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This barn was originally made to sit flat on the ground, but I wanted a lower level with livestock pens, more similar to my grandparents’ bank barn.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!
For my Beacon Hill project, I decided that, as the house is in disrepair, I wanted to add broken windows. However, as I really don’t enjoy breaking things, I decided to try something to make them LOOK broken.
I started out with a piece of clear plastic from a vegetable container from the store.
I am just showing this piece as an example. Obviously, it is much easier to use a piece that doesn’t have a large sticker on it!
After picking out your piece of clear plastic, cut it so that it can slide into the existing window, over top of the existing plastic or glass. I made mine just a hair larger so that it could be popped into place and hopefully stay put!
Cut to size
After the plastic is cut to the desired size, I used an xacto knife to carve cracks, holes, bullet holes, etc into them. Here are some examples:
Spider-webbed, with a hole.Bullet holes. Notice that a lot of bullet-ridden glass has smaller spider-webs around the holes, as the bullet passes through with so much force.
After you have your broken windows prepared, gently insert them over your old windows, popping them into place. I placed my windows on the INSIDE of the house, so that they aren’t bumped as often, as they might fall out if jostled.
Inserting the new window over the old.
You can also keep some of the ‘shards’ left after making your holes, and drop them on the floor of your dollhouse, as broken glass.
You could leave slivers of broken glass around the edges of the pane, so it looks like a giant hole. You could make the whole window spider-webbed. The possibilities are endless!
So, during lockdown in 2020, I was lucky enough to find a reasonably priced Beacon Hill Victorian mansion for sale on marketplace. I purchased it, made some repairs, and decided to redecorate it as an aged house, fallen into disrepair.
This is my Beacon Hill on the day I purchased it. The porch had become detached and it really needed new paint on the exterior. A few minor pieces were missing but nothing I was concerned about, as I planned to make it a neglected house.
First things first, I needed to reattach the porch, which, luckily, was included with the house. I used wood glue and painstakingly pieced it all back together.
This photo shows the reattached porch, plus the beginning of the first layer of new paint.
Next step was a layer of light gray paint. I used some leftover house paint that I had laying around.
For the next step, I found some dark gray paint, and, using a stiff-bristled brush, I scrubbed this paint into the cracks and crevices to look like weathering and dirt. I scrubbed the brush up and down and side to side, wiping away excess paint, until i had achieved the look I wanted. I continued to do this over the whole exterior of the house.
Adding some green.
After the dark gray was looking the way I wanted, the next step was to add a bit of dark green. I wanted it to be very faint, so i brushed it on with my stiff brush and then wiped it off. The trick to this was to make it not uniform. I tried to make it more pronounced in areas that I felt might have more water runoff, for instance, and on areas of the boards that might be more exposed to the sun. In real life I have a white house, and have had to clean my own siding, so I have observed this to an extent.
I still need to paint the base, but I haven’t decided how I want to make the base look, yet. I may go with a cinder block foundation, which would require a different look, so, for now, I chose to leave it.
I plan on changing the shingles to a fishscale look, so I didn’t touch them at this time. It does look fine with the shingles that are on it, but I really wanted the fishscales, and will add them at a later time.
For my first dollhouse project, I found this plastic dollhouse at the local Goodwill store. I like the Victorian style and thought it might make a nice haunted mansion for Halloween.
First off, I peeled off all of the stickers. Then I chose a paint that would work for a good base coat. I chose Rust-Oleum’s 2x ultra matte, in a dark gray. Their 2x paints are formatted to bond to plastics, as well as many other materials. I followed the instructions on the can.
Rust-Oleum’s 2x paints will bond with plastic and many other materials. I chose a nice dark gray.
I put on a good base coat.
First coat in progress. The matte paint will lose its gloss as it dries.Looking a little spooky already!
Next, after the paint has dried overnight, I dug into my acrylics. I chose a mixture of Cerulean blue and Mars Black for the shingles. I eventually switched to Payne’s Gray instead of the black. I used the black (or payne’s gray, which is a very dark gray) in a more watery mixture to paint in the cracks of the shingles. Then I used the cerulean blue on a drier brush to brush over the raised portions, in a way that left the dark areas in the cracks undisturbed. This layering made the shingles stand out more.
A mixture of Cerulean Blue and Payne’s Gray (and some black) was brushed on the shingles to bring out more of the texture.
Next, I took a mixture of Deep Magenta and Payne’s gray to work on the siding.
