A newbie with a bunch of kiddies

[christineka]

Hey all! I have joined this group to hopefully get some answers. I couldn't find any other place to ask, so here goes. I am a mother to half a dozen kidddies. I have 4 girls and 2 boys. My 4 year old bought herself a melissa and doug dollhouse with her birthday money. (I happened to see a great sale for $100 off so that she could afford it.) The kids loved that dollhouse despite the fact that it was very plain and hardly furnished. 6 months later the house was evicted from the safe keeping of my bedroom and has since been drawn all over with crayon. It's horribly graffitied. The artists were the 4 yo herself and the 2 year old boy.

My 9 and 8 year old girls have wanted a dollhouse for ages, but we never have the funds for expensive items and I hate those plastic things that are sold at walmart. The girls want nothing to do with the one with the messy rooms or scribbles all over it. They have recently read the book "The Doll People" which features a victorian family and their victorian house. Their owner was an 8 year old girl. My girls now want a victorian doll house with porcelan dolls along with a door knob with a keyed lock for their bedroom. (To prevent the wreckers from entering.) I would like to oblige, but am having a hard time making decisions. I know many doll houses are for looking at. Does anyone make them to be toys to play with? Are those kits you can buy easy enough for a beginner to build? How do you learn to build dollhouses? What age or maturity level is old enough to have a nice dollhouse?

I'm also considering the plastic playmobil house because it is plastic and already built, but it is still very expensive and the girls want a "real" dollhouse. Please explain this all to me! Thanks!

[havanaholly]

Welcome to the little family Christine. I'll see if I can help.

I know many doll houses are for looking at. Does anyone make them to be toys to play with?

You appear to suffer from disorganized thinking!lol Any dollhouse can be played with, provided care is taken of it, and the daughters in question sound quite ready to take excellent care of a nice dollhouse.

Are those kits you can buy easy enough for a beginner to build?

My first-ever dh building experience came at the tender age of 50-something, we'd found a Dura-Craft kit for their San Franciscan (the SF555) and it took me a bit over 3 1/2 years to build, decorate & furnish it (I was in Nursing School at the time).

How do you learn to build dollhouses?

This was back before the days of the Forum, so I used the instructions that came with the kit and questions to my DH (Dear Hubs) and several choice *magic* words.

What age or maturity level is old enough to have a nice dollhouse?

Whenever you want to give the dh (dollhouse) to a child; if the child is VERY young you will want to supervise and you won't want to install windows or doors until much later, when your child in question develops patience... It is possible to make the doors and windows "working" ones, with a little patience, or you can buy working components and make adjustments to get them to fit. There are so mini threads & posts tucked away in the archives here to help you on your way, and I haven't yet met any member who doesn't enjoy answering ANY question.

)I have met a number of folks MY age I wouldn't want to have a dollhouse!)

I'm also considering the plastic playmobil house because it is plastic and already built, but it is still very expensive and the girls want a "real" dollhouse.

The plastic houses work very nicely for your situation where you have such "creative" younger children (BTW, Goo Gone will remove the crayon & stickers when the 4-year-old is ready for her house to look better).

If you're still concerned about building it yourself check around to see if there's a miniature store in your area; often they can put you in touch with people who can & will build the kit for you. I used to build & decorate kits for folks, generally I charged twice the price of the kit to cover the cost of paint, wallpaper, spackle & staples, etc. (I didn't wire the houses I built for people; I don't wire my own, I don't particularly care for lighted houses)

Enjoy yourself & jump in. The Beacon Hill, Pierce, McKinley & Garfield are all houses that can be made Victorian easily, and any of the cottage kits come with enough gingerbread trim to make Victorian, but the Vineyard and Arthur are particularly nice smaller kits that can be made as frilly frou-frou Victorian as one could wish.

[pin1056]

B) Christine B)

[mamie]

Hi and welcome B)

[Wolfie]

Hello and welcome to the forum! You sound like Mother Goose!

[marivigano]

Hi Christine and welcome ! B)

http://marivigano.blogspot.com/

[LLyn M.]

Hello Christine and welcome to the forum! Sounds like a very busy life!! But what fun!

