Dollhouse Accessories – Kitchen, Lounge & Dining Room

NOTE
The following article by Julia Morrison is an excellent guide for the basic items you will need to accessories the 3 rooms in the title. Of course, you have decisions to make before buying the items listed. In what era does your project take place? (I chose Edwardian images). Aristocracy or the commoners? Even before that, dollhouse or room box? Are you recreating a memory, copying a the room from a painting or photograph? What's your budget?

Also, be sure to use appropriate room names. For instance, the Victorians did not have a “lounge.” But “parlor” could be used as a family room or a ladies sitting room. “Study” seems to be where the men hung out. Here's Julie Morrison's article.
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Dollhouse Accessories - How to Make Your House Look Real - Part 1
by Julia Morrison

In order to make a dollhouse look as real as possible, one of the best things you can do is to decorate your house with lots of different dollhouse accessories. In part 1 we will be looking at the best dollhouse accessories for decorating the kitchen, lounge and dining room of your dollhouse.

Just look around in your own house. What can you see? Books, ornaments, candles, pictures on the walls, rugs on the floor? Imagine how bare your home would look if there were only furniture. Following are some tips on how and which dollhouse accessories you can use to make your house look absolutely authentic.

Dollhouse Accessories for the kitchen
You should have lots of activity going on in the kitchen; baking, cooking and preparing. On your kitchen table display baking dishes, rolling pin and cookie cutters or some vegetables and meat on a chopping board. You could also set the table for the kitchen staff with plates, cutlery, some food items, a pitcher and glasses or mugs. There are many different dollhouse accessories you can display in your kitchen.

On your stove put a kettle, pots and pans with or without food in them. You can place a scale on a side table, you can decorate some dishes and cutlery or pots on your washing stand. If you have a cabinet or hutch in your kitchen you may want to decorate it with plates or you even put a freshly baked cake on it. If you have enough wall space hang up a utensil rack.

Dollhouse Accessories for the lounge
Decorate your sofa with cushions, put rugs on the floor and pictures on the wall of your lounge. If you have a table decorate it with a lacy tablecloth. You may want to put a vase or pot with flowers on the table too. If you place people on the sofa, you can put glasses on the table or even a pipe with smoking utensils like tobacco and matches.

Other furniture in your lounge can also be decorated with flowers, pot plants, ornaments such as ginger jars, a mantle clock, a bowl with fruit or even books. Accessories such as candle sticks in brass or silver are also a good option to use in your lounge.

Dollhouse Accessories for the dining room
Set the dining table with your best china, cutlery and glasses. Place some flowers in the middle and if you like place a ham and vegetables on a serving dish. You can also use a tea set and place a cake and some cookies on the table.

Decorate the rest of the room similar to your lounge, with ornaments and items such as candle sticks or vases filled with beautiful flowers. You should always use pictures on the wall and rugs on the floor as part of your furnishing. It makes a big difference to the atmosphere in your house.

The Dollhouse Company is a one-stop shop for everything you need to build a doll house. From dollhouse kits, furniture and accessories to finished dollhouses and How-To books.

Our range of products cater for every budget and skill level. We offer a membership discount and a newsletter with tips and hints for dollhouse enthusiasts from novice to expert. You can also down load our FREE e-book on how to choose, build and decorate you dollhouse at: http://www.thedollhousecompany.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_Morrison

Dollhouse Decorating - Accessorizing Shelves

Make a shelf display feel like an art object, rather than storage space, by staggering heights and shapes and putting a little breathing room between individual items. Alternating horizontal and vertical stacks of books add interest to this mantel.  

Group favorite objects in odd numbers and styles. This setup is naturally more appealing to the eye than even-number groupings. Books can be a colorful pedestal to give framed photos and other treasured objects a lift, as in the Astolat Castle's grand library. Click on picture for a cool video.

Use a ledge in a breakfast room to display plates, or in a child’s 
room to keep porcelain figurines or stuffed animals out in the open, yet out of the way. Or in a kitchen around the refrigerator. Utilitarian items can show a sense of style.

Make an impact with multiples of a single item; the collection of sand pails, for instance. Sprinkle in a handful of smaller objects for added interest without

overpowering the primary display.

In cabinets, display collections against a contrasting background to make them really stand out. The cream ware and statuary look radiant against a black armoire. Small touches of green -- a fern in a lattice-weave planter and pears in a footed compote -- warm the grouping with color and life.