Thursday 29 September 2011

Furniture Kits

As you may have noticed  from my bedroom picture below, and from pictures of other rooms in my house, I am a big fan of wooden furniture kits for my dollshouse. I would love to be able to purchase more of the beautiful craftsman made pieces I see at Kensington and Birmingham, and have stretched myself to buy some of them too, but my budget is restricted, and I find furniture kits are a great way of getting good pieces of furniture into my dollshouse at a price I can more easily afford. The first kits I tried were white wood models from Hobby's. they have some unusual styles, and many of 18th century design. I found them fairly easy to put together, but have never been entirely happy with the wood stain that you have to use, and have learnt that it pays to stain the pieces BEFORE doing any gluing, or any residue glue will not allow the wood stain to penetrate into the wood. On the plus side, they don't require much in the way of woodworking skill, just a little sanding (not too much though!) and patience. Mini Mundus also make white wood kits, and the pictures below are of their pieces (not ones I have done!)



Robert Longstaff produces miniature furniture kits. These are made from real mahogany so save having to do any wood staining and look more authentic when completed. The only drawback to Robert's kits is that , as he uses a laser cutter, the wood is often covered in thick soot, that has to be sanded off before you can assemble the pieces, and that can be quite a task, especially on each leg of six dining chairs! Some examples of this kits are pictured below, for more information visit www.longstaff.co.uk









Another maker of fine wooden furniture kits is McQueenie Miniatures. Again made from real mahogany, and with some nicely turned or carved details on many pieces, these are the easiest to finish and look great. They come complete with all the handles, hinges, finials, glass, mirrors etc required too! they require a minimum of sanding and fit together very well. some examples are pictured below. for more info see www.mcqueenieminiatures.co.uk




4 comments:

  1. Yo tengo algunos muebles de McQueenie y de Mini Mundus, y como bien dices, son bastante aceptables. Veo que no soy el único con el presupuesto ajustado... ¡¡Un abrazo!!

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  2. Sí, las piezas hechas a mano puede ser hermoso, pero usted tiene que pagar por todo lo que los detalles y la artesanía! Me gustan los juegos de muebles y obtener una gran cantidad de placer de hacer ellos también! gracias por el abrazo también! aquí hay uno de vuelta! ;o)

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  3. I've tried a few of those kits and yes, they're great and very satisfying to make too.

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  4. yes, they certainly are satisfying to make!

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