I took an ugly, traditional Vermont Farmhouse Jr dollhouse and renovated it to my own taste and style with a DIY touch!

I took an ugly, traditional Vermont Farmhouse Jr dollhouse and renovated it to my own taste and style with a DIY touch!

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Where do I begin? I began wishing for the beautiful furniture I saw displayed in Nutshell News so long ago. Always anxious for the next issue to be delivered, hoping that there would be an article in it with directions for making upholstered furniture. At last, July 1994, "Do it Yourself", page 94, Ray Whitledge publishes an article "A Sofa from Scratch". This is a very good starting place, it's where I started and I am thankful to Mr. Whitledge to this day. I am going to try to give you a starting place in this tutorial. I am using some of Mr. Whitledge's technique and I've changed the pattern. I started out today on Google Images, using the key words "living room upholstered chairs". Lots of images came up. For you, beginners, I began looking for a certain design: a skirt, no legs; no "T" cushions; simple lines. I know, "That's so boring, Kris." You've got to walk before you can run. You can do so many variations of this once you get used to making upholstered furniture. I found what I was looking for plus measurements. Measurements are very important and the more measurements listed the better off you will be. Full-size furniture measurements aren't chiseled in granite, that's to say you don't have convert your miniature exactly to the full-size measurements. Changes can be made and sometimes should be made. This started out to be a tutorial on drafting from full-size furniture. I started making changes to the pattern size, some just arbitrary, that's when I stopped and decided to give you a pattern and show you how to make a chair and let you go from there. Converting full-size measurements are certainly an excellent place to start. I recommend going out to a furniture store with your tape measure in hand and taking a few standard measurements like: heights of backs of different styles, side to side widths, widths of arms, width and depth of seats, height of arms from floor, height of seat cushion from floor and any others I may have forgotten. Take a few pictures if you can. Keep these measurements in a notebook for quick reference. Keep in mind that the full-size furniture we have now is a larger scale than furniture from the 19th century. Doll house rooms are smaller that our full-size rooms. With that knowledge we know that adjustments must be made. This is a picture of my "Ethan Allen" room box. I made mock ups of the furniture from poster board to see if I had to change the sizes. The pieces are just simple shapes representing the size. If I need to adjust, I know it now, not after I've spent hours making that special piece that just won't fit. I have a very good book to recommend, I hope it's still available, maybe there are used ones on Amazon. The name of the book is How to Build Miniature Furniture and Room Settings by Judy Beals. The front of the book says, "Techniques for building and modifying furniture kits, scratch building and upholstering furniture, and a step-by-step guide to building, decorating, and wiring a 19th century room box. That says it all, lot's of questions answered. This book has patterns for a wing chair and Queen Anne settee. She uses 3/16" bass wood for the body of the upholstered furniture, what a coincidence . . . . . foam core is 3/16" thick and you can use it instead. This is the chair I found to draft and build. I did change the back to an upholstered back, not a loose pillow back. Something you can do later. This pattern can be modified with a round top back, camel back, keep the square corners of the back but give the top of the back an arc; you can have the arms sweep out, you can make the rounded part of the arm larger; if you have access to legs you can make the seat base thinner and leave the skirt off and add legs; you can widen the chair to make a sofa; you can lengthen the seat to make a chaise; as always have fun, expand on it, make it better . . . . I did want to show you how I begin. I always write the conversion of 1 inch scale down. You would think after all of these years I would have it memorized, just lazy I guess. Before we start I want to talk about fabric. It is my opinion that the reason that a piece of furniture fails is because of fabric. There are lots of pretty fabrics out there, not so many for miniatures. Do yourself a favor and begin with simple cotton. I would even go so far as to say you should make the first chair from muslin to get the feel of doing this. I want you to be successful and that's the better choice for the first chair. I make all of the "first" pieces from muslin or white-on-white fabric just to see if everything is all right. I am not ashamed to say that there has been more than a few chairs in my garbage can because things just didn't work out the first time. When you do want to make the chair for a setting try looking at the quilting cottons first, something floral, not patterns that you will have to match. Think of the size of a 1 inch scale doll's hand for the largest size of the flower. Take your sample chair with you to drape the fabric on so you can see what the fabric will look like. Try to stay out of the other departments for now, you will fall in love with something that is, "Just the thing!" and it may be very hard to work with. Glue failure, raveling and fabric being too thick are just a few of the problems you could have. Save that for a little later. I could confuse you with more stuff, but I think you would be better served if I just started you building. Here are the pattern pieces. I put a lot of the information on the pieces for you. I print the pattern on card stock and keep the pattern pieces in zip lock bags with the name of the pattern on the bag. Load the pattern into Paint, I have a 1 inch square in the upper right corner. I have instructions for transferring the patterns at the left of the post, Things to do, Things to see, HOW TO RE-SIZE THE PATTERNS. I will attempt to write instructions for transferring these patterns to Paint. There are four pictures. Left click on the top picture of the front and back. The picture will come up in a new screen. Right click on the picture. This will open a window. Left click on "Copy Image". Move the cursor down to the left corner of your computer screen, to your Windows start button and left click. This opens a window of your programs, left click on Paint. The Paint program should open up. In the tool bar left click on the "paste" icon. The picture of the front and back should appear. I did not have to re-size this pattern, the reason, I know not. I did have to re-size the others. I am going to go through the instructions to re-size. In the tool bar left click on the "select" icon. Draw a box around the patterns. In the tool bar left click on the "re-size" option. A window will open up. This can be a trial and error for a few times. Use percentage, not pixels. As an experiment type 50 in both of the boxes and left click on O.K. Print out your result. If it is not what you want, there are 2 arrows in the tool bar. These arrows point right and left, if you left click on the arrow that points left it will restore what you began with. Left click on the arrow that points left and restore your front and back pattern. I have printed out the patterns and these are the percentages I used: the front and back printed out the right size; for the seat cushion and inside arm cover I typed 45 in both of the boxes; for the back cushion I typed 48 in both of the boxes. I don't know if you will use the same percentages. I hope this helps. If you can not do this print out the patterns and go to a photo copy store and do a trial and error there to get your sizes correct. We are going to make the seat base first. For gluing the chair together I use Tacky glue. Cut from 3/16 inch foam core 4 pieces 2 11/16" x 2 1/4". This foam core is available from Michael's. ALSO,Cut from mat board 2 pieces the same size. Michael's sell mat board back in the framing department. Apply the glue and I smear the glue by moving the pieces around on each other. Be sure you get the glue out to the edges. I used my square to make sure all of the pieces are lined up. Make sure you have good contact and all of the pieces are glued together. Trace the front and back onto mat board. Trace the front onto the back. We need to have the lines on the back to glue to that's in another step. This really matters when you have big sweeping arms and you need a line to follow. Cut your front and back out. Glue the front and back to the seat base. Glue them to the 2 11/16" sides. You should have a 1/16" of front and back left on each side. This extra is for the mat board sides to fit into. From 1/2" dowel cut 2 pieces to fit between the arms. Use tacky glue to glue the dowels into place. Use clamps to secure until dry. Supports for the arms are cut from foam core. Cut 4 pieces to fit between the arms and 5/16" wide. Glue the foam core together one on top of the other, from 4 pieces you now have 2. Glue the supports onto the seat base under the dowels. This supports the card stock cover we are going to glue on next. This is your arm cover pattern. I've put "Dry Fit" on this. You need to always dry fit the pattern first, see if you need to make changes. You are not machines and your chairs will not always be cut out the same, there will be small differences in every chair. I am trying to show you how to curve the arm cover card stock pattern. If you curve it first by pulling the pattern over the edge of the table with your hand on it, it will curve without creasing. You can get a good curve. Dry fit the pattern. Take note of any adjustments you need to make when you draw your actual arm covers, don't change your pattern. Trace the arm cover pattern onto card stock and cut out. Here are my arm covers. Curve them and dry fit again. Apply and smear the tacky glue onto the supports, dowel, back (on the line) and on the front edge. Glue the card stock arm covers onto the chair. If the foam core supports were not under the dowels the arms would be very delicate and easy to mash when we upholster. I do not give a pattern for the sides. I use mat board for the sides. Place a strip of mat board up to the side of the chair under the dowel and behind the front. Trace along the bottom and back of the chair. I've measured 1/16" in on one side, this is the thickness of the back. The mat board has to fit between the front and back pieces. Apply glue to the seat base, front, back and under the dowel and glue the side onto the chair. Your chair is built. This is my sample chair, I used white-on-white fabric to cover it, like muslin it is easy to work with. I also dye the white-on-whites, you get a very pretty tone-on-tone fabric. I use Rit dye. "Why is Kris showing us a rag in a sour cream container?" This is a wet wash cloth, keep it handy for wiping glue off of the fabric and your hands. For a bottom cover set the chair on card stock and trace around the bottom. This is the side that is going to be glued to the bottom of the chair, mark it, mark the front. Cut it out. I use this glue stick to glue the fabric to the card stock. I have found that a sheet of photo paper is