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Hi! My love for dollhouses and all things miniature traces all the way back to my childhood. I recently had the pleasure of making an amazing thrift store find. I got my very first dollhouse for a reasonable price The house is unfinished and it needs some love, but I am super stoked to dive into this project! I would like to take the house apart to do some renovating. I hope to become active in this community to learn how I can make this the dollhouse of my dreams. I am open to all tips and suggestions you might have.

Hi everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment! I have read the instructions thoroughly, as well as the warm up sheet, but I am having issues differentiating which pieces are which!! They are unlabeled. Am I supposed to remove everything from the box and label? This was specifically prohibited in the instructions I read as it said to remove and use IN ORDER, but I am unclear how in step A I am supposed to locate foundation back (1) and bottom support (27)!! SEND HELP!!

Hello! I'm new here. Some things about me: I have always loved miniatures. As a child, I had a large Ginny doll collection, a treasured dollhouse baby from Germany, and lots of little plastic dolls from the dime store. When I learned to read, “The Raggetty Paggetty Dollhouse” and The Borrowers were favorites. This is my first dollhouse. I’ve come close to buying one many times, but nothing was ever quite right. Then I saw The Fairfield! It was love at first sight. I like the way its rooms are at angles and not just a set of boxes lined up in a row. I’ve already been browsing the posts of Fairfield builders on the forums. I love the suggestions and advice and seeing all the different ways of doing things. So far I’ve made the base and the staircase and done LOTS of dry fitting. I hope to use what I’ve read to make my first dollhouse a good one, but I hesitate to take a step that can't be undone! Sometimes I think: Hmmmnm there may be something to be said for those houses that look like a set of boxes lined up in a row ;-) Linda

Hello, everyone! My name is Erika and I'm a miniaturist living in Orlando, FL. I've been making miniatures for about two years now (I specialize in food and home/holiday decor), but I just acquired my first dollhouse (a fixer upper) and thought this would be the perfect place to learn and share throughout the process of rehabbing it. When I'm able to post photos, I may need the benefit of your collective wisdom to help me identify the house. I purchased it off Facebook marketplace from someone who didn't really know anything about it. Based on the instructions and printed materials that came with it, I'm estimating that it's from the 1970s. It appears to be a Real Good Toys model called Fox Hollow, but my research on that name didn't turn up much of anything useful. Anyhow, it needs quite a bit of work, but I'm really excited about the prospect. I'm planning to start my renovations on the exterior before moving inside. It needs repainting - especially the porch, which is blue and not really the look I'm going for - and the clapboard siding is warped in several places, so I'm not sure if I'm going to replace it all or just try to fix the sections that are damaged. I've been reading quite a bit here in the forums over the past week or so and am looking forward to learning more from all of you! Best, Erika

Hello all! I picked up this "less than beautiful" dollhouse for $65 and am redoing it. Any suggestions on what to do design wise? Craft wise? Technique wise? This is my first dollhouse and I want to make the effort as painless as possible! P.S, if anyone knows what the name/manufacturer of this dollhouse is, that'd be great! I believe it's a kit, because it has pegs/holes for many of the pieces that go together.

Any tips for dismantling a dollhouse put together with hot glue? I don’t want to take apart the whole thing as it’s very stable. It was assembled 25 years ago and is holding together really well, I want to re-do the windows and put on siding so I just want to remove windows, trim and porch railings. I’m nervous to use a hairdryer in case I loosen things I want to keep intact. Anyone with experience taking hot glued dollhouses apart?

My dad scratch built my dollhouse almost 40 years ago. I just got it back from my sister (she had girls, I have boys) and unfortunately time & play have not been kind. So I'm in the process of doing a complete renovation. I always wanted electricity in it so tonight I'm attempting to wire it. I've already repainted the exterior and some of the interior trim. I look forward to showing her off when I'm done. Oh I'm doing rustic farmhouse decor.

