Ava's Dollhouse -- A Tour

     I thought I'd post the finished product now that the dollhouse is done! Well, mostly done . . . it's as done as it's going to get for now. I still haven't settled on a roofing solution, but it doesn't seem to matter at present. It's busy getting played with!

     You can look back to see what it looked like when I started. It's come a long way! After many hours of scraping, caulking, painting, decorating, and furnishing -- it turned out like this:

This was probably one of my favorite projects ever. It was rather time consuming, but I love how it turned out. And, even more so, I love how much Ava loves it. She's already spent many happy hours playing with her little bunny family. 

Shall we take a tour? :)

First, the exterior -- I went with Becky's suggestion (from the comments of this post) of a pale taupey grey for the shutters, and the gables are a very pale pink. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really liked this palette that I pinned on Pinterest awhile back. Simple and sweet. The exterior is the only part of the house that isn't entirely finished. There is actually a little front porch that attaches under the door. I've painted it a darker grey-brown, but haven't put it on yet. 

 I kept all of my interior stuff fairly simple. There is a ton of Calico Critters &/or dollhouse stuff out there, but most of it involves a lot of little tiny pieces. I knew we weren't ready for that yet! Ava is just barely three, after all. And we have our little Samasaurus to worry about! I'm sure he'd happily eat all the tiny dollhouse accessories he could find. :) Anyway, larger, more sturdy furniture pieces are best for now, and we can add more to the house as Ava grows up.

Also, I'll point out that all of the interior wallpaper came from the Nana's Nursery scrapbook paper stacks (view here and here) which I already had in my paper collection at home. I attached the paper to the back walls with double stick tape so we can easily switch it out if we ever want to redecorate!

The Kitchen

    This little shelf was the only piece that came with the dollhouse. I think the seller just threw it in because it was slightly broken and she had no other use for it. (We bought the house off a Craigslist ad from a lady who collects and restores dollhouses.)

    Anyway, it used to be red, had one door (the other was missing), and some half-broken feet on the bottom. I cut off the door and broken feet and painted it a springy green on the outside and yellow on the inside. Much more cheerful! 

    Then I cut out a little tea set and the cake & flowers and mod-podged them to the shelves. I cut them out of a piece of scrapbook paper from the Nana's Kitchen stack. I made the little clock on the wall (pictured above), but the other art on the kitchen wall was cut out of another paper from the same stack. Cute!

    

    The kitchen table is made out of a small oval wood plaque (70￠ at Hobby Lobby) that I painted blue, and a small wood candleholder. I just hot-glued them together. Easy peasy!

    The chairs were also purchased at Hobby Lobby for about $2 apiece. I cut off the legs of both the chairs to make them a little shorter. The bunnies aren't very tall!

The Living Room

I blogged about the little sofa here, and the red side table was a dollar store find! I printed off the little sunburst mirror and the other art, too. It was found by doing a search for vintage butterflies. We'll definitely have space for more furniture in this room. Maybe we can add some armchairs and such later on.

The Nursery

    Pretty simple! I like the little birdies on the wall. Sweet. The triple baby bunkbeds were a gift from Nana. And, she now has three baby bunnies, so all the beds are filled. :) Sam gave her the third one for her birthday! Such a nice, thoughtful brother . . . hee hee.  

    I made this simple little bunting out of scrapbook paper and thread. It took all of about 10 minutes to make, and looks pretty cute. :) To make one, just cut out a bunch of little triangles and string them together. Quick & easy!
    The little picture on the other side of the room (shown in the main nursery photo above) was just a little bunny cut out of a Nana's Nursery paper.

Sister Bunny's Room 

    Ava told me that this is her favorite room. :) It's probably the pinkness. She's still a fan! How long do most little girls like pink, I wonder? Maybe she will always like it. 

   The little gallery wall is a combination of scrapbook paper, google images, and pinterest finds. All the art in the house is attached with tape so we can switch it out later. If you wanted something more permanent, Mod Podge would work best!

    This little mirror was already in the house and was glued to the wall very well. It's a bit too high for Sister bunny to use, but oh well! :) I made a little frame for it out of paper. Before, it was just a little oval mirror . . . with paint smudges all over it that I had to scrape off. I think this house has been through several owners, because I could tell it had been though many paint jobs in the past. Layer after layer of different colors!

Brother Bunny's Room

   Are you still with me? This is the last room! The little shelf on the wall was in the house when we got it, and I thought it would be fun if it sort of looked like Brother bunny kept his toys up there. Someday, when we're ready for more little pieces, we can have real Calico Critters stuff for the shelves, but this is fun for the meantime. Ava likes it! She pretends that Brother bunny likes to play with his dinosaurs. It's adorable. :)

Thanks for joining us on our tour!

Here's a bit o' Ava cuteness on your way out . . . 

Peekaboo!