THREE KITS
So far I had never built a dollhouse from a kit. Mine have always included my ideas, my plans and were constructed from my supplies of raw materials. Now I was given 3 small dollhouse kits. The pieces came stamped into 1/8" thick plywood ready to be punched out and assembled together. The kits were for 3 different scale size houses, a 1/4" scale one, a 1/2" one and the third somewhere in between, about 3/8" scale, meaning 3/8 inch equals 1 foot in real life. A fourth kit was of furniture in 1/2" scale for the house of the same size.
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
I chose to make the 1/2" scale house first because it had the fewest rooms, 2 downstairs, 2 upstairs and an open back. I had never before trained myself to follow kit instructions and this one looked the least complicated.
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During construction I decided I didn't like the straight staircase. It didn't matter if I turned it parallel or crosswise of the livingroom walls, it took up too much space. So I cut the assembled staircase in two, made a 90 degree turn landing and inserted it in between two steps.
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After that everything seemed to fit in nicely, and I created a livingroom, kitchen, diningroom, bedroom and bath.
I named it Little House on the Prairie. What else could it be called with a front porch like that?
I named it Little House on the Prairie. What else could it be called with a front porch like that?
DARK GABLES
Instead I simply applied a dark wood stain all over inside and out and placed it up on a bookcase shelf, to resemble those small antique wooden houses or birdcages seen in the background in interior decorating book room shots. |
I tackled the 1/4" scale house next. It was the most Gothic Victorian styled dollhouse I'd ever seen. So I immediately decided not to bother furnishing it even though there's a full range of 1/4" scale items on the market to choose from---both in ready made and kit form.
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I may change that and make a regular dollhouse someday, but for now I expect enough dust and spider webs have accumulated inside that it could be haunted.
PAINTED LADY
No one has ever published a 3/8" scale conversion chart that I know of, so I made my own in order to finish the third little house. Its Victorian style closely resembled those Painted Lady houses seen in and around the San Francisco, California area, so I searched through my books until I found a color scheme I liked for the exterior. With the aid of my computer and color printer I completely finished the outside of the house before taking on the inside. It had no fireplace, I wanted a couple. It had straight staircases which were not acceptable. But it did have 2 floors plus a nice size attic. So with the help of my 3/8" scale conversion chart and my combined paper modeling and woodcrafting skills I completed the house interior. I placed the kitchen and livingroom on the ground floor, the diningroom and study on the second and a bedroom and bath up under the roof. It is a true Painted Lady. |
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Since this house was completely finished with computer images it was easy to make a paper model kit that will soon be available for download from http://kineticpaper.weebly.com
Mount the printed pages on thin plywood or stiff cardboard, or make a paper model using heavy cardstock when printing.
Mount the printed pages on thin plywood or stiff cardboard, or make a paper model using heavy cardstock when printing.