The House My Mom Built - UPDATE

Thanks for the nudge Wende. The garage is cold and wet, so progress has been slow on the renovation side of things. I finally finished cutting out and sanding all of the new window and door fittings. I removed the old Colonial roof to replace with a more contemporary roof top. I yanked the wall separating the kitchen and living room so I can change the direction of the staircase and have half of the kitchen open to the new dining area. Next, measure, cut, assemble the roof and siding; paint; tile flooring; molding... I seriously can't wait to start decorating.

Citadel by Lolly's

The Citadel is one of my favorite houses. I saw an add for this in a really old Miniature Collectors magazine and more recently on www.geocities.com/moderndollhouse/. I called Lolly's Dollhouse Shop yesterday to confirm, and sadly they are still waiting for a woodcutter before resuming production. Possibly by the end of the year. I'm tempted to fly to Chicago and cut the wood myself. If you are in the Chicago area I'd drop by and ask them when its back. Maybe enough pre-orders can help find a woodcutter faster.

On the back right shelf is a white version of the Citadel. (Sigh) I really want it.

Lolly's Dollhouses and Miniatures
1054 Dundee Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60120
(847) 697-4040
http://users.ameritech.net/jbayer/LollysHomepage.htm

(Citadel Dollhouse image from www.geocities.com/moderndollhouse/. Shop images from Lolly's website http://users.ameritech.net/jbayer/LollysHomepage.htm.)

Dollhouse Rugs

I found these rugs on craigs list. They are all hand painted with acrylic craft paints and then coated with polyurethane and made of outdoor canvas. I bought all of the modern ones, but the artist, Andrea Neill, said can also make custom ones. I really like how flat they lie, and they are solid enough that the corners don't turn up.

The two modern rugs were inspired by rug ads in a magazine. The circles rug was inspired by the Partridge Family bus. Andi can paint pretty much anything on them in any size you want, so contact her via the craigs list posting or through her website below. There are a few discounted rugs left on craigs list now, but she'll be painting more in Feb or Mar.

Andi's website doesn't have any of the dollhouse rugs, but does have cool painted furniture (not miniatures) and fun baby stuff.
www.irrationalarts.com

(All images by Andrea Neill posted on craigs list.)

Furniture I like

I love this 3 piece modern bedroom set by Little Linens available for $45 from Circus Dollhouse.


I wouldn't call it modern and not exactly contemporary but I love this couch. The "Cosmo" Living Room Set is available for $59.95 at The Magical Dollhouse.


"Contempo" Leather Living Room Set in white or black would probably be better, but I really like the arms of the "Cosmo" set.

(Bed image from www.circusdollhouse.com. Couch images from www.themagicaldollhouse.com.)



Jan. 16 Update: Thanks Anonymous for the link! This couch and chair are incredible, except for the price and color. The Modern Chair and Sofa set By Arlette runs for $320 on www.spminiatures.com.





I love these coffee tables. The Nagouchi table on the right and bench table on left run for $33. Leather and brass furniture are $45 for sofa and $33 for chair. All at www.spminiatures.com as well.

(Jan. 16 update images from www.spminiatures.com)

Contemporary Ranch Dollhouse

The Contemporary Ranch Dollhouse Kit is available at The Magical Dollhouse for $159.20. I have a thing for spiral staircases, I really wish I could find a more detailed close up of these stairs.

(All images from www.miniatures.com.)

Summer House by Celerity

The Summer House by Celerity is a nice contemporary dollhouse readily available online.

Dollhouse Collectibles sells the kit for $121.

(Images from www.dollhousecollectibles.com
and hopesdollhouseshop.com.)

The House My Mom Built - RENOVATION

What did I get myself in to?!? I read somewhere that its cheaper to fix up an old dollhouse than to buy a new one. Yeah right. Turns out my 7 bedroom dollhouse is a "small dollhouse" (kit unknown) with non-standard size stairs, doors and windows. How hard could it be to install larger windows? It took me 45 minutes to do one.
Step 1. Measure new window hole opening.
Step 2. Go to Woodcraft and buy small saw.
Step 3. Drill holes to be able to get saw blade into corner.
Step 4. Saw sides (plywood has a fun tendency to splinter when sawing. Have to patch and sand later for smooth finish).

Step 5. File between drilled holes to be able to insert saw. (Just bought dremel tool to eliminate this tedious step).
Step 6. Saw top.
Step 7. Sand. Fit window.
Step 8. Sand again. Fit window.
Step 9. Keep sanding until window fits.
Step 10. Nine more windows and doors to go. Ugh.

The second window took 20 minutes so I'm improving. Hopefully the completely customized dollhouse will be worth all of the work and arguments with my husband over how to use/clean/store tools properly. With all of the materials and tools I had to buy to make the improvements, a kit definitely would have been cheaper.

The Green Dollhouse Project

The Green Dollhouse Project was a traveling exhibit and auction benefiting Coyote Point Museum and Sustainable San Mateo County that happened between 2004-05. All of the dollhouses except two were auctioned off. Two are supposed to be on permanent display at the Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo, CA. Below are pictures from the website, but I highly recommend the book available for $19.95 from EcoTone Publishing Company: Green Dollhouse: Creating a Doll’s Eye View of a Healthier World. It is full of pictures, great building tips and interesting student designs.


This is my favorite: "Green Condo with Roof Garden" by Yasuo Tokuoka, Teruhiko Makita, Ziro Mitsumoto (Tokyo, Japan).


This room box approach allows the house to take a variety of shapes. "Pre-fab Mod Dollhouse" by Andrea Traber Architecture + Sustainability: Andrea Traber, Alexandra Vondeling, Monica Grau, Piper Kujac (Berkeley, CA).


"Shoebox Dollhouse", "Rosaceae Sustainus" and I believe a student design I can't find the name of.


"Remodeled Dollhouse", "Mobile Dollhouse" (yup, its on wheels) and "The Bamboo Loft".




(All images from greendollhouse.org)