Blog - Dollhouse Diary

Marble Fern Stand Tutorial

When people view my Dalton dollhouse, one of things they comment on the most is the marble fern stand. The stand and faux fern add an air of class and old-world elegance to the foyer, I think. And while these may look difficult, they’re in fact easy to make, almost as easy as a trip to your local hobby store!

The Marble Stand

When I stumbled on the stand in the cake decorating aisle of Michael’s, I didn’t have any idea how I would end up using it, but snapped it up in a flash. Once I chose the black-and-white marble flooring for the foyer, I realized how well the stand would complement the room, so I retrieved it from my craft cabinet, grabbed some acrylic paints, and went to work.

The pillar was a stark white, perfect for supporting layers of a white frosted wedding cake, but too plastic and artificial for a stand-alone dollhouse furnishing. What it clearly needed for best effect was some marble-izing.

Using a fine grained sea sponge, I first used two shades of gray and then a lighter beigy brown one, applying each shade and allowing it to partly dry for a minute or so before moving on to the next. You’ll need to dry off the sponge a bit after painting the stand, then dapple the colors so they blend slightly. You can play around with this, using other colors or a lighter vs. heavier hand, depending on what look you’re going for. But trust me, I don’t think you can go wrong in achieving the look of actual marble.

The Ferns

I used my Cricut to cut out a sheet of fern images of varying sizes for a more natural plant effect. (Cricut has a variety of images available, so select what you like best.) Before removing them from the sheet, I painted both sides with green acrylic and after this dried, I added some touches of yellow. I used vellum paper for the ferns, but were I to do it again, I’d go for a light card stock instead, To achieve the look of real fern fronds, I first searched for photos of ferns and based my paint choice on the colors there.

By the way, I used vellum paper for the ferns, but were I to do it again, I’d go for a light card stock instead. The vellum didn’t aborb the paint very well, which made it harder to work with. Another option is to use green paper in the right shade if you have some on hand.

I next weeded the fern images and then glued each one to a 2.5-3 inch strip of green floral wire (the fern “stems”.) Using a piece of styrofoam, I carved out a small section to fill the hole in the plant stand. Stick the stems into the styrofoam and VOILA! you have a great looking stand and plant ready to grace any room of your dollhouse.

Supplies:

Pack of four 3-inch “Grecian pillars” for cake decorating ($5.49 at Michaels)
Acrylic paint (one darker and one lighter shade of gray, one beige, and one green)
Floral wire
Styrofoam or dry oasis
Card stock paper (white or a realistic green if available)
Glue
Green, small to medium gauge floral wire
Cutting machine (or as alternative, buy and trim artificial, ready made ferns from craft store)

Fern in Marble Stand, Dalton House Foyer

Dollhouse Stairs: Who Needs ‘Em?

Ever make a mistake that you thought you couldn’t recover from? Sure, most of us have at one time or another.

Once, while working with two friends to make a big batch of jalapeno jelly for the holidays, I added twice the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. The substance cooking on the stovetop turned super thick almost immediately, forming heavy lumps of crystallized sugar. I knew immediately that there wouldn’t be any way to salvage the jelly. Or pacify my irritated cooking companions who’d spent their afternoon deseeding and dicing the fiery peppers.

Fortunately, mistakes are usually correctable. Or “a blessing in disguise,” as my mother would say. That’s what happened to me when I misread the kit instructions for my dollhouse staircase. Read on to see how I made the most of this mistake by turning lemons into lemonade.

Ditch the Staircase

A small confession, fitting, I guess, for a small work like a dollhouse.

I messed up the steps that were supposed to form the staircase. REALLY messed up, as in something you can’t correct. No amount of twisting, turning, or banging was going to separate those steps from the tacky glue I used to connect them.

Here’s where the lemons become lemonade, courtesy of Musa. Musa is a fictional character I turn to when I need inspiration, and I’m also featuring her in a series of upcoming novellas I’m working on. Here’s what she inspired me to do.

Ditch the stairs entirely. As we say in New Orleans, “fogit aboud it!”

