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Barrington kit


Dawnhvr

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I bought a barrington wood dollhouse kit at a yard sale. It's never been opened . I'm afraid to open it now. I have small children and did not realize that this was a model kit. Artply is no longer in business. What do I do with this???

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I bought a barrington wood dollhouse kit at a yard sale. It's never been opened . I'm afraid to open it now. I have small children and did not realize that this was a model kit. Artply is no longer in business. What do I do with this???

I also have a box full of wooden furniture my cousin gave me . I want to build this but I'm terrified my kids will wreck it.

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Hi Dawn, and :welcome: to the forum.

The Barrington is a lovely house, but I understand that small children can be a challenge to miniature houses. I see three options here:

  1. If you have your heart set on building the house, you might have to wait a while, until they're more grown. A lot of members here have house kits living in closets, attics, or under a bed for years before finally enjoying the build. Find a safe place to store the furniture and kit (flat, so the boards don't warp) and exercise patience. They won't be kids forever.
  2. Build a smaller, less ambitious house as a test of how much interference you might get from your children and use it to educate them to understand the delicacy of small things -- and maybe even get one or more of them interested enough to help. We have some young members here who do lovely work. I'd suggest an Orchid or Primrose by Greenleaf.
  3. Put the kit and furniture in a yard sale.

Good luck, however this plays out. :hug:

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Dawn, I would hate for you not to have the fun of building this kit! I'm with Kathie; get a smaller kit and build it for the kids, letting them help you as appropriate; if they're very young, leave off the doors and windows and let them at it, with the understanding that when you build a house for you they aren't to touch it with anything except their eyes, until they understand how to care for fragile things. You're young enough yourself that five years might seem forever, but trust those of us a couple of years older; it's OK to wait.

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Build it:) I started this hobby with my two young boys playing on the floor at my feet, or I blockaded myself in the kitchen behind baby gates while they played in the room next to me. You didn't mention how old your children are but it's a great learning experience for children to watch a dollhouse build progress to fruition. On the other hand being terrified isn't the best way to start out either, you must be brave bold and determined this hobby is not for the faint of heart. Best of luck to you ;-)

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That's the kit I've been wanting forever! Gosh, you have my dream house. I say build it when you're ready. I've built all my houses while the kids were small. But if you are concerned, do something smaller for now. But it is a real dream house IMO ❤️❤️❤️

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If you really want to sell the kit, Craig's List is a good place to start. Accept cash only and you set the time when you want someone to come over and get the house. Make sure someone is there with you. If someone is coming over, put the kit in your garage or on your porch, so you don't have to bring the person inside. And remember, you are making a sale. You are not cashing someone's check, mailing them money, or going to your bank for anybody. They bring cash, they get the house. That simple. No cash, no house. These are the things that will keep you safe when selling on Craig's List. And listen to your gut feelings.

If you are prepared to ship the house, find out how much it will cost and then you can list it on our Community Trading Post thread. I trust most people, but I usually ask for a MO before I ship anything. If someone wants the house bad enough, that's something they'll do for you.

Meantime, I agree with the others - build the house. Google Barrington dollhouse and look for images. Besides the Barrington, you'll see a lot of photos of finished houses that will inspire you. And of course, you can always come here for help.

By the way, once the house is built, it's not just the kids you have to worry about. You may have to lay down the law about not touching to adults, as well. Don't worry; you'll develop your sergeant's voice. It comes with the territory.

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Beautiful house! Lucky Lady!

Save the house for the future! A smaller house would help you become confident enough to eventually build this house, if the size spooks you. As for kids (and adults) when building, any house, I agree with Kelly - you'll develop a sergeant's voice.

Again, you are a lucky Lady! Many of us would love the Barrington.

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I have built while raising three small grandkiddos and we've been fine with it all. So I say "Go for it"!!

I've gotten the little birdhouses from Michaels and other craft stores as well as the little puzzle kits and the Primrose mentioned above for them to play building right along with me. The little birdhouse style ones are inexpensive and you can use child safe craft paint on them.

Not to show off my kiddos but to say that it is possible for little ones to do things to, I'm listing a few of our younger ones.

