New Dollhouse VF Kitbash

 

Meet my new dollhouse!  I started out with the RGT Victoria's farmhouse kit and somewhere along the way decided to make it bigger and re-cut almost all of the pieces...  and here we are!

This new dollhouse is 38" wide by 31.5" high and 22.5" deep.  I've taken away the side and upper porch from the original design and extended the house an extra 4.5 inches on the back right side for the kitchen.  I've also bumped out the floorplan on the left side, making the front porch smaller and the living space larger. That meant recutting all new floors and the majority of the walls.  And it also meant cutting a brand new roof piece.  After all that I decided to change up the bay window with a rectangular bay.  My boyfriend asked me, what was the point of buying the kit again?  haha. 

Missing from these photos are the two dormers I hope to add on the roof.

This will be an 11 room dollhouse, with two rooms hidden in the front gable. 

For the third floor roof I'm also adding more space with a big dormer out the back .  I hope to make it look modern with contrasting siding.  This will allow the rooms to have much more usable space.

The second-floor stairway leads up behind the bathroom on the third floor.

To make all these changes possible, I bought a big sheet of 3/8" plywood and cut up a lot of the original floors and walls that came with the kit.  I used a scroll saw and bandsaw to cut out my doors and window openings.  As well as a jigsaw to cut out the stairway openings.

I kept the original foundation and added an extra side piece where my addition would go.  Then cut new floors in the correct shape.  I decided to do new floors instead of piecing it together so I could keep the rooms open concept.

Brand new first floor piece:

New second floor piece:

Here's the new longer roof piece being traced and cut:

Cutting the 3rd-floor pieces with the dormer part was a bit of a freehand technique and will need a bit of wood filler...  these walls, the bottom sub-floor and the roof were the only 1/4" mdf used.

Stairway openings using a jigsaw:

Window openings, for this 2nd floor front window I combined two small walls of the kit:

The original window piece vs my new set up:

I changed up the bay with a rectangular set-up and floor to ceiling window.  I was inspired by littlevintagelane miniatures.

Since most of the walls then had to be cut brand new to fit my new dimensions inside I was able to play with door openings and window placement.

This is the scrollsaw making the arches inside:

All the windows were laser cut and designed by me.  I'm going with a 6 pane style.  I have a couple windows left to add.  These were some of the options I played with.  In the end I went with 2 arched and a rectangular door which I will be making.

I'm thinking of making this house in a transitional style again with a mix of white brick and white siding.  The arched windows are inspired by @Chrislovesjulia and I think some more rustic pieces will be brought into the style too.

I hope to finish cutting the remaining windows this week, and glue it together.  There's so much layout planning that goes on during this step.  It can feel like it takes forever to move on.  I've got both my kitchen and bathrooms almost completely drawn up so I know where lighting and windows go.  I can't wait to get to the interior!