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Dollhouses

    Dollhouses Editor's Picks

    • About Fisher-Price Dollhouses

      Young girls dream of having their own dollhouses, and store shelves are usually filled with them. Along with the other collections, you can find a large selection of houses available from Fisher-Price. For more than 70 years, Fisher-Price dollhouses have entertained young girls and provided a home for their toys. more »

    • How to Make Miniature Wedding Cakes for Dollhouses

      The miniature wedding cake project leaves a lot of room for creativity. Once you get the hang of the basics, you can alter these instructions for taller, wider cakes with different types of flowers or other decorations. To begin, learn how to make the miniature roses and basic cake layers. The detailed decorations on the miniature... more »

    • Miniature Doll Crafts

      Miniature doll crafts are handmade items for dollhouses in 1:12 (or less commonly, 1:24) scale. These dollhouses are generally not toys, but collectibles used to display the collector's miniature items in a realistic setting, like a diorama. more »

    • How to Design a Dollhouse

      You can purchase a mass produced dollhouse at any toy retailer. But why not make your own? You can create a custom design that suits your child's dolls and play style, add special features, and have an heirloom toy that can be enjoyed for generations. Here is how you can get started with the design. more »

    • Making Cardboard Toys

      Just about every household appliance comes in a cardboard box. Often, small children will gravitate to cardboard boxes more than they're drawn to expensive toys. Besides playing in empty boxes, children can spend even more productive hours enjoying cardboard toys. With only a few simple steps, a cardboard box can be converted into an... more »

    Dollhouses Quick Guides

    • Dollhouse Fun

      Whether you enjoy watching your children create make believe scenarios or if your hobby is...

    • Build a House

      Building a house requires a lot of careful planning and forethought. Though the process can...

    Dollhouses Articles

    • About Dollhouses

      Dollhouses, with their miniature models of real world objects, have fascinated children and adults for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.... more »

    • How to Make Your Own Dollhouses

      Once you understand a few basic dollhouse design principles, you can apply them to make any style. Dollhouses range from rustic cabins to... more »

    • How to Start Making Dollhouses

      There are many different hobbies people have to choose from when deciding how to spend their spare time. While some people enjoy collecting stamps... more »

    • How to Build Dollhouses for Boys

      Girls aren't the only ones who play with dollhouses. Young boys love their action figures and need a place for them to live too. Many toy... more »

    • Using Bookshelves to Make Dollhouses

      Bookshelves make a good base for a dollhouse. If you have a bookcase or set of bookshelves you already want to use, great! Otherwise, many thrift... more »

    Wikipedia

    Dollhouse

    A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults.

    Todays dollhouses trace their history back about four hundred years to the baby house display cases of Europe, which showed idealized interiors. Smaller doll houses with more realistic exteriors appeared in Europe in the 1700s. Early dollhouses were all handmade, but following the Industrial Revolution and World War II, they were increasingly mass produced and became more standardized and affordable.

    Contemporary childrens play dollhouses are commonly in 1:18 (or 2/3") scale, while 1:12 (or 1") scale is common for dollhouses made for adult collectors.

    The term dollhouse is common in the United States and Canada. In UK usage, dolls house or dollshouse is usual.

    History
    Miniature homes, furnished with domestic articles and resident inhabitants, both people and animals, have been made for thousands of years. The earliest known examples were found in the Egyptian tombs of the Old Kingdom, created nearly five thousand years ago. These wooden models of servants, furnishings, boats, livestock and pets placed in the Pyramids almost certainly were made for religious purposes.

    The earliest known European dollhouses were the baby houses from the Sixteenth Century, which were cabinet display cases made up of rooms. They showed idealized interiors complete with extremely detailed furnishings and accessories. The cabinets were built with architectural details and filled with miniature household items and were solely the playthings of adults. They were off-limits to children, not because of safety concerns for the child but for the dollhouse. Such cabinet houses "Rijksmuseum"> were trophy collections owned by the few matrons living in the cities of Holland, England and Germany who were wealthy enough to afford them, and, fully furnished, were worth the pri read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse

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