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Hi from Murrieta, California. I just received my “Lily” dollhouse for Christmas. I have absolutely no experience, but in the meantime am quite excited. I have tried watching some YouTube videos, hoping for ideas. But they all just seem to skim through things. I read on the directions how you should work one sheet at a time and not pop pieces out until you get to that sheet. And then see a video with all pieces out and spread around. I would appreciate any tips you can share, especially if you have worked on the Lily! Thank you Karen

Hi everyone! So I've been spending the past 6 months working on my first doll house - the half scaled Fairfield. As the rest of you half scalers know not everything comes in half scale and therefore it's difficult to source what you need. There are also little parts that once glued it's difficult to get into the rooms to decorate. So it's been a challenge but I've throughly enjoyed it. It's forced me to think out of the box and do my research! As my time with my Fairfield is drawing to a close (hopefully - by Christmas fingers crossed if i get organised and motivated) I've started thinking ahead to my next project - a full 1" scale house! I've narrowed my choices down to the Lily or Beacon Hill. The Beacon Hill is of course a crowd favourite and a very traditional doll house! The front is stunning but the inside, but for me, is a little restrictive. Has anyone completed this house with modifications to the rooms? I see a lot of people add on a little conservatory but has anyone added on anything more substantial? The little kitchen is going to drive me bonkers, so I'm going to have to figure out the best way to make it bigger. Ive thought about buying 2 kits and bashing them together by placing an additional 3 room tower section (the part with the bay window if you are looking in front the front) on the right hand side next to the small kitchen. The other issue is the layout - being very vertical. And after dealing with the Fairfield - which is a very similar layout to a real house the Beacon Hill looks a little 2D from the back. Although it's probably easier to display because of the smaller foot print. What is great about the Fairfield though is the rooms are really easy to get into and decorate. The Lily is of course similar design to the Fairfield in it's "3D layout". I've done a few searches on the forum and read the posts - only can find a handful of examples. I've toyed with the idea of adding an additional level between the 2nd floor and the roof level for some extra rooms. The wrap around balcony reminds me of a New Orleans Bed and Breakfast with the bottom level a kitchen, dinning, lounge and the upper levels bedrooms and bathrooms with perhaps a library/music room : -) I'm thinking black iron railings, shutter windows and bricks for the outside. The big draw back with this one is getting into those small spaces (like the fairfield) so a lot of the work needs to be done before gluing. Can I do this to myself again? LOL Has anyone completed this house? Have people added different windows and doors? Would love to hear and see what you've done with it! Thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome! : - )

Happy new year! :kicking: Here I am with five hours to go before 2015 begging for dollhouse help from the wonderful forum members! I was wondering if anyone has had any problems installing non-kit spindles, balustrades, railings and newel posts on Greenleaf stairs. Here is my background: I totally destroyed the stair railing from my Lily kit, so I'm trying to use alternative (houseworks) components just to make the raining, spindles, etc. (but not the stairs--treads, risers and stringers--themselves). I've tried to use what remains of my railings as a guide, but nothing is working! The railings do not fit on the spindles and newel posts (even though they are designed to). I'm wondering if it's because the Greeenleaf (Lily's) stairs are not the same angle as "regular" dolls' house stairs…? Thank you for your help in advance! I've been searching this topic and nothing has come up specifically about this kind of "bashing" (to my knowledge). Bonne Année to all!

Hi everyone! I wanted to introduce myself to you all: My name is Maria, I'm 27 years old, married and have two little girls ages 1 & 3. I've always loved dollhouses since I was a little girl but my parents were never able to buy me a dollhouse. I've finally decided now that I wanted to start a new hobby that allows me to do something other than being a mommy. I've recently purchased the Lily dollhouse kit and I'm anxiously waiting for it to arrive! I've read in some places that this kit is difficult for beginners but I'm still confident about tackling my very first dollhouse project. If any of you have built (or are in the process of building) the Lily dollhouse, any tips for this beginner are definitely welcome! Thanks in advanced and I look forward to being active in this community!

I'm curious as to what the ceiling height in the Lily. I'd like to use rebuilt stairs and I can only find them adjustable for 9" to 10" ceiling heights. I'm currently finishing my first build, the Westville, and it has 8" ceilings. The stairs are my least favorite part of the build and I'd like to avoid a repeat.

Guess what? I have too many kits!!! I've decided to sell my Lily. I opened the box and labeled the sheets (and a few of the pieces), but other than that, it's brand new. The kit is currently with my sister in Lee's Summit, Missouri (suburb of Kansas City). You would need to pick it up there (I'm not going to make my sis ship the beast). I'm going to have her list on the house on Craigslist soon, but I thought I'd mention it here just in case anyone is interested. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to discuss buying it.

