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Hi, my name is Beth. Not only am I totally new to all this but I have been lost for a couple years and am looking for a direction to go. Let me explain just a bit... My mom (my best friend) was the miniature enthusiast, she had been collecting everything from the building supplies to the people and all the furniture, etc. in between. Many different scales and lots of years of collecting. My mom became ill and moved in with me and I cared for her until she passed 2 years ago. I acquired all my moms treasures which most had been packed/stored for 20 years. After 2 years, I have finally started looking in boxes as I need to downsize and I’m finally strong enough to do so. I know NOTHING about these & although I think they are amazing, it’s just not something that interests me nor would I ever find the time or patience for such intricacy! Long story short, my husband has become ill and we are struggling. I know my mom would want me to profit from her stash any way possible to help us, that’s what we always did for each other. So, my question is...how and where can I educate myself in miniatures at a beginners level and maybe learn something about their value so I don’t get taken advantage of if/when I do sell some of these? Many of these are obviously very old. I am willing to take the time needed to learn some of this but have no clue where to start. This is the most informative site I have come across that has old and new posts from members that seem to be willing to answer questions and share info and for that I am very thankful. It has been a bit overwhelming trying to do this research. Thank you in advance to anyone that makes it through my post and takes the time to point me in a much needed direction.

Hi! My name is Dawn and I am from Alabama. I got interested in dollhouses about 14 or so years ago and bought a Dura-Craft Newberg. I started to put it together, but messed up some of the parts, so it's still in the box. I've had three kids since I bought it and they, along with other things, have kept me busy. I am hoping once we move later this month I can get it put together with replacement parts I have found. I kind of live in a dollhouse. lol It's 768 square feet and I live in it with my husband and our children who are 12, 4, and 2. We have replaced the floors, refurbished walls, and we're going to replace the windows soon. It's cute and cozy like a dollhouse. Thank you all for letting me in your group!

Hello! I’m from Atlanta, GA and I’ve decided to start on a lifelong dream of mine of having a miniature dollhouse. I’m going to start small with the Orchid because I don’t know what i’m doing. When I see all the beautiful houses out here and custom furniture, accessories and stuff, I’m in awe. You guys are so talented! I’m not a crafts person so all of this looks extremely difficult and looks like it requires a special gift. Kudos to all of you. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it. If anyone would like to share any words of wisdom, I would greatly appreciate it. I really am starting with no knowledge at all.

Hello everyone! I’m new here. My Greenleaf Beacon Hill kit finally came in today! I’m a bit nervous as this is my first dollhouse build. Can anyone share some tips on what helped you? I heard the instructions are kind of difficult and hard to understand. I’ve been watching the YouTube videos and I can’t find one that is like a step by step. I already know some of the changes I’m going to make or other builders suggestions that I’m going to use. I’ve got most of the starter supplies: the glues, the clamps, painters tape, the ultimate cutter from hobby lobby, stains and some mini screwdrivers and a mini jewelry mallet/hammer. Any help throughout this would be so much appreciated! As A paramedic I work odd shifts so I plan to work on this on days off. I’d also like to possibly make my own kitchen counters. I’m in love with the farmhouse sink and I would like to incorporate that. I also do plan to run electricity. Thank you all!

Hi folks, I’m Deborah and I live in northern British Columbia. I completed one dollhouse with my mum (Dura-Craft Newburg) many years ago. My current plan, but we know how those can change, is to do a Greenleaf Westville set vaguely in the 1930s-1940s. After that I’m thinking of doing a Beacon Hill (anyone else watch Teen Wolf?). Although I also want to do a Glencroft and a log cabin (based on Laura Ingalls little houses, that’s blamed on a, uh, thanks to a member here although I cant remember who it was). So little time, so many little houses!

