Well, well, the time is finally here. As much as I dragged this out because A: I didn’t want the fun to end, and B: A lot of dollhouse miniatures come from China and take two months to arrive, the dollhouse renovation is complete.
This is great news for Mrs. Hedgehog because she and her family have been living out of their van for two months while their home was being finished, and she’s over it.
Look how happy she is. I asked her what she missed most, and she said–and I quote–“diffusing my essential oils.”
What started as a fun idea and quickly turned into an all-consuming obsession has now yielded a fully furnished dollhouse that sits at the end of Nella’s bed, home to an array of Calico Critters.
Mrs. Hedgehog has kindly agreed to give us a tour of her home, but before we do, a few things:
1.) How much did this cost? I admit, dollhousing isn’t cheap, especially considering that everything you buy is for a house inhabited by characters who are not real. I had to remind myself of that several times when I found myself getting bent out of shape about an air bubble in the wallpaper or a slightly crooked picture frame. CALM DOWN, YOU DON’T ACTUALLY LIVE HERE. However, given the costs of actually renovating a real house, dollhousing is ridiculously inexpensive which makes up for half of the weird satisfaction of it all. I mean, you can have the kitchen of your dreams for $30! If you add everything up–even the $2 here and there–yes, it can be a lot. But I do look at this as a childhood investment–something we will hopefully save for years to come and pass on to grandkids. As wild as these dollhouse accessories may sound, this project is actually conservative compared to some of the dollhouse projects out there (there’s a whole WORLD of miniature-lovers like me–I FOUND MY PEOPLE!). We made a lot of things ourselves and bought most of our items from places like Amazon and Hobby Lobby, reasonably priced. Get into custom modern dollhouse furniture, and you can spend a lot.
2.) I pulled as many special personal touches into this home as I could–little photos of Nella, replicas of actual things we have in our home, funny details that represent our family. These Hedgehogs are Hampton hedgehogs, and I wanted their home to reflect that.
3.) If you are interested in this crazy little hobby, I have two things to say to you. WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE, and there’s a list of sources for everything in the dollhouse at the end of this post.
With no further ado, the Hedgehog Home:
Let’s start in the kitchen, shall we? Mrs. Hedgehog wanted something modern and bright but with fun pops of color. The print is a replica of the same one I have above my desk in my office and is from Bouffants and Broken Hearts (sized and printed a screen shot of the shop version and framed with painted popsicle sticks). The wallpaper is gift paper from Paper Source.
There is, of course, a tiny bottle of Nutella in the kitchen because it’s Nella’s favorite.
…and the Kinfolk cookbook because Mrs. Hedgehog loves to cook.
For the living room, Mrs. Hedgehog asked for “warm and inviting”. I started with brick walls (scrapbook paper), but added white wainscoting to break it up and add some brightness. I can’t even type this without laughing. I’m talking about this house like it’s real.
The curtains are cloth napkins that I cut and glued around tiny dowel rods. And on the T.V.? The Hedgehogs favorite movie–duh, You’ve Got Mail.
Some just-arrived boxes of Brett’s Amazon Picks make an appearance. Likely another can opener.
One of my favorite things in the house is the quilt on the couch–a replica of a favorite item in our home, the quilt made from my kids’ baby clothes. I took an overhead photo of our quilt and printed it on iron-on fabric paper and then ironed-adhered it to soft white jersey material. The pillows are made from an old Alice and Ames dress Nella wore and sewn fat ribbon from Nella’s wand materials.
We reincarnated Leg, Lainey’s goldfish that died this year. Now he lives forever in plastic.
The book ledge was fun to make–two square wood craft sticks glued together and stained.
I’ve never been so jealous of an inanimate object as I am when it comes to Mrs. Hedgehog’s bathroom.
The I Like You Very Much print is a replica of the one Juniper Prints sells.
And last, the spacious master suite which doubles as a nursery. Technically, baby hedgehogs only stay with their moms for ten days before running off on their own, but the Hampton hedgehogs like to buck the system.
The Hudson Bay stripe blanket is modeled after the one Dash has on his bed and was much cheaper–cut from a $10 Pendleton sock. Pinhole Press sent us that TEENY TINY flip calendar, every month a perfect miniature version of the ones in our actual 2019 calendar hanging in our home.
See that tiny diaper bag? Can you handle it? My friend Rebecca of Better Life Bags made it. A tiny dollhouse bag made with a cause!
And I just about lost my miniature-loving mind when I found these miniature Eloise Wilkin books, one of my favorite children’s illustrators.
And look how thrifty Mrs. Hedgehog is! No time for expensive diapers with all these kids!
There’s only one thing missing in this house–the last special touch.
Nella’s wand.
Speaking of Nella, yes, she loves the house, especially all the little “Nella” touches. I look forward to all the memories we’ll make with this little house.
This has been such a fun, fulfilling project–creative therapy, in a way. It fed my creative heart in ways I didn’t expect and provided a good phone-free, stress-free, deadline-free, imaginative space to just “play.” I don’t want to bore you with specifics on how things were made, so I’ll leave some sources here for things we bought, and if you have a specific D.I.Y. question or something you don’t see the link for, let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer.
Sources:
Most of the furniture and trim came from Hobby Lobby. Other sources:
Our Dollhouse (I like the two big rooms and two smaller room layout. Easy to decorate and lots of room to play)
Battery Operated Lights:
Wall Light
Ceiling Light in living room
Hanging Light in kitchen
Fireplace (only $2.59!)
Refrigerator
Candlestick Set
Modern Kitchen Set
Crib
Bathtub
Sink
Sconces
Bed
Empty Wall Frame (gold)
Empty Wall Frame (antique bronze)
Framed Painting (can cover the painting with another print if you like)
Potted Plant
Small Potted Plant
Potted Plant (my favorite one)
6-pack small books
Etsy Shops:
Small Fun Shop (little letter board, striped rug, potted succulents)
My Tiny Nest Miniatures (succulents, classic books on the fireplace)
Miniature Crush (subway tile paper)
M for Miniatures (modern check chair in the bedroom, filled jars in kitchen and bathroom)
Whimsy and Pop (tiny perfume bottles in bathroom)
LC Miniatures (Eloise Wilkin books–oh my God, this shop!)