kathi17

I'm impressed, they all look really great!

My grandchildren are7, 10 and 12. They do dioramas in school, and actually like them, but they really like their dollhouses. Both the boys, who use theirs' for action figures, and my granddaughter who loves having her own house to decorate. Does the school have any money budgeted for this? The Primrose is a great little house for kids to build and decorate, but it would probably be less expensive to make foam core boxes. If you have access to a mat cutter with a foam core blade, you could cut the walls, floors and ceilings yourself ahead of time, and it wouldn't take long. You wouldn't really have to have windows or a door. They might love building and decorating their own little rooms, whether they are for super heroes, firemen, or a room for a house. Since it would be their own theme, they might be really excited about it.

Maybe there is. I haven't seen them, but I haven't been on ebay much for a long time. It would be great if there was, because there are so many partial DC kits still around.

Yeah, there is, but he mostly sells trim parts. His website is here http://www.manchesterwoodworks.com/categories/dura-craft-compatible-parts He's very good to deal with, I've ordered from him before, so save the website in case you are missing some trim as well.

Wow, thanks for sharing that, I can't wait to read her blog, it looks amazing!

I don't have that house, but I expect that someone else here probably does and will chime in with some help. Welcome to the forum, and be sure to share pictures of your progress when you get going on it!

I'm old too, because I found it interesting. I think I made my faux tiles to decorate a box I sold in my shop, but it might have been a tray. It was years ago. I used clear embossing ink and colored it over parts of the "tile". The embossing did try to level itself out, but had a slight bumpyness to it because I didn't heat it long enough to make it smooth.

I do what Holly does too. I don't do the staples, but I do add 1/4" basswood strips in the corners, (and if the kids are very rough, add them to the ceilings like molding around the walls). I also add wood under the floor and porch steps. (Against the bottom of the floor against the walls underneath). It really does add a lot of strength.

Actually Alicia, the dividing walls will add strength to the houses. How old are the kids? When I built my first San Franciscan, it was for my 1 1/2 year old granddaughter. I knew she would be too young for good furniture, so I bought a collection of someone else's castoffs on ebay, and it worked fine. I also picked up those 5 or 6 inch Disney princess and Tinkerbell character sets that were popular at the time. The dolls and furniture that came with them were the perfect size, and worked well until she was old enough to have better things. For the boys, their 5 or 6 inch action figure stuff worked well, and they used their imagination to make tables out of upside down bathroom sized paper cups, Legos and other things to make furniture. If they are quite young and rough, check out ebay or the toy sections in the stores and buy cheaper things.

It sounds doable, if the ink stays wet enough. I've done similar things with print outs and clear embossing inks in pens to make tiles before. If you want the grout lines to be lower than the bricks/tiles, though, you would have to make them white so the printer wouldn't print them.

Thanks for your comments about the ryokan Nutti. :-) It sounds like your plate is very full right now, but having a wedding and two new little girls on the way, you have a lot to look forward to!