Playing House - Moving Day

 On the day that I've exchanged contracts with the vendors of The Cottage I've also completed No. 62! 

The exterior walls got a few coats of white emulsion and the roof was taped together and painted with floor paint both of which we already had. I only had to buy the green gloss spray paint. The door step was printed off from a flooring website and the scraps came from Miss Violet's Doll's House (link HERE) , the book my friend Lynn sent me. 

With the exception of the kitchen - which I papered using a wallpaper sample, the floors and walls were covered with free doll's house printables already scaled down to size (link HERE). They were attached using a Pritt glue stick and set with hairspray, which I already had in the house. The mini LED rope lighting was from Home Bargains. You'll remember the carpets - they were the posh Spanish upholstery samples I bought from a charity shop last week. I made the lampshades using a pattern I found HERE. To replicate our real-life staircase I covered the stair risers with washi tape (three for £1 from Poundland).

If you watched the fascinating The Private Life of The Doll's House on BBC 4 last week (thanks to my friends Shelagh and Lynn for the tip-off), you'll know that a doll's house is never really finished but here's how the lounge is looking at the moment.

Cheers! I scaled down and printed off the Trechikoffs on glossy photo paper and framed them in these rather snazzy wooden frames (six for £1 in Poundland) which I'd painted white. The pink dresser, Trimphone and settee were things I found inside No. 62 when Jon discovered it in The Cottage's attic. Linda made me the pouffe and the mustard cushion and I crocheted the throw and the other cushions.

 I've lusted after this chair since the day I first clapped eyes on it. As I couldn't run to £850 for the full-sized version I knocked up a mini version using some of the Afghan braid Sarah sent me, cocktail sticks, a cat food box and plenty of glue. I followed an excellent tutorial HERE.

The Wall of Misery! We'd still got some of the paint we used on the stairs over ten years ago so mini Wall of Misery is the same colour as the real one.

I found the television in a bag of vintage doll's house furniture snaffled from a chazza yesterday. The original screen was missing so I added a photo of Helen. Linda created the pineapple lamp, I pinched the guitar from one of my Spanish dolls and made the Mother-in-Law's Tongue from garden wire and sellotape painted with various green Barry M Nail Paints. The pot was a lid from a toiletry sample rescued from the recycle bin.

On to the bedroom...

I bought this black and white cat from eBay, he's one of a pair. The other one is up to no good elsewhere in the house. The Trechikoff, rotary dial phone & lamp came from Linda, I made the bed cover, pillows and felt slippers from scraps I found in my stash.

The bed, chair, stool, dressing table and wardrobe (all painted using one of the many sample pots we already own) were in the original doll's house as was the tassel trim cushion. The printable vintage suitcase was downloaded from HERE. Linda sent me the vase of flowers. I made the book and the coat hanger and copied the dress from the book Lynn sent me.

The lamp was a gift from Linda, the bedside table came in the bag of bits I bought yesterday.

More me-made plants! The "soil" is loose leaf tea.

 Just like in real-life, the spare bedroom is my playroom.

Complete with doll's house! Sarah found a pile of amazing printables in a charity shop last week which is where the doll's house magazines came from. I already had the table & the dresser whilst the lamp was another of yesterday's chazza shop finds. The doll's house was another printable from the website I've linked to. I found the patterns for the fruit storage crates on Pinterest (HERE and HERE).

Here's the other black and white cat, causing mischief!  I made the sewing table from matchboxes, dressmaking pins and beads. The shelf came off a broken piece of original furniture. Linda had the brilliant idea of using cotton buds to make spools of thread. I made the patterns and pincushion. The sewing machine came from eBay.

That posh-looking iron was also in the bag of bits I bought yesterday. I wish I had something that fancy in real-life!

The bookshelf was made using cardboard salvaged from the recycling bin. I printed the shoe boxes off from THIS website and found stacks of printable books on Pinterest (HERE). The mannequin was an Ebay buy.

How amazing is this Did You Get Your Pill Today psych poster? I can't afford the real 1960s one (it's £175) so a mini will have to do!

 You saw the kitchen last week. I've since added a me-made fern, a broom (found in the bag of stuff I bought yesterday) and a red transistor radio bought from eBay. The retro Sainsbury's shopping bag was another printable from the sheets Sarah sent me. Linda surprised me with the mini Jacob yesterday. Real Jacob also lives in our kitchen, it's far too cold to put him out yet!!

The kitchen cupboards, cooker unit, wine bottles and sink were all eBay buys. HERE'S the link if you want to print off some groceries like mine. 

Years before I even knew I was mad for minis I bought this 1970s Lundby loo from a vintage fair, just 'cos I loved it. It's been on my mantelpiece for three years so I decided to turn the garage into a bathroom to give the groovy loo its rightful home.

As I owned no bathroom furniture other than the loo I had to get creative.

A bent hatpin and a giant press stud became a shower. The Chandrika poster is cut from the box from my favourite brand of Ayurvedic soap from India.

The hinge from a clothes peg made for a towel rail.

 The vanity unit used to be a dressing table and the bowl was the last part of a teeny weeny ceramic tea set I had as a child, I made the tap from my friend Gordon's empty vape liquid container, a cocktail stick and a bead which I glued together and spray painted silver. The mirror was in yesterday's bag of bits and the mug, toothpaste and brush were eBay buys. You can print a washing basket like mine for free HERE.

The total refurbishment cost of No.62 set me back just over £40* - if only real-life house renovation was so cheap!

* That's the green gloss spray paint, lollipop sticks, LED lights, glue, the cooker, sink & kitchen cabinet, the upholstery fabric samples, the transistor radio, the cats, the sewing machine & mannequin, the mug with the toothbrush and toothpaste, washi tape, picture frames and wine.

Check out that psychedelic front door - that's going to be one trippy house!

Will I stop banging on about doll's houses now No.62 is finished? Hell, no! I'm now the proud owner of the house I dreamt of owning as a little girl, a 1973 Gothenburg by Lundby and it doesn't end there, I neglected to mention that the bag of vintage furniture I bought from a charity shop yesterday came with another doll's house....oops!

See you soon!