Improving the Dalton House Foyer

Here’s a view of the dollhouse foyer from the manufacturer’s catalogue. The staircase consists of two up-and-down runs connected to a landing in the middle. As you can see in this picture, it consumes a lot of wall space, leaving little room for furniture or decoration. My unintentional mess-up resolved this, however unintentionally.

How did I blow it after thinking I was being so careful? I glued the landing step in the middle instead of the top of the staircase run, and the glue had set before I realized my error. The stairs just didn’t look right when viewed from the side, and nothing was going to change that.

The options were to either make my own staircase (staircase wasn’t sold separately by kit maker) or dump them entirely.

That’s when it hit me. I was aiming for a Downton Abbey style house, one that would cause someone to ooh and aah as soon as they stepped in the front door. Lady Sybil can’t make a grand entrance in a foyer that isn’t, well, grand. And as much as I like the Dalton House kit, its crowded foyer doesn’t cut it!

A Foyer fit for the Crawley Family

I love to travel, using my experiences for writing and crafting ideas. So in thinking of ways to give the foyer the look it needed, I found my path forward!

In a previous post, I included a picture of Grange Manor Bed and Breakfast in County Kilkenny, Ireland. This is a lovely Georgian era country home I visited in late summer 2021. It’s not on the scale of Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed but has the feeling of elegance and ease I wanted for the dollhouse.

Two things struck me about Grange Manor and similar houses I’ve seen from this period. First is the black-and-white patterned flooring often found in 18th century entry halls. (You might recall the same flooring in the wallpaper mural I used in the Dalton House parlor.) Secondly is the placement of the staircase behind or outside the foyer, rather than as its focal point.

Here’s how I fixed my staircase mess-up: ditch the stairs and instead add an impressive set of French doors. See how much larger the room seems both in ceiling height and room size! The door adds a new dimension, just as the wall mural did in the parlor of the house, suggesting a grander space befitting a Georgian mansion. I love this fool-the-eye effect and its ability to help a dollhouse live large and will definitely use it in the future.

Accessories

Completing the scene, several items were added to evoke a Downton Abbey era. These included:

A large portrait of a lady from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. The implication is that she’s a esteemed family member.
Early period telephone from the days when phones were limited to the upper crust. (I see Mr. Carson overseeing this apparatus.)
Framed photo of a woman on the entry hall desk
Lush Boston fern growing in a marble pedestal stand
A gentleman’s umbrella casually left in the corner
Antique Sheridan bench to accommodate visitors waiting to be received

This might be my favorite room in the dollhouse, and I learned a lot about going with mistakes, seeing them (like Mama did) as blessings in disguise.

My Georgian Doll House Muse

"Express your creativity. Delight in the mystery of your inner muse." 
- Cheryl Richardson

In Greek mythology, the Muses were the source of inspiration for the arts, science, and literature. These daughters of Zeus retained information of all things past and were the creative well spring for Greek artists, musicians, philosophers, playwrights, and poets.

What’s your muse? A new place you’ve visited? A book read or a song downloaded? Conversation with an old friend? Smell of Thanksgiving Day cooking? One of the nine muses might be speaking to you right now!

My inspiration for the Dalton House living room, in fact the whole dollhouse, derives from time spent living and traveling in England and Ireland. I love history and architecture and take lots of pictures of things that catch my eye.

Looking over my photo gallery after returning home, the Muse hit me: Georgian dollhouse but early 20^th century Downton Abby-like setting. I’m seeing early model telephones and radios, sheer drop-waist gowns with elevated hems, and a home that the Crawley’s might have chosen had they decided to downsize their residence.

Time to call your Muse interior designer, building contractor and work crew, I tell myself. Get out the paint and floor materials. Creativity abounds and a miniature marvel awaits!

Living Room Key Elements

With the dimensions 12″ x 14.5,” this room wasn’t designed by the kit manufacturer to be especially large, even by dollhouse standards. So, the challenge for me was making the room live large while still coming across as an inviting, yet elegant room.

Here’s when a muse spoke once again. While browsing miniaturist websites for an altogether different project, I landed on this dollhouse wallpaper m ural and as the Greeks would have said, Eureka! What better way to “expand” the room? Equally important to me, the mural depicted a scene that was architecturally accurate for great houses of the Georgian period: a series of rooms flowing one room to the other. Now this would definitely add some depth to the shallow room!

