This is the new toy room. We used a set of kids stacking cubes for our shelves- and a Rubik's cube table. (My husband said- "Hey is that my Rubik's cube? What if I want my Rubik's cube?" Now mind you, I don't recall the last time I saw him with the Rubik's cube in his hand- but...whatev) Tops of 2 liter bottles glued to the wall and squinkies make awesome toys inside. I made the window from instructions that I got from Myfroggystuff.com. The floor is made from tiles from Lowe's. You can buy single tiles at less than a buck apiece and the cut fairly easily with an exacto knife. The wooden table top is also from Lowe's- it's a sample of wood flooring- which is FREE!!! and the bottom of the table is a teabag box covered in white duct tape. I'd just like to take a moment here and acknowledge all the awesome new duct tape colors and designs--thank you duct tape. The door is made of brown foamie and has a bed glued on for the knob.

Finished Bakery

Working on a bakery shop...

Kinda just taking on a life of it's own.

Close ups of the Theater room. A couple of bench seats made from juice boxes, cardboard, red felt and electrical tape, and prints from the computer glued to cardboard. We used Popsicle sticks for the concession stand and scrapbooking paper glued to some Styrofoam. The popcorn bucket is the lid of a covergirl makeup bottle. The exact right shape for a popcorn bucket- who knew.

Theater Room- because every doll needs a night out once in a while.

A couple of Colombian details...

Remodeled the kitchen slightly. Made a new table- a hasty version of a table that we saw on an awesome site called My Froggy Stuff. It's the best dollhouse blog- I stalk it. The table is basically cut up pieces of paint samples placed on a piece of cardboard and covered in Elmer's glue to give it a mosaic feel. I didn't give it nearly the time or attention that that tutorial showed, but it's cute. I also cut down some bookcases- that were beginning to lean, and made some kitchen shelving.

Made a new circular rug. Cut a circle from cardboard, started at the middle and used hot glue to wind scraps of yarn outward.

New orange/Ferris Wheel bedroom.

Newest rooms...

Put a bedroom in this past weekend to accommodate the Lalaloopsy Ferris Wheel that Shea got for Christmas. That's the room on the bottom. She did the room on top in Art class at school. Her look is a bit more eclectic than mine.

So far...

This is the ball room. I still want to add some things, but I am quitting for the weekend. It has not been an easy room.

The artwork behind the couch is a paint sample framed in scrapbook paper, and the other pieces are scrapbook stickers. The grandfather clock was a $5 purchase at Hobby Lobby and tucked into the suitcase for this room. The curtains gathered pink satiny material thumbtacked to the walls with a ribbon fringe hiding the raw edges.
I'm just not sure about the rug. I can't decide. It's an old hankie that I picked up at a yard sale. I think I like it...but I don't know. It kinda gives off a grandmother vibe... I just don't know. I'll let the dolls decide.

Ball room

Needed some flowers, a craft care package from home came with a package of mini silk roses, and we used the cardboard tube that pony tail holders came on for the tall vase. I hot glued some ribbon to the outside because it looked too white. The curly strips were an accident- when I was trimming the cardboard for the walls, they curled- and that was kinda cool, so I wrapped a couple pieces around a pencil and they curled even more.

Party/Ball Room

For those dancing moments...we've created a ball room. This is the room that Shea particularly asked for. When asked what it should look like, she said it should be pink and it should be fancy. So we are going pink and fancy.

This is the beginning stages with the windows added, and a few of the furniture pieces moved in.

Dollhouse Manor

Some dollhouse furniture on top of the house, Shea got a couple sets of Loving Family for Christmas. We're thinking of putting in a laundry room at some point...

art room

Decided we needed a cozy little art studio. Styrofoam and felt couch, scrapbook paper ends cut to fit. Styrofoam coffee table covered with felt- going to need a new exacto knife soon. Brought the mini art easel from Hobby Lobby in the States. Paint samples, scrapbook paper and blank art paper for the canvas. The little counter? An inspired purchase- found at Bed. Bath, and Beyond on clearance when we were home also. I'm not even sure what they are called, but they are to put in drawers to divide them...caddies? maybe?? The heart shaped thingy on the wall is a cheapy birthday party bracelet favor. The wall paper itself is a piece of scrap book paper.
There's a basket of "jewels" on the side of the counter. An homage to my love of all things sparkly. Acrylic jewels hotglued into a cut egg carton cup. (found a glue gun in a shop in Santa Marta) The pitcher on the counter is a Good Will purchase.
Felt rug and pillows, and mini watercolor pictures on the wall, backed in construction paper.