great for using as a mat when I apply the glue to the card stock. I can go over the edge and get glue onto the photo paper and the glue dries and I can use the photo paper over and over again, as you can see. The glue doesn't dry fast enough if you use regular paper, it stays sticky. Turn your bottom cover over and apply glue stick. Press your card stock bottom cover onto the wrong side of the fabric. Trim around the card stock. Apply tacky glue to the bottom of the chair, smear it around to cover the whole bottom. Line up your edges and glue the bottom cover onto the bottom of the chair. Smooth the bottom on with your hand. Apply tacky glue to the chair and fold up the extra fabric. I use Thermolam Plus for the batting or padding in my furniture. I buy this from Joann's Fabrics. Joann's usually keeps it by the cutting tables in a rack with the quilt batting. Measure the length of the arm and cut the Thermolam Plus this width. Cut it long enough to go from the seat base over the dowel to just under the dowel. Apply and smear the tacky glue onto the card stock arm cover. Lay the Thermolam Plus onto the arm cover. The Thermolam Plus is glued to just where the dowel stops. Both pieces of Thermolam Plus are glued on. Cut 2 pieces of fabric 2 3/4" x 3 1/4". On the wrong side measure 1/4" on one long side and draw a line. Cut "V" notches to that line. Match the line you drew to the back and glue the end to the side up under the dowel. I have glued both pieces of fabric onto the sides. I have taken a picture of the glue on the back and seat base before I've smeared it so you can see where I have applied it. Be sure to smear the glue to get an even coat and no glue oozes out where you don't want it to. Pull your fabric over the top of the arm, pull tightly and press down into the glue. Apply tacky glue to the back and press the fabric into it. If you are finding you have too many wrinkles around the dowel lift the fabric off the side and pull a little bit and re-glue to the side. This should take the extra fabric out. Make a diagonal cut to the corner of the seat base. Showing what the diagonal cut should look like. Cut "V" notches around the dowel. Apply tacky glue to the front and glue the extra fabric down. In this picture I am showing how I pulled up the fabric from the side and pulled on it a little bit to take the extra fabric out and could smooth the notches around the end of the dowel. You will also have trouble getting the notches to glue down if you have any of the Thermolam Plus hanging over the edge. The fabric has been glued onto the arms. There are other ways of finishing the front of the arms, like accentuating the gathering but not today. Cut a strip of foam core 1/4" wide and 1 3/4" long. This is the spacer for the back cushion. Glue this piece into the back of the chair. This will make your back cushion slant and look comfortable. Measure the length of the side of the chair. Measure the height of the side of the chair. Transfer your measurements to card stock and cut out side covers for your chair. Apply glue stick to the card stock and press the side cover onto the wrong side your fabric. Trim and cut the corners like I have. Apply tacky glue to the top and bottom and fold the extra fabric over to secure. *Just a reminder, when I say apply tacky glue, I want you to smear and smooth the glue so you don't have any glue oozing out, even if I don't write in the directions. You do not need to smooth the glue stick. Apply tacky glue to the side of the chair, be sure to smooth the glue out before you apply the card stock side cover. Smooth the side cover with your hand. Apply glue to the front and back of the chair and press the extra fabric onto the glue. Trace the front pattern onto card stock for a front cover. Cut the front cover out. Apply glue stick to one side and press onto the wrong side of fabric. Trim the fabric like I have done in the picture. Apply tacky glue to the card stock and fold and glue all sides but the top that will be glue onto the seat base. Apply tacky glue to the front of chair and press the front cover onto it. Apply tacky glue to the top of the seat base and glue the extra fabric down. Dry fit the back cushion pattern and make note of any changes that should be made to the final back cushion. Trace the back cushion pattern onto 1 layer of foam core and cut out. Dry fit again. I am carefully bending the top mat board back to tip it out. I know most of you don't have the machines to cut the angle on the seat base as I would have done. This little bend makes the chair look not so boxy from the side. There will 4 layers of Thermolam Plus on the back. Cut out a piece of Thermolam Plus the size of the back cushion and trim off about a 1/4" all around. The second pieces is even all around except at the bottom, it's still 1/4" shorter. The third piece is even all around. Apply tacky glue to the back cushion and glue the Thermolam Plus onto the back cushion starting with the smallest, second and then the third piece. The fourth piece is cut even with the bottom and around the arms. Leave extra at the sides and top to glue onto the edge of the foam core. Apply tacky glue to the edge of the foam core and press the Thermolam Plus onto it. Trim corners and trim even with the back of the foam core. Cut a piece of fabric 4 1/2" x 5". The 5 inches is going from the top to bottom of the back cushion. Trim the fabric like I have done in the picture. Use tacky glue to glue the extra fabric at the bottom onto the back cushion. Trim as I have in the picture. Glue the extra fabric into the arm area. Don't worry if your fabric doesn't come over to the back, as long as you have fabric glued to the side of the foam core the raw edge will be hidden. Apply tacky glue to the top of the back and to the side of the spacer. Put your back cushion into the chair. Square corners used to be a problem. I want to show you a nice way to finish them. Glue the sides of the fabric to the back of the chair. I show the top glued down, too, and I do that but this method lifts and glues a couple of times so if you want you can leave the top un-glued for now since the top isn't long like a sofa would be. Fold your fabric over like I have mine, pull tight. The corner isn't folded exactly like you would a present, but close. Bring the top over, also bring some of the fabric from the first fold to get the final fold on the corner. It won't have a diagonal fold like the end of a wrapped present. Stick a little glue into that fold. Trim out all of the extra fabric. Glue down the top of the fabric. Be sure to trim out the bulk. This is what you should see. This is a perfectly acceptable finish for square corners. I will use this on upholstered seats, the ones without a cushion. Beginning to look good. Dry fit the back pattern and make note of any changes you need to make on the final back cover. Trace the back onto card stock for a back cover and cut out. Apply glue stick to the back cover and press onto the wrong side of fabric. Trim around the back cover like I have shown in the picture. Apply tacky glue to the card stock back cover and fold the extra fabric over and glue down. Glue the back cover to the back of your chair. Some of you might not like the seams showing. If you don't this is the time to add boxing to the back. Measure the width of the corner. Do not include the back cover. You want the boxing to be glued just next to the back cover. I measured 3/8". I drew my lines on the wrong side of the fabric and I will cut the strip out. I applied a little glue into the seam where the side of the back meets the top of the arm. I used a toothpick to push the end of my boxing into that seam. Apply tacky glue to the edge of the back cushion, smear smooth and press the boxing into place. Do not pull any loose threads, cut them. Make sure the boxing is glued all along the edges. You can glue piping or other trim along the raw edge. Just another view. Dry fit the seat cushion pattern and take note if any changes need to be made. Trace the seat cushion onto 1 layer of foam core and cut out. Dry fit the seat cushion. There are 3 layers of Thermolam Plus on the top and 1 layer on the bottom of the seat cushion. Cut the first piece 1/4" smaller all around and the second piece is cut even all around. Use tacky glue to glue the Thermolam Plus onto the seat cushion starting with the smaller piece. Cut a strip of Thermolam Plus the width of the seat cushion. This is glued to the bottom of the seat cushion. Bring the end of the Thermolam Plus up the front of the seat cushion and onto the top. Trim the Thermolam Plus even with the sides and back. Cut a piece of fabric 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". Use tacky glue to glue the extra fabric from the front and back to the bottom of the seat cushion. Apply tacky glue to the fronts and backs at the ends. Smear some of the glue onto the fabric. Fold the extra fabric over just as you would when wrapping a present. Press the little "ear" of fabric left at the bottom. Get the fabric glued together. Only do this on the bottom of the seat cushion. You are looking at the front of the seat cushion, you can see the fullness from the Thermolam Plus. You can also see the little "ears" at the bottom that I have pressed together. I haven't folded the top down, yet. I have applied the tacky glue, I haven't smeared it, yet. Smear it into the tips that will be the top corners. This is a side of the seat cushion. I have cut off the bottom "ears" of fabric. The piping will cover that seam. Apply a little more glue into that top corner fold a press together with your fingers to make it less noticeable. Measure the corner of the seat cushion for boxing. I know this looks like it's almost a 1/2" wide. It looks better if you cut the boxing less than that. You can experiment, but I usually cut my at 3/8". Cut the boxing just like you did for the back cushion. Glue it on using tacky glue. At this point I add my piping. I have a tutorial showing "How to make piping for a pillow" in the listing at the left. Cut card stock strips 11/16" wide for the skirts. I usually have my piping on at this point, my fault, I forgot. You will see piping on the chair in the pictures after I show you how to make the skirts. So make believe I have piping on the front and I've set my card stock strip up to the front to measure the length for the front skirt. Cut the card stock to the length of the front. Apply glue stick to one side and press onto the wrong side of your fabric. Trim the extra fabric as I have in the picture. Apply tacky glue to the card stock and fold the extra fabric over to secure. How did that piping get there? Apply glue to the top edge of the skirt and smear smooth and press onto the front of the chair. Set the strip of card stock up to the side of the chair and measure the amount you need. Cut it and apply glue and fabric. Apply a line of tacky glue to the top edge, smooth it out. Glue on the side skirt. Measure for the other side. Cut the card stock, apply glue stick and fabric. Glue the side on. Measure for the back last and repeat what you did for the rest of the skirts. When you have the all the skirts on you can apply piping to the top edge of the skirts. Here are pictures of the finished chair. I hope you give it try. As always, Have fun, expand on it, make it better . . . . . . . . Just keep making minis! Kris