Wallpaper Mural in Doll House Living Room

At left is the mural installed in the living room. What do you think? The paper had to be trimmed first to fit the width of the wall; in order to place the furniture in the best position, I chose to put the door off center, rather than centered as in the original mural. I’m pleased with the visual impact this design element had on the room as a whole.

Dining Room at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England

Dollhouse vs. Real Life: How does the room compare to real-life houses of the Georgian period? Pretty well, in my opinion.

The photo to the right was taken at Chatsworth House, one of the most well known of England’s great country estates. On the rear wall is a view of a series of rooms running through the house visible through the door opening, similar to what’s depicted in the post-wallpaper dollhouse living room.

Hey, Jane Austen fans: some think Chatsworth was her inspiration for Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley. True or not, several outdoor scenes were shot there in the 2005 film “Pride and Prejudice.”

Furnishings

With the room basics in place, I began work on other furnishings.

Floors

After installing the wallpaper, I added high grade preassembled wood flo oring to the room. If I weren’t aiming for an elegant look appropriate to the style of the house and the Crawley family, I would have opted for something simpler, maybe more “cottagey.” This beautiful flooring did the trick however, and will be used in the remaining, yet unfinished, main rooms of the house.

wood molding

Using online tutorials, you can make your own molding and trim. But for my time and money, Hobby Lobby is an excellent source of inexpensive, pre-painted crown and dentil wood trim. The molding comes in several widths and styles, and is easy to cut with good quality miter snips. (Mine are Wiss Crescent Mold M45RS, and I don’t know what I would do without them!) You’ll see this molding in all my Dalton House rooms, and I think you’ll agree, it gives a genuinely nice, realistic effect.

fireplace

As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s not that hard to make a fireplace, and by going the DIY route, you save a lot of money. Depending on what you want yours to look like, there are a number of online tutorials available, so I won’t try to reinvent the wheel. For clear instructions, I like one from miniaturist Julie Warren.

I made my fireplace using 1/8″ thick foam board (white on one side, black on the other.) Ornamental touches are constructed from squares of layered card stock, craft sticks, and thin strips of printer paper.

The fireplace apron was constructed from several layers of cardstock glued together. I say “several” so you can determine for yourself how thick or thin a look you want.

On each of the four corners (two on edges of apron, two where front sides meet hearth), I added an ornamental square formed from two layers of cardstock. This gives the fireplace an elegant yet not overdone appearance.

I don’t remember where I got this idea from, so sorry for not properly crediting, but twists of plain printer paper were used to simulate the look of carved wood roping. Cut paper strips very think, then twist each strand to form a “rope.” Attach this rope along the fronts and sides of the fireplace. Do the same along the apron, letting the rope dip down to form a swag. Pretty good and easy way to imitate wood trim, wouldn’t you say?

Fire Place Made from Foamboard, Cardstock, Craft Sticks and Paper

Here’s the room finished off with furniture, mantel decor, wall mirror, library table and a vintage framed photo of a young man.

The photo is my father’s high school graduation picture from the mid 1930’s, a little later period than my Downton Abbey inspiration, but I liked giving him this place of honor in my work.

To further the 1920’s era look, I made a magazine rack and stacked it with miniature newspapers (Etsy printable downloads), one with a headline on the sinking of the Titanic. From online images of portrait paintings from roughly that period, I copied a large painting of a young girl to convey a sense of tradition and family for the dollhouse occupants.

A finishing touch is a cathedral radio made using an online tutorial and placed on the library table alongside a stack of books and wine bottles and glasses. Turn on the radio, pop the cork and hey, it’s a Roaring Twenties Happy Hour here at Dalton House!

Coming Soon: From Lemons to Lemonade!

In my next posting, read how a mistep on my part led to a better dollhouse.

The Dalton: A Georgian Era Doll House Kit

I’ve had a lot of fun with this doll house kit and think you might as well! It’s a seven-room, three-story Georgian period model from Welsh manufacturer Dolls House Direct. What I especially like about it is the front closing and nice exterior detail.

