Remoldeling a Gift Miniature Dollhouse Store: the Mini House by Lorraine (and now by me!)

My wonderful hubby got this wee dollhouse store for me at Christmas. OK, I found it and he bought it, but its the thought and cash that count! 

 

 

It came with eight little 1:144 scale dollhouses, the main reason I wanted it:

"Crafted by Lorraine", and the name of the home are on the bottom of each little dollhouse. I've seen a couple of them as kits on eBay so one may still be able to find one to make. But, I must say, Lorraine did a very lovely job with each one and I'm very lucky and honored to have them.

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The Remodel Begins

When the set arrived the front of the store had broken off, but that gave me the idea to make it into a front opener instead of accessed from the top. I also wanted the store to have some floor space and the homes displayed at different levels, so I set to the fun task of remodeling it (I hope you don't mind Lorraine!).

 

The front door it came with is a standard HouseWorks Palladian so I bought two more (with split doors) and removed the doors from their frames to create two large storefront windows. The beaded wainscoting is from Manchester Dollhouse and Wood Works, painted the same color as window trim.

The wainscoting and first shelf installed over the painted walls. I created the wallpaper border from a pict of a full size border with my awesome MacBook. The floor got gently sanded, restained and polyied before any of the other work was started.

 

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Finished!

I liked the gingerbread trim that Lorraine had used on a couple of her little tables so I located some more and painted it gold, like she had. I had just enough to trim all the displays and shelves.

Now the really fun part, setting up the store!!!

 

My husband won a wee bakery at our dollhouse club meeting and I found a sweet little temple grouping that got added to the dollhouse collection. I'll be adding an Old Woman In the Shoe dollhouse (it's a kit I'll enjoy making I'm sure), some battery lights and mini dollhouse books, once they arrive.

 

Welcome! and Goodbye Lorraine! Thanks for Christmas present!

 

Well now that it's done, I've decided to add a top floor, living quarters for dolly. I've found the room box kit and the HouseWorks Palladian windows that match so I'm rarin' to get busy! See ya!