it's a small world........

So I have been doing a dolls house. Why? Miniature things have always fascinated me, and on a whim one day I ordered a dolls house kit, not having much of a clue how much work it involved......

I learnt as I went along. Who knew that it was best to paint walls and do floors before the house was put together. I used cheap laminate floor tiles from Poundland for the floor, carefully cut into 2cm wide strips, and then whitewashed after laying to give a limed oak look. The furniture was picked up from Ebay or online selling groups, I resprayed everything with antique white chalk paint......

The knitting was done on cocktail sticks with embroidery thread.......

I made some of the tiny bits out of Fimo clay

 The dining room is set up for dinner - you are staying for dinner aren't you? The 'silver' napkin rings are from a bracelet I picked up in a charity shop......

Still waiting for a little armchair for the study, but I made a cork notice board....

and made some pencils out of cocktail sticks.....and some tiny glasses out of wire and glossy accents....

The 'sitting room' furniture was a Ebay bargain, but I stripped it down and recovered it and made some tiny cushions. I 'painted' the blue art work on the wall. The copper vase was in a string of beads from Poundland

 I shrunk down some family photos and framed them......

I found making the bedding quite challenging - it's so tiny that the bedding just stuck out straight and didn't drape at all, but a quick Google taught me the trick of lining the layers with some kitchen foil so that you can manipulate the fabric...

All ready for breakfast in bed? The throw was made out of a Poundland dish cloth, I soaked it in glue and draped it how I wanted until it dried in the correct folds

 The bathroom is still a work in progress - I cut the towels out of baby washcloths......The floor was a free sample of tile wallpaper from a DIY store

So there you have it. What have I learnt?
1. I thought I had perfectly normal sized hands. In reality it seems that I have giant hands with sausages for fingers..
2. It seems I have a mild case of OCD - who knew that I could obsess about the size of a toilet roll
3. I have learnt that it is possible to spend huge sums of money on tiny things - some artisan dolls house furniture can cost more than the full sized article. Who knew! I hasten to add that mine has been done on a budget......
4. I find the idea of dolls in my dolls house quite creepy. The thought of tiny dolls sitting on chairs in the dark waiting for someone to open up the house and take a look is a bit odd for my vivid imagination. 
5, My aim was to build and decorate a house I could live in (if I was 5" tall), and I have done this - it looks cosy
6. One major design flaw really bothers me - there is no stairway or door into the bathroom. Since it is all imaginary, no real person will ever be caught short in desperate need of the loo, it shouldn't matter....but it niggles!
7. Will I ever do another one. ........NO! The bug is well and truly out of my system, but it is still ongoing and I am enjoying it, so I hope you enjoyed your tour of my new place xx