Deep Magenta and Payne’s Gray were used for the siding.
I brushed them on much like I did with the shingles, using a more watery brush for the payne’s gray on the siding first, to fill in the cracks, then going over it again with the magenta, using a drier brush so it wouldn’t reach into the cracks.
The siding is very dark, with hints of magenta, to give it a weathered appearance.I added a little dark green to the bushes and a few of the shingles, to make it appear mossy. I also added a little cerulean blue to the flowers on the side of the house. Any colors you want will do, but to keep the appearance haunted-ish, I would recommend keeping the colors muted with dark gray or black.
I’m rather pleased with the results thus far. I will probably get some sort of clear coat to spray over the paint when I am finished with it, to protect against scratches. I will post more on this project as I go! Enjoy!
I found this dollhouse on Marketplace for $20, and I just love the simple design! It reminds me so much of a 1700’s colonial, that I am going to decorate it for that era, as well as I can.
When I found this dollhouse on Markeplace for $20, I just had to have it! It reminds me of a 1700’s colonial (first period home), with its simple design and nice wood siding.
Wouldn’t this be awesome with a walk-in fireplace?The inside needs some definite updating.
The first thing I did when I brought this huge, heavy dollhouse home was to scrape off the old shingles. They appear to have been made out of sandpaper, which seemed to have worked well enough, but they were in such poor, water-damaged shape that I felt I needed to wash my hands thoroughly after handling it.
This handy tool holds a razor blade that I can use for scraping paint and whatever.
Next, I used a handy-dandy paint scraper, and went to work scraping off some of the peeling paint from the floors, walls, and ceiling.
While scraping the paint off. I focused more on removing any peeling paint, as I plan to put a thin coat of plaster on the walls, with some thin wood supports in walls and ceiling, to give it a more primitive effect.
So far, I plan to apply a thin coat of plaster to give the walls a more uneven white texture, with thin pieces of wood applied to walls and ceilings to suggest supports that I can hang things like dried herbs and baskets from. Because of this, I was only interested in removing flaking paint (which there was a lot of).
Using methods similar to those used in the farmhouse, I applied jumbo craft sticks to mimic real wood floors. I cut the rounded tips off the sticks with poultry shears and then applied them with glue, weighting them down in places that wouldn’t quite stay put. I used an xacto knife to trim around doorways and walls.
Next, I decided to work on the upstairs floors. I want to go with a pine board effect, similar to my farmhouse, but I would like the floors to look more weathered and stained. I plan to score the wood lightly with an xacto knife, to add wood grain, and then lightly stain them before varnishing.
Update:
This is the updated roof! After removing the paper shingles that were in poor shape, I made slate-like shingles (described in another post) out of vinyl floor tiles.
Next, I painted the walls white, using a thick paint so it looked like a thin coat of plaster. I took wood from an old flowerbed border fence, so it would have some nice weathering to it, and used that to make some wooden support beams for the lower floor. I carefully opened up the area under the stairs, so I can use it as a storage closet (I will eventually make a door for it).
A current photo of the lower floor. I have been experimenting with different flooring in the main room, and at the moment have settled on a combination of small ceramic tiles and leftover pieces of linoleum. I have tiny candle bundles hanging from the wooden beams, as well as baskets and a lantern. The fireplace is a ceramic walk-in style that I found on ebay.
Several months ago, I happened upon a photo of an antique dollhouse on Pinterest. I’d never been particularly interested in dollhouses, although my mother was (and still is) interested in miniatures while I was growing up.
That photo sparked my interest. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted, no NEEDED an old-fashioned-looking dollhouse that I could decorate for the holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas.
I looked online for ideas. I read about different dollhouse styles. I discovered that many people, much to my delight, would buy or build a dollhouse, keeping in mind a specific era in which to decorate it.
So, in essence, you could use your hobby to research a certain era in history and try to recreate it in your own little world? How awesome!
It happened that one day while at work, a coworker reminded me of a large, work-related box that I was expected to bring home that night, and instructed me to keep this in mind during our lunch hour, as the town we worked in was having its annual garage-sale event. Of course, I accepted the challenge and decided to stop at a couple of sales during our break.
For some reason, I was drawn to a particular road that I passed on occasion, and it so happened that the second sale I stopped at had exactly what I was looking for.
This farmhouse was purchased on the last day of the sale, for half off its original asking price of $65.
It barely fit in the back of my small SUV!
