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Rosedale: hinge the front & close the back?


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There's a design problem with the Rosedale dollhouse (besides the rooms being smaller than 1/12 scale :(). The best-looking part of the outside is the front of the house (that's what has the windows and front door), but it's the back that's open. So if you display it so you can see the miniatures, you can't see the front of the house, and vice versa.

 

Has anyone tried to modify the front of the house to open, something like what's pictured below? I'd also like to add a back to it, so it can be closed to keep out dust.

 

I realize the easiest approach is to add a hinged back, but it's the front that has the detail. Also, there's a nice stairway in this house that is virtually invisible from the back.

 

 

50303inside.jpg

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A turntable was my first thought. I spent some time looking at what was available shortly after I bought the dollhouse. But the more I work on it, the more I wish the front opened like the one in the picture. I was curious if anyone else had tried it and could share their experience.

 

The other thing that really bothers me about this dollhouse is the size of the rooms, which is much smaller than 1/12 scale and too small for my dollhouse furniture (which I had before the house). I'm thinking about major surgery to make it larger. It might not end up looking a lot like the kit, but that's okay.

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Another thing that makes this orientation so difficult is that the windows significantly block the furniture. Typically a room has one wall with windows, and the furniture is against the OTHER wall (wall without windows). When the dollhouse is oriented so you're looking TOWARDS the windows, you're forced to place the furniture against the wall with windows, which is unnatural and difficult to fit. 

 

I'm laying out the rooms I want to have on a countertop (arranging my existing dollhouse furniture) to measure the room dimensions. In doing this, I thought about how rooms in full-size homes are arranged, and realized the furniture usually FACES the windows, versus being against the windows and facing the other way. In my current home, there are radiators under the windows. I have a piece of furniture between the windows, but only because I'm space-challenged. Ideally there would be no furniture against that wall. When I think about the house I grew up in, or the other places I've lived, there was almost always no furniture against the wall with windows. It's on the opposite wall facing the windows.

 

I'd like to use the skeleton of the Rosedale as a starting point and modify it, but it may be easier to just start from scratch. I'm not sure yet. That's why I posted this question.

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Perhaps in laying out your furniture on the counter, you'll see a layout in it that suits your true desires. Sketch that out, and compare it to all the kits out there to see if one exists that would work for your plans. If none exist, I strongly recommend you do a scratch build.

Consider your true feelings of satifaction when this is complete. If this kit is lacking what will bring you that satisfaction, imo, you shouldn't continue with it. You'll always feel discontented and that isn't worth the time you are investing in your special mini home.

Some builds suit one person and not another. We are all individual with many different tastes and preferences. What bothers me, might not bother you at all and vice versa.

Treat yourself to what brings you that spark of joy rather than, at the end of it all, to be left with angst or ill will towards it.

Good luck.

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The more I think about this, the more I realize I'm not going to be able to adapt the Rosedale to be what I need. I'm going to try to sell it once I complete the assembly (with custom working windows), and then start new.

 

I plan to build a custom dollhouse, no kit, so it can be exactly what I envision. As I lay out each room, I'm measuring it. Once I have all the rooms, I'll figure out how to arrange them into a house, and then figure out a plan for the structure. The first dollhouse I ever built (for my sister's 10th birthday) was not from a kit, so I'm certainly capable of building from scratch. I bought the Rosedale kit because the house was pretty and seemed like a good shortcut, but I didn't think it through. I didn't realize until after I'd assembled it that it couldn't display my collection because of the small rooms and access from back (so furniture must be against the wall with windows).

 

I thought I'd finish the assembly of the Rosedale because it would add value on resale. A Rosedale with working windows is unique. Do you think anyone would want to buy it?

 

Crafting is crafting, so I like working on it and I'm in no hurry. It's a hobby, not a race to completion. I enjoy the process.

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Something you'll want to take into consideration is that dollhouse furniture comes in varied sizes and proportions even if it's classified as 1:12 scale.  Some brands such as Bespaq or Aztec's Platinum collection are of a daintier cut than other brands but even within the same brand there can be a large variation.

 

I built a custom Rosedale for a client who asked me to do the interior design and dress the house for her.  She wanted a turn-key dollhouse so I did the purchasing of furniture for her and there was a great deal of trial and error in finding just the right pieces that blended together both with each other and with the house.  With careful choices, we came up with a layout that looks very realistic in perspective and orientation.  

 

finroseinterior1.jpg

 

However, there are times when someone wants a house to fit specific furniture and that's when the selection of a kit comes down to a layout of the furnishings first and then finding a dollhouse with rooms specific to those needs. Sometimes there simply isn't a kit that suits those needs and a scratch build is the best choice.   It's too bad the Rosedale didn't work out for you.  It's an absolutely gorgeous house and was so much fun to build.  I added a lacy, laser cut surround to the stairwell on the second floor that made a lovely architectural feature.  With a light at the bottom landing, the view looking in from the back and down the stairs is breathtaking.  