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I've been exploring several options for paper curtains for dollhouses. The patterns are fun and diverse and it can be a fun way to create a new look. I decided to try to make a mini blind that could be pulled up and would hold in a variety of positions. So this is what I came up with and how I approached it. I thought I would share for others who might like to try it. Basic tools I used for this project - paper or cardstock, cotton crochet thread, 1/8" hole punch, scoring board and bone folder for creasing, pencil, ruler tape, and patience! I used a 3" x 12" strip and scored it at 1/2" intervals Score lines Accordian fold all the way up At the bottom I measured in about 3/8" and a 1/4" from the bottom to have a guide for punching my holes. I use the first holes to mark the next and cut through two layers and mark again. I do find it better to not punch too many at once because the hole pattern doesn't always fall quite in the center and I adjust to get it as close as possible. Punch holes all the way except for the top one. Cut off one long piece of crochet thread. One continuous string, half up one side and half up the other. From the bottom I feed through the holes on both sides. One additional step that I forgot to include. Pull the string out of the top holes and put a layer of invisible tape on the front and back of that section and repunch your top hole on each side. This will help reinforce where most of the tension is felt when pulling the thread. Now I cross each thread to the opposite top hole and pull it through. Now your ends should be hanging out the front. To test pull, I pinch together the top fold as shown. You should be able to grab the strings with your other hand and gently pull. A small piece of double sided tape will be used. I find Scotch tape most dependable. See the little piece of tape in the center? Make sure it isn't overlapping your holes. This is only done on this one layer. For additional strength, I use invisible tape on the outside edges also taking care not to overlap the holes. Then trim excess. It should look like this. Make sure you strings move easily. Hold from the back like before to test movement. The purpose of this is to create friction and help your blind to hold wherever you want. Tape the bottom where the string wraps around so the thread does not shift. This one next to my first completed one! Now I make the header using foam board though some may prefer wood, whatever is handy and preferable. I am creating a U-shape to have an opening where my thread moves freely. The shorter ends are about 3/8" high and glued to the front and back at the top and the larger piece is glued on them. I trimmed an edge because of where my holes were. Wood edges would be thinner and less like to interfere. My two shorter outer edges glued with clear tacky glue Here is a side view of the U-shape. This is the top of the blind. I test to make sure no glue has seeped out and glued my thread down. I cut another 3" piece of my paper to cover the foam on top and scored it and cover all three sides meaning the front, top and back. That leaves the open sides to cover. I cut a 1/2" strip and glue it on and then trim with my knife. I do this mainly since it may not be a square as I think, lol! This last step is another piece of double sided tape to attach the next fold to the top so it will hang correctly. This is the view from the back. After adding that tape I took additional invisible tape and taped across the back of the header where you would attach it to your wall or window to help protect the paper. Also extended a small bit of tape around the layer I used the double sided tape on between the strings and on the outer edges for reinforcement. I had another sheet of this paper so I cut out the matching part and glued it to the bottom of my blind to cover the string. Side view I had not cut my thread yet so extra long but when your blind is pulled up you may want to guide it to one side. I gently push it in near the top slat to hold it off to the side. When you trim your threads, pull it out all the way to make sure you have enough length. I tied tiny knots where I thought I wanted the length to be and then cut off the excess. Have fun creating your own special look!

