A Doll house that I am trying to finish by Christmas -FINISHED

[Frank Pellow]

I started it in lots of time, that is early November but here it is two days before Christmas Eve and the doll house that I am making for my granddaughter Isla is not finished.

Here are notes that I entered in my journal in early November:

I've started making Isla's Christmas present.  It will be a doll house which is collapsible and storable in a box which forms the foundation when the doll house is in use.  I am making it from plans that I purchased from Woodcraft Plans (http://www.woodcraftplans.com//osc/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=150) and those plans look to be very good.  I doubt that I will modify them much.  I am impressed with the ingenuity of the design.

So far, I have not done much except cut the parts out of Baltic Birch plywood.  Most of the cutting was done with a scroll saw, but a few cuts were made with a bandsaw:

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Another part that I produced was the stairs.  I used a big block of wood which I laminated out of a scrap piece of fir donated by a neighbour.  The block was jointed, planed, then cut into steps with a band saw:

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[Frank Pellow]

In the last week of November, I made a little more progress Some progress on Isla's doll house.  I built the case that is used to store the parts and also doubles as the foundation and floor of the downstairs.  The construction technique was interesting in that a hollow box was made then sawn in half.

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Those are Millar dowels being used to augment the glued
butt joints.

I was very careful when doing the sawing.
 

 

[Frank Pellow]

Progress in Week Ending Dec 21 (1 of 3)

I finally got back to working on the doll house  :-[.  Progress on the doll house was slow and steady this week.  That's often good, but the slow part of slow and steady is not what I want right now.  I did quite a bit of painting and attempted to follow the colour scheme requested by Isla if someone (meaning me) were to make her a doll house:

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The configuration suggested be Isla was 3 stories with 2 rooms on each, whereas what she is going to get is 2 stories with 3 rooms on each.  At the top left, you can see the colours I intend to use.
The light pink walls turned out not to badly and the pink looks good with the dark wood stained shutters:

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On the other hand, I am not a big fan of the yellow roof.  The picture also shows an out-of-position chimney.  I drew the lines on both the roof and the chimney with a permanent black marker and I think that the simulation of shingles and bricks is quite good.

Returning to the construction, the two halves of the case were joined with a piano hinge.  #3 brass screws were called for and I could only get them with a slot head.  

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Boy, screws with slot heads sure are finicky and tedious to install!

The case was sanded both inside and out with a progression of sandpaper from 120 grit to 220 grit then three coats of wipe on poly were applied:

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[Frank Pellow]

Progress in Week Ending Dec 21 (2 of 3)

There was lots of hand sanding before painting the outside walls with two coats of light pink:

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My Festool linear sander worked well on the shutters, door, and staircase before they were stained walnut colour:

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Curtains were not in the plan, but Margaret asked me to devise some sort of removable curtain rod.  I cut out 1 cm by 1 cm squares of 3 mm thick Baltic birch and drilled a hole in the middle large enough that a rounded wooden matchstick could be inserted.  These supports were then attached to the interior walls adjacent to all window openings.  Hot Stuff glue was used to attach them.  Then all the interior walls were painted according Isla's (slightly modified) colour scheme.

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[Frank Pellow]

Progress in Week Ending Dec 21 (3 of 3)

Shutters were glued on the outside wall adjacent to all window and door openings:

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The two interior partitions were attached to the inside of the front wall with hinges. It was possible to screw the hinges into a small strip of pine glued to the front wall but the partitions are only 6 mm wide which is not sufficient to hold a screw.  I tried using epoxy as shown in the picture below:

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These held up to the use that I gave them but I was not confident that the epoxy would hold when a child started to use and abuse the hinged sections.  So, I augmented the epoxy with a couple of very small bolts on the partition side of  each hinge.  

In the meantime, Margaret was busy making curtains for all 15 windows:

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[JayStPeter]

Cool.  I look forward to the conclusion Frank.

It's a project I have planned for next year.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Awesome project from an awesome Granddad!  Thanks for your detailed posting.

Dave R.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 1 of 2)

I completed the fitting and painting about noon today  

I'm going to present a series of 10 pictures without words that I hope will demonstrate just how the doll house parts, which have been stored in the case, are assembled.

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 2 of 2)

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There remain a few undone items -which I may or may not get around to before presenting the gift about noon tomorrow. First of all, I have misplaced the front door and hinges for same. Secondly, the roof does not lie as flat as I would like. Thirdly, I need to draw brick outlines on the chimney parts above the roof (currently covered in drying paint). Everything else is painted with water based but the chimney has (very slow drying) oil-based paint on it.

 

[nickao]

Coming together nicely!

 

[Peterm]

Very nice job - I like the way it can be flat-packed for storage.

So, when do you start making the furniture for it...?

 

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice job - I like the way it can be flat-packed for storage.

So, when do you start making the furniture for it...?

Thanks.  The ability to take apart and temporarily store away the doll house was something that Isla's mum (and my daughter) demanded last summer when I told her that I was thinking of building a doll house.

Isla will be making most of her own furiture use wood, cardboard, modeling clay, lego, etc.  I will probablt help her a bit, but most to the work and ideas will be hers.  She has already started to make some.

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

It turned out very very nice Frank....I am sure there will be smiles all around when she gets it.

Best,
Todd

 

[Frank Pellow]

The photos that I had placed into  this thread were missing.  [sad]  I have now restored them all from my computer backup disks.  [smile]

 

[GhostFist]

These things I think are the best toys for kids. I should build one for my niece.