FEDERAL STYLE DOLLHOUSE
This extremely unique dollhouse was really an experiment, and it couldn't have happened at all without specific circumstances, which I happened to have.
The wooden cart I built to hold my Victorian Blue House up off the floor has open sides, 2 sets of shelves and is mounted on wheels so the 2 sides of the house can swing open. Unfortunately it had wasted space down there. If I put anything heavy, even some books or magazines, on those shelves the cart wouldn't budge. It remained empty for a long time.
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Then as luck would have it I was given a stack of 1/8" thick good finish-grade plywood pieces that were already cut to the perfect size to close in that cart.
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Obviously I wouldn't allow myself to just paint or varnish those panels and close up my cart to resemble a cabinet. When measuring those shelves again I discovered a phenomenon. Each cart shelf section had the perfect dimensions for a 1" scale dollhouse room.
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I decided I wanted another dollhouse inside that cart space, but I knew I couldn't pile on the weight using the normal siding, doors, windows, porches, etc. So I created my Federal Style paper model kit in 1" scale on the computer.
Since I still wasn't sure this dollhouse idea would work I didn't try to go overboard with the graphics.
Since I still wasn't sure this dollhouse idea would work I didn't try to go overboard with the graphics.
Instead of making red brick siding and wallpaper interiors I just primed and painted the wall panels to represent siding and plaster. Then I cut out all the required openings.
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I made panel doors and double hung windows with paper images and glued them onto thin foam core board, installed the doors with paper hinges and then glued on all the other architectural element images by layers. At the same time I made the panels open with paper hinges embedded into my collages. Finally I created latches to hold them closed.
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I didn't want to add unnecessary weight with a lot of heavy 'real' dollhouse furniture either, so I also made computer images for all of the interior furnishings. The 'wood' pieces all have thin balsa wood cores and are varnished when completed and the 'upholstered' items are padded where required with cotton balls. All are quite durable enough for a child to play with.
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There are only 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, but there's also a downstairs patio and an upstairs balcony. And even though the house is Federal style I chose to install a completely modern kitchen.
No noticeable weight was added to the cart, so I can still roll it around and open it to view the Victorian Blue House up above. But now I also have something to show in place of the empty space down below.
These pictures are just a sampling of what I plan to add to my Federal Style dollhouse in the near future. I might also install an LED light system.
These pictures are just a sampling of what I plan to add to my Federal Style dollhouse in the near future. I might also install an LED light system.