This house is a birdhouse glued on a board and decorated by a 4 yr old.

Look at this one that the then 8 year old did with a birdhouse.

This is one of those puzzle houses done by a 9 yr. old. for Halloween

For some reason I can't find the matchbox garage that the 3 yr old did. I'll have to hunt for the pics. It was a birdhouse to start with.

There are other older grandkid (12 and 14) ones in my gallery in that same album as well.

Twinkle even entered the Spring Fling last year at 13 yrs at that time. This is a link is to her other album - a Primrose.

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  • 1 year later...

What are the #41 and #43 boards for? Do you have pictures of the Barrington? I mean  good, large sized pictures? If not, go to the Search tab above, type in Barrington, and then next to that, select Images. Several people here have Barringtons and there's lots of nice closeups of the house. It may be possible to see what pieces you need for the house and where they go. What I would suggest first, after labeling all your pieces, is dry fitting the house together. Just use masking tape or duct tape and then try to get the basic shell together. That also helps a lot when you're trying to figure out what goes where.

I would hazard a guess that most of the large pieces are the basic kit: walls, floors, roofs. Most of the smaller pieces will be trim. If you are short a piece of trim, you can always look at the trim at HBS.com and see if there is a substitution. As a matter of fact, you might want to look there first. You may find house trim, porch posts, and balusters for the stairs that you like better than what's in the kit. You may even want to swap a pre-made staircase kit or working windows and doors for those in the kit as well. The only thing you need to be aware of with replacing the windows and doors is that the walls of your house are only 1/4" thick and the majority of doors and windows on the market are built to fit 3/8" walls, so will have a little overhang there. Some people can live with that, some can't.

The other thing you can do once you have your kit dry-fitted, is to just live with it for a couple of days (or weeks, as it may be). You'll let your mind wander through the house and get an idea of what your rooms will look like. Remember, dollhouse building is supposed to be fun (or so I tell myself). You'll get much more accomplished if you work on your house every day, but that's not a requirement. This is a pick up and put down hobby. Don't force yourself to work on it when you don' want to.

Don't worry if you make a mistake. There is nothing that wood filler and wallpaper and trim can't cover. Real woodworkers and Norm Abrams would be horrified at all the gaps and crooked walls in my house, but I'm a firm believer in the cover-it-up-and-one-will-notice-a-thing policy. And I have faith that you'll create a lovely dollhouse.

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9 hours ago, havanaholly said:

For the dry fit I would use masking tape or painters; tape; I'm not sure duct tape would release as well when I need it to.  Is the Barrington a Greenleaf kit?

No- the Barrington is an Artply house.  

And I feel your pain, Dawn.  The Barrington was the first kit I ever built and I got so frustrated with the porch issues that it never got finished for 20 years!  LOL   It turned out great - and although it was SUPPOSED to be for my daughters, it quickly became MY house  :D  ....and a new hobby/obsession was born!

I will have to take a look at my directions, but if you are missing a complete board perhaps someone here on the forum would be able to make a trade or somehow get you patterns if you end up needing to cut your own pieces.  I am working on rehabbing my Barrington, so I am happy to trace parts for you! 

While you are at the beginning stages of the house, I do have a suggestion: Artply houses, like Greenleaf houses, use a thinner wood and tab-and-slot construction.  Do take time to dry fit (often) and sand where necessary to make a proper fit.  

Also- I suggest adding some extra support to the base.  I buy sturdy strip wood pieces at the local craft/hobby shop or hardware store.  Just a couple extra pieces underneath will give your HUGE house a nice sturdy foundation.  :)

And don't be afraid to private message me or any of the other members that have build the Barrington - we will certainly answer questions, give suggestions, send you close-up pics you may need - whatever- to help you on your way!

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17 hours ago, havanaholly said:

For the dry fit I would use masking tape or painters; tape; I'm not sure duct tape would release as well when I need it to.  Is the Barrington a Greenleaf kit?

LMAO That's exactly why I suggested duct tape, Holly! Every time I've used masking tape, the tape quits holding and the pieces of wood fall apart before I can get to the next step.

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