In this and upcoming posts, I’ll highlight my experiences with the The Dalton House. I hesitated for a long time before ordering the kit due to high international shipping costs and the scarcity of customer reviews. Through this blog, I’ll share what will hopefully be useful information for anyone who might have seen the house online but hesitated to order it as I did. As a starting point, let’s look at the major features of this doll house kit and its architectural origins.

Georgian Houses

The Dalton is an example of Georgian architecture which was popular from 1710 to 1830. Georgian buildings are recognized by their architectural symmetry, reflected in a front door at the center and rows of windows mirroring one another on each side of the door. Even today, you’ll find many living examples in the UK and Ireland. For historic and literary movie buffs, think film narrations of Pride and Prejudice or Emma. Yep, Jane Austen and her fictional character Elizabeth Bennett lived and moved in homes of this period.

Why I Chose It

I confess, I have an obsession. I like Jane Austen’s works way too much. I like Austen fan fiction way, way too much. When I saw it online, it immediately reminded me of the setting and characters in these fictional works.

I’m drawn to architectural design of this period, and on several trips to the British Isles have made a point of visiting and studying Georgian era houses as sources of dollhouse inspiration. Some choices I made in constructing Dalton House are a reflection of this inspiration, as I’ll point out in ongoing discussion of my construction progress.

Some Examples of Georgian Houses

What to Love or Not: Dalton House Pro’s and Con’s

There’s a lot to like about this doll house kit including:

High quality construction and solid material. When assembling, the parts fit together seamlessly and without any hitches.
The front is designed to resemble the exterior of a Georgian era house with a hinged front that allows you to open and close it.
The exterior detail gives house appearance of a stately piece of furniture when closed. The dollhouse is something you’ll be proud to display.
Fits on a living room console table or cabinet without overwhelming the room size-wise (3ft/900mm wide, 15”/381mm deep)

Some negatives:

While assembly is intuitive, directions are minimal. Kit isn’t well suited to dollhouse newbies.
Heavy and harder to move than average dollhouse. Suggestion: Get 2^nd person to help when attaching/gluing upper back of house.
Instructions on installing first floor steps are inaccurate. I wasted a lot of time trying to make them work before throwing in the towel and doing it my way. I’ve called this to manufacturer’s attention so they may have made subsequent corrections.

Overall

So, that’s the basic rundown on this doll house kit. As I work on completing the house, I’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned!

Time for Fun: Furnishing Your Vampire Castle!

Now that you’ve finished building the castle room box, let’s get to work on making a comfortable living space for its resident vampire.

Make It or Buy It?

You have many choices when it comes to dollhouse and diorama accessories. First, you should consider how handy you are with DIY projects and whether building a wooden table, for example, provides enough satisfaction to make your time worthwhile. Secondly, do you have the right supplies on hand, or will you have to purchase something you don’t currently have? In this lesson, I try to weigh the considerations I just mentioned, offering my take on what I think works best. I also provide some helpful sources for inexpensive purchases or DIY options.

Essential Castle Furnishings

If nothing else, you need the following to set the right atmosphere for the castle room box:

A fireplace
A table (to hold the scenery “props”)
An upholstered wingback chair
A side table (our vampire needs a place to set his food and beverage while chilling out)
A coffin (an absolute MUST for any self-respecting vampire!)

So let’s get started with these essential castle elements!

Fireplace: Make It!

These things are very pricey if purchased ready-made. They’re surprisingly simple to construct and can be made from common household materials, so I say “Make It!

For this project, the fireplace can be made of cardboard and covered in either 1) egg carton “stones” or 2) painted with a mixture of spackling compound and paint for an aged plaster look. Here’s an easy, straightforward approach from the blog Little Vintage Cottage

Table from Dollar Tree: Buy It!

While some of their dollhouse furniture is not to scale or of poor quality, Dollar Tree sells a couple of great items worth buying again and again. One is a console style table that works in a variety of dollhouse settings. If you buy online, you have to purchase a bundle of dollhouse furniture that sells for about $25. NOT worth it, in my view, so shop in person and get the table (or several, which can be used in future projects.)

Prepping the table: Sand lightly if you feel the finish is too rough. Use a dark wood stain or paint the table in your choice of color and add a finishing coat of polyurethane varnish.