Hello, My name is Jen and I have been a member since last year, but haven't completed my profile until now. I live in St. Louis, MO and have a wonderful mini support team consisting of my awesome husband and sweet daughter. They know that they must be careful in my "delicate" work room, but that most dollhouse stuff is allowed to be played with and enjoyed. I became interested in building dollhouses last year when my daughter received an Arrow 10 room dream house as a gift. It needed some rehabbing, so I thought this will be a nice project for us to work and play with together. After a short time, I was hooked on the tiny details and imagining interior designs and have bought several furniture and house kits since. I enjoy working with the wood, paint and building materials. Playing mini-interior designer is exciting too, as I love working with color theory, and imagining the lives of the little people that inhabit the homes. I grew up playing with a Tomy Smaller Homes house and always wanted a real wooden house. My cousin received a huge Real Good Toys house from my Uncle that I loved to look upon. It was not a plaything, but a collection. The attic was furnished in Dora Kuhn furniture from her trip to Germany to visit our family. I thought the hand painted furniture was divine. Hence, my Dora Kuhn fascination began. I recently completed a Greenleaf Orchid imagined as Santa's Gingerbread house. My next project is a Duracraft Linfield that will be a Shabby Chic beach house. But don't worry, I have a plethora of other homes and ideas to explore in the future. Please join me in my mini fun journey.

Hello, my name is David and I live in Kentucky. I purchased a Beacon Hill to build for my daughter after we went to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and she fell in love with all of the dollhouse and dollhouse-related exhibits there. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I am not particularly worried; it'll just take steady work, assuming the cats don't attack it. I'm on the forum looking for particular help with the instructions from time to time. Thanks for anyone that can help me!

Have an outstanding, totally unfinshed Thornhill house, with all of the separate windows, doors, siding, etc., including instructions. About 30 years old. Would like to sell.

Hello! I've only perused this forum a couple of times, but my mom and I both adore miniatures. We worked on a house when I was a kid, but unfortunately, we were both utterly hopeless at decorating the interior. Recently, we've come into possession of another very large, very beautiful, mostly finished Hofco house. I love looking at others' work, and am actually hoping to find someone in our state to potentially hire to assist us with the process of finishing the interior of our house, and was wondering what the appropriate section in the forum to post that sort of thing might be? Of course, if this forum doesn't allow that, I will absolutely refrain from bringing it up again. I'm looking forward to seeing the work of lots of talented miniaturists and dollhouse artists either way.

I'm new to building minis but have loved them for ever! Just received three fir christmas to build! Super stoked! The arthur Becon hill And a bird house general store that I'm in the process of converting from home tweet home Look forward to reading everything on the forums!

Hello, So a lil intro.I didn't know what to do for this Christmas with my nieces and nephew so I got bored on pinterest(my deadly enemy) and decided to make something for each kid using popsicles. Yay.. Not. For the smaller ones, they are getting a barn and stable with real toy tractor and horses. The older ones are just now old enough to enjoy things like dollhouses so I wanted to make them each a house. Things changed. My brother and his wife are planning for a divorce which I think Is great(if you met her, you'd be happy too) But It brought up an old issue. Me, personally, I don't like kids. Sorry If you feel offended. I do like kid toys and crafts and DIY stuff. The only thing I have wanted to do with my brother's kids since before birth is make them a dollhouse from a kit. My Sis in law is one of these people who uses her kids as leverage so I don't think they will be around next christmas or after which means, this is my one shot to do the dollhouse thing. I have no idea what i'm doing. I bought the orchid because it's small and hopefully means it's less complex but also, if I screw up or give up, I've only lost $30 instead of $200. So I accounted for all the pieces and read the instructions. The instructions actually say "Don't Panic." That's A forte to panicking in my book. So, do any of you have advice for me(dollhouse only plz) that would be wonderful

Hi Everyone, Greetings from Brisbane Australia! Last weekend I bought my first doll house kit, the half scaled Fairfield, and eagerly await it's arrival. I've been reading up this morning about everyone's experience with the building process and have enjoyed looking over all the lovely finished houses in the galleries. It feels a little bit daunting as I'm a bit of a perfectionist and of course have never done a dollhouse build but I'm excited about the challenge! I'm sure i'm going to have many silly questions to ask along the way, so I apologise in advance ;-p Looking forward to being part of the community and getting to know everyone : - ) Cheers Scott

I'm just getting started on my first dollhouse. It's a half scale Greenleaf Jefferson kit. I had a rough start, the first one was warped. Greenleaf has excellent customer service and sent me out another on right away though. So far it's coming together really well. I'm looking forward to participating on the forums -I really needed a hobby and I am so excited about it! Any tips on DIY furnishing/decor projects in this scale? I'd also like to find a source for nice half scale dolls or figures.

