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.
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!