Smooth Plywood (SP)The exterior walls are smooth (no siding or textured profile). Smooth Plywood kits allow you to create a custom exterior finish of your choice. Typically the Smooth Plywood kit includes everything you see in the picture except: Clapboard Siding, Edge Trim, Shingles and sometimes Shutters.
Milled Plywood (MP)
The Cabinet Grade Plywood we use for exterior walls is 3/8" thick and the Clapboard profile is milled directly into the surface. This is the easiest and quickest way to assemble a house with clapboard siding - because it's built in and ready to be painted!
Milled MDF (MM)
The Cabinet Grade Medium Density Fiberboard we use for exterior walls is 3/8" thick and the Clapboard profile is milled directly into the surface. This is the easiest and quickest way to assemble a house with clapboard siding - because it's built in and ready to be painted. MDF is exceptionally blemish-free, splinter free and is easier to paint. MDF offers uniform thickness, stability from warping and the smooth interior surface is great for wallpapering!
Brick (B)
The exterior wall(s) are pre-finished with our RGT Smooth Wooden Brick Strips (SWB). The bricked walls are painted and finished as shown in specific photos.
Stucco
The exterior walls are smooth. "Stucco" kits include a formulated stucco mix. When you combine the stucco mix with your choice of paint, it creates a textured exterior finish.
Scored
The exterior walls have a 3/4" spaced novelty siding profile that is milled into the walls. The outside finish makes these kits easy to assemble and ready to paint. "Scored" kits include everything you see in the picture.
Log
Unfinished Log Siding and trim for these kits are supplied in lengths and require cutting to finish as shown in specific photographs.
Siding and Shingle Pack
Features 1/8" thick, 1 1/2" tall, 3/8" clapboards along with the trim boards and shingles to complete your dollhouse.
Gingerbread
Durable, fancy lace wood trim.
Shell
A Shell includes interior and exterior walls (offered in MM, MP or SP), floors and roofs. Optional porches, additions or components are available separately and can be added to your shell later.
Facade
The main front of the building
Front-Opening
A front-opening dollhouse will have a smooth back wall with front-opening panels. The front-opening dollhouse design will keep the dust and cats outside.
Rear Opening
A dollhouse that is rear opening will have attached front and side panels with the back completely open.
General Recommended Supplies for all kits: Hammer, Fine Toothed Saw, Glues, Utility Knife,Masking Tape, Sandpaper: 100 and 320 grit, Paints, Paint Brushes, Ruler, 3/4" or 1" Brads, Elastic Bands
Brief History of Dollhouses
Volumes and volumes of information has been printed regarding the history of dollhouses and dollhouse collecting so we could not begin to even address that here in such a small space. We would just like to share some general information for our readers.
Prior to the eighteenth century there was an occasional reference to a loved "Baby House" or the comparison of an actual building with a toy.
Things changed completely in the late nineteenth century because of the general increase in prosperity. Drawings, greeting cards & story books began to include illustrations of the dolls' house, contributing to their popularity. Those fortunate enough to have one would spend hours engaged in imaginative roll-playing, giving tea and having dinner parties; oftentimes, venting their frustrations for real life events that may have happened to them.
This actitivity slowed way down by the mid 1950's with the advent of the television. Children began watching the fantacies of others rather than creating their own.
As near as we can tell the history of the dolls' house in Europe predates that of America and they were usually referred to as "cabinet houses" used to display valueable miniatures and dipict human experiences.
For adults throughtout the centuries the dolls' house has been an enchanted world in miniature, a "substitute home", with universal appeal. Once arranged, order is maintained and usually becomes a permanent display in a formal living room or family room.
There is a growing number of miniature enthusiasts collecting and displaying their detailed miniatures with pride and memories of childhood.
Whatever the motivation to build and furnish a dollhouse, we at Creative Dollhouse Designs are appreciative of the opportunity to help.
House Styles Explained
Cape Cod
The Cape Cod style (c.1675 - 1950) reflects the difficult weather and thrifty builders of the early northeastern coastal villages. A traditional Cape Cod has a steep roof with small eaves to protect the house from heavy New England snows.
Colonial
The Colonial house (c.1700 - present) is an American adaptation of the English "Cotswold" or Free holder's cottage. In its earlier version, the Cotswold had an open fire pit inside the house and the smoke would find its own way out through the thatched roof. The fire room was on one end of the house so the residents could keep warm in the loft but still be away from the smoke.
Mansard
Mansard roofs (c.1550 - 1870) are steeply sloping roofs with a flat or nearly flat top. These became very popular in the 17th century of Paris as they took advantage of the property tax laws, which did not tax attic spaces.
Plantation
The Plantation (c.1803 - 1862) houses reflect the elegance and grandeur of the American south in the early 1800's. These houses have tall ceilings and a formal layout inside, often with fancy stairways.
Tudor
The Tudor reflects the early English great houses that were made by joining together a frame of hewn timbers, then pounding sticks to jam in between the beams. Finally, two plasterers would stand, one inside and one outside the wall, and press plaster into the sticks until the plaster squeezed through the holes between the sticks and joined the plaster being pressed into the wall from the other side. More layers of plaster left a masonry wall held in place by jammed lath with the hewn beams showing inside and out. That's the Tudor look.
Victorian
Victorian architecture (c.1830 - 1900) replaced the Greek and Georgian styles, rebelling against the classical symmetry and orderliness. The Victorian style is flamboyant and exciting with tall, steep pitched roofs; multiple gables and gingerbread stick trim or decorated verge boards accenting the eaves.
Queen Anne
The Queen Anne (c.1876 - 1915) ranges from the
"Painted Lady" row houses of San Francisco to sprawling resort mansions. Queen Anne houses are exuberant and comfortable. Rooflines are steep with multiple and intersecting gables and majestic towers. In every section the windows are different, some narrow, some double but there are always lots of them. Every surface of a Queen Anne house is interesting and many textures.
see our Queen Anne model.
| Victorian houses known as the "Painted Ladies" at Alamo Square park in San Francisco. |  |
Contemporary Styles
"Contemporary" describes a catch-all style that can take on many different shapes. The most important clue is the windows: A Contemporary home will always have expansive, very tall panes of glass. See our Contemporary Ranch
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Handcrafting Miniature Homes since 1973
You'll find our FAQ's Page extremely helpful in answering most of your questions. Please feel free to contact us if you still need help.