When we think of what a dollhouse looks like, we are often filled with the image of a traditional home, a Victorian style home, or even a country cottage. These dollhouses bring about images of mom and dad in the kitchen while the kids play in their bedroom. It is all about using the imagination for family role-playing. But, there is a whole wide world of dollhouses outside the traditional house. These unique dollhouses will open up a new world of role-playing for children and new collectible possibilities for adults.
The possibilities of unique dollhouses are almost endless. They go beyond the standard house and provide limitless opportunities for both play and collection. Some examples of unique dollhouses include a country store, New England lighthouse, church, fire station, and barn. These different settings will allow children to expand their imaginations into new forms of role-playing. It also gives the avid collector the ability to design new rooms in new settings and add some diversity to their collection.
Each of these unique dollhouses offers something special. The barn has a great loft as well as several areas for farm animals. The fire station has a bunk for the fireman, firemen’s pole, and bays for the fire trucks. The country store is a beautiful display piece with great potential for the right miniatures. The church boats an altar, six pews, and stained glass windows. None of these items would be found in a traditional dollhouse.
These unique dollhouses are available as a wood kits from Real Good Toys. Real Good Toys is based in Vermont, and so these designs have a very traditional New England feel. The company boasts some of the most unique and well-structured dollhouses available. Each design comes with a complete set of plans that includes working parts. The kits includes all precut materials, which ensures that each piece will match correctly. Several of the kits also come with miniature accessories.
Building a dollhouse from scratch brings an amazing sense of accomplishment. This is something that can be passed down the generations as an heirloom. The lighthouse kit includes electricity to light the way for ships and the church includes a ringing bell to call in the parishioners. These dollhouse models are a wonderful way for siblings to bond or for parent and child to spend time together or just for some relaxing alone time.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to dollhouses. These 5 unique dollhouses are just the beginning. A true collector of dollhouses and miniatures should expand their collection to include some unique dollhouse designs. The barn, church, New England lighthouse, fire station and country store are just some of the potential additions to a great collection.
Lighting your Doll’s House Using the Copper Tape wiring method
Lighting your dolls house can be one of the most rewarding aspects of building and owning a dolls house. The use of working lights, fires and even televisions can really add life to your house and make it a centre piece of the room in which it is housed.
The use of copper tape to light your dolls house is just one of the methods that can be used. This method uses thin strips of self adhesive copper tape to conduct electricity around your house.
The first stage is to decide on the location of your dolls house lights. The socket should be removed from the end of each light and a small hole drilled to allow the wire to pass through (in this case to the back of the house). For ceiling light the hole should be drilled through the ceiling into the room upstairs and then out of the back of this room. This way wires can be covered over with carpeting etc. For wall lights that are not on the back wall these too can be trailed up the wall and then out to the back from the room above (small groves can be made in the walls to hide the wire and keep a smooth surface for decorating).
Next we need to decide on the position of the copper tape. For a front opening dolls house this would be the back of the house. The copper tape is laid down in two strips that run parallel to each other (they must not touch or they will short circuit). Where the copper tape overlaps use masking tape between the two tapes to insulate. Tape should be positioned so that the lighting wires can be easily connected and so that the wire creates a circuit.
Once the light has been installed the wire on the outside should be cut to the appropriate length to allow connection to the copper tape without lots of excess wire. To connect the wire to the copper tape separate the wire into two strands, strip the plastic coating off and solder one to either side of the copper tape circuit taking care that the copper cores do not touch.
Plug in the transformer and check that each light is working as you go – don’t wait till the end to try a figure out which light isn’t working!
While creating lighting circuit for your dolls house is relatively straight forward it should be remembered that we are working with an electrical circuit and must follow safe practices. Remember to always use the correct transformer for the job and NEVER connect straight to the mains.