medelman

Thanks for all the comments and warm welcome. LLyn, thanks for the comment on my daughter. I wasn't sure if the picture attached properly, so it seems it did. Contrary housewife made a good point in that it will be many years before Madelyn can play with a dollhouse, so why not do something detailed if that is what I desire. I think I will try and keep an eye out on a good deal on CL or ebay and go from there. As an electrical engineer, electrifying the house is something I'm interested in, but I can see the reason to keep it out of children's houses. One question I have is, when I was younger there was a publication my mom used to get called Nutshell news. Is there anything similar to this around? I imagine the internet is a better and faster way to find ideas and such from, but I was just curious.

Hi My name is Matt and I've always been fascinated with miniatures. Living in the Midwest, I remember as a child seeing the dollhouse at the science museum in Chicago and also the collection at the "house on the rock" in Wisconsin. My main interest has always been model railroading which is all about the little details, but I've succumbed to the fact that the house we currently live in is not big enough for a model railroad layout. Me and my wife recently had our first child and I've been thinking that I finally have a reason to build a dollhouse. I imagine to some degree that having a daughter provides some validity to a male interested in dollhouses. I know there are many accomplished men who create dollhouses as a hobby, but I imagine there is a stigma attached to it. Regardless, I am very much interested in getting into the hobby, for my benefit as well as my daughter's. She is only three months old so I realize that there is some time before she will be able to play with a dollhouse, but I was thinking that now is the time to start "practicing". I really want to purchase a larger detailed house kit, but understand it would not be something that she could play with even as a child without breaking something unintentionally or swallowing something small. My thought then is that I could purchase a simpler design that is built to withstand some torture from a child and after completing that one, move onto a design that I really like. When she gets older then I could let her play with something more complex. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about being in the hobby as a man, the appropriate ages for children to play with dollhouses and what approach you might take. Is there a good dollhouse model (greenleaf or otherwise) that you'd recommend for my daughter? All the best, Matt