Dollar Tree Dollhouse Console (stained for a previous project )

Dollar Tree Dollhouse Dresser (unstained)

Upholstered Wingback Chair: Make It!

Because the right fabric color is important to the look of the castle, you’ll probably have to make the chair from scratch. This requires about 1/8 yard of a deep red medium weight fabric. Too thin, and the chair frame shows through; too thick and it’s too stiff and hard to work with in covering the chair.

Here’s one Bentley House template I’ve used with success in making wingback chairs. See what you think, and find an alternative if you choose to.

A word of caution: Tacky glue easily sticks to fabric even in areas where you don’t intend it to happen, so it’s a good idea to keep a damp cloth or paper towel nearby to clean your fingers. I would love to say that my glue fingerprints were totally by design in this pic; it’s an old castle with aging furnishings, and the chair needs to look like it’s accumulated spider webs… but I would be lying. I didn’t clear the glue off my fingers often enough, but was actually pleased with the outcome. Nevertheless, WIPE YOUR FINGERS while working with fabric and glue.

Side Table: Buy or Make It, You Decide!

I’ve tried different table options to sit beside the vampire’s chair, and all of them have worked. In deciding whether you want to make a table yourself, keep in mind that its main purpose is to hold accessories (tray, wine bottle, glass, books, etc.)

An easy option is a wooden dresser from Dollar Tree’s dollhouse furniture collection, featured above. On this I would use a dark stain followed by polyurethane or even a crackle finish.

For a more interesting bit of detail, constructing a side table is another possibility. I’ve had good experiences with an occasional table from the following side table tutorial which comes with a cutout template, making the job really straight forward.

Coffin: Uhm, Probably Buy It!

I built the coffin shown in the Vampire Castle post myself but given the challenge of assembling the item so everything lines up neatly, I recommend buying a printable version. After researching this for a while to find the right size, I found this $4 printable template with a separate coffin and lid. After assembly, it can be painted and decorated any way you like.

Options to Make It More Special

Finally, your castle is ready for smaller accessories to go on the tables or walls. These details add to the unique qualities of your creation and can make it even more special in the degree of detail. Some options to consider:

A creepy brain made of Sculpey or similar type clay (mixture of translucent and pink clays)
Skull(s) or bones made from Sculpey (white clay with light wash of diluted gray paint, darker gray added to eye sockets and joints). Make a big pile on the fireplace hearth.
A rectangular Persian rug printed onto cardstock paper (copy, paste and resize non-copyrighted online images)
Image of Heraldic shield printed onto cardstock. (Look for themes like bats, bones, …)
Small glass bottles (look in jewelry section of craft stores) with poison labels (make your own paper labels or buy printable download version)
Stack of miniature books (MANY online tutorials and techniques show you how, less realistic readymade versions available)
Wine bottle and glasses (Ditto comment above on miniature books)

Finis! Advertise It!

Advertise your space to inform potential vampire clients. “Old World charm abounds in this wonderful residence. Great location, vaulted ceiling, natural stone flooring throughout, and incredible bonus space on the upper level for daylight sleepers…”

Okay, a little silly humor on my part. BUT be wary; you never know who will be attracted to move in to your wonderful castle creation!

Vampire Castle Roombox: A Gothic Inspiration

Shorter days and dropping temperatures tell us that fall is here. What better time to start planning a fun project for Halloween!

For Americans, Halloween has become as much an adult as a kid’s holiday. We’re on track to spend more than $10 billion on Halloween-themed items this year, a 20% increase over 2020, which gives you some idea of how popular this holiday has become. So, if you’ve begun shopping with Halloween in mind, you’re not alone.

In recognition of the holiday, I‘m sharing this Vampire Castle roombox, a Gothic-inspired vignette I made with input from my Allhallows Eve obsessed daughter. Because it consists of only a single room it looks appropriately creepy but doesn’t eat up counter space like a regular dollhouse or even room box. Add a little work (the fun type), imagination and you’ll have a piece of unique Halloween décor.

Set the Scene

Vampires have long been a popular feature of books and films. In his 1897 publication of Dracula, Author Brahm Stocker popularized the character than most often comes to mind when we think of vampires. Thanks, Mr. Stoker, for your contribution to this Halloween diorama!

