I like my levels method for holiday decorating–slowly filling vignettes of our home with festive delight little by little until it’s done–but Mama Hedgehog? She just goes for it. She’s like BAM! Level 10 in one day because Sister does not mess around with levels when she has 52 hedgehog mouths to feed.
I’ll admit I may have started this dollhouse hobby this year simply so I could decorate it for Christmas. Oh wait. I forgot. This dollhouse is for Nella. Yes, let’s go with that. All of this was a giant sacrifice of time and labor just for her.
When it came time to start thinking about how the dollhouse would transform into a festive explosion of glorious hedgehog holiday spirit, I was on it–googling 1:12 scale wreaths and mantel garland. The thing is, this dollhouse hobby has kind of become a thing this year for many creative people (hence why I’m following way too many miniature accounts), and there’s a major market for dollhouse furniture and decor now–and it ain’t cheap, especially considering these are tiny objects no one is actually going to use. So I had to get creative. Find the inexpensive stuff. Improvise. Which I did, and it turned out just as festive as I had hoped.
I can’t help but laugh at the process of my tragic fall into the dollhouse abyss this year though. From the outside, it’s quite comical, evident by my attempt to photograph the dollhouse a couple weeks ago once it was decorated.
“Can you help me carry this dollhouse outside?” I asked Brett. “I’m doing a photo shoot of the rooms, and I need some natural light.”
He doesn’t even flinch anymore. I think he was desensitized after the three weeks I sat at the dining room table sawing tiny crown molding to size with a serrated kitchen knife and asking him to come look to see if the kitchen wallpaper was “too busy” for the imaginary people who lived in it.
So Brett and I hauled the dollhouse outside, super careful to keep our ends level so that the objects inside didn’t start falling. The tiny red alarm clock the size of a tic tac fell off the dresser, and Brett noted, “Oops, alarm clock fell!” as if what was happening was completely normal.
Once the dollhouse was set up in the driveway with good light, I hunched over it, rearranging furniture and making things perfect while neighbors walked their dogs beside me so it looked like a grownass woman was ignoring her children inside while she played with a dollhouse in the driveway. Because a grownass woman was ignoring her children inside while she played with a dollhouse in the driveway. I started shooting the rooms which requires some very interesting body positions to get the right shot. I was curled into a pretzel with my head half inside the dollhouse living room. I was lying on my stomach with my camera shoved into the kitchen. Our neighbor across the street actually walked up our driveway during this, looked down at what was happening and said, “Whatcha doin?” When I nonchalantly answered back, “Doing a photo shoot of my dollhouse” as if it was an ordinary household task, HE DIDN’T EVEN FLINCH.
“Cool, where’s Brett?” he asked. Have they all been desensitized? Is it just now an accepted fact in our neighborhood that I am the weirdo? Maybe it was last time he walked up my driveway and asked what I was doing and I answered, “Oh nothing, just trying to blend the right shade of yellow for Big Bird in this chalk drawing of the Sesame Street characters I’ve been working on for the past 40 minutes while my kids tear my house apart inside.”
That said, this little project has been so much fun, and decorating the house for Christmas was the icing on the cake.
Please note: My favorite Christmas movie, The Family Stone, is playing on the Hedgehog T.V.
Please also note appropriate holiday literature:
…and the fact that I cut the head off a deer ornament to make this:
Cookies fresh out of the oven.
…and teeny tiny glass ornaments.
That’s about the extent of dollhouse-specific items I bought. The rest was crafted from “evergreen” pipe cleaners…
A bag of miniature wreaths and bottle brush trees…
…some glitter-dusted windows made from Shrinky Dink sheets:
…and lots of images shrunk and printed.
And the bathroom is the perfect glowy retreat for Mrs. Hedgehog in the evening after a day of wrapping and baking.
While editing pictures, I was like “Dammit, I should have propped that toss pillow up before I took the photo. Shoot, there’s fuzz on the floor I didn’t catch.” I got caught in the Instagram perfection trap over A MINIATURE HOUSE THAT NO ONE LIVES IN.
But most important…LOOK! The 2019 Holiday Bucket List ready to go in the Hedgehog home! Three checks already!
Get your 2019 holiday bucket list and so much more holiday goodness (52 pages of holiday activities and crafts, recipes and printables, traditions and more in the Once Upon a Holiday PDF! All the details here!
And now it’s time for me to catch up to Mrs. Hedgehog.
If you’re interested in falling down the dollhouse rabbit hole in 2020 and want to pass it off as “for the kids” this holiday, this is the dollhouse we purchased (and it’s priced on Amazon for $30 less than what I paid!)
Terra says
What a cute home and Mrs. Hedgehog is quite a decorator. Your tale was quite humorous.
Jennifer Reil says
This is the most adorable ever! My daughter may be getting Calico Critters for Christmas this year because her mom was inspired by you :).