I spent a lot of time at my grandparents when I was a child. After my grandpa's passing I wanted to create a room box of their kitchen, as this is where we spent most of our time. I can still remember my grandpa sitting at his special place at the table and my grandma slaving over the store making one of her many, delicious suppers! It took me years to complete the room box because of time restraints but I can happily say that I think I'm complete! I actually completed it just in time to showcase it at my grandma's funeral. It was a huge hit! Started w/the outside; Family pictures at my grandparent's over the years In progress- Photo of my Grandpa and niece at the kitchen table. Starting to looks so real! My grandpa taught me how to color so a coloring book and crayons on the table were a must! Walking into the kitchen; I always remembered the duck on the counter holding pens and bills, the family tree plaques and antlers above my grandpa's chair, some type of pie or baked good being prepped for baking on the counter, green Kool-Aid was always made in the waiting in the frig, my grandpa's inhailer always on the window sill by his chair at the table, the latest family photos stuck in the trim behind my Grandpa's chair, the rug that my Grandpa had to have under his feet when sitting at the table and the most important- cards on the table from the hundreds of crazy 8 games that were played! The retro metal sink and dumplings cooking on the stove (a family fav!) My grandparents only source of heat! This was also grandma's favorite way of cooking. Notice the huge burn mark on the floor- that was Grandma- she dropped the stove cover one day! Opps! Top view of the entire roombox My grandpa and his annual growing of his amaryllis. Notice it on the table! My grandparents! My Inspiration! Miss them dearly!

Hello Everybody This is my first official post! I've been hanging out around the forum for a couple weeks, reading and learning, ever since I ordered my first dollhouse a couple weeks ago. My mother enjoys miniatures and I was looking for a Christmas present when I stumbled across Greenleaf kits. Immediately I was transported back to my childhood, yet experienced additional interest because of my background as an artist and lover of all things crafty. I ordered the half scale Diana for my mother and I to complete together. Really I imagine it will more be like my mother picking out all the finishes (designing role) and me doing all the finicky things (which I strangely love). The Diana is the perfect miniature Victorian cottage for my mother. I can't wait to work on it! (Its also a Christmas present to myself I guess ) Looking forward to more dollhouse chat! <3 Vera

Hey friends, I'm new here, and wanted to show off the first dollhouse room i ever made! All the furniture was made by me using walnut, and the floors and windows are with basswood. The walls are actually foam board covered in plaster. I was able to emboss the brickwork right into the foam board, and then use a polishing powder to fill in the grout. The door was also made of basswood, and the stone is polymer clay. The food you see in the photos was also made by me. ;3 Link leads to images. http://imgur.com/a/cM1j2

Hello, I am new here and would love some help. I purchased the RGT painted lady as my first dollhouse to build. However upon research, I have discovered that this hobby is not only expensive but it is also extremely difficult. Does anyone have a site or any help as to the best way to start? I opened the box 2 weeks ago and became instantly overwhelmed. I haven't touched it since. I was looking to make it as realistic as possible.

New member and starting my first of what I hope is many more adventures in building. As I was looking around the house I discovered a great deal of plywood from different projects: Akume of different widths from building a small boat and a kayak and thought why not use it to see if I could actually build a doll house from it's thin enough to keep it from being to heavy to move around and sturdy enough to deal with the efforts of working on it. So have been looking through the holy grail of miniature books for the past few weeks and I have finally gotten to the point starting to construct. I've drawn up what I hope is a workable house design. with the size rooms I want. I've got enough wood and plywood to at least get started. The only thing I'm thinking about rethinking is whether I want that front porch or not. Any suggestions would be helpful. This a complete do it yourself plan from the bathroom and kitchen fixtures, all furniture, windows, doors and roofing material.

So, there I was... perusing Pinterest... when I somehow got sucked into looking at some amazing dollhouses. Shortly after, I found myself in Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon ready on my cell as I made my decision on a dollhouse. The Orchid. Now, I don't know about y'all, but I am a COMPLETE beginner.... and was shocked by how many pieces were included. So, I started, got addicted, and 2 days later the "dollhouse disaster" as I've been calling it is now standing. And I have learned so many things I'd do differently next time! So, this is my practice house Can't wait to start another once this one is complete!

