Table for a dollhouse, what do you use?

[smjsome]

What do you have your large houses supported on? Tips, ideas? How do make it still movable?  Please tell me everything, I want to make sure my house doesn't die a crashing death.

While I was on vacation this winter, my husband bought a heavy large house, assembled, the Newport.  Then, I acquired the addition kit, which will add onto that heavy.  It is all going in my attic work space.  we decided to go all in and make it a huge house, with landscaping, everything.    This will be a very long term project.

I have a space that is 60 inches long.

my other houses are small, much smaller, and undecorated they are very light.  As I decorate, they of course, gain weight, but I can still move them as needed.  Today, I tried to carry just the Newport, undecorated, to my attic, and I'm pretty sure I nearly died.  And it's just the frame of it, no decor, no landscaping,  etc.

My plan is to not fully attach the house to the base, or to fully attach the addition, how do I do that and make it stable?

i also bought a small house, I may try to make it an addition as well ... And I have picked up some broken garden structures, I think I can repair them and use them in the landscaping.

[Soapz]

I use IKEA coffee or side tables - usually LACK series - and attach wheels. LACK is really square - no rounded edges and can be easily altered. Connect two of them and you have a sturdy table. They are cheap but hold up rather well:

IKEA tables........

[JustCallMeAnna]

We built tables for my DC Victorian and for the beach bash that I'm building out of pallets and added casters so that they can be moved.  The top on the Beach house table is inset so that the house can't slide off. The top on the other is just a flat top, because when we built it I wasn't sure what the plans for it were.

Beach

[Soapz]

Forgot the photo _ I have a Worthington on that table:

 

 

[smjsome]

I love both those ideas!  Reuse is such a great idea!  And it's a dog bed too.  I didn't know you could add wheels to a lack - 

spent the morning digging in the basement, (my kids left stuff here when they moved from England to Las Vegas to OKC) and stuff left over from my laundry roof redo, and I found a table top from Ikea that weighs a ton, I think I may have a broken toe .... Cause it bounces too.  So it's on the basement stair landing waiting for help, it's a two people carry.  I also found some Ikea legs.  And an Ikea thing, I think it's part of a desk.  

it will work out, because there is an an Ikea Kallax in that spot, and I can assemble the whole thing into a very heavy Tableshelf.  It won't be movable unfortunately, but it will be free.  The table top is about 6 inches longer than the Kallax, so I'm trying to decide if I can cut out a chunk, glue the end back on,so the cut is disguised

I just hope my attic floor is strong enough!!

[KathieB]

Great solution! Nothing like shopping at home! 

[rodentraiser]

I went on Craig's List and found a TV cabinet, the kind that's 4 ft long and 16 inches wide with a flat top where you put the TV (not the kind that looks like an amoire). Anyway, it has two long shelves for the VCR or DVD player (wallpaper fits in there perfectly), two small cabinets with doors on either side some furniture), and a drawer in the middle (supplies) with another open space above that (more kits). So lots of storage.

One of the things I was looking for was a sofa table and I've seen s bunch of those that have a shelf on the bottom for holding boxes and such. None of them were the size, shape, or price I could afford, so I ended up with the TV cabinet.

[nuttiwebgal]

I went to a thrift store to look for something for the Queen....I was looking for sturdiness and storage...I found both in a gently used buffet

we will add wheels to it when we add the base to the bottom for Landscaping...it may not be the final place for the house as its a tad tall for sitting and working...the Granville sits on a 100yr old heavy duty Piano bench!

[smjsome]

So many ideas, thank you!  Now I'm trying to figure out how to attach the addition, without really attaching it.  I don't want it to noticeable, and fit together naturally, yet if I need to move it, I can. 

Have any of you done that?

[KathieB]

4 minutes ago, smjsome said:

So many ideas, thank you!  Now I'm trying to figure out how to attach the addition, without really attaching it.  I don't want it to noticeable, and fit together naturally, yet if I need to move it, I can. 

Have any of you done that?

Magnets?

[WyckedWood]

This wouldn't work for what you need but in case anyone else is looking for ideas...my Beacon Hill fits perfectly on the top of an antique or vintage sewing machine table, found at the thrift shop and painted white. It's worked out really well. All of my other houses (except the sugarplum which fits anywhere) I've struggled to find places and ways to display them, the Pierce with its L shape being the most challenging. 

[queenannediva]

My RGT Queen Anne sits on an 8' long Correll banquet table and my RGT Foxhall Manor sits on a 6' long one, both are 30" deep..  These tables fold up for storage, they have five adjustable heights and I added casters for easy moving - they are perfect for working on the houses.