I haven't posted much lately; the girls are finally back in school (with its own dramas and 3 different school runs daily) and I'm studying part-time as well (psychology - I guess I may venture into the "dollhouse addiction" field hehehehe. How does Dr Dollhouse sound?). After much soul-searching, I gave away my half-built puzzle house to my DH friend Mary, as it was irritating me beyond belief and the quality was very poor. Yay for me for de-cluttering! My roombox shopping mall idea is morphing into a full-scale mall.... I found all these amazing miniature wire garden furniture pieces, gazebos, swings, trellis fences, round benches around trees.... sigh. The ladies at the craft store thought I was nuts: first I bought about $150 worth (which Mary promptly bought from me), so I had to go back to buy the rest - literally, there is almost nothing left! I am now considering placing the 9 Ikea boxes all facing outward, in a large rectangle shape. The inner empty section will become a courtyard. So each box needs a door cut out of the back wall to reach the courtyard area. That will give me some more scope to decorate those outer walls too. I guess I'll need a large wooden base to build everything on. I want to glue velcro strips underneath each box to keep them in position. Then I can decorate the courtyard garden with grass, trees and all the furniture. I also found a children's modular playground (just about 1:12 scale) - 3 different styles/colours (naturally, I just HAD to buy them all). This can also go in the courtyard section. And I found some really cute 1:12 scale plastic prams (in the cheap supermarket toy section of all places). They are horrible neon colours, I may paint them silver for the pipe sections. These can go in the baby accessory shop. The box with the most goodies so far, is the nightclub: I have a bunch of little pink square speakers (for iPods), black and pink checkerboard felt for the floor and pink giftwrap (handmade paper) with silver glitter circles and a little disco ball. I just don't know how I'm going to get any people made with all the crazy stuff happening. At least if I get the mall in a workable shape, it may tell me what kind of people it wants: the detailed resin figures on Amazon or more relaxed figures with real clothing. And then I was innocently browsing on Amazon the other night, looking over the 500+ items on my "saved for later" list and .... BAM! There was a HUGE discount on a Lily dollhouse..... I just couldn't resist unfortunately! The Dubai couriers delivered her this morning. My bemused husband had to accept it, as I was at the girls' piano lessons. Luckily I had sold some of my stock of artist canvases and that paid for the shipping - no way I could sneak THIS one into the house hehehehehe. Cue Pinterest and all the gorgeous paint jobs in New Orleans - I'm very excited about this one. Decor-wise: Interview with a Vampire style or more French Quarter in the 1800's? Have any of you built a Lily? There isn't much out there in Google-land. Now I have my beady eye on Amazon in case a Brimbles Mercantile shows up with a mark-down hahahahaha! I will have to start uploading some pictures of my crazy finds in the supermarket toy sections - all plastic, but so cheap and irresistible!

My Lily is probably channeling the spirit of Sarah Winchester.... now she wants an open deck outside/next to the Dining Room!!!! It looks like I have two options: 1. butting it right next to the dining room open-walled section - somehow implying either glass sliding doors or a bit of wall in-between the two "rooms" (how would this work/look?) or 2. creating a path from the kitchen door/steps around to the dining room area of the garden and making a separate deck (maybe flagstones, maybe wood planks) with a slope down to the beach. She simply cannot stand being beside the seaside without somewhere to park the beach chairs hehehehe. So, if I somehow manage to find the builder's foam board (am going to try!): * the beach will be in front, at the lowest level (with my rowboat parked somewhere), * then slightly higher up will the deck area (maybe round, maybe organic shape) * and behind it, the open facade of the house, which means the house will be raised more than the deck (since it is on a base already). Can you picture this? Do you think it will work? Not going to try and make waves or actual ocean/water, just some sand implying the shoreline. Cookie will probably hang out on the deck area anyway, since the steps may be too much and she cannot get into the house. Of course, will have to make the base only large enough to still fit through a doorway! If I leave a little bit in front of front door, I can add a small flower garden at the entrance. A little bit of extra space to the bay window side, and I can add my wooden fence and maybe a smallish tree (found a narrow wind-swept cedar bonsai at the home decor store which will be perfect).

I finally took the plunge and opened my Lily this afternoon. So far, I have labelled and cut out two sheets worth of pieces. My large craft knife with triangular tip doesn't like the wood very much and hurts my hand too much. I also lightly stabbed my fingertip with the sharp tip - had to get a plaster to cover the blood before I inadvertently created a crime-scene dollhouse!!! So I dug out my grandmother's old wood carving chisels and used the straight edge to push straight down in each groove before separating the pieces. I am super proud of myself - this is my FIRST ever dollhouse build and so far, so good. I'm also having lots of fun touching the pieces and envisioning where they go in the house and what colour schemes would go where. Watched the first episode of Hemlock Grove and saw that the Godfrey daughter has a huge dollhouse in her bedroom - I wish they would show more of it! Last night I also received another shipment of goodies - 3 red wine bottles, 3 white wine bottles, a walnut roll-top desk, quilt-on-a-frame, two paintings in gold frames, a baking dish, 3 antique clay jugs and Santa and Mrs Clause (resin figures). Such a happy day! This week at the supermarket, in the "cheap pocket money toys" section, I found a little quad bike and 2 motocross bikes - all close to 1:12 scale - how super awesome is that???? They are very accurately portrayed with real suspension (and make vroom-vroom noises too). Naturally, the Hatter had to go check them out! Typical guy, hehehehehe. Looks like I may have to add a "Big Boys Toys" shop to the mall with all of these vehicles heeheehee. I hear my Lily calling.... have to go and cut another sheet before bedtime!

I've had a few days of just observing my Lily and she really doesn't want to have her entrance and kitchen closing off a large part of the downstairs area. So I've looked at some passthrough/hole-in-the-wall ideas on Pinterest. I like the idea of copying the rounded tops of the doorways and remove the entire back section of the kitchen wall. I have low cabinet and low stove in front of it, so don't need to cut more lower down. I will also cut about half an inch from the edge (or more, to keep its strength). Or perhaps just a single opening half the width of the space would be enough? So the stove would have some wall behind it to mount the utensil rack. My main concern is this: if I cut it out and then try and wrestle the section in position in the house - will it be fragile and break? If I cut it after gluing in position - how on earth will I manage that? After the cut, I suppose I could cut some artist board into matching frames (like the door frames) to give it a nice finish. Have any of you done something similar and could you share some advice please? Oh my goodness, this Lily is a very sassy young lady!