Doll houses can be very big and quite expensive, so here’s an alternative for you – a roomhouse. Meet my favourite roomhouse maker – Dani.
What is a roomhouse?
Room-house is a small box design to hold a single room scale display for miniatures and models. Room boxes are much deeper than standard window boxes as they are meant to resemble a full size doll house. They are usually made out of plywood. They are also much cheaper than dollhouses.
Do you make everything by yourself?
No, it’s a team effort around here. My dad is very handy and I ask him “can this be done” a lot. If I can dream it up, he can usually cut it out. My mum is a seamstress and has a knack for decorating which happens to translate into miniature scale pretty nicely too. They are wonderful help with the roomboxes.
The miniatures I paint are my own little creative projects and something that I do alone.
Where do you look for inspiration?
My favourite place to look for inspiration, if I’m working on a project is a home decor magazine. There are too many project ideas to ever build them all.
Where do you get your supplies from?
Do you collaborate with other makers?
I haven’t in the past, but that would be something I’d love to do in the future.
Do you have a favourite material that you like to work with?
My favorite material to work with is wood. Especially unfinished. I love the way it’s forgiving, if you don’t like something you change it. You can sand it different ways to get a different end result, making it look used and loved.
The biggest challenge so far…
What’s your favourite room-house you worked on so far?
How many doll houses have you build so far?
For dollhouses I’ve only built around 20, but roomboxes I stopped counting a long time ago. There were over 100 at that point.
Can you describe the process of creating?
It depends on if it’s a custom order or something I’m building for the shop. With customs the buyer tells me what’s in their head and we go from there. I don’t sketch things out (drawing it not my strong suit) but I am an excellent list maker. So I make a list with size, layout and description and o from there. When it’s a project for me or the shop, I usually choose a paper or paint color first and then go from there.
Where do you work from?
If you weren’t a dollhouse interior designer/maker, what would you be?
I started building dollhouses when I was eighteen years old. I’d always loved tiny things and bought my first kit and it started. I only built on occasion the first few years. Building something here or there and then selling it online. A few years later it just happened to turn into a business and it’s been way ever since. I feel very fortunate that I get to create and do something I love.
What’s a perfect day in Joyful Girl Gypsy Heart?
What does craft mean to you?
Would you offer any discounts for the readers?
Absolutely! 15% off any roombox order (even customs) in my Etsy shop for readers with the promo code: whisperofthepipit