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The central focus of the whole little piggy scene is going to be the fireplace. So, I needed to come up with a design that would fit the layout and accommodate the elements that I want to include. Important stuff, like firewood storage, a place to bake yummy loaves of bread, and of course a large enough fire to heat the house and cook in. I measured the wall space and then drew a rough design that was the perfect size for Maxwell. He seemed very happy with it! I decided that foam core would be the best material to work with. It's easy to cut and is much lighter than wood. Using my drawing, I measured and cut the pieces. I did a dry fit to make sure it looked proportionate to Maxwell. Then I glued and clamped it - leaving the front and shelf as separate pieces for easier brick application. While the glue dried, I set to work making my "bricks". I grabbed a couple lids from my pile of egg cartons. I picked out colors and squirted a little of each one on a paper plate. I started with the lighter color combinations as the backdrop, then splotched and dry brushed additional colors until I liked the effect. Once the paint had dried overnight, it was time to cut out the bricks. I only used two lids, but it took a very long time to cut each little brick to size. I wondered if I'd have enough, but looking at the giant pile of individual bricks, I felt pretty good about it. Brick by egg carton brick I went. In total, it took me about two full days to cover every inch. In the end, I had just enough! Lucky, lucky! I left the front and the shelf detached so that it would be easier to grout. This meant that I had to attach the side bricks and the brick openings around the shelf only half on so that they could be joined to the main piece and grouted after the pieces were glued together. I wrapped around and glued bricks where the openings could be seen. Remember the Dreadful Egg Carton Stones incident? I'll never forget it, so I diligently applied two coats of matte varnish, letting them dry thoroughly in between, and then used old reliable SPACKLE rather than MOSIAC TILE GROUT to grout the bricks. It came out perfectly, in spite of the horrible fear I aquired from messing up the stones. Phew! While I let everything dry and while I contemplated aging the grout/brick, I decided to get out the stuff I needed to make the fire. I purchased a fire kit from somewhere last summer. It has three bulbs; two orange and one red. It flickers and runs off of it's own battery so you don't have to worry about it pulling juice from your 12v system and dimming the lights (this is a known problem when you run the flickering bulbs on the main circuit of your house lights). It comes with a piece of shimmery cellophane and gives the effect of a real fireplace. I glued the three bulbs into a metal fire grate, then layered the cellophane and logs to get the look of a real fire. This is it when it was finished drying and hooked up to a 9 volt battery to test it. I love it! It's going to look great under the copper pot in the fireplace! I made a swinging pot arm and hook and attached it to the inside of the fireplace, then aged the grout and brick with a watered down brown wash. I love the way it all turned out! All it needs now is a mantle and some accessories! You can also see in the photo that I have finished the floor brick tile and have begun the kitchen brick tile, but I'll save that for another post. Maybe by then I'll have the rest of the walls bricked as well! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one more mini day before work steals all of my time. Have a wonderful week! I hope to be back soon! Jodi

