The average store doll-house is made of thin wood, which is full of defects and likely to warp, besides being put together in such a flimsy manner as to soon fall apart. The majority of these are imported houses, designed and planned in foreign styles, the exteriors being covered with clumsy ornament and gaudily painted, while the interiors are very poorly planned and proportioned. Americanized doll-houses are seldom seen in the market, and the few there are will generally be found very expensive.
There is probably nothing more interesting for a boy to make than a doll-house. It is like building your own house on a small scale, the details and proportions having to be just as carefully worked out to make a good-appearing house. Try the construction of a house for one of your girl relatives and see how much she will appreciate it. Then having completed one and learned the many little tricks there are in doing this work, you will find it quicker and easier to turn out others to sell. Neatly made houses are always salable, and it should be an easy matter for you to make arrangements with a toy dealer in your town, to place some of your work in his store to sell on commission.
The doll-house designed and detailed in this chapter is easily constructed and
The Materials Required do not amount to very much. Boards ten inches wide and one-half inch thick are preferable for the general construction, with a few four-inch boards one inch thick for the base and a few other details. Basswood probably will be found the easiest wood to work with, as it is soft, straight-grained, and free from knots. Packing-cases may be used to advantage when they are of the right size, but they are generally made of a cheap grade of pine, full of knots and other defects that make it difficult to do a good job.
Cigar-boxes make the nicest material for the interior finish, and a number of all sizes should be procured for this purpose. Prepare the boxes for use as [described] in Chapter VIII.
Fourpenny nails should be purchased for the rough carpenter work, and brads and glue for attaching finishing-strips and all light wood. Paints and other material are specified as required.
As shown on the plans ([Figs. 65, 66, and 67]), the house described in this chapter is of three floors, containing nine rooms, and is in size, thirty inches wide, twenty inches deep, and three feet high.