Getting Bigger...

Christmas Room

Time for a holly jolly dolly Christmas...
Minding my own business, strolling through the downtown outdoor booths in Santa Marta, I spotted some wooden doll furniture. Making Josh translate for me, I bought two little rocking chairs, a stool that I decided to use for a table, and two other little stools. We decided that these could be used in the Christmas room we were planning.
So- first we needed a fireplace. Folded poster board covered with handmade "bricks" of polymer clay. It's not really sturdy, and had I to do it over again, I don't think I'd do it this way...but we live, we learn. Next we, need a Christmas tree. How the heck?? I trash talk Walwart- I admit it- but I would've loved to just run in and buy a mini tree. But no sucha thing round this coal mine. So it's back to felt. I made a cone shape, sewed it together on one side, and stuffed it with wadded up toilet paper. (I'm here to tell you- there are no real craft supplies around here.)
A card sent from home had some confetti type stars and snowflakes, and those and some beads did an ok job for ornamentation.
A Christmas magazine from a elementary classroom pile provided some ads that worked as wrapping paper, and the paper store here had some tiny bows for the gifts. The "rug" in front of the fireplace is an ad for some sort of lip gloss.
Add a couple felt pillows- also stuffed with toilet paper- and a scrap of red for the rug- throw in a little stocking made of felt. Not such a bad little Christmas room. My fav so far.

Game Room

Dolls get bored. They start wandering around the dollhouse thinking, "What next?" So we decided for those moments- they needed a little recreation area. Our main inspiration came from a magazine advertising a hotel with a game room, using that and then using a advertising catalog for paint and decorating tips- purloined from Lowes back home in Indiana- we cut out the items for the back wall. The circles that decorate the walls are also from paint chip samples- useful...and free.
We decided on a small window for this room with a nice scalloped valance. And then see that picture framed on the right hand wall? One day the cable/telephone came to check out our line and this oblong plastic piece was left behind. I hold it up and say to Shea, "Does this look like a doll-sized picture frame to you?" To which she shrugged and looked at me blankly. Interpreting this as an affirmative answer, it became a picture frame. I like it. It adds dimension.
What else? Pool table- covered mac and cheese box. Maybe we eat too much pasta.
Also pieced together cardboard put together to look like a skee ball table. Let me just go on record as saying those circles were a bear to glue.
There was, in this room, for about an hour, a nice glittery disco ball hanging from the room ceiling. Just a styrofoam ball covered in silver glitter. Not attached well, and the disco ball crashed to the floor quicker than you can say "Bee Gees."
A couple of vintage pieces are also artfully installed in this room. The small brown dresser in the middle of the back wall and the teeny, tiny little table over to the side. We have several mismatched vintage plastic pieces in our extra pieces collection, none of which really work with the sizes of our dolls- but Shea doesn't seem to care, and none of the dolls have mentioned it, so I guess it's all good.

Sprawling Manor? I think yes.

Next photo shows our newly installed game room, small pool off the kitchen, and lovely garden balcony on the third floor.
We used a shoe box lid for the small pool and cut little pieces of pools and water scenes from mags to glue to the bottom. The garden is a felt tree and a scrapbooking sticker (sent on a birthday card from home) stuck to the outside of the boxes, posterboard fence and egg carton chairs- two cups, cut and glued back to back-painted white. We used a green felt bit for the floor of the balcony.
Also visible here, is a couple of windows on the sides of the rooms. I have a vague notion to add a roof someday, but I don't know if it will happen if we keep adding rooms.

Bath- HOT, HOT Pink

So our dolls have decided it is high time for a bath. We used the Styrofoam packing from an iron. It was a good find. We painted it the only pink we had, and added a felt pink towel for the side. The bathroom sink is a yogurt lid carefully inserted into folded cardboard. The toilet, again, masterfully folded cardboard and toilet tissue rolls. I have to admit, I am a little proud of the little tissue box- slitted and pink tissue from the birthday party paper, carefully pulled through. The perfume bottle and hair dryer are both left over Barbie pieces and everything else is magazine cutouts.