Hi out there, A new member from Florida working on a doll house from scratch. Going slow and getting right I hope looking forward to reading and learning as I go along

Hello everyone! I can't express how excited I am to be among you! Let me first say that though I am an avid doll collector, I have never, ever built a dollhouse! This new journey on which I am about to embark however, has been in the works for decades! About 20 years ago, I purchased a Willowcrest kit from Ben Franklin when they were going out of business. It was to be a project for my (then) teenage daughter and I to do together...as soon as we had space and time. Well life had other plans...job transfers, relocations, etc, and that dollhouse faded into the background and was forgotten. Fast forward several years...my mom passed away, and as I was cleaning out the garage of her home, I found the dollhouse! I had forgotten that I had stored it there years ago. Now living alone, and semi-retired, space and time were no longer an issue...I thought I was ready to begin...HA! After pulling out the instruction book, I realized this would be no easy task! I still wanted to do it, but had to think on it a bit. Serendipitously, several weeks ago, I went to an estate sale with a friend. She was looking for things for to decorate her new apartment, and I just went along for the ride. What I found was a mass of miniatures! As I was picking out a few pieces for my future dollhouse, the woman running the sale comes up behind me and says "I'll give you a good price if you take it all". And that's how I ended up with 4 large boxes of miniatures, furniture, kits, accessories, etc. I know I can't possibly use it all...hoping to sell the excess. Trouble is, most of the pieces are unmarked. Everything was just thrown into boxes willy nilly! I did find some labels in the bottoms of the boxes, but since I had no way of knowing what came off what, I just threw them away. Can someone recommend a good reference...book or website that would help identify some of the pieces?

Hi! My name is Liz and I reside in PA. So excited I finally feel like I can stop lurking through and join the community! My husband bought me my first Greenleaf and I am so excited to start! I am a lover of all things miniature and have been pretty much obsessed with dollhouses since I am a little girl. I collect from the Victorian Era so that era tends to also be my favorite dollhouse. I have scanned the forums on and off for a long time and am excited to be able to legitatmately be able to join in! I have another dollhouse I got from Craig's list for pretty much a song although I think it is going to need some work. We are picking it up tomorrow and I am hoping if I post here maybe I can get some further information on it. Not even sure the scale at this point but I am excited to get it home and start rehabbing it! I have 3 kids that are finally old enough I can now get the "toys" I want and have hopefully the time to work on them! I worked in psychiatric care for 20 years and last year was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder making it unsafe for me to continue working in the hospital (poor hand strength and trouble being on my feet longer than a couple hours). Now I run an antique store and an Etsy store online and love that as well! Glad ad to be a part of this awesome community!

Good morning, all! I just wanted to stop in to say hi and introduce myself! My name is Jess and I'm currently working on my first dollhouse. It's a Dura Craft Columbian. I came across this site trying to source some missing pieces from the kit I've acquired. I've always loved dollhouses and miniatures. As a kid I had always wanted a dollhouse but never had one. I would constantly make my own miniature items to use for my Barbies and other various figurines I had as a kid. I'm a mother of four, my youngest is a girl so I am enjoying doing this all over again, especially with a real dollhouse! I live in Pennsylvania with my husband and four kids. In my downtime I enjoy gardening and anything that has to do with yarn. I'm slowly figuring out how to navigate this site and I can't stop staring at all the gorgeous pictures! There is some serious talent in here!

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to say hello and that i'm so excited to start my first craft-making hobby! I was wondering if anyone could help me start out? I have no clue where to begin with building my own 1:12 dollhouse from scratch. I hope to start competing in the next couple years! All I really bought today was a Doll House magazine that just shows how to create miniature furniture and items. I couldn't find any doll house building books or anything at Barnes and Noble either. Is there any videos/articles/books that is for beginners? I also have a couple questions! (1) For 1:12 doll houses, do some of you build your own furniture? I see that some websites sell pieces and you build it from their kits. But I was definitely interested in building my own furniture! (2) Can some of you please post some of your 1:12 doll houses? I would love to get some inspiration going and see everyone's lovely work! Thank you guys so much!