TERRA says
The dollhouse looks AMAZING! It was totally worth the effort! I kind of want to start a dollhouse hobby now…
Rachel Kloster says
I’m dying at this. So cute and festive! Hedgehogs deserve the Holiday spirit too. 😉
Lisa says
Kelle, Can you please tell me where you got the wainscoting in the their living room? I am unable to find it anywhere. Thank you.
Kelle says
Hobby Lobby! Comes unfinished.
Andrea DeBusschere says
Your detailed series of events caused me to laugh uncontrollably loud at work “Oh, nothing. Just cracking up at this woman who made her husband carry a dollhouse to the driveway for proper lighting.” I love your passion!
Meredith Briden says
Best post ever….I have a hubby that does not flinch anymore either, although there is the occasional eye roll.
I am not fully decided if he has accepted all my crafty projects or is just smart enough after 20 years of marriage not to comment !
Thanks for being the neighborhood weirdo and posting adorable things like this.I want to move into Mrs. Hedgehog’s house…… it is perfection !
Karen says
I make miniature fairy gardens to sell on the side. I got a burr up my tail this year and made one of mine Halloween themed. Oh my lord…I started something. That fairy garden sold SO FAST. I didn’t even want to see that one, truthfully, but I made a good amount on it! It had tiny putka pod pumpkins and tiny tombstones, and pumpkin LED battery operated lights. Next was Christmas themed! That one brought a pretty penny too! I am on tiny shopping mode 24/7. I have figured out how to improvise or make a lot of my tiny stuff for the reason you mentioned…retail it’s expensive!!! I figured out how to make a frozen pond with a piece of mini picture frame glass sprayed with frosted glass spray. It’s been so fun to think outside the box! I decorated my mini Christmas trees with mini buttons. You can find them in snowflakes, Santa Clauses, etc. I love your – I mean, Ella’s, dollhouse! So reminiscent of my little fairy gardens!
Bridget says
I love this so much! Ever since you shared your big dollhouse reveal I’ve been thinking of how much I want to jump on the dollhouse decorating hobby with you. My daughter just turned two and I think in a year or so will be the perfect time to start. I always wanted Calico Critters as a kid, but never got them. I’m definitely going to relive my childhood through her vicariously starting with this house. 🙂 Keep sharing – love your decorating skills and updates!
monique says
In love w/ all..I feel like redecorating my 40 something yr old daughters victorian dollhouses a la hedgehog:)I used an Ikea lantern recently to make a Christmas vignette:) Pinning and sharing your dollhouse..well.. Nella’s and Dash and Lainey’s and Friday’s and Brett’s:)Thank you for sharing all your wonderful ideas kelle.
Julie says
This article is hilarious and sweet. I really enjoyed it. You did an amazing job decorating (and photographing) the dollhouse for Christmas.?
Amanda DAVIS says
Hi Kelly. I adore your dollhouse. Does Nella play with it or do you keep it on a shelfuntil you’re playing with it together? Her room, hair, everything always looks so neat. The braids! My daughter with Ds is 6 and she would play really hard with a special house like this. I’ve always wondered if Nella is a neat child or is that just photo magic? Asking sincerely and optimistically!
Kelle says
Hi Amanda!
She does play with it, especially when her friends are over (her friends LOVE it). I think being modeled (by her sister and friends) how to play with it has been very helpful. Every kid has their little areas of challenge, but being neat and careful with things hasn’t been one of Nella’s (she has others though!). That could also just be age. Give it a few years with consistent modeling, and I’m sure she will learn how to play gentle. xo
Lauren says
Hi! My daughter is obsessing with your dollhouse reno. She has requested we “make one” for her birthday in December. Any way you can update your link to which dollhouse you purchased? Thank you for the inspiration!
Lauren says
Hi! My daughter is in love with your dollhouse. Showed her your photos on your blog tonight after shopping for minis today. Can you update your dollhouse link? I think it will be the perfect gift and a rabbit hole we can go down together! Thanks for your inspiration!
Susie Williams says
I laughed all the way through your blog…..and boy can I relate..?(we even have tge sane black bed!)
.ever since my granddaughter was born 6 years ago, I have been “down the rabbit hole of fairy gardens, gnomes…then on to a Halliween lemax spookytown village growing collection, then an Easter village….since she was embarking on her kindergarten adventure, I of course had to do a ” back to school” themed fairy garden with a red schoolhouse and a yellow bus(with her and her cousins images inside looking out the windows)…..
I think the pandemic only fueled the obsession as, er “hobby”..as I now understand hyperfixation is a sign of anxiety…ya think?
And like you making yours” for your daughter” , mine are ” for Kennedy”ol
Current money pit project.fall 2021… hand crafted witches dollhouse which did not get finished in time to decorate with the small potion bottles, brooms, hats ,skull bathtub and sink, etc I spent a small fortune on…..
So now I am on to collecting the holiday victorian pink decorations , cookies and cocoa mugs….and fingers crossed my brother completes this house by xmas.
And oh- all the furnishings and accessories for the witches dollhouse? She is very enterprising and is opening her very own “Witchery shoppe” October 2022 , right next to her house.
Someone stop me.