The Vampire’s Castle roombox is my version of where Count Dracula would spend most of his awake time. You might also add a comfy coffin for him to rest in. I’ve included instructions on making the basic castle room box, and in my next posting will make suggestions on ways of furnishing it. There are tons of possibilities on items you might add, so don’t feel limited in how you finish off the room. The main idea is to give you a start and encourage you to create and go with it!

Supplies

2 Sheets Foamboard 20” x 30” x ½” (Walls and Floor)
Acrylic Paint (black, gray, and white)
Chip Board or Light Cardboard (ex: cereal box) (For staircase)
Cardboard from Regular Shipping Box (For balcony floor)
Several Cardboard Egg Cartons (For “Stones” to cover staircase)
Tacky Glue (e.g., Alene’s)
Mod Podge
Craft /Exacto Knife
Painter’s Tape
Masking Tape
Small Paint Brush
Sponge (medium coarse, preferably sea sponge

Directions:

Castle box:

Cut foamboard: (a) 2 pieces 10” x 11”1 (b) 1 piece 15” x 11” (c) 1 piece 10” x 15.”

Glue (b) to (c), then use masking tape to hold together and let dry. This forms floor and back.

Glue (a) to back and each end of floor. Tape and let dry.

Paint interior of box with light coat of white paint, allow to dry. Using sponge, randomly dab on gray paint and darker coat of gray mixed with black paint. Leave some of white paint showing.Walls and floor should have look of uncut stone.

Use craft knife to lightly cut horizontal lines on floor and walls, followed by random series of vertical cuts on floor and walls. Goal is to imitate the look of stone.

balcony flooR and railing:

Use box cardboard to form floor. Cut 1 cardboard strip 3” x 16.” Paint one side of strip with gray or black paint, let dry.

On backwall, measure and mark horizontal line that’s 4” from top of wall to accommodate floor. Dry fit painted strip to fit width between the 2 side walls. Trim ends as needed. Glue strip on its 3 sides to back and side walls.

To form railing, cut a 11 1/2″ x 1 3/4 ” strip of cardboard. Paint strip brown to resemble the look of wood. If you like, decorative elements can be added to give a more polished look. Glue strip by attaching to right wall and balcony floor. This will leave a gap on the left that will be filled by staircase in next step.

staircase:

From chipboard, cut three pieces 3 ½” x 4” each. Make accordion style folds 1” apart in each piece to form steps and risers. Join each piece using masking tape so you end up with a ribbon about 9” long. (Note: tape will be on outside of stairs and painted over later.)

Using glue, attach the set of stairs to balcony floor, side wall and finally castle floor with the last 1” section running horizontal and glued on top of floor. After stairs are dry, paint them with grey paint.

Stones to cover staircase:

Take egg cartons and roughly tear into pieces approximately 1”-1 ½” across. Dip each piece one at a time, front and back, in tacky glue. Attach the pieces on to staircase working your way down until stairs are covered with stones. Be sure to leave a small gap in between each stone to give the appearance of stones in mortar.

Once dry, randomly paint the stairs gray using the sea sponge. After this is dry, go back over stones with a mixture of darker gray paint made from black and white acrylics. Again, the goal is to create the lock of natural stone, so it’s okay if the stairs look rough and worn. If needed, sponge on a small amount of diluted white paint. Finish off stairs with a coat of Mod Podge to seal and strengthen stairs.

Finishing touches:

For a more finished look, you can create an interior wall that covers the inner edge of the staircase. In my box, I also made a non-functioning door from foamboard to go on this wall.

You’ll use cardboard to form the wall. First, make a template of the space where the wall will go. Any kind of paper works fine for this. With pen or pencil mark and then cut the outline of the area under the staircase that you want to fill. Use the template to draw the outline on to cardboard. Cut cardboard along outline edges.

Paint the cut wall grey, and cover it with egg carton stones followed by a sponge paint treatment, just as you did earlier in covering the staircase. Let dry and attach wall to floor, back wall and staircase edge with tacky glue.

Now, some real fun and creativity begin. It’s finally time to furnish your castle!

Next Step:

Furnishing Your Vampire Diorama