that didn’t quite fit in were stored in the dollhouse’s attic. Next step will be getting store furnishings, and making goods to sell!
I made this 2 sided store display out of craft sticks and split dowels.
First I made this 2 sided display out of craft sticks. I figured that it would work well in one of the windows as a display. I stained it and loaded the shelves with extra dollhouse items I had lying around.
One side, stained and with items added.The other side with items added.
Next, I found a cool post office display and bought it off ebay.
Post office display, along with packages and letters, on my messy desk (sorry!)
I also acquired a glass display counter and a few more goods for the store. Here is how it currently looks:
Display counter, post office, and window display all installed. There is also a cast iron stove and a grindstone pencil sharpener.A closer view. The glass display domes were bought at Hobby Lobby and the cool, intricate scale was found on ebay. The cash register is a metal pencil sharpener.
Obviously there is much more work to be done. I would like to make some horse harness and tack to put on display, as well as removable beams across the ceiling to hang goods from, like candles and baskets. At some point, I would also like to figure out how to make antique-looking medicine bottles (I collect them in real life) that can be displayed on shelves or even in the glass display case. One of the fun things about doll houses is that you can always come up with fun ideas for future projects.
This is the Pepperwood Farm dollhouse. I was fortunate enough to acquire it from Facebook marketplace in September of 2019. We drove across the state on a 3 hour, one-way drive to get it. These houses were made from plans that were sold in a book. It was built by hand with thick plywood, so it is very heavy!
I believe that this particular house was built in the late 1970’s-early 1980’s. The wallpapers are a bit brittle and faded from age (but I love them). The older couple who had inherited it from their friend decided to pass it on to another who would enjoy it just as much, so I was fortunate to come across it.
There isn’t much that I plan on changing with this house at the moment. The inside has been decorated wonderfully, with trims and papers that I adore, but could use a few finishing touches, along with some light restoration. Mostly I have been having fun with making and collecting furniture for it.
The windows open like real windows, the attic has studs in the storage room, the attic bedroom has a few built-ins. It’s such a quaint little home, and my daughter and I have fun playing in it together.
Here is an image of the space under the hinged roof. On the left is the untidy nursery, and on the right is the untidy attic. Note the studs in the walls, like an unfinished space. I love the details that the maker put into this house.A closeup of the nursery. Note the built-in cupboards/drawers in the back. These appear to be made of thin wood. This is the side with the front door and porch opened up. It has the stairwell, the bathroom, the main bedroom, and the parlor. This is during Christmas. A closeup of the main bedroom, before I got the mattress made for the bed. The trunk was something I made as a teenager and the bedroom set was a vintage victorian bedroom kit from Realife Miniatures.A closeup of the parlor. The parlor organ was a windup music box that I altered to resemble a Reed Organ, using wood, popsicle sticks, and dowels. The stairs. The rug is a wide strip of ribbon, with stair rods made of toothpicks capped with beads, held in place with blue sticky putty (until I switch it to museum wax).The bathroom. I found some glass mosaic tiles that I eventually plan to install. I think I will attach them to matboard and piece it in along the walls and floor so I can just cover up the existing stuff without damaging it. The doll is a Ficen, with a Tom Holland head added. This view is with the other side opened up. It shows the kitchen, dining room, second bedroom, and upstairs hallway.The second bedroom. I plan on making this the grandmother’s room. I would like to make a murphy bed to put in here. I did make the rolltop desk as a miniature of my own desk, and the trunk is one I made as a teenager. This is an older photo, as I now have a nicer Heidi Ott sewing machine.The dining room, with my daughter’s toys in residence. The kitchen. I made the piesafe out of popsicle sticks. I would like to make a decent hoosier cabinet to put in here, also. There is one that I made (out of view on the wall opposite the sink) but I wasn’t very happy with it and want to replace it.
The insides of this house are constantly changing and evolving as I find different pieces of furniture or as I decorate for the seasons. Lately I have found myself wondering what new siding would look like, or even bricks? In my area of Michigan, I see a lot of old brick farmhouses, and they are breathtaking! I haven’t seen any photos of a brick pepperwood farm before. Perhaps someday I will try it out, even if it’s just printing some bricks on paper and taping them to the siding to see what it might look like.
Have any questions or comments? Want to see more photos of anything specific? Just leave a comment in the comment section!
