Pretty Faux Dollhouse Bed Tutorial By Tracy Topps

I had been looking for some of the tutorials I've done online in the past and decided to start putting them on my blog. There are so many that I forgot I had even done some of them.  This one is featuring the Faux dollhouse bed tutorial I did for the Greenleaf Gazette back in 2011. You can view that Newsletter by CLICKING HERE 

You'll need:

Card board
lace trim
2 sheets of wallpaper or scrapbook paper with different patterns
white glue
hot glue and hot glue gun
5" x5" square of fabric
scissors
A smile on your face :)

First you will cut your card Board Pieces in the sizes listed below. (One size is not pictured in the photo below but will be needed and shown later on.)

2 pieces  3" x 1"
1 piece 6 1/2" x 3"
2 pieces 6 1/2" x 1"
1 piece 5 1/2" x 1"

Now assemble your bed so that it looks like the one picture here. I used my hot glue gun for this:

Pick your wall paper and cut it to a size a little bigger than the top of your bed. Add white glue over every inch of this so that the wallpaper will not buckle. I did mine this way then I used a credit card to smooth the glue completely over the top.

I laid the wallpaper over the glue and smoothed it over (you can use a clean credit card for this part too). Take a sharp hobby knife and cut the wallpaper to edge of the cardboard.

Take your second wallpaper pattern and this will go around the bottom half of the bed. It should look like the picture below when this step is completed.

Now take your lace that you will use as a bed skirt and your white glue (I used Aileen's fabric glue).  Add white glue where the two wallpaper patterns meet and add the lace along this. Remember to cut enough of this lace so that you can create a little bit of a pleated or flowing look. You do this by "pinching" some of the fabric lace together at some points. Let it dry completely. 

Now, get ready to add your second lace trim.  I used my glue gun so that I could speed this along. Remember, use it very sparingly. If you are not good at being very neat with the glue gun, your can use white glue (I did that on the first bed I made).   If you use white glue, be sure to use enough but not too much or it will come through the lace and look messy.  As you add the lace, remember to press it so that it adheres to the glue. It should cover the rough edges so that you can not see them any longer. 

Now take your cardboard piece sized 5 1/2" x 1".   This will be the pillow part of the bed. Add the glue from the hot glue gun along the bottom of one side of this piece. Then add your wallpaper to it. You will wrap the wallpaper around to the other side and then glue it in place nice and tight.

Glue the "pillow" across the bed. I added more lace because I wanted mine to look very "Girlie". Now of course, if you like your bed like this, you can stop here and enjoy. You can pose a doll on top or have pillows, dolls or even a book to make it look used or lived in. I choose instead to add a draped cover over mine. Continue to the next step to do this step.

Take your fabric and your lace trim. Add white glue around the edges and begin pressing it down so it will not come apart. Be careful because you don't want to use too much glue as it will stain the fabric! When I get to the corner, I do not cut the lace. I pinch and fold it (add a touch of glue) and continue the run like show in the 2nd picture

 

This is one of mine completed:
 

     

Now to drape it over the bed, you need your fingers wet (not dripping) and you need to fold your fabric in a way that it will be in the direction you want to lay it. When it dries, it will lay more easily! When it dries, get your hot glue gun and add a drop of hot glue, where you want your cover to start at. I used hot glue because white glue will bleed through (and it will take longer to dry). I then press and pinch the fabric so that it will fold nicely and look natural.

Pinch and press at the top; then add another glue drop at the bottom and pinch & press.

Then glue it around the edges and it ends up looking like this when completed:

This one Below was the first one I did for a Dollhouse

If you like the Cornice I made, you can see the tutorial for it by Clicking HERE

Next, I'll Blog the Faux Dresser which works very well when you have very small dollhouse rooms you are working with. 

Thank you for viewing my Blog and for the encouraging comments you leave for me. I really do Appreciate them. Please send me pictures of yours if you create one and feel free to share this with your miniature clubs or other craft groups.  

Tracy Topps

Mckinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Completed)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
The Finished McKinley Dollhouse

These are pictures of the finished McKinley Dollhouse! The Greenleaf dollhouses are loved by many great miniature Artisans. There are so many things you can do with a Greenleaf kit. They are lighter in weight but sturdy when assembled. They are simple to cut (I only used my hobby knife for this. All you have to do is think outside of the box. I always regret not taking the final pictures of this house after I cleaned up the edges and did touch ups but, these are the only completed shots I have of this kit.

Remember, if you dream it, you can do it! Have fun & feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comment section.

This is what the Kit looks like on the box:

This is what mine looks like:

You can see more pictures of the McKinley by clicking here:

Black Briar (Mckinley)

Thank you for viewing my blog today!! 

McKinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Electricity)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Adding Electricity

 I used a mixture of hard wire and tape wire to light up this house. Because this house has a flat back and will hang on the wall, I fed all of the wires to the back of the house by clipping off the plugs and feeding it through holes that I drilled into the back of the house.

After that, I added a 11" strip of tape wire and took the plastic cover off of the tape wire. Next, took the wire and split the two wires about half inch down and then added one side on each side of the tape. Do not let the two exposed hardwire touch each other when you lay them down. I then took some masking tape and tacked it in place so that I could do all of the wires this way. Once all wires were added, I then took my soldering iron out to heat it and while it was heating, I added soldering flux (just a little touch) to the exposed wires (All of them) so that the solder will adhear to the wires to the tape wire. 

