The Dolls Houses

Lake View Hall And Landings

I'm so glad the build of the hall and landings is finished, believe me dear reader the making of them frazzled my brain! it just seemed to take such a long time, partly due to me overthinking things, and re-doing some things.

I have wanted the Lake View house ever since I saw it on a website over ten years ago, but at over £300 for the kit, the price was prohibitive, and, apart from the price I knew I would never actually build it. Then in July 2019 I saw this on ebay for £100, huzzah, a done deal.

I came across an article on the Dolls House Past and Present website written by a guy who had re-designed his Lake View House house. I liked what he had done and will adopt some of his ideas. 

The first job was the removal of the mezzanine floor because it was too small for anything useful. The room will look much better with the addition of that space up to the ceiling. Next was the removal of the spiral stairs in each room because they were taking up a lot of space. New stairs will be created in the small areas on the side. So after inspection and demolition, seen here, it was time for construction.

Starting with a complete staircase.

I removed the spindles because I wanted square ones. I also bought two newel posts because the ones that came with the staircase were two different sizes - a larger one at the bottom and a smaller one at the top of the stairs. They needed to be the same size because this one set of stairs is now two.

After cutting it in half I masked the tread of the stairs and sprayed the risers and sides white.

I also sprayed the spindles and newel posts. I left the hand rail natural.

After that I fixed the stairs to pieces of polystyrene for support, and

because I needed a surface to glue a side of wood and skirting board on.

I then put a coat of clear varnish on the treads, and another piece of

skirting board on the other side which will be glued to the wall.

The stairs will fit in the corner with false walls

The false wall will fit into that groove at the top of the stairs

and will disguises the fact that the stairs don't actually go anywhere. This is the entrance hall which has a cupboard under the stairs, so the next job was to make a cupboard door.

to fix onto the wall like this

Oh dear, here we go again, my brain isn't wired for angles and maths. I can't figure out what to do when two pieces of identical size wood don't match when one is cut at an angle, then I thought that perhaps I should cut both edges at an angle. I chose the easy option of fitting them together the best way I could. Then I had a brainwave .....

cut the frames in one piece. These are for the standard doors,

I forgot to take a photo of the sloping one.

Three options for the style of door. I chose the middle one.

The door components are five upright slats of wood bevelled,

with two larger side slats and top and bottom ones. 

After fixing the spindles and handrail in place

I glued the door to the wall, put a light stain on it,

added a door knob, and put the whole wall in place.

Another time consuming job was cutting the coving. Oh my word, I just didn't

know how to do it, I must have wasted a whole length trying to work it out.

Then I looked on good old Youtube and .... eureka, sorted!

The next job, the first floor, should have been easier because it was just a plain wall.

However .......

after looking at the opening at the top of the stairs I decided that it wasn't wide enough to accomodate a figure!!! I didn't want to make it wider from the hall side because the external door to the balcony wouldn't have enough room to open fully, so I set about removing that piece of wood at the back, the bit the arrow is pointing to. Why, why do I do this?!! I made extra work for myself by painstakingly cutting it away with a craft knife and a hammer and chisel. There's going to be a dividing wall between the hallway and bedroom so not much of it will be seen, but the thing is once I get an idea in my head I've go to go with it because it would forever bug me if I hadn't changed it. It was a bit of a mess though so I filled it in with some pollyfilla, put a strip of paper over it and painted it. I'm pleased with the result, it was worth the extra work.

That door to the left is a fake, I'm not sure where it's going to at the moment!

And so to the top hall which is just a wall with imaginary stairs behind it.

I couldn't make it a permanent structure because I might need access

to the wire for the lamp that will go on a table.

I put a support behind the wall so that it would stay put when in place.

before and after

I will put tables, plants, pictures, lighting and a lamp in eventually.

But for now I'm working on the bedroom.

∼ Be safe and well∼

Polly x