A Peek into May's Dollhouse

Joseph created this gigantic, wonderful house out of two small cabinets that he attached together and then 2' x 6' and plywood on the top to make a pitched roof. I had a dollhouse something like this when I was young made by my mom and dad and just had to re-create it for my kids. It was a very engrossing project. I crocheted, quilted, painted, stenciled, sewed, tiled, carpeted, and shopped to my heart's content. This is my creativity at it's best on a small scale. I worked on my part of this project for about eight months. I found on eBay the dolls I had played with as a girl, "The Sunshine Family." The mom's proportions are a little different from Barbie's which is one of her endearing qualities!


There are curtains, lamps, quilts, afghans, cups & plates, food etc. I found some of the cute furniture from an eBay seller and then some (like beds, complete with foam mattresses, fitted sheets, pillows and pillow cases) I made out of my own materials. Some walls have moulding. Some are sponge painted. On some, I used stickers. I also used clothing my mom had made for my dolls as a pattern for new clothing. I made about a dozen outfits--shirts and skirts.

My favorite part is probably the fireplace!


As a side note, a question. Do you think this thing gets played with? Yes and no. The pieces sometimes get pulled out and played with. May might need a bed for a Webkinz, for example. But as a whole, I can probably count on two hands the times that it has been played with. A little disappointing, but I'm not sorry I did it. It brought back happy memories of playing dolls. I think a lot of my projects in the last few years have been those reminiscent of days gone by!

It also has a yard. I don't have a picture of it and most of the pieces are packed away at the moment, but it was my favorite part to make. It is a big piece of plywood painted green. It has a tiled patio with a picnic bench and two person swing. Next comes a flower garden, followed by trees. I made these trees out of silk greenery and large dowels attached by wire. I attached velcro to leaves and to small fruit so that these are apple and orange trees with fruit that can be picked. We used square dowels drilled with a large drill bit to make rows for vegetables. The vegetables I found at Michael's actually fit in these holes. There are baskets to gather the fruit and vegetables. Just for fun we also added a clothes line.



I love, love, love these kinds of projects that Joseph and I work on together. It is so fun creating things the kids can enjoy and in the end we were a TEAM!

Here's the bathroom:


And the pool: