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!

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Making of Mossy Grove landscaping

The landscaping is complete. I left some room for the new owner to add their own touches. There is a tutorial on the mushrooms in Dollhouse Miniatures magazine issue 99. It should be available mid-May. Check my eBay store to secure a copy. 

My good buddy, Jeff Winkle, sent me a treasure box of all sorts of landscaping material a few year ago. There was a lot of different things to choose from. I also had some things in my stash. I used some slate slabs for the path and random special little rocks I have found on my journey’s.

A hiding place for the LED batteries.

I also finally resolved the drawer knob and attached it to the drawer! This weekend I will engrave the name plaque!

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The making of Mossy Grove Dollhouse 2

I was cruising along and then ran into a little bit of a problem with my electric.

I forgot to test the three lights on the battery that I had and one of them was red which definitely will not work as a candle! I ordered a new orange flickering light but in the meantime I decided to get the roof finished.

I have been collecting pine cones for this project over the last year. I feel like they make a wonderful fantasy roof. They can be prickly on your fingers so I have to work slowly and carefully.

So I have to take apart some of the exterior to get the red light out and down into the fireplace and install the new orange light on the mantle.

I made all of the lights from beads and a glass globe (upstairs on the little table) I have had forever! I was in a little bit of a panic because I knew I wanted to use it and after 20 years of holding on to this darn thing I couldn't find it, but thank goodness I found it staged in a box  in Ophelia's dollhouse attic!

I added some rust to the outdoor lantern and ran the wire inside after drilling a hole underneath. I will cover the wire with ivy later.

The ran the battery and extra wires into a hole in the back yard and made little removable  lid with the logs. The landscaping is next...

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The making of Mossy Grove Dollhouse

Originally this was going to be similar to my elf tree house at about 3/4" scale, but I changed my mind as I was drawing it out and went ahead and made it one-inch scale. I am building this one to sell when finished!

I wanted to incorporate a little more of my mixed media art in this piece so there will be some découpage in the finishings. After everything is drawn out on graph paper, I then build the structure. I forgot to take some photos because I was really into the build in the moment. I started this one around November last year.

Exterior is all framed out with basswood!

Next I filled in all the areas with spackle and painted them. Then one last stain on the trim! Now it's time to stain the timbers again.

The fireplace is paper clay on top of gator board. Then I gave it a gray wash and added stone  colors. 

The faux stone floor is ready for grout!

I finished the interior and made the front door. I had those iron hinge accents in my stash for a very long time so I decided to use them for this piece and then just do a regular pin hinge for the door.

I framed out where all of the stone steps and walls would be and then started sculpting them with paper clay. I painted them and gave them their first base wash of a green moss color but there will be much more to add in the future! The chimney took the longest to do but I like how it turned out.

The stained glass windows are in!!

Now I need to resolve the electric! I'll be sharing more as I continue. I hope you enjoyed taking this miniature journey with me!

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