 

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I know it's possible to buy furniture that suits the Rosedale. Your Rosedale looks great.

 

However, I'm coming at it from the opposite direction. I was collecting furnishings long before I bought this dollhouse kit. I wanted a dollhouse to display the miniatures I already have. I didn't check to see if my furniture would fit in the Rosedale because it never occurred to me that it wouldn't. I thought the rooms would be sized comparably to a full-size house. But they very much are not - a problem compounded by the window issue.

 

Here's a picture of the Rosedale with room sizes marked. Even the largest rooms are tiny. The bedroom in my real-life home is 13'x16', and this is not a large room - just medium. Yet it's significantly larger than the largest room in the Rosedale. I can't come close to fitting all my 1/12 scale furniture in these rooms, and the furniture I can fit looks unnaturally cramped. I want a true 1/12 scale model, so (for example) a bedroom that has no room for a wardrobe or closet is no fun for me.

 

And then there is the window problem. The house should open in the front where the windows and front door are (as in the OP picture), not in the back. No one furnishes a real house by putting most everything against the wall with the windows, but that's what the Rosedale forces you to do. In a full-size house, the wall with the windows tends to have the least furniture against it - often none - because the windows would be in the way. With the Rosedale open-in-back design, even when there is enough floor space, the windows are likely to be in the way, greatly compounding the problem.

 

Also, you can't see the pretty front of the house and your miniature collection without turning the entire thing (e.g. on a turntable) - not something I want to do when the dollhouse contains hundreds of tiny fragile miniatures. I have teeny-tiny to-scale crystal, teeny-tiny to-scale ... tons of stuff. I don't want to have to glue everything down with museum wax. I like playing with things.

 

The Rosedale is very pretty, but it's not a good choice for displaying an existing miniature collection, or if you want a scale model house containing all the usual stuff. It's so tricky to furnish that you have to buy furnishings specifically for it. There's nothing wrong with that - it's just not what I wanted the dollhouse for.

 

I'm not going to buy anymore kits. I'm going to build the next one from scratch. I've done it before. I live in a small place, so I can't have two dollhouses here simultaneously. When I'm done with the basic construction on the Rosedale (with the working windows enhancement), I'll list it as an auction on eBay with a low starting price and hope someone buys it. I don't want to throw it away. That would make me feel bad.

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Deb, is your Rosedale without a bathroom? Your poor little people will have to go across the street to pee. :)

 

Your dollhouse looks truly great, but creating a dollhouse without a bathroom would make me very sad. For me, it's not so much a dollhouse as a 1/12 scale model. If it's not correctly to scale or key rooms are missing, I get an itch.

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The missing rooms are in the invisible back half of the house, and I place furniture just as if that back wall was there.  You would have issues that would make you crazy if you built the Washington 2.0, which is just enough smaller than the Primrose I rehabbed rebuilt that I totally made every last stick of furniture, including bathroom fixtures,  to get things to fit.

KathieB was going to make the front of her Beacon Hill front opening, but couldn't figure  a way to do it without drastically altering its appearance.  Maybe you'll have better luck with your Rosedale.

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The Rosedale is a pretty little dollhouse. On reflection, I've decided that, rather than butcher it, I will complete it as designed (with some enhancements, like working windows), then put it up for auction and start again from scratch - no kit. That will ultimately be more satisfying - both in working on the Rosedale, and then the 1/12 model house that can display my collection.

I love my miniature collection. Everything I purchased was the best of its type I could find. The amazingness of each individual item is what drove my choices, rather than whether it would fit a particular house.

I like the Rosedale and I like working on it. It's just not what I need to display my existing collection.

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You could try Real Good Toys, they have front opening kits and possibly larger rooms, depending on the kit. Also, most English houses are front opening and many have large rooms (but watch ceiling height). Check out Dollshouse E,porium, Maple Street Miniatures or Jennifers of Walsall for some options.

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Does your collection have any pieces by Ferd Sobol, by any chance?

 

No Ferd Sobol, but I do have some pieces by exceptional artisans - notably Gerald Crawford. The most expensive piece I ever bought was made by him. He used to make absolutely exquisite 1/12 scale replicas of Early American furniture for Winterthur. The Winterthur catalog for Winter 1990-1991 offered a 1/12 scale working piano (spinet, really) for $8000. I am obsessed with working miniatures, so this was the most spectacular thing I'd ever laid eyes on, but $8000 seemed like too much money so I let it pass (though I still have the catalog). And you know what? I regret it to this day. I wish I'd bought it!