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This is the stove from the corner cabinet dollhouse, the red kitchen (that I still must finish). When I wanted to make a stove I went looking on-line in Google Images for a stove that I could build. I found one that looked simple enough and it had measurements, too. That's important for proper scale. They also had a good picture of the grates for me to copy. Thankfully, I kept all of this for future reference. Going to use wood glue for everything except for a little later on and I will let you know about that. Make the burner grate first. I tried to use card stock strips glued together but I didn't like the result so I switched to wood. Wood is what I used on my original. Hobby Lobby and Michaels have basswood in varying thickness and widths. I used 1/16 inch thick basswood, This is 3/16 inch wide and it is for the frame. For the grates I used 1/32 inch thick and 3/32 wide. To try to keep everything square I used graph paper. For cutting I used my Chopper. This is available from Hobby Builders. Cut two pieces of the 1/16" x 3/16" - 2" long. This is the front and back of the grate frame. Cut four pieces 1 7/8" long from the same stock. Set two aside for the middle of the frame. Glue two of the 1 7/8" lengths to the surface of the 2" long front and back pieces. Look at the picture above at the corners. The 2" piece is covering the ends of the 1 7/8" pieces. Measure from the inside of the square and mark 3/4 inch from the side. Do the same thing from the other side. Glue the other two 1 7/8" long pieces on the marks your made like I have. You should have about a 1/4 inch between the two pieces. I am using my square to check on things! Measure between the two middle pieces and cut three pieces from the 1/32" stock the length you measured. This should be 1/4" but I want you to measure your grate for sure. This is how I measure to set the "stop", that's the black triangle thing on the left. Be sure to use tweezers to remove your tiny pieces. The Chopper uses a single edge razor blade and it can slice you in the blink of an eye! Cut your three pieces and glue them into the center space. One piece is in the center. Then each space is divided and the second and third pieces are glued in each center following the picture above. The 1/32" x 3/32" grate pieces will be flat with one side of the grate frame. This is showing the flat side. I've also measured for the center pieces and glued them in. I will be using 1/8", 1/4" and 5/16" punches for this tutorial. I punched a 5/16" circle and placed that in the center of one square. This is the top of the burner. Put your grate on top of the graph paper. (I know I don't show that but you need to measure from the actual grate.) I measured from the corner to the burner. I want to leave space at the center of the burner. Cut eight pieces and glue them into the corners. Measure from the bottom of the grate to the top of the corner piece. Cut four this length and glue them into the frame. Measure as before, cut the lengths for the outside sides and glue them into the frame. My center sides were just a little different from the outside side measurement. I cut and glued them into the frame. I've measured for the inner corners and glued the pieces in. Showing the underside of the grate. I measured for the inner center pieces and glued them in. Set this aside to dry. This grate is a little simpler than the original, really take a look at the Google picture above. Print out Nancy's patterns using the directions in the "Things to do, Things to see" list, How to re-size the patterns. Print the patterns onto card stock. We put all the patterns on this time so you won't have to measure to draw the rectangles. I still want you to measure to make sure the parts are the right size when you trace and cut them out. The patterns look simple but we are building a box and everything has to be square. Cut out the two sides and the back from 1 layer of mat board. Just a note: if you want to build this from basswood as I did the original I used 1/8" thick stock. Glue the back between the sides. Use the edge that does not have the notch. Both sides are glued on. Cut out a bottom from one layer of mat board and glue inside the sides and back. Cut two tops out from 1 layer of mat board and set one aside for now. Glue one top inside the sides and back. Another view of the box. A view of the top of the box. While the box is drying I went outside and spray painted my grate. Let the paint dry. Carefully lay the flat side of the grate on 220 grit sand paper and sand a bit. I found a glove! Spray the grate again. Make sure you have all the little spaces painted. Let this dry. Cut a strip of mat board 3/16" wide. Cut three pieces and glue them into the bottom. Get the other top and glue that into the bottom of the box onto the strips you just glued in. Cut two strips of mat board 2 1/2" wide. The strips need to be at least 4 1/2" long. Use tacky glue to glue the two pieces together. I found that wood glue would make the mat board curl up a bit. Press the two together and make sure the edges are even. This will make the oven door, the rest of the front and the four pieces for the top of the stove. I've cut the front top, front door and front bottom. This is a dry fit. Everything should be fitting flush with the sides, top and bottom. If not sand the top, door and bottom until they do. I've cut the top back and glued it to the top back of the stove. This should be flush with the back. I measured in a 1/2" from each side of the door and drew a rectangle. Use a sharp blade and cut out the window in the door. The window is cut out. Cut the rest of the pieces out: the top sides (2) and the top front (1). I've cut a bunch of 1/8" wide strips from PAPER. I am gluing the strips around the edges of each piece I cut. This covers up the raw edge of the mat board. Glue a piece over the edge of the top back piece. Glue a piece to the inside edge of the window of the door. After the glue was dry I used 320 grit sand paper to lightly sand the edges of all the pieces. I rounded them SLIGHTLY, just so you could see the joint lines when the pieces were together. Look at the Google Image picture above. Dry fit the top pieces with the grate, sand these pieces in so that they are flush with the sides and the stove's front top. A 1/16 inch dowel was used for the handle. It's cut 2 1/4" long. Use a 1/8" wide paper strip to make a "cap" on the end of the handle. Wrap and glue the paper strip around two or three times. Glue the handle bracket patterns onto four layers of card stock. You should have two brackets of five layers of card stock now. I used a 1/8" punch to punch the circle out first. I then cut the rest of the bracket out. This is the handle assembly. I've punched out a few circles from card stock using the 1/4" and 5/16" punches. These are going to be the burners. Glue 4 layers of the 1/4" together, make 4. Glue 3 layers of the 5/16" together, make 4. I found later on that I could glue at least 5 layers of card stock together and still punch. Glue 4 or 5 layers of card stock together. Use the 1/8" punch to cut at least 10 circles. Glue two circles together, 5 times, making 5 stove knobs. Press them together tightly. Glue two layers of card stock together and punch out at least 5 circles, extra for mistakes. Cut the circles in half. Glue the half circles to the center of each knob. For the back of the knob I punched out 10 1/4" circles and glued two together making 5 backs. I went outside to start spraying the stove. I bought Rust-Oleum's Stainless Steel spray paint. I was very happy with the results. I gave all surfaces a sand with 320 grit sand paper. I sprayed again. I sanded everything with 400 grit sand paper. I don't want to rough up the surfaces. I want to smooth the surfaces that I sanded earlier to round the edges. After sanding I rubbed the surface down with a scrap of an old T-shirt. All surfaces were sprayed again and when they were dry I buffed them with the T-shirt. I have begun to spray the grate with Krylon's clear gloss finish. I wrapped a strip of packing tape around a piece of foam core to make a sticky surface for the knobs, brackets and such. You will see that I have cut out the kick plate from one layer of mat board. Paint the kick plate black and when it's dry glue it to the bottom of stove in the notched area. This is the Krylon clear gloss finish I'm using. I've painted the burner bottoms, 4 layers 1/4" circles, the burner tops, 3 layers 5/16" circles and the knob backs, 2 layers 1/4" circles black. I've painted the handle brackets and the knobs silver. I will finish them with the stainless steel spray paint later. Sprayed the knobs, bracket and handle with the stainless steel spray paint. Gave the circles another coat of black. Painted the half circles of the knobs black. Gave everything a coat of gloss spray finish. The handle got a coat of gloss finish also. Walmart has poster frames and I use the acrylic for my "glass". Peel off only one side and spray paint two coats onto this surface. Let the paint dry between coats. This has one coat. Paint the top of the stove black. Cut a piece of paper just a little smaller than the door. Peel off the other side of the acrylic and place onto the back of the door. Apply wood glue around the acrylic. Don't glue the acrylic to the door. Press the paper onto the glue and press the paper down around the acrylic. The window is in. Find the center of the front top and mark where you want the knobs to be. Glue the backs to the stove front top. Glue the knobs on. Use a toothpick to paint a dot of white at the top of the knob back. I've glued on the front bottom. Continued on with gluing on the door and the front top. Everything should be flush with the sides and top. At a dry fit I found that the paint and paper made a slight difference in my top pieces. I am sanding the front and back of the grate frame. I will touch up the paint later. The sides also needed sanding. Always dry fit. This is still a dry fit. Everything has been sanded in and the black paint on the frame has been touched up. Everything is fitting nicely. I've brushed on some gloss finish to the top of the stove. I am marking the center of the burner placement with a pencil dot. Cutting a stencil for the top. I punched a circle using the 5/16" punch. drawing four circles on the top of the stove. Glued on the burner bottoms in the circles I drew. I little earlier I used a toothpick to paint silver dots around the burner tops. I glued on the burner tops. I set the grate on top of the stove, I did not glue this on. I then glued on the top front and held it in place for a minute or two. The last two pieces are glued onto the top of the stove, the top sides. The brackets have been glued to the handle. I used tacky glue for this. Tacky glue has been applied to the edges of the brackets. I'll be honest with you I didn't measure this, I just sat the handle on and pressed and held that for a minute or two. If you want to use a super glue you could. I don't have any luck with those. I always have a messy glue spot around the what I have glued together. So, here is the new stove ready to move into the kitchen. This is as easy as I could make it and I hope some of you try it out. Probably will make the refrigerator next month to finish the set. Hobby Builders is mailing out the new catalogs on the 29 of April. My kits will be featured, so exciting. I will be adding more kits with new catalogs, (I hope, if sales go well!). Hoping you are all having a nice spring, it's finally gotten warm around here. The gardens are getting cleaned up and planning what and where has begun! Have fun, Expand on it, Make it better . . . Just keep making minis! TTUL Kris

