Anyone can have a beautiful dollhouse without spending alot of money. I had in the past been on a shoestring budget and didn't have much money to spend on my beloved miniature hobby, but I also have never allowed that to stop me from enjoying being a miniaturist. I have been collecting for the past twelve years for this house and everything in it has been either a gift from a family member, friends or another miniaturist, handmade by me from very basic, recycled materials, a swap with another online miniaturist, or found in a discount store or at discounted prices. Most of the real expenses for the house came from  purchases of wallpaper, paint, stain, glue, hardware, wood flooring and mouldings, all of which were purchased in local miniature shops. Even so, there are many ways to avoid costly purchases for these materials as well. You only need to start seeing everything around you with a new eye, learning how to color coordinate so that everything looks as if it belongs together and a whole lot of patience while you wait for something inexpensive to come along that will fit just right in that one empty spot, that makes it all come together. But this is also what makes miniatures such a wonderful hobby. Read on for how I turned this basic dollhouse shell into my victorian dream dollhouse. Click here to see the dolls who inhabit my Victorian House.
This dollhouse began as a Christmas gift from my mom 12 years ago. It was the The Peaches & Cream by Real Good Toys and my husband and I added on the two side wings from left over plywood found in the garage. I did purchase the fancy windows and porch rails from a local dollhouse shop (There were no online shops back then!) The wide molding at the roofline and around the right terrace are from an oak picture frame cut to fit. I still have some more molding to add above the right wing window.	The front porch floor still needs a good sanding and to be repainted. The "brick" foundation is made from painted and cut up cardboard egg cartons, then sealed with a matt varnish. A tedious job of cutting and pasting, but well worth the effort. Since the house is in my living room (notice the chic red walls in the previous picture!), I decorate this porch for the holidays as if it were my own house:  pumpkins and dangling skeletons for Halloween; pointsettias, greenery and bows for Christmas.
This is the stone terrace above the left wing of the house leading from the master bedroom. The slate stones were also made from cardboard egg cartons, painted with varying gray and brown acrylics, then sealed with a matt sealer. The stained glass door is a copy of a Tiffany design on acetate I found in a bookstore many years back and sandwiched between wood pieces. Unfortunately, it is beginning to fade now from exposure to the sun. The terrace is edged with a continuous wooden window box that I plan to fill someday with hand-crafted flowers. For now I collect techniques on the various ways to make miniature flowers. The other plants are all from swap friends.	The topiaries are a recent buy from Michaels craftstore.
The kitchen is one of my favorite rooms and modeled after an actual historic kitchen I saw in a magazine on Victorian design. I love the B&W checkered floor (which I have in my own home). The "tile" is just contact paper I found in a discount store. It is in perfect condition still, even after 12 years. The stove was a generous gift from an online friend. I had a beautiful porcelain sink, but our new kitten took care of that with a crash two weeks after we got her! I continue to scout the internet for a new one (that is a new sink, not cat!) The canapes coming out of the oven are being prepared for the wedding luncheon being set up in the dinig room and were made by an online swap friend.	The hoosier cabinet I made myself from a Joann Swanson tutorial in an old Nutshell News issue. It is made completely from mattboard, beads, glue and just a few pieces of distressed wood for the counter. I formed the mop to appear realistically flattened by coating it with plain white glue, shaping it, laying it on a piece of cellophane on the floor, then leaning the mop against the wall until it dried. Then I took the cellophane away. The small rug was weaved by another online friend when I belonged to a swap group. The wooden victorian phone on the back wall I have had since I was a little girl.
In the dining room the carpet is an old tapestry-like fabric I had and because I love the design even though it is out of scale, I decided to run it throughout both the dining room and parlor in one continuous piece. The curtains I made with two matching fabrics and trim and glued it right to the window.	Preparations for the wedding luncheon are in full swing in the dining room. All the gifts, champagne ice bucket, wedding topiary and canapes are from friends in a wedding swap. The beautiful carrot cake was a swap with another online friend. All the furnishings were purchased inexpensively at the Bombay Outlet online: http://www.bombaycompany.com Just follow the Outlet link on the home page. The wainscoting is plain beige contact paper.