It was the last day of the sale, and everything was half off, including this not-quite-so-little gem. For $32, which was all the money I had on me, I acquired something that took up the whole back end of my vehicle, and a lot more of what little free time that I have.
My 6 year old daughter quickly took to filling it with toy dragons, puppies, and kitties.
Inside view, shortly after acquisition (and after my daughter’s toy animals took possession.)
I’m still deciding on an exact time frame in which to decorate, but am leaning toward it being a rural farm that hasn’t quite gotten electricity, yet.
My mini cast iron stove fits in pretty well, except it does take up a lot of room in the small kitchen. I may have to re-think this in the future. The original wallpaper in the kitchen. I just love this pattern! It reminds me of something that my mother used as a border in her kitchen for a while. Unfortunately, this paper is poorly applied, and the adhesive that they used has stained it considerably over the years.
One of the first things I did was to rip out some of the old wallpaper that I didn’t like. It wasn’t too difficult to remove with a warm hair dryer, and a vinegar-wetted sponge for the more stubborn areas. As you can see in progress photos, I’m still not done with that task.
Bathroom Floor
I acquired, through Amazon, some mosaic tiles of real glass to use for my bathroom floor! I plan to order a few more sheets of them to add to the walls, also.
The individual tiles are made of real glass, and come in a sheet mounted on paper. You cut the paper to the size you need, and then glue the tiles down with paper-side up. Then, you use a wet sponge to pull the paper off the tiles.
The individual glass tiles (ordered from Amazon.com, from seller Melody Jane) come mounted on a sheet of paper. You trim the paper to the size you want, and can also nip the tiles to fit. I didn’t need to nip them, fortunately for me, as they fit the space I needed perfectly. I then glued the tiles face down (so the paper side is up).
Tiles glued down. Note that some pieces of paper backing still have to be washed off.
After the glue dries, you next use a wet sponge to break up and wash away the paper backing. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t glue my tiles well enough, and some popped off, so I had to also use this step to re-glue loose tiles.
After removing the paper backing and making sure all of the tiles were glued securely, I bought a tube of mosaic tile grout.
Tile grout, after the tiles have been grouted.
I followed the directions on the tube, and filled in the cracks between the tiles with white grout. It was easy-just cut the tip off the tube per directions, then gently squeeze out the paste along the cracks in the tiles. I used a small square of cardboard as a squeegee, pushing the grout deep into the cracks and smoothing it around the tiles. When I was sure that the cracks were filled, I used a damp sponge to gently wipe the wet grout from the tops of the tiles, without pressing so hard that it washed the grout out of the cracks. All in all, I am very pleased with the final result. I plan to eventually purchase more sheets of these tiles to use as backsplash on the walls and around where the tub will be.
Second Level Flooring
The flooring on the second level was pretty rough-outdated scraps of dingy carpet. I made quick work ripping that out. Leftover glue and/or material was easily removed with a damp sponge and vinegar in a spray bottle.
These jumbo craft sticks worked well for flooring, and also for many other miniature crafts.
I decided on a pine plank look for these floors, as I have seen plenty of older homes with simple pine boards on the floors. To achieve this look, I found some jumbo craft sticks at the local Dollar Tree. I cut off the rounded ends using poultry shears, so they would be more board-like, and then staggered them across the floors to make the board ends more random. (Side note-a previous owner of our house installed the wood floor in our kitchen in such a way that the board ends are almost all lined up, and it looks awful. It’s really torture to an OCD person. Please, don’t do this to people).
I staggered the sticks to make the board ends more random.
I used an xacto knife to cut the pieces to fit around doors and corners. I used elmer’s glue to glue all of the pieces down, and set heavy glassware on top of troublesome boards to keep them flat (I tried to avoid warped boards as much as possible).
I sanded the floorboards after the glue was dry, to smooth out rough edges and fill some of the cracks between boards with a little sawdust.
After the glue dried, i took some sandpaper and sanded with the grain of the wood, trying to level out rough edges and get a little sawdust into the cracks between boards.
After sanding, wipe the boards with a damp sponge to clean sawdust off the surface before varnishing.
After sanding, I wiped the boards with a damp sponge to remove excess sawdust and prep the surface for varnishing. If you decide to use stain, now would be the time to do it, before varnishing.
After several coats of varnish.
I applied varnish according to instructions on the can- putting it on with a brush, letting it dry, sanding lightly (I used a torn piece of paper to sand, as it doesn’t take much), and then applying another coat. I applied several coats until I was satisfied. Now, my first-level flooring is jealous!