When I found our Lower Town Dollhouse online secondhand, it was a great price for a reason – because it had no front door and no staircases. This didn’t deter me at all so I bought it knowing I’d one day be able to make some proper little dollhouse stairs…

Make your own dollhouse wardrobe or armoire in 1:12 scale. Easy materials like basswood and bamboo skewers.

With just a few household items you already have at home, it is very easy to make your own realistic miniature candles for your dollhouse.

If you’ve been looking for an alternative to basic mini wood siding, there is good news. And yes, we’re talking about board and batten. Historically, board and batten exterior siding goes way back—think right after log cabins.

After unsuccessfully searching online for a fireplace for the living room, I decided to make my own. I came across this blog by Eliz...

Hello, Hello! I know I missed August. My husband grows a garden every year and I can the vegetables for him. He's a big help with the canning, too. I put up over 115 pounds of tomatoes, mostly made into juice for him, some whole tomatoes for me. Lots of green beans were canned and I made grape jelly. Our blackberries didn't do well so I bought strawberries and peaches and made them into jam. Our pantry shelves are very colorful this year. I saw this cabinet on-line and thought it would make a good tutorial for you. The drawers and door open so you can fill them. The door is a little thick, I would recommend using 1/32" thick basswood for the outer layers and keep the middle layer 1/16" thick. The door would then be 1/8" thick instead of 3/16". Another design change, I would make the drawers narrower. I think they might be a little too tall for the cabinet. Making the drawers narrower will give you more room for the space between the shelving. It's up to you. I used wooden knobs from Hobby Builders Supply, Item #12007, 18 knobs for $5.36. The metal hooks are from Hobby Builders, too (www.miniatures.com) Item #65714, four hooks for $4.99. The wire mesh is something I bought from Michaels a long time ago. I checked on-line to see if Michaels has it and I couldn't find it. I then Googled Paragona wire form or Amaco wire form and found Dick Blick carries it as did a few other places, they deal in clay supplies. I used the 1/8" pattern. Let's get started building the cabinet. I am using basswood. It is so much simpler to use wood. Yes, you can make this from mat board if that's what you have. Considerations have to be made for mat board and wood is just easier to use. This cabinet will be glued together using yellow carpenters glue, either Elmer's or TiteBond. Cut the back and sides from 3/32" thick basswood. The back and sides are the same length or height, 3 1/8", the grain is vertical on both pieces. After cutting that length set the saw to 2 11/16" and cut the width of the back. With the saw still set at 2 11/16" cut the bottom shelf that holds the drawers. This is cut from 1/16" thick stock, and will fit between the sides just like the back. It's easier to cut this now so you don't have to re-set the saw. The grain will be horizontal on this piece. I'll cut the depth of the shelf later along with the other shelves. Set this piece aside after you have it cut. You might want to mark what it's for so you don't use it for something else, it's been done. Back to the sides, the sides are 3/4" deep or wide. Above is a picture of a side. After I have the width cut I am marking the curve at the bottom using my circle template. I am using the 1 5/8" circle to mark that curve. To make identical cuts I am using glue stick to glue a scrap of paper to one side of a side. Apply glue stick to the paper. (For more complicated cuts I will use yellow or white glue, not tacky, letting it dry. Yellow or white glue holds better.) After applying glue stick to the paper press the other side onto the paper. Line up all the edges and let this dry for about fifteen minutes. You might want to clamp this if you have clamps, the wood might curl away from the glue. I used my scroll saw to cut the curve. Pop the two pieces apart, peel off the paper. Give the surface a light sanding to remove the glue residue. These are my two sides and the back. Use yellow carpenters glue and glue the sides to the back. Glue the sides to the side edges of the back. Do not glue the sides on top of the back. PLEASE LET THIS DRY THOROUGHLY BEFORE GOING ON. The shelves and middle divider are 5/8" deep, your first shelf is cut to length all ready. Set the saw to 5/8" and cut the bottom shelf that width. With the saw still set on 5/8" cut at least 10" of 1/16" thick basswood for the shelves and middle divider. I cut myself a cheater block so my shelf will be level when glued. This piece of wood is 1/2" wide. That is the space left at the bottom of the cabinet. The cheater block doesn't have to be exactly the width of the back just close. Glue the shelf in. Let the glue tack, then carefully remove the cheater block. You should have a level shelf. I am going to explain this technique again. Someone misunderstood how this is done. Sometimes it's hard to find the middle mathematically. I want to find the middle of this piece. Measure beyond the middle, mark. Using the same measurement, measure from the other side and mark. Now measure between your two marks. I did not say to eye it and find the middle, we measure. I have the middle of my piece of wood. Just something I thought I would pass on. I use it a lot. Find the middle of your cabinet back. Find the middle of the bottom shelf. Measure and cut the middle divider. Center the divider on your marks and glue into your cabinet. Remeasure to make sure your space at the top is the same measurement as the space at the bottom. It isn't as important to have exactly the same width on each side but it is important that the space be square or you will have trouble with your cabinet door. Let this dry a bit. The second set of shelves hold the drawers. Measure between the left side and the middle divider. When you have that measurement cut your shelf. Check that the width all the way up the left side is the same. Cut two more shelves for the left side. Set these aside for now. You'll notice I've gone and cut myself another set of cheater blocks for trying to get my shelves level. Cut a couple of pieces of scrap wood 21/32" tall, that's the space between these shelves. I am sorry about the 32" measurement. That's just past 5/8". At this point you change the distance between these shelves and the ones above. You are going to be measuring on your own so it's up to you. Glue the shelf in, let it tack and carefully remove the cheater blocks. Measure between the middle divider and the right side and cut another shelf. You have another shelf for inside the cabinet, it is cut narrower to fit behind the cabinet door. Go ahead and cut this shelf to length now. We will cut it's depth later. Set it aside and mark it. Glue the other shelf in and let this assembly dry for a bit. From the looks of the next picture I got into the zone of constructing the cabinet and forgot to take pictures of gluing in the upper two shelves. Cut some scrap wood for cheater blocks 9/16" tall, that's the space between the shelves on the left side of the cabinet. Glue your two shelves in using yellow carpenter's glue. Let this assembly dry for a bit. I am measuring for the drawer fronts. They are cut from 3/32" thick basswood. This is my measurement. I must stress at this point you are going to have to measure for yourself and cut to your measurements. We all