Hi my name is Jodie and I am new to this site. I recently bought the Garfield Dollhouse Kit. I started it in December and got totally carried away with it. I decided to adjust the my dollhouse by adding a basement to it. This might be pretty ambitious for a first timer but I figure dream big. I am looking forward to reading tips and to seeing what other ideas everyone is coming up with. I started a blog for friends and family at www.jdsdollhouse.com if anyone is interested in checking it out. I would love to hear thoughts and comments.

Hi! My name is Carrie and I am a new member to this site as well as to "dollhouse building." I bought a pre-made dollhouse (homemade) at a miniatures show in Lakeland, FL last year for my granddaughter and was instantly smitten. For Christmas, my husband bought me RealGoodToys-Victoria's Farmhouse which I have yet to start bidding. To be honest, it looks a bit daunting. I am a mother of three and a grandmother of two with another on the way! I am looking forward to learning all I can about dollhouse building and hopefully, making some friends along the way.

Hi all! My name is Halle. I live in GA and have recently fallen in love with dollhouses. I'm working on the Primrose right now. I know it's only an addition to the Laurel, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy. In order to getting ready to build, I have already been reading through your guys' forums and learning all sorts of tips and tricks. I can't wait to really get into this hobby and buy more dollhouses! Any tips or information you guys want to give me would be sooo appreciated!

Hello all. My name is Emma, I also go by Squirrel. I've finished The Orchid, and The Primrose. I'm currently working on The Willow and The light house keepers house(in 1/24 scale). I have a blog at emmasminipads.blogspot.com. Please feel free to take a look, comment or follow. (Whatever you'd like) I'm currently 20 years old and living in St. Louis, Mo. On a more personal note I think i'm going to stick with the 1/24 scale from now on, I like it a lot better.

Hi! (waves) I'm almost done with my first house, the Orchid, and thought I'd come check out the online community. Looking around the gallery, my poor little house needs a LOT of work, lol... ~bunny

Hi everyone. I'm happy to be here. Little bit 'bout me... I've been a miniature enthusiast since I was knee high to a cricket. Humble beginnings started with an aunt who had a large suit case full of plastic dollhouse furniture for me to play with on her dining room table. I've been a miniature bear artist for years, and enjoy all scales of miniatures - 1/144th to 1". I've built a few houses and room boxes but when it comes to electricity and many other things - I get ghost white and run away intimidated, thus the little bears I create have yet to know what electricity is like or other modern conveniences in their homes. I live in the PNW but have been a member of many clubs around the country and I'm an active name member. I've been out of miniatures for a bit and am happily returning with my head spinning joyfully, full of creative ideas to make and do. I just have to add: I went to visit my adult daughter recently and found her the most gorgeous light pink, custom made, two story, miniature house. I'm so excited for her to get lost in her imagination in her new little home.

Hello, mini-makers, My name is David and I've been lurking in this forum as I began my Beacon Hill build. First let me say that the artistic and creative skills demonstrated by the members of this forum are truly impressive. I can't tell you how many times I've thought "WOW!"s while looking at the work you've posted. I am new to building minitures, but I've thought for some time about building a dollhouse for my daughter who just turned two. As I've done a bit of precision and 1:1 building with metal and wood, my original intention was to design and build something from scratch. While looking on-line for inspiration, however, I saw the Beacon Hill and quickly determined that a detailed mini like this one was best addressed through a kit. Not to mention, I wanted to have the finished product in my girl's hands within weeks as opposed to decades! I jumped in with both feet at the end of April and thanks to a great kit, great instructions and awesome advice from this forum's members, I completed the initial assembly in under two months. (Originally, I was hoping to complete it within two weeks, but obviously I was clueless.) ;0 In the near future, I will incorporate some 'personality' and other customizations into the mini with the advice of the skilled artisans of this forum. Oh - and although I originally had no intention of building more than one mini, I've already purchased the 1:144 scale Beacon Hill. Many thanks for your support! -David