Victorian Dollhouse Ez Build Instructions
The Victorian dollhouse is one of the most popular of all dollhouses. A Victorian dollhouse is unusual because it does not open from the back like most American dollhouses or from the front like most British dollhouses. It is a cross-section of a house with its side wall missing designed to be hung on a real wall for easy viewing.
Provided you can get a sheet of pespex cut to shape to keep out the dust, it is attractive to be able to glance at the contents without having to stop to open up your Victorian dollhouse. It is one of the many kits made by the American firm of Greenleaf but it's readily available in Great Britain too.
These kits are made from fairly thin, coarse material that is only three-quarters pressed out of sheets. It can splinter away at the edges so be careful. The advantage to these kits is that they are very light and the glue, tab and slot assembly is designed to be easy for a beginner. The shapes in high Victorian style with turrets and porches are very pretty and not commonly available from British makers.
To make life easy, beg, borrow, but don't steal a hot glue gun to assemble this Victorian dollhouse kit and expect to have to do a great deal of extra floor laying and pernickety roof tiling and weather boarding before the house looks as pretty as some you'll see in pictures. The edges of the floors that face outwards also look much neater after they have been faced with thin strips of wood. The Victorian period is probably the most popular with new collectors as there is a very wide selection of furniture available, particularly among the less costly ranges. There are also plenty of mini wallpapers to choose from. The cluttered style means that it doesn't matter if a Victorian dollhouse hasn't really got properly scaled rooms. In the Victorian dollhouse world, few people are willing to share good ideas. Victorian is a term that tends to cover a multitude of sins in dollhouses. In many ways, Victorian dollhouses are far from being an authentic representation of the Victorian era. In many Victorian dollhouses, the kitchen is in a bay-windowed reception room and the larder is next to the front hall which is all wrong. Many Victorian dollhouses are out of scale too because they are too shallow from front to back. Some like having doll inhabitants doing things all over the house. It gives the Victorian dollhouse a kind of lived-in theater look. It's not difficult to imagine little people actually living in the house and going about their daily activities. Victorian dollhouses are fun for everyone.
| 