Props A Dollhouse For My Dolls

I've wanted to make a dollhouse for my dolls to play with for a long time, but never got around to it, seemed like too much work. But I was at a miniature fair and stumbled on to a french seller who had kits for doll houses in scale 1:48!
In other words, it could easily represent a dollhouse in standard doll house scale 1:12 for a doll who herself is 1:4.
Well, roughly. We all know BJD are rarely to scale. But you get the idea.

I've painted and assembled the doll house already but I though that a project journal for the dolls and furniture that goes inside it could be fun.

So this is the house together with it's proud owners:

My dolls live in the modern world. My thought is that the house probably was built by a relative some time in the past and have been passed down through a generation or two and probably have been played with by several older cousins before these girls got it.
This gives the perfect excuse to fill it with a little bit of everything. Things could easily have been lost or added over the years and there could be a mix of style, age, quality and to some extent even scale, without causing any serious dissonance.

Here is the house all opened up:


So I got four floors to fill, each with just one room.
My thoughts right now is something like this:
Ground floor: Kitchen and dinner table.
Second floor: Parlor with a fireplace, a sofa and bookcase.
Third floor: Bedroom with a bed, wardrobe and perhaps a washstand.
Attic: Not sure. Secondary bedroom, maybe?

So far I haven't gotten much further than this.
I know a doll house doll representing an adult in this scale would need to be about 3.5 cm tall.
I'll probably try to whip something up that can act as a test dummy in this size to use as reference for furniture making.

If anyone has any additional ideas, they are most welcome!

Thank you for looking.

 

@unoa_im_afreak Oh, hadn't even thought of that. Thanks for the link.
I had seen laser cut kits similar to the house kit, but after assembling this thing I really don't feel like committing to another kit for a while.

Although, just buying the things almost seems a bit too easy... I'll have to think about it.

 

Thank you all! I'm having fun with this.

Thanks. Like most crafty people I do have a good stash of little decorative things from all sorts of sources. I'm going to take the evening to dig through some old boxes, I believe.

Either of those could definitely work!
Speaking of storage, I am thinking it might be a good idea to either make or find a good small box as "in world" storage for surplus furniture and stuff. That way I don't risk loosing small things as I work on it or move things around for photos etc. And it can work as an overflow place in case I make stuff I end up not using.

My thoughts exactly.
When I was a kid, there was an old doll house at my grandmothers place. I think it originally belonged to my mothers younger siblings and it was there to be played with by all my cousins and eventually some of their children as well. What was left of the furniture and dolls in the end was eclectic, to say the least.
I have something like that in mind. Although, my grandmothers doll house was of the very simple painted box variety and incredibly sturdy. Witch was probably why it survived so well.

 

Oh, that's a good idea! I will consider it for sure.

I don't know if the craft stores around here carry balsa wood, but I'm sure I can force some good use out of toothpicks, paint stirrers, scarps of cardboard and wire. And I do have some thin scarps of ash wood from an unrelated laser cut kit, I think.

 

I think I made a pretty good start at this project last night.

I made a wire doll to represent size and scale. The wire doll is about 35 mm tall and the doll holding it is a Dollmore Narsha, for scale.


I decided to start with some low hanging fruit. Best to start simple, right?
So I dug out some beads:

And along with some green pipe cleaner and a bit of pink flocking "liberated" from a pompom, I made some potted plants.


And then some other beads:


And made a small table:

The plant on this one is just some paper and another bead, it took minutes to make and turned out a lot more realistic than I had anticipated.

All in all, not a bad evening.

 

@Teddy @Girlfriend7 @Toyhunter247 and @Ligaya24 Thank you all very much. I am having a lot of fun with this.

I've made some further progress.
I took a ring base:

And made a dinner table:


Now I just need to figure out the chairs.

And I've made a few good finds in my stash. I think all these were sold as toys for regular doll house children, but the size is pretty good for this house. The bed is too short for the wire doll, but could pass for a child's bed.

 

I've made a sofa!


Far from perfect, but it will do.

 

@Marzipan_Rose Most wargaming miniatures are quite a bit smaller than this, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. Not all things are as sensitive to scale, after all.