make our cuts a little differently, yes we do. The width of a pencil line makes a great difference when making miniature furniture. I want to leave a little room for the drawer to slide in and out easily so I am going to cut the height of the drawer front at 5/8". That will leave a little room at top and bottom. Cut a piece of 3/32" thick basswood, enough to cut two drawer fronts from 5/8" wide. The grain is horizontal, set this aside. Since I know the height of the drawer front I can also cut the height of the sides from 1/16" thick basswood. Cut the drawer sides, enough to cut four sides from. Put two drawer sides into the drawer space and measure the width of the space left. I am measuring for the drawer bottom. I cut my drawer bottom at 1 1/8" wide. The grain of the drawer bottom is going from front to back. The grain of the sides and back of the drawer is horizontal. I know the drawer front, the sides and bottom aren't finished, yet. They still need to be cut to length. With your saw still set at 1 1/8" wide cut a piece of basswood for the back. Mark all of these pieces so that you know which is which. I've slid in the drawer bottom with the sides (remember the sides haven't been cut to length, yet). Everything seems to slide all right. Measure the depth of the drawer space, minus the thickness of the drawer front, 3/32". I cut my drawer bottoms 1/2" deep. My saw is set at 1/2" and that is how long my sides need to be. I have two drawer bottoms and four sides ready to be glued together. Glue the sides to the edges of the bottoms. Please let this dry before going on. Your back is all ready cut to length when you cut your drawer bottom. What you need to do is cut it's height or width. Measure on the inside of the drawer the height of the sides and set your saw and cut the backs. Glue the backs onto the bottom and between the sides. Measure along the bottom front of your drawer and cut two drawer fronts that length. Glue the drawer fronts onto the drawers. I cut a top from 3/32" basswood. I cut it so that 1/8" is extra at each side and across the front. My top measured 3 1/8" long (from side to side) and 7/8" deep. The grain is horizontal. Glue your top onto the top of the cabinet. My right side shelf is all ready cut to length. The shelf needs to be 3/16" less than the depth of the other shelves. 3/16" is how thick my door is. I mentioned this before, I think I would have liked to use 1/32" thick wood for the face and back of the door, that would have the door be 1/8" thick. If you do this adjust the width of your shelf, add a 1/16" to my measurement. My shelf width is 7/16" wide. This picture is showing the thickness of my door, three layers of 1/16" thick basswood brings the door even with the face of the cabinet. I've made a cheater block for this, too. I've divided the space in half and cut my block 7/8" wide. Glue the shelf in and let it dry a bit. So far so good. The full-size cabinets had metal hooks and I liked that. I thought it paired well with the metal mesh in the door. I looked through my stash and found these coat hooks and they were too big. I used cutters to cut the bottom part off. I used the smaller bottom hook for my cabinet. Set these aside for now. I am measuring for the stiles (the vertical part of the door frame) for the cabinet door. I cut them 1 3/4". The width of my stiles is a fat 3/16". I thought 1/4" was just to wide. If you are buying your wood buy strip-wood 3/16" wide. I've cut two stiles, will cut two more. You are going to have a front and back to your cabinet door with the wire mesh between. Measure between the stiles for the rails (the horizontal part of a cabinet door). I cut my rails just shy of 13/16" to make sure I have space to open and close my door. I have four stiles and two pieces of 1/16" x 1/16". The 1/16" x 1/16" will be glued between the doors making the space for the wire mesh. Here are all my stiles and rails to make a front and back cabinet door. Ignore the shorter 1/16"x 1/16" on the left side of the picture. You will measure and cut 1/16" x 1/16" pieces when the door is further along. Glue the rails between the stiles for the front and back. Glue the 1/16" x 1/16" long pieces onto the stiles. Glue them so that the outside edges are even. Then measure and cut pieces of the 1/16"x 1/16" to fit between the longer pieces on the sides. Make sure all the edges are even. This is the package for the wire that I used to fill the cabinet door. A picture of the whole front of the package. This company is also known as AMACO. As I mentioned before I did find it on-line, seems to be used by hobbyists that use clay. I used to find this product at Michaels in the isle where the glues are sold or by the Fimo. This wire is very flexible and you can change the width of the diamonds. I painted my wire a brassy color and cut it to fit inside the frame I made with the 1/16" x 1/16" strip wood. Glue the other cabinet frame onto of this assembly. If you have clamps you may use them, just be careful to not mark the surface of the doors. Ready for a pin hinge. But wait . . . when I was painting my wire I found that the paint would fill the diamonds . . . hmmm . . . . do I still have some stained glass paint stuck somewhere? Yes, I had two little pots, blue and purple. I usually buy a little kit once every couple of years just to keep it on hand. (When making paper pottery I will use glass paint as a finish, it looks exactly like glaze. You'll find that in the "Things to do, Things to see" list. I painted my wire mesh black and then filled in with the stained glass paint. Wouldn't this look great on English cottage windows?? Or I could have put this in my cabinet door. Back to putting in the pin hinge To help keep the door steady I cut a couple of pieces of scrap wood the same width as my shelf, 7/16". I've set my door into place. With pin hinges you need to have the pins the same distance from the edges at top and bottom. If the pins are not in the same place the door will have trouble opening and certainly not open straight. The door will be wonky. So we measure but we have a top that extends beyond the rest of the cabinet, problem number 1. Measure not more than an 1/8" away from the side or front and mark. I usually measure 3/32". I forgot to sharpen my pencil, my mark is too big and messy. Remember the top extends 1/8" beyond the body of the cabinet. Add that on and make your marks. I am using a "T" pin to start my hole before I drill. Problem number 2 is that I have a shelf to drill around. I have tried make cabinets leaving the problem parts off until I fit the pin hinge and that certainly could have been done here. I usually can get around this and set the pin. I cut straight pins off and use them for my hinges. I drilled holes for my wooden knobs and glued them in. I used super glue, medium thickness to glue on the metal hooks. I know I've done this cabinet using wood and saws that some of you don't have. As I mentioned before you can use mat board just go back and review some of the cabinets I've made using mat board and I am sure you can make this, too. I do apologize for missing August. I've added some new and beautiful pictures to the Follower's Gallery, please go and take a look what other miniaturists have been doing with the tutorials and cheer them on. And I know I haven't said this in a very long time, Thank You All for reading and sending me all the appreciation that you do. You all make my day and keep this blog going. Have fun, Expand on it, Make it better . . . . Just Keep Making Minis!! Talk to you later, Kris

