A couple of weeks ago Noah turned two and had an amazing “House Warming Party” for her dollhouse that Michael Luke and I built for her. Now it’s time to invite you inside for a tour!
First, I would like to tell you a little about the house. I decided earlier this year that I wanted to give Noah a dollhouse for her birthday. My DIY-Go-Getter attitude wanted to build one completely from scratch… you know the Pinterest way. After a little thinking I decided that might not be the best route since it would require a lot of help from ML. Not that he wouldn’t help but he’s pretty limited on his free time as it is. Thankfully, I found a solution to my DIY problem while at Hobby Lobby back during the summer. Hobby Lobby sells dollhouse kits! Everything (for the most part) that you need comes in one box… pre-cut. This was more up my alley but the price wasn’t.
The Vermont Famhouse Jr. that I wanted was priced at $99. That was about $50 more than what I wanted to spend. I waited. And waited. And waited until Hobby Lobby sent me a coupon. The dollhouse was still going to end up costing me more than I wanted to spend but it was better than $99 but God had a little surprise for me. The store had accidentally priced the dollhouse for $79. They honored that price and gave me the discount from it bringing the total of the house down to $49! I was one happy momma.
I bought the house with about three months to spare until Noah’s big day. I really thought was enough time… but in reality it wasn’t. Dollhouses take forever to build and I cut a lot of corners since this was going to be a house to play with instead of for display. I’m not sure who builds houses for that reason but apparently some people do.
One of the first instructions of the massive manual that came with the house was to select paint colors. Easy enough. Except that they suggested riding around your neighborhood and choosing traditional colors. Boring! I wanted these homeowners to be able to find their house in a blizzard. Something fun. Which is where the Kiwi Green and Caribbean Blue color scheme into play. I used Apple Barrel paint for the exterior of the house. If I had to do it again… which I assure you I will not, I would have primed the house first before painting because that wood ate up some green paint.
Looking at the house it might not look like a lot of work. I’m pretty sure ML and I logged close to 100 hours on this thing. Each little roof shingle was individually painted and then glued on. We slept one hour the night before her party because we were busy shingling the roof and finishing up the inside. Thank goodness for our Pandora Broadway station and coffee because it was like finals week all over again. Except this time I’m several years older and love sleep which makes a huge difference in how you feel the next day.
Wrapping up the exterior part of the tour are the windows. Each window frame had to be built from six pieces and the shutters were three pieces each. We for real built a house! Thankfully, some of construction drawing classes and five years of experience came in handy and reading the plans was a breeze.
Now for the interior! I’ll try to talk a lot less… but no promises.
The first floor was supposed to be divided into two rooms but I choose the open floor plan concept that is popular in houses right now. I figured it would give Noah more room to play.
The grandparents helped to furnish the downstairs. ML’s parents gave Noah all the living room furniture. (The arm chair looks a little weird because I didn’t notice it was only on two feet when I took the picture.
The mirror hanging on the wall is a Christmas ornament that I painted and hung up.
My parents furnished the kitchen area. Noah loves that all the drawers and doors open and close.
I used some of our left over paint for the interior of the house. The downstairs color is Sherwin Williams Lemon Chiffon. The same color we used in our kitchen.
The master bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house. The paint color here is Sherwin Williams Rain. The same color as our master bedroom.
I made the beds and headboards out of a cut up Pull-Ups box and used scrap pieces of fabric from Noah’s room for the comforter and drapes.
The picture on the wall was the book jacket for the book we sent Esther. I thought it was a nice little reminder.
The draperies are attached to chopsticks that have been painted and cut to work as rods. This part was really easy and so far Noah hasn’t tried to pull them down or anything.
The couple… is a bride and groom Madame Alexander McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Doll. The family I ordered off of Amazon ended up being sold out after I placed my order the week of Noah’s birthday. So these guys made a great backup. They have bendable legs and arms and their eyes blink. I’m pretty sure they are the permanent residents of this house now.
My sister and her family furnished the bathroom. This might be Noah’s favorite room. Every doll in the family always has clean hands and plenty of trips to the “potty”.
So the little girl that lives in the children’s room is actually Sleeping Beauty. I picked her up earlier this year thinking she would make a good fit because she came with outfits to change into. I was right.
The beds were made the same way as I mad the master bed. This fabric was a scrap piece from one of Noah’s dresses this summer.
Sleeping Beauty came with two little critters who wouldn’t be welcome in most houses but enjoy roaming around this little dollhouse. We picked up the panda bear when we bought Esther hers. We thought it would be fun to have a scaled down version in the house. Another reminder of our little girl to come.
The rug was made by cutting up a scrap piece of fabric and gluing it onto cardboard.
The gowns.
The paint color in this room is Sherwin Williams Silver Strand… the same as Noah’s room.
That brings us to the end of Noah’s dollhouse tour. I hope you enjoyed it. Noah certainly does. Hopefully, Esther will too because we aren’t building two of these. It may be Noah’s gift but it’s everybody’s house.
You may be wondering if this was appropriate for a two year old. It’s really a case by case basis. There are small parts but Noah doesn’t really put anything in her mouth and all in all she is gentle player. She already had a small portable dollhouse that she had been playing with. So I knew that she knew how to play with a dollhouse and would enjoy it. I look forward to watching Noah and Esther play with over the years.
Did you have a dollhouse growing up? Do you have plans to build one someday? Or maybe just buy one because there is certainly no shame in that?
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