Poppet got a dolls house for her third birthday back in January. We got it from ASDA for £35 which I thought was good at the time as it's really sturdy and big, but now I see it's reduced to £20 which is even more of a bargain!
I'd always had plans to decorate it as it's simple plain wood (or wood veneer even) inside; I even had plans to transform it into a beautifully decorated house before we gave it to her for her Birthday but decided it would be more fun to decorate it with her and take our time with it. I really have taken my time as it has taken me 6 months to do anything to it at all.
We started today scouring magazines and catalogues for pictures that we could use to make framed pictures for the walls. This meant Poppet got to use scissors so she enjoyed it a lot. We managed to find a few suitable pictures, so then started to make little frames for them.
We smoothed out some leftover Easter egg foil (it was pretty crumpled up still though), cut it into a square/rectangle depending on the picture shape and then glued our picture onto the centre of it. Then we folded the top and bottom edge of foil over and over on itself until it framed the picture. This bit was too fiddly for Poppet. To fold the side edges of the frame I first snipped off the thick folded bits so they would fold easier (much better instructions can be found here!). I also had some leather-look card which I just cut into a rectangle and glued a picture onto.
We ended up with a sunflower scene in a gold frame, a scenic sea view in a leather effect frame, and a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie in a gold frame which is obviously a must in any home.
They were a bit homemade looking but still recognisable as pictures (I hope!)
And here they are adorning the walls of the dollshouse:
On a decorating roll I also found (ok not found, sacrificed Poppet's dressing gown for) some pink fleece fabric and glued it down in one of the smaller rooms to become a tacky and gawdy bedroom carpet which obviously Poppet loves. I measured it a bit wrong in my haste so had to stretch it and weigh it down with heavy things to make it fit while the glue dried. The green wooden block was Poppet's effort.
It does make a very cosy looking bedroom.
Not content to stop there, I also set my sights on some bathroom furniture! We bought a pack of dolls house furniture when we bought the house so already had a toilet but no bathing or washing facilities.
I came across a post on Red Ted Art where they create a shower and a bath from an old iPhone box and so inspired I set off looking for my box.
The shower is the top of the box with a straw pushed through holes for a shower rail and a piece of a poly pocket threaded on for a shower curtain. I drew silver hearts on the shower curtain for a bit of decoration.
The bath was just the bottom of the box with a bit of blue fabric for water. I tipexed over the apple logos but they still show through a little.
The girls just loved playing with the new bathroom. The whole dolls house family had a shower or bath, or both, and then Poppet requested towels to dry them with so we rolled up little scraps of fabric and put them in a cabinet in the bathroom too. Little loved putting the people into the shower, closing the curtain and saying "bye bye!" and then "wash wash wash!" before taking them out and starting the process all over again. Poppet plays differently, instead of talking to the dolls like Little, she provides the voice of the character she is playing with so she had the mummy in the shower with the little girl telling her to 'be careful you don't fall'.
These little additions to the dollshouse have really reignited their interest in playing with it, it's been their favourite toy today. The rooms can be a little dark though so the next project is to light it!
Poppet: 3 yrs
Little: 21 mos
