I started making dollhouses when I first started working with wood. Partly because I had two little girls at home, but also because I could learn a lot from them. I made all the houses in a 1:13 ratio. They were all made of 18 mm thick pine wood and I treated them all with a mixture of safflower and orange oil. It smelled wonderful!

 

It was a nice job. Both the production itself and the subsequent "settling in". I bought a large amount of miniature furniture in Great Britain and decorated the houses properly for the photo shoot.

I probably don't need to mention how much fun the children had playing with the houses. What was interesting, however, was how much fun the adults had playing with the houses. All our visitors, from the age of thirty and up, rushed to the houses, sweeping with small brooms, making the bed, preparing food on the miniature table... It was fun to watch them.

​

I didn't sell the houses. I was terrified of the rules governing the production of children's toys. There are so many of them, they are very complicated and almost impossible to fulfill. So most of the houses stayed at our house. We use one as a cupboard for groceries, the other as a cupboard in the hallway for gloves, hats, etc.

I donated one house to the after-school club at my children's school. I donated another to a raffle at a public event organized by a nearby forest nursery.

 

Then I slowly shifted my focus to making dance furniture. But I remember the "house" period very fondly. I really learned a lot from them and the joy they brought was priceless!