adajohn010

A contemporary round dining table by Kat.

Kitchen Cabinet Plans, Instructions included by Klenke.

       A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator, and worktops and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher, and other electric appliances. The main functions of a kitchen are to store, prepare and cook food (and to complete related tasks such as dishwashing). The room or area may also be used for dining (or small meals such as breakfast), entertaining and laundry. The design and construction of kitchens is a huge market all over the world. The United States are expected to generate $47,730m in the kitchen furniture industry for 2018 alone. Read more...

       A bassinet, bassinette, or cradle is a bed specifically for babies from birth to about four months. Bassinets are generally designed to work with fixed legs or casters, while cradles are generally designed to provide a rocking or gliding motion. Bassinets and cradles are distinguished from Moses baskets and carry cots, which are designed to be carried and sit directly on the floor or furniture. After four months, babies are often transferred to a crib (North American usage) or cot (UK usage). In the United States, however, the bedside sleeper is the prevalent option, since they are generally bigger, recommended up to 6 months, and often used up to a year. Read more...

       In some places the slant top desk is known as a "bureau" desk, and in others it goes under the name of slope-front desk. In the United States, the slant top desk is sometimes called a Governor Winthrop desk, in memory of John Winthrop, the 17th century governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As Winthrop died in 1647, he had no actual connection to this style of desk, which originated in the 18th century and is especially associated with Chippendale. The name "Winthrop" was attached to this kind of desk by the Winthrop Furniture Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, who offered their "Gov. Winthrop" desk in 1924, during the colonial revival period. Read more...

       Thomas Chippendale was the first designer to so impress his personality on his work that the particular style that he helped develop has borne his name ever since. He was a carver by trade, but later started in business in St. Martins Lane, London. His book, the "Gentleman's and Cabinetmakers' Directory," was published in 1754 and a later edition in 1762. Read more...

       The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte and fortepiano. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of the note produced and the stronger the attack. The name was created as a contrast to harpsichord, a musical instrument that doesn't allow variation in volume. The first forte pianos in the 1700s had a quieter sound and smaller dynamic range. Read more...

Left, Cut and trim the pattern for a doll laptop below. Draw around it on top of scrap pieces of cardboard  or cardstock. (laptop is 2 1/2" x 1 3/4") Center, the laptops shut. Right, the laptops open with monitors on display.

       The "clamshell" shape of this pretend, laptop computer is made by layering and pressing corrugated cardboard pieces together. Don't let the finished product intimidate you! The process is a simple one and a child as young as 10 can do it.

       It is also important to use wood putty and a light weight sandpaper for the process, so make sure that you have all of the supplies on hand before beginning. I have linked to similar crafts below for those of you who are looking to craft something a bit simpler; all of these options are very good as well.

       Anyone can use a doll house craft like this one to show off a few of their own needlework skills. 

       The fancy trim work on this miniature tapestry is much easier to make than it looks. All you need are some unusual yarns to tack around the shapes, to give it texture and pizzazz!

       Parents could supply their young ones with fabric glue and make this project a no-sew application if they need to.

       I made this modern tapestry for our doll house using the following supplies:

       Our doll house needs some faux plants to brighten up the corners! I will show you how to cut your own plants from paper in the future, but for now, you can make a few select things with artificial plant picks. Plant picks are sold in hobby stores, flower shops and craft outlets in the United States. You can also find them at dollar stores. Try to select the smallest plants so that the arrangements you craft are to scale.

       These feather dusters sure come in handy after the dust settles in our doll's house! So much construction going on this month.

       Why not make a few for your collection today? They are easy to make and cost less than a penny to manufacture.

      Feather dusters can be made any size, miniature or playscale. It all depends on the length you make the toothpick.

       Covering the floors of your doll house may seem a tedious prospect if you believe that these must always be handcrafted by yourself. 

       In truth, the successful decorating of a doll's house may have more to do with your ability to reinterpret the use of items that are already in your actual home, objects such as placemats for example. Placemats come in all kinds of textured surfaces and are produced in a wide range of color combinations. Some of them are woven from grass, others are printed on cotton. If purchased from a department store, placemats come with finished edges too. Find the perfect placemat and you've found a Barbie sized rug that you need not alter in the least, unless you want to. 

       I have even found smaller bath mats in dollar stores that look exactly like sophisticated area rugs when displayed inside a doll's house. 

       Often I use one item in a doll's room to imagine additional furnishings that would normally accompany it, if it were included in an actual adult sized space. If I had this rug on the floor, which couch or bed would go best with it and so on...
       Placemats are best purchased for a doll's house when they are most affordable. These are frequently tossed on clearance tables in stores and sold for pennies on the dollar at the end of a season. You can pick them up at a thrift stores and garage sales as well.
       An unfashionable placemat may make a far more attractive rug for your doll. I have frequently discovered that things considered ugly when designed for one use, become marvelously unique when repurposed for another.
       So take your little ones shopping for these affordable area rugs this weekend. They'll enjoy the novelty of the hunt and you will enjoy less money spent!

      

       What doll wouldn't enjoy such a fun, bumpy rug to decorate her home with? 

       This little miniature doll house rug is a simple and entertaining first sewing project for a nine to ten year old student.

       He or she will need to learn how to thread a needle and control it while stringing together a whole fist full of colorful pom-poms.