And now you've discovered a Hobby Extrordinaire! The Littles like to be artists..well that could be covered up with paint,(non-toxic spray),at a later date...and the

Middles,well they could spend years on one large family project or each work on a

house of their own.There are many great but inexpensive homes out there! Check out

Greenleaf- and their furniture kits too!! Good luck!! And again- Welcome!! B)

[Monica_the_haunted]

Hi and B) to the group!

[Shy Spirit]

Hi Christine, and welcome to the Greenleaf family. You have landed on a very friendly, helpful group of people! As Holly stated, there are many threads and topics with tons of information on building and decorating dollhouses here. Have a good look around, won't you? Check out the Gallery for lots of inspiration, too.

Also, check your local library for books about dollhouses - they can give you good ideas on how to start, and some of them have great patterns for making furniture and doll clothes.

I would think your 8 and 9 year old girls are old enough to treat a dollhouse with care and respect - as long as you get them that lock for their bedroom door, the dollhouse will last for many, many years! B)

This hobby will bring them so much happiness, and also introduce them to the joy of learning about the world. I have learnt about architecture, fashion, historic traditions, foods, and so much more - the miniature world encompasses everything that our world has to offer!

The Greenleaf dollhouses are beautifully designed and among the most affordable ones available. I don't think you can go wrong with a Greenleaf dollhouse. (Well, yes, of course I am a little biased since I found this wonderful forum - but I liked the Greenleaf dollhouses before I even knew this group existed!)

Some people say that the miniature hobby is expensive ... and it can be ... but you (and/or your girls) can learn to make a lot of your own accessories. Scrapbook papers can often work as substitutes for the more expensive miniature wallpaper - as a beginning.

I hope that you and your girls will make the dollhouse a family project - you will have so much fun together!

(BTW, I think Holly may have thought that the Melissa and Doug dollhouse was painted already - I don't think you can use Goo Gone effectively on bare wood.)

[havanaholly]

The Melissa & Doug dh I found seems to have a varnish over the bare wood. If Goo Gone doesn't work on it I may also be painting it!lol

[christineka]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. The magic eraser works on the bare wood, but after scrubbing a clean spot, the kids scribbled an eve bigger mass of crayon! I moved the dollhouse downstairs where less crayons have gone astray. I may try cleaning it again. I thought that I might paint it when those two grow a tad more mature.

I'm going to have to check out the buld your own dollhouse kits. Maybe the girls and I can work on the project for a while. Secretly, I've always wanted to play with a victorian dollhouse myself.

[havanaholly]

It's no secret, Christine, mini of us play with our houses, one of the reasons we enjoy building so mini of them!lol

[Alamom]

Welcome to the forum Christine!

[Shy Spirit]

Christine, you don't have to keep your secret any longer - this is a "safe place", where miniaturists can not only confess their addictions, but are also encouraged to flaunt them!

[tcmorrison]

Welcome Christine...from another busy Mom...4 kiddies here.

Wanting a dollhouse for my daughter is what got me into this hobby, um, addiction. This site was one of the first I found when searching online for info on building it, though I didn't join as a member until 4 months later when the house was close to finishing stages. And I've never looked back since. This is a great place for advice on building, or anything else, for that matter. I consider the people here some of the best friends I'll ever have. Being online here is just as addictive as building.

As for choosing a dollhouse...I ended up choosing the Dura-Craft Newburg and I paid $38 for it on ebay, plus $26 in shipping. Craig's list is another good place to check, especially since it's local people, no shipping.

Again, welcome and we're here to help!!

[Gayle]

Hello Christine, welcome to the forum.

[Kalani]

I may be wrong, but I think miniatures.com has a 50% off sale in April...you should sign up for their newsletter. Also keep an eye on Craigslist...sometimes there can be worthy deals there. (I got a halfwired thornhill with the downstairs all finished for $150...it needs work but considering the shell is $600, it was worth it)

I will say while the greenleaf houses are gorgeous...they are harder to build then the real good toys brand and I'm not sure how playable they are.....

Will that goo gone work on regular (real house) walls? If so I think I will buy a case.

[Hallowell]

;) Welcome