The Dolls House Emporium Blog

Diversity

Amy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:15 +0000

Last week I wrote a post about the hobbies I have outside of dolls’ house collecting. This week I thought I’d give you some recommendations for places to visit, things to do and some of my favourite shopping sites, for the other things girls love, it’s all about having some diversity in life.

One place I go back to, time and time again, is Chatsworth House. To my mind, there is nothing in the United Kingdom that is quite so spectacular as driving down the road and seeing the huge fountain in the gardens shooting up into the air. For those who like culture and history, the house itself is rich in both (look out for the trompe l’oeil violin) and the gardens are immaculate. As a child I loved the adventure playground and the farmyard. Now-a-days I return to go for walks in the grounds, but I still draw inspiration from the surroundings.

In the south west, Lanhydrock has one of the best Victorian kitchens you could wish to see and over in Kent, Churchill’s family home at Chartwell is another favourite. The dining room in this house is close to perfection for me! I love the colour scheme, the arched windows and the fact that it gets so much sunlight. One day, when I have a house big enough, I’d love recreate it to enjoy myself.

A few things I’ve enjoyed recently have been strolling around Cardiff Bay and watching people come and go. I’ve also had a go at making my own soap and jewellery, the soap was more successful and made great presents. I used this company who I saw at an exhibition and have found them to be helpful with fast delivery. Add a little glitter to the soap before it sets for a truly ’sparkling’ clean.

If I’m going shopping online, besides all the well known department stores that we all know and trust, I’ve found a few gems. Asos.com is great for a fashion fix, but it’s their diffusion lines I like the most. Lots of ‘designer’ stuff at a high street price. The model shots can be a bit off putting (all very young and skinny) but they go up to size 20 on some items so they do cater for those us not a size 8.

For gadgets, I can’t beat Misco.co.uk for delivery times and everything for a computer, often at prices better than those big names. I ordered from them on Saturday last weekend, was told it would take 3-5 working days to arrive and got my parcel on Tuesday. Great service!

Finally, when I want something really unique, I go to etsy.com which I am sure we have mentioned on the blog before. For unusual items, crafted by hand it’s a great place to ‘visit’. Don’t be put off by the dollar signs, there are plenty of people selling from the UK too. Enjoy!

Amy

Amy Gutierrez is the Marketing Controller for The Dolls House Emporium. She’s the proud owner of a Classical and a Tudor Manor and when she’s not mucking about in miniature she can usually be found on top of a horse or in front of a computer.

July Anniversary Plate

Amy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:35 +0000

In 2007, The Dolls House Emporium introduced Lake View. A radical change from the traditional view of a dolls’ house, Lake View featured a full height window and mezzanine level. Fitted out with a spiral staircase and designed to be the perfect modern residence with open plan living, Lake View really was a bit of a departure from the previous dolls’ houses.

A grand design in miniature, we’re sure Kevin McCloud would approve.

Jolly July!

Amy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:04 +0000

As we write this, there’s glorious sunshine outside so let’s hope it continues for the rest of the month!

What exciting offers to we have to keep up the heat? For this month only, we’re making you a very special offer where you can choose FREE lighting to add that lovely sparkle to your dolls’ house.

If you want to choose the lights yourself, you can do so up to the value shown with the dolls’ house details. Just choose which lights you’d like, add them to your order and remember your wiring kit or socket strip and transformer.

Prefer to keep things simple? You can have the lights as shown in the photograph of the dolls’ house and you can still have them FREE! Just order the lighting set listed with the dolls’ house details. Dolls’ house kits are supplied with the copper tape method for wiring and QuickStyle houses are supplied with the socket strip method for wiring (the wiring channels are prepared for you).

If you need some help with lighting, just check out our masterclass and quick guide.

But don’t be blinded by the lighting offers, you can also enjoy FREE postage and packaging on all orders over £25 this month, up to 84% off furniture, accessories and dolls, and receive the latest in our 30th Anniversary Plate collection, the Lake View, FREE with all orders over £25. Phew! We’re working up a sweat just thinking about them all.

An evening at The Dolls House Emporium?

Amy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:59:53 +0000

Now, we know that a lot of our customers aren’t lucky enough to live in the East Midlands, but for those of you that do, we wondered how many of you would be interested in participating in a workshop, hosted by us and held in our shop in Ripley, Derbyshire.

The workshop would be geared to help you get your Dolls House Emporium dolls’ house built, decorated and lit. With our experts leading the workshop, you’ll be taken through the necessary steps. There could be a season of workshops, or just the one, it depends how many of you lovely people want to come along.

Suggested programme would be something like

1st session – Dry build

2nd session – Lighting is Easy!

3rd session – Decorating

Start time around 6pm and finishing about 8.30-9pm

If there is enough interest we will put a programme together, we could also include some tips on styling and furnishing your dolls’ house.

Let us know what you think!

Something a little different

Amy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:00:03 +0000

Whilst the sun is shining, I’m pretty realistic that most of us aren’t going to be doing too much mini-ing. The fact is that you can’t always take this hobby outside, parts of it yes, but not the whole thing.

So today I thought, instead of talking about dolls’ houses I’d talk about something I do instead of mini-ing, or maybe that should be as well as. One of the best ways for me to relax is with a four legged friend, preferably one with a mane and tail, but I’ll take a wagging tail and wet nose too. Whilst dolls’ houses inspire my creativity and allow my mind to wander into past and future times, horseriding and dog walking help me to remember that there is a world outside home, work and four walls.

