Props A Roombox Built For Two

A bit of backstory for this project, to start off: I've wanted to make a proper roombox/diorama for my mature 1:6s for a long time. I don't have the setup for any real powertools or anything in my 1 bedroom apartment, so previous attempts have been a bit flimsier and made primarily from foamcore. It's been in the back of my mind that I would really like to buy a sturdier base, but also need to be able to take it down when I'm not playing with it. That's been rather on the backburner for several years.

But! This year I shelled one of my most beloved and long-standing RP characters and a friend's character, who is her childhood friend/former fiancé/future husband. I'm absolutely in love with both of them, and they proved to be the kick in the inspiration I needed to really work on this in earnest. Because this silly married couple needs their cottagecore house...

So, first, the base! It's MDF, and I got it from Laserlines on Etsy. I thought I'd start with just one corner, in case I didn't like it, or it didn't work as well as I'd hoped.



But I shouldn't have worried! It's great! It also shipped SUPER quickly, which was nice. I was particularly keen on finding a US seller, with the way international shipping times have been lately.



As you can see, Desiderius (who is on the 30Adagio body) is a BIT tall for the room... I'm considering trying to figure out how to make some sort of "ceiling" extension, because he looks good with the windows and so forth but there's just not a lot of height above them so it's hard to take pictures of him standing up. That's a future improvement, though, and again somewhat hampered by my lack of real tools.

The next step was to put wallpaper on:



...and to paint the panes/frame for the windows and put that on, too.



Ta-da! The wallpaper is scrapbook paper I've had for exactly this purpose; I'm really happy with the pattern. It's subtle enough to not distract from the dolls, but not too dull for me. The trim at the top is mostly to hide the seam, I admit... I tried to pattern match and got really frustrated. It's hard enough to see in photos that I realized I was wasting a lot of energy I could be spending on something more worthwhile.



And here it is with furniture in it! I had most of this already; the couch, pillows and little potted plant I made myself, and the ottoman, tree and picture frame were gifts from a friend. This did draw attention to an unanticipated problem... I need more space!

I put another corner on order, but in the meantime I've been having fun fussing around with the arrangement of the room.



I got them some rugs from Amazon, and the chair is from Daiso. I think it's meant for plants? The curtain is another gift from the same friend. (The "glass" is a clear file folder taped to the outside--I plan on sliding printed photos in there to give them a bit of a view that isn't just my messy work table.)

And that's where we are right now! I still need to finish the floor--it's just plain MDF right now, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it. I also want to make/buy a few other furniture items, especially when I have the other corner. But it's been super fun getting this all together, and I'm really happy I finally took the plunge and bought a base. This should keep me occupied for quite a while!

 

Aww, thank you! I was trying not to put TOO many photos in the opening post, but I do have some I took of the two of them in the set, hehe. Most of the better photos don't show off the space too well, but a few do at least.




(This was before I got the carpet, which I think has added a lot.)

 

A small update: I got another corner! I put up wallpaper and trim, and then did a quick setup with the furniture I have. I love the extra space, it really makes a huge difference... No longer am I cramming the couch into one corner!! Still need to solve the height quandary though...

 

Another small update, of sorts! I've made them a short bookshelf, an armchair (because poor Des is too leggy for the low chairs I have) and a BUNCH of books to go on that shelf, as well as the houseplant you can (sort of) see in the corner here. (I maybe went a little ham with Etsy printables...) I'm really pleased with how the books turned out! Most of them open, although I was originally only intending to make prop books out of foamboard...



Better shot of the shelf/books/plant:



The little bric-a-brac I set on top is just random Tim Holtz Idea-Ology stuff I picked up at the craft store whenever something caught my eye... That stuff is dangerous!

Etsy shops for printables, in case anyone is in the market:

• For Dolls With Love ~Art~ - This was my favorite! They have 1/3, 1/4, 1/6 and 1/12 scale books, both prop books (with blank pages) and books with printed interiors. Very good instructions, beautiful printables, they took a lot of my money this week! Haha.
• Little Things of Interest - This shop also sells premade books in a few scales! I haven't bought any of their premade books, but I'm probably going to... Very cute! The printables I did buy were great, too.
• SonkaHouse - The quality of these were really good! I didn't like them as much because the blank/prop books have less consistent sizing, and I don't like how they go together as much. (This is just my opinion after assembling what had to be probably 50 books over a week.) They only have 1/6 scale, which is what I needed, but ymmv.
• LittleMaggieShop - And last but not least, this one! I did like that these came with fake pages and are more consistently-sized than SonkaHouse, and the quality is (of course) very good! They have 1/6 and 1/12, in the same file for a lot of them. Lots of non-book printables too, although those mostly seem to be 1/12 (boo). This has the same problem as SonkaHouse, in that they just aren't designed to assemble as cleanly. Not really a big deal, but I felt spoiled by the first two.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! I've been having so much fun with it. ♥

Lately, I've been decorating the room for Christmas! First I made some little stockings for fun, then I realized I needed a fireplace to hang them on... It's rapidly snowballed from there. (Pun fully intended.)

Here's the fireplace. I made it with a foamboard base. The hearth is a single piece of foamboard wrapped in a stone printed paper, which I glued the basic fireplace structure to. Then I added cork "bricks" to the front and sides of it. Those were painted, and the grout (partially) filled in with a mixture of white paint and baking soda, for thickness and texture. (I was planning on doing all of it, but phew was that a pain... a little is suggestive enough.) The top is obviously also foamboard, wrapped in some woodgrain printed paper.



After that, I added more decorations... Most of these are printables from Etsy, but I made the candles and candlesticks! Based on an idea from MyFroggyStuff... I think they turned out well! I actually have a few more candles, too. The candles are opaque hot glue sticks, and the candlesticks are rolls of paper painted with white and gold acrylic!



Other additions: craft magazines (printable printed on very thin photo paper I bought on Amazon), the beginnings of a paper chain garland (wow that's tedious at this scale!), some Christmas snacks, and yep, more candles. They WERE on those metal candlesticks, but they don't stick to it very well... I might have to use regular glue for that one.



I also put a winter scene outside of their window, again printed on some glossy photo paper. I have a clear file folder taped to the outside of the window, to act as "glass" and also I can swap out the scene to match the season/my whim.



Also, I realized I never did take a better photo of the side of that shelf I painted! Here it is...



A view of the whole thing so far, which is a little messy. I made a few pillows but I don't know where I'm going to end up putting them... You can see the log holder at least, which I'm also quite pleased with for such a simple little thing. Still need to at least make a tree skirt, and a few presents! I have little orb ornaments too on the way.



That's all for this update!

 

This isn't the BEST shots of the box/diorama itself, but here's what I ended up with for Christmas. In a fit of inspiration/dissatisfaction with how easy it was to get the window in the shot, I moved things around.



I also made a tree skirt and finished the presents--complete with little washi tape bows, because they looked a bit sad all bow-less.





Here you can actually see the window! A bit better than in my last shot, I think. I'm still really happy with how it looks, and I'm going to have to find some more images for other seasons/weather conditions... They're not going to have the MOST consistent environment outside, but that's fine with me.

 

Yes, it is right against the window! It can often look a bit flat--I think it depends on the photo. In this case I think the photo itself has enough depth and looks like it's far enough away that it works out. (Really I think I just got lucky, haha.)