After that, I add some solder to the tip of my soldering iron and then to the exposed wired to affix it together. I do this to all exposed wires. Here are the pictures to help you with the visual side of the instructions

After that, you can remove the little pieces of masking tape you use to help tack down the wires and keep them in place while you solder them in.

After that, I taped down all of the loose wires and labeled which room each wire it for. You can also add more lights & outlets to this later on if you like.

  Now, all you need to do is add the Junction Splice and put one prong on each side of the tape wire. Then you add your transformer lead in wire and transformer and You have Electric!

It really is simple to do. Don't over complicate things by thinking too hard.Remember, if you have more questions feel free to ask in the comment section.

McKinley Dollhouse Construction Blog (The Beginning)

 

May 24 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Starting The McKinley

This time I am only blogging the changes that I made to this Gorgeous doll house kit. The McKinley has been my favorite since Lisa from Greenleaf asked me to make one 4 years ago. This is something that a newbie can do if they have the patience but since most new people have a hard time with the kt instructions I want it to be known in advance that, this McKinley Dollhouse blog is really for the advanced builders who can look at these brief comments listed and make the changes.

I started the building of this house a few weeks back. I started out building this kit pretty much like everyone else on the Greenleaf Build Team. You'll notice though (if you have your instructions nearby) that I did start a little bit out of sequence. When I have built a kit several times, I don't view the instructions as much. I have been wanting to bash (Alter) this kits' design since I completed my last one . I started on the back wall since I knew I was going to bash it by extending the roof line. I took wood that Greenleaf uses for their kits. They sell extra sheets but you have to call them for plain sheets that are not punched out yet.

When the original roof is finished, it is only 4" high. Mine right now is "bashed" to have a 9" high ceiling.

The next big change was that I wanted to change the kitchen wall so that the opening would be in the front of the room, not the back. I did this by cutting this wall into three sections so that most of the tabs would still be in most of the right parts of the floor for stability. I figured this out through trial and error and it took me over an hour to get it straight, stable & right. I also moved the kitchen wall over by 1" to make the kitchen larger.

I then had to attach it to the rest of the structure that I had already assembled:

It ended up looking a bit like this:

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog today. I am moving my build blogs over to my blog here on blogspot so that things will be easier to find. That is why you may see older dates written on the blog posts.

Hope you are having a Fantastic Day! 

The Thought Of The Day is ~ There is a saying "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficult thing." What thing is difficult in your life right now that you can turn into an opportunity?

Lily Dollhouse Building Blog Days 6 - 8

August 13 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Hiding Electrical Wires

Please Notice the date above of this blog. I use a different method now in hiding the wires. If you look at some of my current blogs you can see how creative I have gotten in hiding these wires. I still like the hard wire method the best.

I promised to show a step by step on hiding my wires from my lights. First of all, I always look for a a good place to put them in the ceiling. I then start looking for a good corner to hide the wires in:

 I take some quick grip glue and glue your wires into place in the corner

While the glue dry, I add tape to keep them in place. Before I add clay, I add electrical tape to the wires. The clay goes OVER the wall which will cover the tape and wires. If you add the wires in areas where base board/trim will be (which is usually in the corners and op or bottom of the walls) please note that the trim hides the wires very well and you can wallpaper over it that way better too (you won't need electrical tape over the wires and some wood trim have grooves cut into them to fit the hard wire in neatly).

August 13 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Adding Floors

Well I added some of the Hardwood floors. I used Corona Concepts Siding strips to do the floors in the attic. I then started adding the roof supports:

 I used the floor tiles for this room

October 4 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Roof Added

 This house has been sitting in my garage since my last post because We were trying to sell our home. Well, we took it off the Market for now because this is my busy season and I HAVE to finish this house BEFORE I move cause I promised the buyer that I would!!

Well, I felt some of the trim is a bit plain so to add some detail I bought some wood strips from Hobby Lobby with a nice design on it. I then went through LOTS of it trying to miter the ends correctly

I also changed the trim color because the Green was not moving me and I don't Think the owner of this house was in love with the color either (Though she never said she was or wasn't).

 
I have been making some Architectural detailed items to add to this house and so now, I am adding more lights and things so that I will only have to the clay left to add on the house Here is where I am so far and this blog will be updated Daily now. 

The roof popped in very easily. The roof parts were perforated so they did bend easily for me. The roof trim was easy to figure out. The Verge Board trims were the parts that had me guessing for a while .  One tip I must share is to remember to never leave a project without writing good detail notes about where you left off at

October 14 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Adding Roof Trim & Dormers

 At first I looked at the dormer sides and thought I must have been crazy cause I could not figure out how they went

 
Well after looking at the INSTRUCTIONS which I had put aside cause I had decided I did not need them anymore ( That's what I get Huh, I still need them ) , I figured it out and Ohh How I love the dormers and trim and all. This house has a lot of character!!

The Curved part sits right on the roof

  

Then you add the front part

 
I also added my own trim to the roof 

 

Thank You so much for stopping by to read my blog!

 Tracy

Thought Of The day ~
Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.  ~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros