chuckography

Building a SMALL house... really, really small.

When I lived in Jeff City, the capital of Missouri, I purchased a really fine looking home. It had slopes and angles and odd parts jutting out. An interesting house that caught your eye.

So I decided to build a replica dollhouse for my daughter.

I did research and found that while dollhouses were very popular, nobody had suggestions on building a copy of your actual home.

There's also a reason why the "standard" for miniatures is 1 foot = 1 inch. Odd sizes creates odd problems and ALL accessories are built to that proportion. Well, I know that now.
Measuring the height and the width of the front and sides, I had an idea of the general mass involved then adjusted all the figures down to a structure my 8-year old could physically move around and play with for years and years.

The finished product turned out pretty good.

Neighbors came over when I was taking pictures with my daughter and her friend out in front of the real house. Painting it a similar brick red and duplicating the shape and window placement made it work well as a copy.

I even sat down with an artist buddy of mine and produced a step-by-step brochure so others could do their own replica house but avoid all the mistakes I made... such as NOT using the accepted standard sizes.

Oddly enough, the DIY folder happened to turn out as a 12 Step Program approach.

Labels: building, daughter, DIY, Dollhouse, How-To build it, Jeff City, miniatures, pamphlet, replica

posted by chucker @ 5:11 PM