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Birthday, Christmas, Craigslist, doll house, dollhouse, dollhouse ideas, dollhouse kits, gift ideas, girls, Hobby, holidays, kids, parenting, St. Patricks Day, toys, Valentine's Day
My post yesterday had a picture of a dollhouse used in a laundry room, which inspired me to show you our dollhouse. I always wanted a grand dollhouse. Growing up I used a narrow, vertical bookcase as a “mouse house”. (To understand read my blog post, An Award, Moi if you haven’t already.) Clearly, it started in childhood because I thought mice were way more appealing than dolls!
I still have that bookcase (it’s in my oldest daughter’s room), but I wanted to take it up a notch for my girls. For Christmas a few years ago, I wanted a special toy for my girls that could be passed down to their children and I thought that they were ready for more than the plastic ones. Being the perfectionist that I am, I spent months researching dollhouses. My choices were:
- Buy a kit and build one
- Make one from scratch
- Shell out a L-O-T of cash
- Search for one online
Surprisingly, my husband wasn’t keen on the first 2 ideas 😉 – I actually thought I could make a grand dollhouse, but I knew it would cut into my girls’ homework and playtime, which is our bonding time. And I wasn’t keen on #3, so I searched and searched.
Sooo….Option #4 it was. After much searching, I found a gorgeous dollhouse with beautiful bones, but it just needed a little bit of touch up. It had to be repainted because the roof was purple?!? And not a subtle shade of purple; this was a smack-you-into-next-week shade of purple that was surprisingly persistent in its tenacity to peek through every crevice of shingle I missed. Also, I added some architectural details to make it a little more “detailed” 😀 I still want to fix it up even more, as I haven’t done the inside (staining floors, painting walls, hooking up chandeliers to the wiring, etc.)
Why so much work for this dollhouse? I love my children dearly, but I do not buy them toys unless it’s a special occasion.* (Books are the exception to this rule. They can have as many as they want at any time.)
So when it is a special occasion (albeit Valentine’s Day or even St. Patrick’s Day, when I leave trails of gold-foil-covered chocolate coins, rainbow-candy rainbows with cotton candy clouds and little gifts and notes from the leprechauns – What? Too much?), I try to make it as magical as possible, right down to the wrapping of the presents and the creation of fanciful bows with good wired-edged ribbon.
So I spent my nights working on this dollhouse after the children went to bed:
It may not look it, but this thing is HUGE!
Want to know the kicker? I bought it on Craigslist! 200 smackers. Not too shabby once you’ve priced them out! This is the 2nd of 3 purchases I’ve made on there, although it would be more if I didn’t already have my family’s furniture. I’ve mentioned it before, but it is a great resource
(Gratuitous puppy shot!)
I’m lucky in that my girls like to play where I am, so I put a blanket underneath so I can slide it across our hardwood floors and into the room that I am in. The real kick in the pants though, is that I probably play with the dollhouse more than they do 😀
The Craigslist gods were clearly looking down upon me 🙂 Now, if only they would let me find an old chandelier for our bird houses! I hope every one has a great day 🙂
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*(Note: I find it a real struggle trying to find a balance with my children; I do not want them spoiled and over-indulged with every thing handed to them, which is why I came up with the ‘special occasion guideline’. On the flip side, they see some of their classmates/friends get quite a bit. In kindergarten, my child asked me for Ugg boots (wtf?!? – kindergarten?) because other girls in her class had them, they said they were fashionable and had created a group called the “fashionable girls” of which she wasn’t a part. GRRRRR!!!!
I told her no, Mommy doesn’t even have a pair of Ugg boots, and explained to her about designer labels, growing little feet/bodies, fads and spending money wisely. My sweet child felt alienated. I already volunteered at the school often and was “room mom”, but that upped my volunteering schedule to every week. Sorry for rant!)
For those that I lost due to boredom from now being “that person”, you know, that talks about their kids needlessly and incessantly, using the following key:
- Men: Children or child = favorite sports team, girls = the opposing team
- Women: Children or child = your pet, girls = anyone who does not like your pet. If you don’t have pets, swap out for Children or child = your best friend, girls = frenemy
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it’s great, wish I had such one as a child …
Thank you! And could your dog be any cuter??
