Doll’s House Renovation

Doll’s House Renovation.

Christmas is coming and I wanted to share a craft idea that I have been doing for a few years. Dolls House Renovation is extremely easy, inexpensive and a great little money maker.

I also make lots of tiny accessories to furnish the dolls house and paint old furniture to give it a fresh, shabby chic look.

All you need is a lot of patience and good eyesight (a magnifying glass is a great help). It is time-consuming but very addictive and you soon start to see how you can fit small objects into a miniature life.

I absolutely love refurbishing old doll’s houses and bringing them back to life.

Sometimes just a lick of paint can make all the difference. Roof tiles can be found online in A4 size, which can be printed off and cut to size and the roses were added from a pretty paper napkin.

For the inside, there is a massive selection of scaled-down wallpapers and tiling online. Simply choose, print off, cut to size and stick with acrylic glue.

Carpets can be made from a thin layer of felt.

Old, boring or just tired looking furniture can also be transformed with leftover emulsion paint and can be picked up in second-hand shops or car boot sales.  Look for bundles of doll’s house furniture on Ebay, it works out loads cheaper even if there are a few items you don’t really want.

Beds look charming and inviting by adding handknitted patchwork quilts or hand sewing some pretty pillows and duvet sets. Lace was added to give the bed a cottagey feel and rugs made from odd balls of wool.  The items must be made to 1/12 scale and conversion tables are readily available.

It can be great fun making accessories and once you start your imagination really does run wild. I will talk about adding the ornamental bits and pieces in a later post but here you can see bottles (on the dresser) which were made simply by gluing two beads together. Towels, napkins and table linen can be made easily from scraps of material folded and glued on to card to give them structure or tied with a pretty ribbon to make a towel bale.

So it’s not as expensive as you think to renovate and furnish an old dolls house and bring them back to their former glory, it really is great fun and the possibilities are endless.

Renovating a Doll’s House For Profit

There can be a huge profit in refurbishing and selling doll’s houses or just single items of furniture. I prefer to decorate in a particular style and sell the doll’s house fully furnished. The best time to sell online is in the run-up to Christmas. Be prepared to take a lot of time and patience with your project, high-quality crafting and attention to detail are extremely important.

There are loads of ways to sell including craft fayres, Etsy, eBay, local newspapers, Gumtree, social media etc.

 

 

Selling Tips

1 Use a designer paint ie Farrow and Ball or Laura Astley and state the brand and colour in the descriptions, it makes a huge difference and a tester pot for around £2 goes a long way when working on miniatures.

2 Give the items a ‘designer’ feel by adding Cath Kidston or Emma Bridgewater patterns, it makes items much more desirable. It can be done by the craft of Napkin Decoupage, which can be found here

2. Point out that the item is handcrafted, a really valuable selling tool.

3 If you have friends or family who knit, sew, crochet, ask them to knock up some blankets, rugs, curtains in 1/12th size it will give the dolls house a homely, bespoke feel.

4 Take high-quality photographs, practice different settings and use a good camera and lighting to really show off your work to look it’s best

5 Let your imagination run wild, the possibilities are endless.

Good Luck!

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