16 Sep 09 The Options for Custom Flooring in Dollhouse Construction
A special touch to any dollhouse is the warmth and character that you put into it. And part of that character is the type of flooring you install, whether wood, area rugs or carpet. Installing flooring in your dollhouse can require a bit of research to get familiar with the options and techniques involved. You need to determine what type of floor covering material will best create the look and feel you want. Flooring does not have to be expensive, considering the choices of discount dollhouse wood flooring, carpet, and rugs available.There are many options for floor covers for dollhouse rooms. Carpet is one, though be sure to choose a carpet that doesn't fray when cut and that the color you choose blends well with the room décor you have in mind. Adding a throw or embroidered dollhouse rug or placing an area carpet over a wood floor enhances a lived-in look. There are some beautiful oriental and patterned carpets on the miniatures market to make your dollhouse décor stand out.
While you can choose simple wood slats you glue into place for wood flooring, going beyond the ordinary and opting for parquetry in checkerboard or étoile patterns adds even more character to your doll house. Interlocking frames make the flooring application look like a professional did the installation. If you're going for a homey look, choose wooden strips you cut to size, veneer sheets you can scribe with a tool for the perfect size of planking, or paper-backed laminated strips. The woods available for flooring come in natural shades of light or dark.
An interesting type of flooring is a stone floor. Stone floors are good for greenhouse rooms or capturing a sense of the outdoors to bring it into the dollhouse rooms. Creating a stone floor is as easy as using clay and a rolling pin to achieve the thicknesses of flooring you want. Once the clay is rolled out, you can apply a flagstone tile sheet to imprint the look of individual stones or use a scribing tool to design your own freehand stone flooring design. A touch of paint replicates grout joints nicely.
For kitchens and bathrooms, no-wax linoleum or tile flooring is certainly a choice that shrinks real life into miniature size. The vinyl sheets are easy to cut with an Exacto knife or scissors, and patterns range from tiled to marble to solid colors. Vinyl flooring also offers options such as brick or hexagonal tile patterns. Some patterns of tile floor rival the best real-life mosaics for color and design.
It is always best to lay down flooring in a dollhouse when the electrical considerations have been taken care of. Run your wiring for lighting before you install flooring. Put your wallpaper up first as well for a better look and nicer job. When you are ready to install the dollhouse flooring, make sure the surface area is clean and free of dust. Lastly, use the proper adhesive so that the flooring will not lift or curl.
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