Dollhouse Chairs, Repainted

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

Our daughter has a list of projects to do for the dollhouse. (We are SO related.) Evidently we have rugs to make, curtains to sew, tables to paint, wallpaper to hang… the list goes on and on! In our house, redecorating the dollhouse is just as fun, if not more so, than playing with the dollhouse.

One project we recently completed was the redux of several sets of chairs, including those white wicker chairs (on the bottom right), handmade by David’s grandmother, and the red, green, and yellow metal chairs (in the center):

Dollhouse chairs before paint

To no one’s surprise our daughter decided those chairs just had to be pink. Evidently the plain white and striped colors had to go.

We transformed those chairs using spray paint:

Painting dollhouse furniture
Painting dollhouse furniture

In keeping with the chair painting theme, our daughter decided we also had to redux our living room seating (thank you to Christina and Matthieu for the set!):

Dollhouse living room furniture before our redux

She painted the upholstered sofa, chairs, and ottoman using Jacquard fabric paint:

Painting dollhouse furniture

We decided to paint the upholstery with just one coat so the stripes continued to show through (certainly more fancy than having a plain magenta couch).

Here’s a sneak peak of all of the chairs after:

Dollhouse chairs after being painted

(We incorporated some of the hand-sewn cushions I made as stocking stuffers. The cushion on the right features Daisy Cottage fabric by Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet.)

Our daughter AND the dollhouse family LOVES their “new” chairs. Phew. One more thing checked off the to-do list!

The State of the Dollhouse

Playing with her Dollhouse
Dollhouse furniture mess
Dollhouse pile of people mess

There’s no doubt about it: ours is a lived in dollhouse.

After several months of inactivity (recovering from my three day marathon painting session to get it ready for Christmas morning!), we’re back to working on the dollhouse.

When your dollhouse family insists that they need a pink sofa, you happily oblige:

Painting dollhouse furniture

What house is complete without books strewn throughout the house and tucked safely away in cupboards?!

Dollhouse bookshelves in the living room

Cleaning and laundry is so much more fun when there are small sized mops and laundry facilities available:

Dollhouse laundry room
Dollhouse kitchen
Dollhouse bedroom

Next up: hang wallpaper in the living and sew curtains for the house. We also have plans to sew a black and white rug to go under the sofa.

We’re loving the process as much as the play. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?!

The Dollhouse Gift on Christmas Morning

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

Dollhouse present on Christmas morning

After a frantic painting marathon late last week, we placed the dollhouse under the tree…

Dollhouse present on Christmas morning

It’s furnishings were opened with glee…

Dollhouse present on Christmas morning

and our new (multicultural!) dollhouse family has moved in!

Dollhouse present on Christmas morning

(Yes, all before sunrise.)

It was a hit.

Dollhouse present on Christmas morning

After seeing her play with the dollhouse for hours today, I’m entertaining fantasies of her waking up tomorrow morning and going to play with the dollhouse on her own, giving us a few additional hours of sleep. Wow, does that sound good. If only…

Dollhouse Challenge + Bedroom Preview

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

Last month I had every intention of finishing our dollhouse in time for today’s I’m a Giant Challenge deadline… and then I realized that the majority of the dollhouse furniture will be under the Christmas tree this year and far be it for me to open up our daughter’s gifts ahead of her.

Dollhouse Bedroom

So I don’t have a completed dollhouse to show you.

Dollhouse Bedroom

In fact, I’m not sure we’ll ever have a completed dollhouse to show you because, well, we don’t have that kind of dollhouse. A family heirloom we inherited when David’s grandmother passed away last winter, this dollhouse belongs to our daughter.

Dollhouse Bedroom

Any time I start to make decisions regarding colors or fabric or decorations, I remind myself to step back, because quite frankly this dollhouse isn’t at all about me. It’s completely about her. She gets to make those choices. She gets to shape, play with and love this special dollhouse that belongs to her.

Dollhouse Bedroom

So while I’ve enjoyed painting and sewing away, I’ve been helping our daughter in realizing her dollhouse vision. And it’s beautiful.

Dollhouse Bedroom

I can’t wait to share more with you soon.

Fabric Procured, Sewing to Be Done

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

On a whim I ordered two Daisy Cottage 5″ Stackers designed by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet. I really love the combination of pink, gray and yellow; three colors I don’t typically think of going well together. In this case, boy do they!

Fabric to use in the dollhouse

Now I have the following sewing projects to complete begin:
– curtains,
– bedspread,
– pillows for the bed and living room chairs, and
– I’m hoping to sew a mini cushion or pouf.

After all, you never know when our dollhouse family might want to curl up on the floor with a good book. That certainly sounds appealing to me.