 

I actually tracked down Gerald Crawford a couple years ago and spoke to him on the phone for a few hours. He stopped making miniatures shortly after he made that working 1/12 scale piano because it was a pinnacle challenge for him, and after doing that there was no place else to go. I asked him what it sounded like, and he said it was very high pitched because the wires were so short - sort of ping, ping.

 

I just found a Web site that has close-up pictures of it. I'll post it, along with a picture of the original Winterthur catalog ad, which I scanned a while ago.

I'll also post pictures of the one piece of his I bought on eBay, in a separate message. His stuff goes for big bucks, so I just have this one thing. The workmanship is exquisite - just beautiful. I have many other beautiful pieces made by skilled artisans, but this one is special.

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The sizes of the rooms are actually very realistic when you consider a "real life" house from that time period. People didn't stay in their houses as they do now. They did more outdoor things which is why, even most bedrooms, were much smaller and had angles, nooks and crannies all throughout the home. I've built this house in die cut form and laser cut and I think it's a Brilliant and Beautiful house kit. If you like the more squared rooms, other manufacturers do those and they have support on Facebook. As for most of us here though, we are huge fans of the Greenleaf houses, styles and sizes. ;) :wave:

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You could try Real Good Toys, they have front opening kits and possibly larger rooms, depending on the kit. Also, most English houses are front opening and many have large rooms (but watch ceiling height). Check out Dollshouse E,porium, Maple Street Miniatures or Jennifers of Walsall for some options.

The OP picture is a Real Good Toys dollhouse - the "Front Opening Country Victorian Dollhouse Kit". It's lovely, but it costs $629.

http://www.realgoodtoys.com/products/front-opening-country-victorian-dollhouse-kit

I don't need another kit. I've made dollhouses without a kit in the past, and I can do it again. It's an even more creative process that way.

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The sizes of the rooms are actually very realistic when you consider a "real life" house from that time period. People didn't stay in their houses as they do now. They did more outdoor things which is why, even most bedrooms, were much smaller and had angles, nooks and crannies all throughout the home. I've built this house in die cut form and laser cut and I think it's a Brilliant and Beautiful house kit. If you like the more squared rooms, other manufacturers do those and they have support on Facebook. As for most of us here though, we are huge fans of the Greenleaf houses, styles and sizes. ;) :wave:

Perhaps. But the main point is that it's not big enough for what I wanted a dollhouse for: to display my existing collection of miniature furniture and accessories.

I agree that the Rosedale house is beautiful, and I'm going to complete the construction. I just can't use it for the purpose I had in mind when I bought it. So when I'm done with the basic construction, I'll put it up for auction on eBay and make another house that's big enough to display my collection.

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I can see in the blown-up pictures of the Crawford chair/stool that I need to dust it. I couldn't see the dust without the blow-up.

Also, I realized that the site with the picture of the Crawford spinet is the Crawford family site. Duh.

The furniture by Sobol and Studebaker looks amazing. I can't afford many pieces at this level of artisanship, but I do have just a couple others, and many more that are very good though not at that level. I bought a replica of a Steinway grand piano - not working, but very close. A minister makes them. He started doing it when he was a boy, and when he showed it to Mr. Steinway, he was given permission to put the Steinway name on it - very rare honor. He stopped putting the name on it when Mr. Steinway died.

 

Here's a picture of the piano and a few other things sitting on top of my mantle (see why I need a dollhouse for display?). They aren't great pictures, but you can sort of see. There's a beautiful end-table with a "Tiffany" lamp that really lights (there's another end table and lamp at the other side of the couch - this does not fit in the Rosedale). The throw blanket is handwoven - I bought it from the artist at a miniature show in Philadelphia. That's a real marble coffee table (looks a lot like the one my mother had). It's from the 1890s. And on that table - hard to see), is a real cut-crystal bowl which I bought from the artist at the mini show in Philadelphia. (Don't look at the throw pillows - I don't like those and plan to replace them.) Oh - and the rocking chair is an old Bespaq, I believe. I got it on eBay.

 

There are more and better pictures of these things and more in my Gallery.

 

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Does your collection have any pieces by Ferd Sobol, by any chance?

 

His Web site has articles on his technique - very interesting. I just wish that every link didn't open a new window. Maddening! He needs a new Web developer! The site is impossible to navigate - a shame because there is a lot of interesting content.

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KathieB was going to make the front of her Beacon Hill front opening, but couldn't figure  a way to do it without drastically altering its appearance.  Maybe you'll have better luck with your Rosedale.

Did she actually try it? Maybe I'll message her about it.

I like many things about the Rosedale. I wish there was a way to adapt it. I keep waffling back and forth: adapt it, start fresh, adapt it, start fresh. I really like the working windows I made for it - makes me want to adapt it.

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