…of course…but such a wonderful dollhouse was a childhood dream – unfortunately unfulfilled – but I’ve survived :o)))
I love your dollhouse and I always wanted one too! My granddaughter used to have me keep all the shoe boxes I got (I love shoes) and she would tape them together and make a different house for each of her Polly Pockets and then she moved on to the little animal pets (can’t remember the name of the them) and she has over a hundred of them. We couldn’t find enough shoe boxes for all of them.
How ingenious and resourceful!! And she could just keep adding to it! (I bet the little animal pets you mentioned are Littlest Pet Shop! Having 2 girls, I’m well-versed in Polly Pockets and Littlest Pet Shop, although mine don’t have nearly that many!!)
What a beautiful doll house! I had one as a child–my dad built it, worked on it clear through 2 am Christmas morning. It even had a working chandelier. Two Christmases ago I dug it out of my parents’ attic, refurbished it, and gave it to my daughter (yes, I made her wait till CHRISTMAS, so as not to spoil her). Now she plays with it as much as I once did, though the chandelier no longer lights up, but the rest of the lights do.
I love that!!! I only wish I had built this one because it makes it that much more special! Kudos to your father for taking on such a task! That is also so awesome that your parents saved it! So many times people get rid of these items and they are so worth saving! My children simply adore playing with my old toys!
Cute, someone just gave me a old doll house that I am going to restaure to give to a friend, great post for my inspiration!!!
That is awesome!
That’s a GREAT dollhouse & I’d be playing with it more than the kids. (Also love that chest to the left of it in the 3rd picture). No need for apologies on the rant, I’m with you on that one & it’s exactly why I volunteered at school when we moved here. It was certainly an eye opener & eventually led to a private school, but in the long run was worth it. I’m betting that your daughter’s already appreciate everything you do & will even more as they become adults.
Thank you! That chest, and actually all of our dining room furniture, was my grandmother’s and had been stored in my parents’ basement for many decades!
Kids are really something – I was just shocked that it was starting in kindergarten and this was a private school, but after I talked to the teacher, she nipped it in the bud. My 2 are still at the school and luckily, my older child is now more self-confident (she was shy at the time). Good for you for volunteering!!!! Not many parents do think to at their children’s school. You *really* get to see the behavior firsthand and know the classmates! And, putting in time really pays off in the long run.
Love what you did with the doll house. Can’t imagine a purple roof..lol. Looks really great. Never had a dollhouse but was a tomboy. Would rather climb a tree 🙂 Another find on Craigslist. I remember we both said that we don’t use it much but it’s great when you are looking for something special.
Just a gorgeous house.
I built a dollhouse from a kit a few years ago. It’s much smaller, and much crappier, but it is fun for my daughter to play with. I wish I had more skill and could do something grander. I guess I just need to practice.
I read a lot of reviews on the kits and everyone said how time consuming and difficult they were to put together! You’re a champ for taking on the endeavor!
That is beautiful, and I enjoy the notion of a dollhouse renovation shadowing your own home projects. Could you template the dollhouse onto 1″ plywood and then mount on swiveling casters (the acrylic-y ones that are a bit softer on floors)? That could make it much easier to move around, and give your back a break. You could use locking casters so it doesn’t roll away during playtime…
OMG – that’s a great idea! The blanket was one of those hail Mary ideas when I couldn’t stay in the room with them, but they wanted me too. I could also have a little “yard” for the front! Wheels turning in my brain! Let’s just hope they don’t try to do laps with it around the house like they do with their scooters 😉
Closer to Christmas, I going to post pictures of the “gingerbread” house I made that is an exact replica of our house. I need to make a new one, because mice nibbled on the Necco wafer candies I used for shingles, so I’m going to make another one
My design sensibility, DIY impulse, and construction skills are all a direct follow from my childhood GI Joe playing; he was never GI Joe, but was kitted out with everything he needed to be Tarzan, Robin Hood, D’Artagnan, Conan,a pirate or anything else I could imagine, fabricated out of felt, cardboard, wood, masking and duct tape, popsicle sticks…you name it. I even taught myself to sew when I was nine. I am sure my father worried. I have always referred to home ownership as like playing GI Joes on a grand scale…toys and toy-related problem solving are so in my wheelhouse! I think that using locking casters might forestall the dollhouse/car issue, and perhaps if you made the base rectangular and (of course) slightly narrower than the narrowest doorframe it might wheel through, I can totally imagine the landscape that could be created on the extra “outdoor” space. Hmmm…I think padding of some sort around the edge of the base just in case dollhouse navigation is unwieldy…I have a very clear image in my mind, and its awesome. Now you just need to make it!