Learn about a few different ways to update your dollhouse walls and floors.

Dollhouse mattress tutorial to easily sew a mattress for your 1/12 scale dollhouse bed. We have other dollhouse tutorials too :-)

Hello there….ready for part two? Strip your chair frame back down to just the seat and backrest. Choose your color scheme. I used 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon for my chairs. You will need 4 …

Curious what building materials to use for dollhouses? Our miniature building materials guide will help you with wood, paper, metal, & more!

Making doors I drew my design on mat board. I used left over picture mats. I cut the inside bevel out and put it on the doo...

Dollhouse mattress tutorial to easily sew a mattress for your 1/12 scale dollhouse bed. We have other dollhouse tutorials too :-)

Tutorial on making a modern dollhouse ceiling light. It can be adapted to take a light bulb, or simply add a hanging cord for a non-working light.

A great way to give your dollhouse charm is by making your own fireplace mantel. It's very easy to do. And you can make it any size you want. You will need one thin wood veneer. I have 1/16 x 4 x 24" bass from Hobby Lobby. For your tools you will need a glue gun, ruler, pencil, white glue, sand paper. And a sharp utility knife. This one has a snap off blade so you always have a sharp edge. I bought it at Home Depot. The first piece to cut out is the back of the mantel. Mine is 4 1/4" tall x 3 1/2 wide. ((If you would like to put a textured paper inside your mantel this would be the time to glue it on leaving an 1/8" to glue to wood onto this back piece.)) Next the walls of the mantel. Mine are 4 1/4" x 5/8". You will need 4 of them. You need a top shelf and bottom for the mantel. I cut out 2 pieces each 1" x 3 7/8". I do sand these two pieces. I like worn rounded edges and corners. I like using a 1500 grit. And finally the piece in the front of the fireplace, the frieze. Mine is 2 3/16" x 1 1/2". Mine needs a real old cottage look so I'm opting for a nice tall one. That's all the pieces for the main structure. Glue your walls to the back of the mantel with white glue. I use Aleene's. Also glue the bottom and top. The trick here is to get everything to stay together and keep it straight. Let dry completely. I usually let it dry against a straight flat wall. If needed I add a weight to make sure it stays flush to the straight wall. Otherwise you will have problems installing it in the dollhouse. Next glue the frieze in place. This is the basic structure I use for all my fireplace mantels. Some may be bigger, narrower, or smaller. But the process remains the same. The next step is to add trims. This is where you give your piece the feel it needs. I'm doing this one for an English cottage. So cute and girly is the order of the day. I'm layering trims. The first trim you need is for the top and bottom of the mantel walls. My first trim is 3/8" wide. Notice I do my side trim first then cover the rough edge with the front trim. Your next layer of trim will have to be thinner. So I would use thin cardboard like cereal box weight or cardstock paper. This trim will be 1/8" to 1/4". You can also cut out a fun detail. Like dental moulding or swags. First I'm doing a simple second layer trim on the bottom. This one is 1/4". My top trim is scalloped. I have a pair of scalloped edge scissors to do this. And finally one more 1/8" trim on top of all of the trims. Perfect! Now we need to trim the firebox. Two sides go on first. They are 1/8" wide. Then I add a shelf at the top that is almost 1/4" wide. And top it off with the remaining 1/8" trim. Done! How about making some girly addition. I'm going to do a little 3D work on the frieze. First I draw a design freehand. Next use your glue gun to apply 3 dot and the 2 swags. You can cut those annoying glue gun webs by releasing the trigger completely and then touching the hot nozzle on the string. It will cut the string. Any remaining strings can be taken care of with a hairdryer. You may want to practice on paper first. The technique is like pulling sugar in candy making. Remember this is vintage style. So it doesn't need to be perfect! If you can't do it just use white glue. Make sure it's not runny. Paint your entire mantel with acrylic paint. It can be craft paint or house paint. Makes no different. Lay it on there thick! If your paint is too new you may have to do 2 or 3 coats. Let's add character! I use ink pads to achieve a very old look. They are all browns. Stampabilities Brown, StazOn Saddle Brown, and Color-Box Putty. It makes no difference which order you apply them. Use a hard bristle brush to get the ink in tight corners. Now if you want to go all the way with this project you can add fire. I order my fire kit from https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ I order the fire kit with the 1.8mm bulb and 3 volt battery with the switch. You can do the pico lights if you want undetectable bulbs. They put out a lot of light and work great too. Drill a hole at the back wall at the very bottom. You can use a drill, a screw driver, a nail to do this. Whatever you have on hand. The wood is very easy to poke a hole in. I used a little screw driver. I started the hole on the front and turned the fireplace over to continue the hole from the other side. You wouldn't want to risk ungluing the back of the mantel! I build a fire stack with real sticks from the garden to hide the bulbs. Start by building up the wood stack around the bulbs. Notice I did bend the wires 90 degrees ready to be pulled back through the hole. Continue building the stack until the bulbs are hidden. Glue inside fire box with hot glue. Now let's make it a wee bit more romantic with moss. Get the hot chocolate and S'Mores cause you are ready to snuggle up next to the fire! Thanks for joining me and following along. I hope you give this a try. I promise it's really easy. You know what I always tell you: one step at a time. hugs,

We have talked about making miniatures from trash to treasure projects before, but it got a bit to long. So today we are starting part 2.

These cute little side tables were so easy to make and I really liked the end result. I put mine in the dressing room and Music room of La Maison Tordue. I started by drawing out a template for the base and finding some circular rug photos online that I liked. You can print mine out here if you would like. I also cut c