Please enjoy this video of my Cape Cod dollhouse by Skilcraft. It shows the interior rooms with detailed photos, plus the building process at the end of the video.
My YouTube Channel also has videos of some of my other miniature projects.
A few of the interior room photos. More detailed photos are in the video:
Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments.
Thank you for visiting!
~ Mini Shack
What a fun little house to build! This is a Skilcraft Cape Cod dollhouse that I hunted for several years for. I finally found one in an unopened box and pretty much shuffled all my other projects aside and started building. I love doing nautical style homes and minis, and with this architectural style of home it was an easy decision how to decorate. I tried to stay away from the traditional nautical colors of red and navy blue by using shades of mint, teal and various light and dark blues. For the first time ever, I also included a laundry room. Initially that room was going to be a smaller bedroom, but the space was too challenging. In all honesty, I have 3-4 sets of washers & dryers and several ironing boards in my stash that I haven't used yet. So I figured I'd go ahead and take the opportunity to do one in this extra space.
The original kit has two large rooms on the first floor with a carport. Although I was excited initially to make a carport/garage, I quickly realized there was not enough space downstairs. I love conservatory's, and I only needed two new walls, so I made one myself. I cut an opening in the original wall so you could walk into the conservatory from the kitchen. I also liked the way the house looked from the front with the conservatory added. I did quite a bit of visual research on Cape Cod homes and saw many built like this. The worn shake siding mixed with white panel siding on the conservatory looks very appealing and realistic, with white window frames accenting the shake siding. I intentionally did not add shutters either, as most of the traditional Cape Cod homes I saw did not have them. I kept the landscaping light, as this also seemed a trait of Cape Cod homes, and I pictured this house in the summer time, not the winter, because the grass is green and the flowers are in bloom. Inside the house the owners have returned from a day at the beach and are having wine, cheese and dessert in the conservatory. The American flag is hanging out front, and as the photos were being taken, it was flying in the wind.
Here's a few photos of the interior of the Cape Cod. I will make another post with detailed interior photos, and a link to the video on my YouTube Channel once it's completed.
Happy Independence Day and I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Thank you for visiting.
~ Mini Shack
I recently finished building a Greenleaf Buttercup dollhouse for a special family, with the colors chosen by the new owner, Linsey. This house will be in the same bedroom as the pink Dura Craft Ashley dollhouse I built about a year ago for her half sister Jenise.
Linsey has a different personality then Jenise so she chose more fun bright colors for her house. She also chose purple for the front door color. I gave both of the girls these houses bare so they could add their own decorations and furniture, etc. I managed to get this done just before Christmas, so I hope they're enjoying them both!
I also uploaded a quick video of the completed house on my YouTube Channel Mini-Shack, with more detailed interior and exterior photos. As with almost all my videos, there are clips of the building process at the end of the video. Here is the video on YouTube:
Now that I have built both the Dura Craft Ashley and the Greenleaf Buttercup, I can say they are pretty much the same size and take the same amount of time. Originally the Ashley dollhouse kit came with a spiral staircase, but I chose not to use it and built a straight set of stairs instead. So when I started building the Buttercup and realized it doesn't come with any stairs at all, I decided to use the spare set from the Ashley! So in case anyone has noticed - YES, the Ashley spiral staircase is installed in the Buttercup.
Since the Buttercup is done now, I started working on my new Cape Cod Skilcraft house. It was my Christmas present to myself, and even though I have so many other exciting projects to choose from I couldn't wait to open the box and get it started. It's not a large house, so I don't anticipate taking too long to complete it. I really wanted cedar shake siding to make it as authentic as possible, but was dreading the task of applying the shingles by hand. So I went to one of my favorite dollhouse websites miniatures.com and did a quick search. I was delighted to find exactly what I was looking for: a sheet of pre-molded shake siding. I painted a few layers of different tones of grey, did some rubbing, and the weathered look came out perfect. I'm excited to get the rest of the house together, as I'm doing a little bit of kit bashing as well. More on that later!
Thanks for visiting :-)
~ Mini-Shack
