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good furniture for a young child


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does anyone know of good furniture for a young child to have in a dollhouse? i will need something that is sturdy and not too aweful expensive. any ideas. i am continuing to look as i am posting this, but i thought maybe some of you may have some good ideas too.

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Izzy has the guidecraft stuff that came with her house. It is good and solid. www.guidecraft.com and I also got her some other stuff that I cannot remember , plan toys? I will have to think about it.

THe other thing I have done is get dollar store pieces, although they are slightly out of scale she does not know and I have simply stained or painted them for her...at a buck a piece they are practically disposable.

The teething puppy did damage some things, Izzy has not. She got her house for Xmas (21 mos) and is 27 mos now.

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i have thought about the dollar store furniture, my local dollar tree has some furniture, but no beds, kitchen stuff, bathroom, soooo, i am a bit stuck. i have thought about a large piece set that HBS sells, but again it doesn't have all the pieces i need/want. i have quite a bit of time, because she won't be getting it until christmas, but i was thinking about buying a house and reenforcing the joints as some people suggested in my previous thread and putting inexpensive furniture in it for her to play with. i don't want to spend too much money because i don't have that much money with another baby on the way. soooo, any help or advice on how to do this and keep it relatively cheap, so to speak, would be great. i really feel bad asking this this way because i don't want people to think that i don't want to spend money on my child, because it is nothing like that, it is simply that the money isn't there right now. and i can't return to work until the first of the year, soooo.

thank you all so much for responding and understanding.

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Might want to check out ebay, I've seen a few people that have a bunch of plastic furnature which would be good for a little one.

Or you could try some of the furnature kits...they seem quite sturdy and would be good for play. And if they last a few years, maybe she can help you refinish them.

It's the gift that keeps on giving lol

Good luck!!

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i don't want people to think that i don't want to spend money on my child, because it is nothing like that,

actually I couldnt imagine spending oodles of money on a child so young dollhouse furniture.

little fingers dont understand delicate!

if you want her to play with it and not worry about it. the Corona kits are reasonably priced

can be decorated in any style and replaced easily if broken.

also check E-bay....

also foam blocks covered in material makes a nice bed. you can also use foam blocks and poster board for sofas and chairs.

nutti :ohyeah:

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Empty thread spools make nice dh chairs and Pieces of packinng styrofoam can be cut, glued and covered with fabric scraps to make sofas & chairs. Invest a few cents for a 1/4" dowel at Wally World and help yourself to a sample of counter-top plastic from the hardware store display and cut sections of dowel 2" long and glue them to the four corners of the sample piece for a table.

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Large sponges can be cut to appropriate sizes for beds (the fluffy, soft rectangular sponges are nicer than the ones that feel wet coming out of the bag). Wrap in fabric. Cut a headboard from cardboard and either paint that or wrap it in fabric too.

Same method works to make simple, modernist chairs and sofas. One chunk of sponge for the seat; one for the back. Put buttons on the bottom for low feet if you like.

Large spools make good end tables. Smaller spools with large buttons on top are nice counter stools.

Sometimes, the bits-of-wood section of craft stores will have bits-of-wood shaped like table lamps!

At thrift stores, keep an eye out for salt and pepper shakers shaped like kitchen appliances. Several lines were made, and they'll be cheap at thrift stores because often only one shaker shows up. Scale is usually closer to 1:18, but when the kid is old enough to notice, she's also old enough to be gentle with better furniture.

Alternately, the Corona Concepts kits also give you a lot of furniture for very little $$$ -- you can save a ton of time by spray priming them, then spray-painting in nice colors. Do any detail decorating with stickers or glue-on motifs. The one problem with this method is that the furniture is too hefty for some of the smaller GL houses. (I'd bet it'd fit nicely in a Laurel, though.) Once it's built, the furniture should stand up to anything short of a toddler sitting on it.

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what about an Arthur for the house, and i could make the furniture. there are some kits on ebay for like 25.00 for six rooms worth of furniture. i could make those pieces and paint them. i ordered one of the furniture sets for a house i am already doing so that i can see how sturdy they are. it looks like the seller usually has them, i hope. then i could order another furniture set next week, and the house the next week, so that i have them already and all i have to do is put them together before christmas. would make me feel a lot better to have it all already. so that i know i won't be stuck trying to get it closer to time. do ya'll think this will work. i don't have an arthur, but i was looking and i think the house would work.

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I have an Arthur, and it would make a great first dollhouse. It's fairly open, and a good size.

I wouldn't put in the windows, though - little hands poke and prod through small openings, so I would leave the windows empty. I think I would leave off the roof trim, because it could be easily broken, and might even cause injury if a little face bumped into it (as little faces often bump unexpectedly into things that little eyes are examining).

Check out fabric/craft stores for the sturdy, chunky furniture - it's the same as the stuff the toy stores sell, but cheaper. These items are a little simpler and, possibly, sturdier than the dollar store furniture - easier for small hands to grasp and play with. All the suggestions already made for crafting your own pieces are great, too. If you have matchboxes, they can be glued together to make chests of drawers. Look for older books on miniatures in your library - they often have very cheap, quick and easy furniture project ideas.

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in looking at the arthur i had already thought that i would probably leave off all the trim, just for fear that she would get a little to curious and try to pull on it or something. she never has before, but you never know, she will only be two. i thought it looked pretty good and spacious for a little kid to start out on.

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Do leave off the trim as well as the door and windows (you can add them later when she is older). When I finished my Arthur kit DS#2's fiancee asked me if I would give it to her for her 6 year old niece for Christmas and I said, of course (pursuant to another discussion on another forum, I build DOLLHOUSES, not scale-miniature buildings). Said fiancee has become a dh collector primarily because when the niece and her nearly 3 yo little brother were visiting the first thing little brother did was to grab the finials and snatch them right off the roof and fiancee decided she not only didn't want the little brother to destroy the house, but that SHE wanted it for herself. You may or may not also want to wait to install the stairs (which are rather delicate) until she is older.

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