Love the gratuitous puppy shot!
Thank you – I couldn’t resist ;-D
What a terrific post and project, to search for and refurbish the dream dollhouse. I never had one growing up, so I, too, was fascinated. I bought my daughter one of the modern, all-wood versions. (There are some incredible ultra-contemporary versions for those of us who lean in that direction.) And don’t forget the boys!
I’ll never forget a birthday party for my niece when she turned 5. She had a tall, gnarly dollhouse of cheap plastic on a card table in the corner. (Don’t get me wrong about plastic, there are some to-die-for snap-together dollhouses with breathtaking detail, flower boxes and every imaginable household accoutrement.) Anyway, the old house was surrounded by 360 degrees of hovering 5-year-old boys! And they weren’t simply popping in because 45 minutes later they were still there, engrossed in the business of their lives in miniature.
Great post. My mind is now wandering back to the Christmas I took the kids to a gingerbread house class and over a period of weeks we each made our own version of a dream house. This was a serious class. There was a young couple who made a farmhouse/mill complex complete with river, bridge, etc. My daughter made a mosque-like domed structure, my son a one-room cabin, and I made a square, Frank Lloyd Wright inspired, flat-roofed modernist. I’ve always wanted to go to the National Gingerbread House Competition at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC. (Nov 20, 2012 to Jan 2, 2013) I’m sure dollhouses are a source of much of the inspiration for the holiday creations. Miniature houses are interactive pieces of art!
Wonderful doll’s house, I always wanted one too. They were selling two amazing ones in the suburban village I live in last Christmas – I swear if they hadn’t been so expensive I might have bought one for myself! I hope I have a child sometime that will want something like this so I have an excuse…
What a coincidence; the other day I was up in the shed and noticed the dollhouse I had bought (for myself) 10-15 years ago and thought now that the girls have moved out I could bring it back inside and play with it; I mean decorate it.
When I tidy my studio I will find space for it. Could be a nice blog post. Mmmm…
Meanwhile, keep bringing your girls up just the way you are. My theory is if you put in the hard yards when they are young it pays off. They will appreciate things they earn and buy all the more if they don’t have it all now. And fostering their creativity is far more important than stuff. 🙂
P.S. In Australia we don’t have Craigslist. Is it something like ebay? Also, I love your little house and the fact that you have renovated it entirely virtually makes it your own creation. Well done!
I can definitely relate to the joys of dollhouse renovation. My grandparents made me a dollhouse one year for Christmas. I wrote about it last Christmas when I gave it to my youngest daughter (http://wp.me/p22Nrd-W). You have a beautiful doll house, I would love to see the inside.
This is beautiful. Your girls must love it.
I just discovered that one of my friends builds and paints doll houses (and all the furniture, cars, and people therein). I’ve been invited to visit her home where and see her work. She said that one time she built one too big to get through the door frame. Oops.
That looks amazing. I had one when I was younger but it was nothing compared to that (it was extremely basic, but i loved it non the less)
Beautiful house & I like your dog too! 🙂
love it! 🙂 fantastic post!
I hear what you you are saying about finding the balance with spoiling your kids. Now that I’m a grandparent, I guess it’s acceptable to spoil. Then, I can vamoose and let someone else change the diapers.
Your dollhouse is beautiful. I think dollhouses are great toys. They really do help our kids develop essential skills while having great fun at the same time.
Thanks