In the parlor the plant on the stand is just a painted and varnished bead with a plant I made from a silk flower that I cut down into thinner leaves to appear in scale. Notice the ringbearer pillow & boutiniere on the chair? All from a wedding swap.	All the furnishings in the parlor are from kits my husband has given me each holiday. The organ is a plastic Chrysnbon kit and the red victorian furniture set is a Realistic kit. I had the drapes & the room's color palette match the dining room's for continuity so you would look at that part of the house as a whole.
In the library the desk and chair came as a set and was found inexpensively in a local craft shop. The small totem pole I got in a Canadian gift shop on vacation. The floor was made with wood strips I stained in two different shades and stripped together in a two-tone pattern.	The library is a room I would love to have in my own home. I would feel very comfortable reading for hours here! The bookshelves I handcrafted from wood scraps and mouldings. The wainscoting is embossed leather from my husbands families' leather belt business. The fireplace I hand-made with wood scraps and surrounded with faux jewelry pieces also from the belt company, originally meant as decorative inlay for belt buckles. The various books and chatchkies around the room are just items I collected here and there for years as I supposed the miniature owner of this room would have done: The globe is a $1.99 pencil sharpener. The shells have been collected here on Long Island, the great dane was a recent  A.C. Moore find, The cello and stand was a birthday gift from my best friend.
	The storage/sewing room is covered in a small print contact paper which I aged with acrylic paint; if you look real close you can see where paintings supposedly hung on the walls before the room became a storage room.  You can see that this room is the only one I don't bother to dust! The sewing machine and mannequin was a recent gift from my best friend. The table was a bargain find from long ago that I never managed to find matching chairs to so it has ended up here in storage. The victrola is a dollar store magnet. The two red and gold chairs are plastic Christmas ornaments that were on clearance and I couldn't pass up, although I have no use for them yet, so here they remain "in storage".
The Bathroom has always looked a bit sparce to me and I don't really know what to do to fill it up. Maybe an area rug? Maybe some people? The towels are from a "blue" themed swap. The small wood cabinet is a recent kit I received from a friend and haven't finished yet. The black "marble" wainscoting is a vinyl tile from my real-life kitchen floor!	Where did that cane come from? I guess grandma left it on her last venture to the powder room? All the fixtures & most of the accessories are from plastic Chrysnbon kits, gifts from my husband.
The nightstand was a generous gift from an online friend. The bed is a temporary handcrafted solution until I find the perfect bed at the perfect price!	I haven't put curtains up yet because I still need to find the right bed and bedding for it to match. The nightstand was a generous gift from an online friend. The green lamp I have had since I was a little girl.
	This is the dressing room. Both pieces of furniture are also Bombay Outlet finds: http://www.bombaycompany.com Fantastic quality for the price! Just put minis in the search window. Make sure you follow the Outlet store link on the homepage! The blue beaded purse is from a "blue" themed swap. All the perfume bottles are from a "bead" themed swap. The victoria Secrets bag was also a  swap gift, as is the jewelry on the dresser I made all the hat boxes from old miniature wallpaper scraps from other projects. Keep those scraps!  I look forward to filling this room up with female accessories!
The wonderful toy car was from another generous online friend.	I love the nursery. I painted and wallpapered my own son's nursery in a very similiar color scheme: blue and yellow. The tiny child's bed is fom when I was a child. I just painted it in multiple pastels and patterns. The armoire was part of that original set and I painted it solid yellow and glued on a magazine illustration to the front and then cut down the center with an x-acto when it was dry. The beautiful green afghan and round area rug were from a needlework swap. The dollhouse and rocking horse I made from a Realistic kit. The rocker of tiny kittens Christmas ornament was found on clearance. I just scraped the painted "Baby's First Christmas" off the chair back. All the pictures were from magazines and I just used extra moulding scraps to frame them. I made the cherub ceiling using stickers and then painting clouds in shades of white, pale blue and pale pink, making sure I went over the hard edges of the stickers to help them blend in.
That's the end of the tour of my Victorian House! I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how I did something. I'm happy to share. Email