I was so excited when I got this doll house for Christmas but unfortunately I am unable to begin because I am stuck on the first foundation part. The instructions are not much of help, I usually learn by colored pictures or video-examples. Some one please help me. I will greatly appreciate it. FYI: My very first dollhouse- I never done this type of building before.

My sister-in-law purchased this dollhouse at a garage sale over fifteen years ago. It was partially constructed and came with almost all the original materials to finish it, sans the instructions. She asked me if I would like to finish it up to give to her grand daughter for Christmas 2014. I have learned so much from, and been inspired by, so many of you members. I have six months to finish, and still lots to do!

(I'm so sorry if this is not the right place to post this, I can remove it if it's not. I'm just trying to find my way around these forums and I think I'm not able to upload photos until I've been here longer... So I thought I would just create a forum post with the photos instead. Question for members: Where are we generally supposed to post our update photos and descriptions of how things are going?) Unboxing My Willow Dollhouse Kit: My dollhouse kit arrived the other day in the mail! I haven't begun work or anything yet, I'm going to study the guide a little before starting and I have to get supplies on Sunday before I can do much anyway. But I made a little "unboxing" video and took some photos in case anyone was curious what this kit looks like straight from the mail. (These images are from the diary entry I wrote, you can see it all here. The video I made can be viewed here.) My kitty Twitch thinks this is all about him… Front view of the box. The back was plain with the shipping info. So you can see that they didn’t hide the fact that it’s a dollhouse. Thought I’d mention that in case you’re someone who’s buying one of these as a surprise gift. This one was shipped from Overstock.com. The opened box. The shingles there were already popped out of their sheet when I opened it. I guess it got a little knocked around in transit. Closeup views of those shingles and the little bits that I’m not sure if they’re important? (Those little tiny bits you see, smaller than the shingles)… Probably not, but I’ll keep them until I’m positive… Some of the wood damage on one of the sheets. Wood distortion on the back of one of the sheets. Another angle. Lots of little pieces. Closeup view of those little bits I mentioned before. If you can’t tell, it is massive! Haha. It weighs 30 lbs according to Overstock.com I love this. The instructions to the instructions. “DON’T PANIC!”… Well now I am totally going to panic, thanks. ;) If you're interested you can see more of the images on my diary entry, I couldn't post them all in this post.

Hi, my name is Brittanie. I just joined this group today, the same day I received my Willow Dollhouse Kit in the mail (this model in case you're not familiar). I haven't begun working on it yet, I intend to take my time and do things as well as I can because I've never worked on a dollhouse before. I had one that my dad built when I was little but that was long ago and it wasn't from a kit (plus I didn't help build it!)... But I'm an artist so I have a vision for it. I hope this will be a good project for me to relax and have fun with in my down time. I'm hoping to achieve an old somewhat abandoned house look, although I have no idea if that will be possible or not. I work in mixed media with my art so I do a lot of distressing and staining with paper, I'm hoping I can apply similar techniques to wood and wallpapers and such. Wish me luck! :surrender: I've always really loved dollhouses. Something about the creepy but calming image of the miniature house in a child's room has always appealed to me. I really love antique dollhouses but they're too expensive for me right now. My fascination with them has been apart of much of my art and writing! A little about myself: I'm in my 20s, living in central Virginia US (I'm originally from TX) with my boyfriend and our 3 pets (1 blue heeler, and 2 kitties). I'm a freelance artist and I'm also currently working on my first novel. I spend a lot of time online, making art, and hanging out with my bf and pets. I'm a pretty big homebody but I also love nature and going exploring. I have an aesthetic love for Victorian era, Georgian era (which is the era my dollhouse is from, architecture wise), abandoned buildings, shabby chic style, girly style, natural earthy tones, dark and gloomy things, and lots more... An example of a style I love for dollhouses, this is an antique that sold for thousands! I'll be recording my experience with my dollhouse on my blog which you can see here. :type: I admit I'll be posting there more often than here but I'm going to try to use this site to get help, inspiration, and to make friends! :yes:

I am passionate about miniatures, but until then had not done any scene or dollhouse. This was my first time! Meet a kitchen Brazilian hillbilly!!