[jbnmini]

4 hours ago, WyckedWood said:

This wouldn't work for what you need but in case anyone else is looking for ideas...my Beacon Hill fits perfectly on the top of an antique or vintage sewing machine table, found at the thrift shop and painted white. It's worked out really well. All of my other houses (except the sugarplum which fits anywhere) I've struggled to find places and ways to display them, the Pierce with its L shape being the most challenging. 

I've been lucky to find some low coffee tables at yard sales, and I have a sofa table for my Highland....but the challenge has been my Barrington for the same reason as the Pierce- the L-shape!  However, looking at some of those square IKEA tables, I think I might just have to check them out! 

 

[miniaddicted]

I have my Newport on an Ikea table - this table came with 4 chairs, and I really just wanted it for the table. Can't recall what the name of it was. Then I got one of those zero clearance turntable, so that I could rotate it.

My Seaside is on one of those turntables that are built for dollhouses. I got a square piece of plywood and covered with 'grass' and it fits perfectly on this table.

 

 

[smjsome]

Oh that's nice!

[Dalesq]

You all will hate me....but one of the things I love about half scale is that my houses fit inside my curio cabinet. No dust! Others easily fit on a bookshelf.  

The 1:12 scale Big T has its own little table and sits against a wall to minimize dust, but I'd like to find something with casters for it.

[vtskijunkie]

@SoapzCan you provide details on the casters you installed on the Ikea table?  Where you purchased them, how you installed them, etc.?

[Soapz]

I got the casters from Home Depot and just screwed them in. They have them in non-marking rubber from Everbilt: 

Casters

Just make sure they fit. I got the 2-inch plates and that worked perfectly.

And this is the table:

Lack coffee table

[vtskijunkie]

@Soapz Thank you!

[Judy Buchsel]

On 4/4/2016, 9:36:16, WyckedWood said:

This wouldn't work for what you need but in case anyone else is looking for ideas...my Beacon Hill fits perfectly on the top of an antique or vintage sewing machine table, found at the thrift shop and painted white. It's worked out really well. All of my other houses (except the sugarplum which fits anywhere) I've struggled to find places and ways to display them, the Pierce with its L shape being the most challenging. 

Im getting ready to build the Beacon Hill!  Im going to thrift store but what i need is one for my Duracraft Farmhouse #505.  I still have it on my 6 ft work table and I need it for the Beacon.  So wish me luck..I think I'm gonna get my niece to take me to HD and get a board and put it across these two utility drawers I have..hope it works.  It's not easy for me to do much shopping.

[Teadrinker]

Hello, glad to find this post.
My dollhouse is an original, built in 1990 or so by a wonderful woman from Amherst, MA, who is now sadly dead. 
She made it as a donation for a public television auction, and I was the high phone bidder. 
It fit perfectly in-between two bedroom windows on a long window seat in 5-year old daughters bedroom which she enjoyed playing with very much.

She’s now a mother to two children, one being a girl who’s almost four years old.

i bought a second home close to them and am scheduling a move of furniture along with her dollhouse for my grand daughter to start using!

There are no windows seats in this house. 

Overall, the dollhouse is 31 Wide, 21.25 D, 38 H.

What height should a table be for a child to comfortably play with and rearrange furniture in a dollhouse? How much space should I allow on the table for her to take things out, consider, then put back again? Ideally, it should have one or two large drawers to put unused dollhouse junk inside. Also, ideally, there should be a lip around the table to prevent things from slipping off onto the floor only to be stepped on and crunched.  

shes almost 4. I forgot at what age my daughter got into her dollhouse, maybe 8–10?  
 

thank you! 

 

 

 

[havanaholly]

You might measure the base of your dollhouse to get the footprint size and then hit those thrift stores that sell furniture and look for a coffee table with the dimensions to include play space.  If it doesn't have drawers you could put the cloth baskets underneath to hold the unused items.  I hope your 4 year old is a careful child, or that her momma will supervise her when she plays with the dollhouse.

[IndyCindy]

I have my Newport on top of a small antique dresser that originally belonged to my great grandmother. Before it became my Newport “stand”, it was literally just taking up space and collecting dust in our garage. The drawers are handy to hold miniature items such as seasonal decorations.

I think turntables are a must have, really with any piece larger than a room box. Turntables make (miniature) life easier and more enjoyable because you have access to 360 degrees of your mini house, even if it’s placed near a (real life) wall.