A Dollhouse Cottage

Here I go again! I'm building a 1:12 house that is more modern (as far as the time period). The last time I did this was with my Kinfeld. You can see that in detail HERE 

Here are my chicken scratch plans! I usually sit down, have a coffee, and start drawing out my ideas on graph paper. Then I think about it for a few days and then make 1:12 scale measurements.


I am working with Gator board to keep this little cottage lightweight. I recommend always using a skill saw or jigsaw to cut this board. It’s basically like foam board but has a plaster coating on both sides. I only recommend a saw because I ended up with a rotator cuff injury while cutting gator board by hand with a utility knife for my French cottage. I did have a very small injury on my arm from running into a pointed piece of furniture a few days before and cutting the gator board really did me in! It took 2 years to recover and my arm still isn’t the same. Now I don’t take any chances and always use a saw.

Here I have started making the base that will be under the first floor because there will be steps up to the porch/front door.




After I assembled the first floor, I started cutting the walls with window holes. For the walls I have used .5” thick foam board cut with an X-ACTO knife.




I added the front door to its wall with a pin hinge. I make my doors from scratch with basswood and mat board. It took a few tries to get the right shade of blue, but now I am finally happy!

So here are all the walls installed. The left opening will be a big bay window.


While building I stopped and made the stairs. I framed them out with cardboard, mat board and wood. I placed them in and cut the second floor from gator board to be sure they fit correctly as far as height.


Then I cut all the wood step-tops from basswood and will be sanding and staining them.

The bay window is made from basswood and Plexiglass.

I used to always have at least one room with William Morris wallpaper as my signature. (I discovered his work back in art college and loved it ever since.) I used to have to search the internet for just one little swatch and then build it in Photoshop. Well, now you can find his patterns already made into dollhouse wallpaper everywhere. Now I use whatever design I find online that makes me happy and make my own wallpaper. I found this pretty one and used Photoshop to make a larger sampling.

I want this little cottage to be a happy place that is bright and up-lifting. In fact, I have named this build “Her Nest”.  We will see if the name changes during the build. 

The wallpaper is up and now I will continue on with the wainscoting!