Ok, now we have a house that takes a whole corner of the room.
A couple of new things in it- a table, cardboard covered in felt and paper towel roll trimmed and painted white in the upper dining room. Also see a sleeping bag has been added to the living room floor- because we don't have enough beds???
Also in the purple bedroom- we have added a floor length mirror. Posterboard with a folded piece glued on back so it is free-standing, with a piece of aluminum foil for a reflective surface, and mini amethyst rhinestones (scrapbooking stickers from home) in a row at the top to give the room that little princess edge.
And we keep adding furniture to existing rooms- proof positive that I have hoarding tendencies that manifest in the miniature world. One day they will have one of those reality tv shows about the the cleaning out of Shea's dollhouse.

Bedroom #3

I can't find the original close-up photos of this room, so I'm using a pic from now. But this room, complete with twin beds made from juice boxes and poster board, is done in a shocking green and pink combo. It looks out on a lovely pool and neighboring home.
I found the dresser looking thing in a shop in Maico about 2 hours from the mine. It was a little art type shop that had unpainted items that you could purchase and paint there. This piece was intended to be a little jewelry type box. I painted the box in the shop and then decorated the rest of the room to fit the piece. The rug came later and I wove it together with little scraps of felt. The other pieces are odds and ends, a Tinkerbelle piece, Lalaloopsie, My Little Ponies, and Zoobles. (Note how furniture keeps moving from room to room.) The curtains are a cellophane bag and hung on a drinking straw.

Den and Living Room Loft

So, anyhoo, our next box was huge. Too big for one room, so I had the brilliant idea of trying to make it into two rooms by using a folded box lid and gluing it in. Not my brightest idea- but it sorta worked. I thought if we had a column it would support the weight- and it does, but it just gets in the doll's way. They don't like it. The column is a Shea-painted paper towel roll. The shelves, which were originally intended to be library-ish are a knock off Barbie box, and a mac n cheese box. Both covered in felt scraps. The shelves generally hold a hodge podge of toys and trinkets, often Squinkies. A few Puppy in My Pockets have come to check out the room.
The lamp is a folded piece of cardboard and Shea-painted bright blue. The lamp shade, a disposable plastic shot glass- which did not hold paint. We have a brown trash can looking thing from who knows what set.
Up in the loft, the carpet is a piece from the cardboard box back. It was the back of the fore-mentioned set bought for the kitchen...I used the heck out of that box. The purple couch- two pieces of Sytrofoam glued together and covered with felt. It is obviously a comfy couch- for we see the Lalaloopsie resting peacefully. Tiny blue treasure chest looking thing sits beside the couch.

Kitchen

The kitchen is not one of my favorite rooms. I'm not sure why. I found the set at a street vendor and managed to figure out my pesos and bought it for a birthday present. Maybe the color? I don't know. The wallpaper is wrapping paper from the birthday party. The table- made from a box top covered in pink felt and plastic forks for legs. Not terribly sturdy and has since been replaced. The white chairs- cut toilet paper rolls with felt covered circles for seat cushions. We have also accentuated the kitchen decor with a nice, traditional Little Tykes chair. Hot pink felt curtains, perfect for any doll kitchen.

Bedroom #2

Our dollhouse is ever-evolving. We change, restack, re-arrange. It's kind of a beautiful thing. I'd like to be able to do this in my real place- want the bed in the living room for a while? Sure thing. Want the kitchen moved closer to the bedroom for late night snacking? No problem.
Here is the 2nd bedroom- regal purple felt spread and rolled pink felt pillow. Made of a mac and cheese box.

Dining Room

Dining Room- Have I mentioned how much I liked the 2 page spreads in decorating magazines? They fit beautifully in the back of the box. A little minor trimming and presto- a little depth to your room. Automatic furniture.
Here we have chosen our Lalaloopsie chairs and a Little Pet Shop box of some sort for a pop of color. We selected royal blue felt drapes glued to a drinking straw and there ya go. Dine in style.