Huyze Herkert, morning room: building an extension for the dollhouse in the dollhouse

Well, as I said in my previous post, I jumped right in after I decided to make a dollhouse for the dollhouse. I found that I enjoyed working at this scale much more than I had anticipated. So I was really disappointed that the showpiece was finished so quickly. Besides, there's no kitchen, no dining room, no bath, no ... So many possibilities I'd missed. So many little things I could have made from scratch.

What to do? After thinking about it for a while I decided that an extension was necessary. There was only one option: build it on top of the existing cabinet.

I remember seeing some house shaped cabinets in my book ‘Victorian & Edwardian furniture & interiors’ by Jeremy Cooper.

Like this ‘Architecture Cabinet’ (1858) by William Burges.


And this writing cabinet by W. Gualbert Saunders.


This secretaire by Richard Norman Shaw became the inspiration for the shape of the extension.


The floor and walls are made of 2mm thick chipboard, the roof is made of cardboard. The inner walls are finished with two types of wallpaper samples, divided by a thin strip of walnut veneer. For the outer walls and the roof I searched for images online of brick and slate, resized them and printed them on paper.




In the above photo's, the room divider is already glued down. It's made of paper. I glued a very thin iron wire between the two sides, which acts as hinges so I could fold the divider.

I visually turned the bed into a half-tester by using a scrap of wood, a stiff ribbon as a curtain and the same thin iron wire to shape it.


By cutting the shell of one pill from a blister, priming and varnishing it and then gluing it onto a jewelry finding, I created a teeny weeny hip bath.


The toilet table is another metal cast piece, part of the set I bought at the fair. It is slightly small, even in this scale. That’s why I didn’t use it at first. This piece also got a coat of primer and a coat of paint. I cut a mini mirror out of mirror paper. A circle cut out of a sequin, along with a pearl, became a basin with a jug.


I just need a stool for the toilet table. Otherwise, the extension's furnishings are almost finished. (But it’s so difficult to photograph it properly!)




The good thing is that I now have some empty space on the floor below to create a dining room. Or anything really. I will have to think a bit more about it. To be continued...











Reacties

  1. Daydreamer1 mei 2026 om 16:17

    Good Morning Sofie! Wow! What a jump into the Teeny-tinies! I love your adventurous addition to the cabinet! It is that kind of "thinking outside the box" that will lead you far from the path... ! Lol! But the adventures are usually more than worth it! Well Done with the construction and the downsizing and printed elements... (I am not good at that... I tend to want to do it all by hand... even the tiny painted murals! ) they really make your addition look like more than an afterthought. At any rate, the bedroom and bath "penthouse" are a wonderful imaginative addition to the cabinet! (You are going to have to name this little structure...!) Often, experimenting on the tiny stuff gives us more courage for the bigger scales... although they seem so huge after working in the tiny scales. I sometimes do mock-ups in cardboard (for painted walls and the like) if I really can't tell whether my urges are right or not. It takes the fear out of the process... just give it a try... you can change it later... there is no such thing as perfect and everything changes, including our tastes! LOL! But yes, I know what it is like to not be able to decide! Just keep up the wonderful creativity!

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  2. Jodi Hippler3 mei 2026 om 15:51

    Hi Sofie! I can feel your joy in getting swept up in the creative jet stream of 1:144 scale! It is challenging but balanced against the excitement of discovering how objects in one scale can become something essential in another. I love your extension structure and all of the beautiful furnishings and details you have included! Following an inspiration has often lead me to the greatest creative joys, too, so keep riding this wind as long as you can!

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