I think it’s something to do with comunning with nature and having a connection with another animal. This connection doesn’t always work perfectly, my horse bolted down the tarmac road with me this weekend and gave me horrific visions of us both sliding down the steep hill looming. This was shortly followed by a momentous break through when she walked past the offending pile of fly tipped tyres which had caused her to shoot off in the first place. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to the way animals act, we just have to take it our (and their) stride. Another little lesson learnt.

I also think it’s pretty healthy to have a combination of hobbies, things that provide different distractions for us, I’d love to know what everyone else gets up to besides dolls’ house collecting so please do tell me in the comments slot below.

Amy

What My Granny Taught Me

Bagatelle – A Retreat

Amy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:00:57 +0000

Mrs Kendall-Davies whose charming dolls’ house projects have already featured on this blog has been very busy again! She sent the following photographs over the weekend with some details on her latest miniature marvel.

“I have just finished my Dolls House Emporium Gatehouse, my version is a Pleasure Pavilion which I have named Bagatelle. It is inspired by the garden buildings of the Palace of Nymphenburg near Munich. Despite being Bavarian, they were based on the all prevailing French 17th/18th Century styles and Bagatelle is a retreat for drinking tea and relaxing on summer afternoons. Well, they were the “leisured” classes who owned such places!!! As the bedroom is not open but located within the roof, I have made an alcove bed. I think the chap who assembled the structure should have attached the front portion of the roof to the facade so that the bedroom would be clearly seen, however, when he brought it for decorating I didn’t realize and it was then too late.”

We think it looks delightful and we’d be very tempted to slope of to a ‘real size’ equivilent! Let us know what you think in the comments section below and do send us your projects too!

No related posts.

Jaunty June Offers!

Amy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:07:04 +0000

Your super June offers will run out soon! Order today and receive a FREE conservatory or a 15% discount when you buy selected Collectors’ dolls’ houses. Save up to 28% off all those favourite furniture and accessories and catch up to 79% off in the Star Buys section.

For the Junior Collectors, take a look at the charming Summer/Winter Garden which comes FREE this month with selected Junior Collectors’ dolls’ houses, you’ll even get the Wendy House and Log Cabin FREE! The Summer/Winter Garden shows a pretty summer scene on one side, and is reversible to show a picturesque winterscape on the other, giving twice the fun.

Call us on 080 00 11 44 11 or sign in to the website to place your order today!

Fans and Followers

Amy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:00:53 +0000

Social Media. Two not very big words which mean a whole world of interest on the internet. Some of you will know that The Dolls House Emporium now has a fan page on Facebook and that we also ‘tweet’ a couple of times a day on Twitter. Both these sites allow us to converse with you, our customer, in a way we haven’t been able to before. Rather than us (and most other retailers) in the past saying ‘Here’s what we’ve got, come and buy it’, you are now in a position to say ‘Actually can you do it like this, deliver it on Friday and what if it doesn’t fit after all?’ and we can react accordingly.

This is awesome.

The possibilities for these mediums to allow a better relationship between all customers and all companies are unprecedented. Eventually I believe it will lead to much greater consumer power and for the good companies out there, that won’t be a problem.

It’s going to be a very interesting journey along the way, I am sure it will be fraught with danger and excitement. So become a fan and/or a follower, engage with us, talk to us, we’re listening! I hope many more of you will join us!

Calling all competition fans!

Handy Tools

James — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:00:34 +0000

Struggling to get started on your dolls’ house? Finding it a bit daunting? Hopefully the next few tips on handy tools that will help ease the pressure and help you along the way.

Masking tape – Invaluable for your dry build stage, for holding bits of self made furniture or fabric pieces together whilst glue dries.

Measuring Tape or Ruler- You’d think this was a no brainer, but we know at least one dolls’ house wall paperer who didn’t measure her paper before applying …

Tweezers- not just for plucking out splinters. Any delicate handling of small pieces to glue in place will be made much easier by using these. Just make sure you then don’t use the same ones to pluck your eyebrows.

Sandpaper - Use to smooth out any rough edges in the dolls’ house or furniture. It is also used to give texture to wooden cabinets and shelves before distressing them for an aged look. Emery boards are great for those finer pieces too.

Brushes – Apart from helping with the painting (although rollers produce a smoother finish on large parts of the dolls’ house) a small fine paint brush is a very good way of dusting smaller parts. You could even go back to that make up bag and pull out a blusher brush too, the soft bristles won’t damage your miniatures. Perhaps best to have a new one though or your accessories my have be a new shade when you finish.

Wallpaper glue – This is used for putting on wallpaper before sticking it on the wall. As it is thick, it does not form bubbles and thus gives a smoother finish. This glue is also used to stick other household articles, such as pictures on walls.

Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Any very handy little tools that you keep ready? Mayeb even something that you wouldn’t normally apply to DIY that you use? Tell us about it below!

Dolls’ Houses As A Hobby

Catherine — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:00:13 +0000

Collecting, conceiving and collating dolls’ houses has become a serious hobby for many adults. This is because decorating, styling and displaying dolls’ houses in an eclectic way, tends to feed one’s imagination. It can be fascinating and interesting and the hours can pass very quickly. The styles and degree of sophistication and detail are amazing.

As with any ‘real’ house, a dolls house would not be complete without the appropriate accessories. Dressing your dolls’ house in your chosen style can carry you away into a dream world. Take a look at the Dolls’ Eye Tour for an inspirational trip round the Grosvenor Hall, and don’t mind your guide, Alice, she’s a bit Sybil Fawlty. Discover a completely different world that you would love to linger in.

No surprise, it’s among the best online resources, which has earned the status of the most supreme distributor of quality collectibles of outstanding quality. You can find exclusively designed and crafted furniture in varied styles on our website.