Displaying a Dollhouse with Easy Access

It's important to find a way to display a dollhouse that makes it accessible from the front and rear.  To solve this problem we converted an old nook style cafe table.  We attached a piece of wood on the bottom as a shelf and four caster wheels to make it movable.  Now we can display it this way or easily turn it and show off the interior decor.  Affordable , easy and fun.

Bedrooms and Bathroom Pierce Dollhouse

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Sharing pics of the finished dollhouse!

Craft and Music Rooms Pierce Dollhouse

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Sharing pics of the finished dollhouse!

Wiring for Lights DIY Pierce Dollhouse Christmas LEDs

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Lighted dollhouses are so lovely.  I got inspiration to wire up the dollhouse in a cost effective functional way that works for me.  I hot glued siding planks to the edge of the house on the first and second floors.  Then with 2 sided duck brand tape (the only one strong enough) I ran one 20 count of battery operated white LED Christmas lights behind each floors plank.  For the attic I attached the tape directly to the eaves and added the final string.  It is a surprisingly warm glow.  These lights also had a timer so the house will come on 6 hours and go off for 18 in between so it will automatically light up every night.

Pierce Dollhouse Exterior Finished

Big and not easy to photograph

Closeup of front entry

I am so pleased with the finishing details for the exterior of this dollhouse!  Loving it!

Exterior Details on the Pierce Dollhouse

Dragonfly and also added shutters

Shingles and siding

The siding is done I've used scallop edges and plank siding.  The roof is also finished.  I added a little dragonfly to the entry gable.  I've been focused more on working on the house rather than documenting it. 

Fresh Windows Pierce Dollhouse

Double window

Oval window

Little details like adding the window 'glass' and fresh paint around the inside of them feels good.  It brings finished touches to the project at a time when my energy reserves feel the lowest.

Pain in the Ass Window Trim Pierce Dollhouse

Looking Up

Bay side

Right side

The window trim in this dollhouse kit is a pain in the ass.  Plain and simple.  Each window has an exterior sill, 2 sides, a top and a topper then the inside has a sill, 2 sides and a top.  For those not keeping track that is 9 pieces per window.  Insanity.

Painting Window Trim Accents Pierce Dollhouse

Purple everywhere

A pretty soft shade of purple the same as the porch flooring for the window trim accent pieces.

Painting Window Trim Pierce Dollhouse

Knocking it out quickly

I came up with a great trick to help me quickly paint the large amount of window pieces that this Pierce build has given me.  Laying them all down on masking tape made them super easy to paint smoothly.  I can even lift and move them.  The toppers looked a little like a skeleton when I moved them.

Kitchen Bay Side and Porch Floor Painting Pierce Dollhouse

Exterior

Kitchen Bayside

The kitchen bay side and the tower both have gaps that I was able to fill with wooden skewers.  I added a final paint coat to the porch.  The two greens look so similar that I decided to scrap the accent green in favor of a cream.

Porch from side door opening

Porch from front door opening

Building the Tower and Painting Their Spaces

Tower when I started adding interior paint

Tower as it is drying

The tower is one of the magical aspects of this dollhouse.  I accented them within each room with special solids and this is the first coat.  I will add more coats to enrich the color as they dry.

The Tower 

Wallpaper Installed and Stairwell Details Pierce Dollhouse

All the rooms

The wallpaper is all put up.  The second floor and attic were a breeze but I was puzzled with the first floor rooms.  After much consideration I went with my gut.  Fancy three papers at the entry and a low key warn look with the same paper as the attic for the kitchen.  I shared a closeup of the stairwell details.  I like how it looks like carved wood.

***The pics below show the tower and kitchen bay installed.  I just added these pics to give you more close ups of the room wallpapers.  The building posts for those areas will be added in the near future.

craft room

Kitchen (same paper as attic)

Second Bedroom

Living Room Right

Living Room Left

Master

Thinking and Working on the Walls Pierce Dollhouse

Sloppy 

All the walls are primed and it's time to look forward to wallpaper.  The next blog post will be picture heavy so you can see each room.  Exciting!

Second Floor Partitions and Third Floor Pierce Dollhouse

Adding more floors

Today I got the second floor partitions put up and I added the third floor.  I'm going to start planning wallpaper now.  I have an idea of what I'd like to use but it's mostly about room layout.

Erecting Walls for Pierce Dollhouse

Becoming three dimensional

I'm not disappointed with the size.  The sheer enormity of this house makes me feel giddy.  I smiled ear to ear as I watched her coming together.  This initial step is what gets my passion to create the dollhouse in motion.  The days of procrastinating become quickly replaced with steady work and a strong desire to show up each day.  Even if only to admire what steps I've achieved and planning where to go next.

Getting the Base and Floors Prepared Pierce Dollhouse

Trellis porch detail

Painting the floors

The base is ready for construction I went ahead and plank lined the 2nd floor and attic the same way with pencil every centimeter and faux stained it with tinted acrylic glaze. 

New Dollhouse Build Greenleaf Pierce Victorian

Stairwell

Stairwell 

With this build I jumped right into construction straight out of the box organizing sheets.  I started prepping the base with flooring plank lines and stain.  I am painting the porch floors the same color as the second accent color ash lavender and the trellis underneath the first accent color grey sky which is a greenish smokey color.  The house will have a main color of moon white which is a pale seafoam color.  Victorians are fun for their unique colors and I completely embraced that.

The stairs are drying now they were very hard and I needed to tweak them many times.  I was planning the stairs to be two tone wood grain and cream but during construction the glue didn't apply clean enough for wood grain in the places I needed.  So I may need to scrap that plan.

Finished and Furnished Westville Dollhouse

The Westville dollhouse is now done it's been a wonderful project.  This is also blog post number 1111 sweet what a great day.  Happy New Year!

Shingles on the Roof Westville Dollhouse

The shingles are on one side. Even using the manufacturers suggestion for taping them is taking a lot of time since the birch sheets are all broken up in the box. I've applied the paint with a slight texture to it.