Katie and I were joking about renovating my daughter’s Ana’s dollhouse. It all started when I discovered the amazing world of DIY dollhouse miniatures. I first read a how-to blog post on Etsy for making “micro planters” and a tiny macrame plant hanger. Then, a search on Flickr and Pinterest revealed an entire subculture of people who make remarkably lifelike miniature food the size of match heads out of Fimo modeling clay and furnishings and decor for entire rooms, like my current favorite, this midcentury modern room.
Although Katie and I in our consultation with my 8-year-old daughter, Ana, have big future plans for her dollhouse renovation, over the weekend I made a few accessories to add some warmth and personality to the space. Our plans include some projects that Ana will help with, including making a cool backsplash, improving the rug under her dining room table, making refrigerator magnets, and wallpapering an accent wall.
Ana’s dollhouse is modern in style and she mostly has Plan dolls and furnishings, but has recently added in quite a lot of Playmobil furnishings and accessories as well.
Here is the before shot of the second floor bedroom and bathroom/laundry room.
So far, I’ve made three DIY dollhouse projects for the bedroom. In this post, I’ll describe the macrame plant hanger. I followed the how-to steps in the Etsy post I mentioned earlier, except that I used a water bottle top I found in our kitchen cabinet for the planter. I have never made a macrame plant hanger before, but as far as I can tell, the technique is about the same except that some steps are eliminated to account for the smaller total length (no crown knots) and the mini hanger doesn’t have beads.
Here you can see the half hitch knots that surround the jump ring at the top, and underneath the wrap knot.
Here I’m making the half-knot twist that forms the twisted hangers above the pot.
Finally, I tied alternating square knots to go around the pot and another wrap knot under the pot, with frayed ends hanging down.
And here’s the little pot with soil and plant cuttings from my patio. Ana will need to water it with a tiny eye-dropper. I think I’ll find someone to give me a spider plant cutting for this or another hanging micro planter.
I hung the macrame plant hanger from the dollhouse roof and I think it adds some nice live greenery in this upstairs bedroom.
In future posts, I’ll show how I made a mini rag rag and the handknit patchwork blanket, and some of the other ongoing renovations. If you have ideas for fun ways to improve a dollhouse DIY-style, let us know!
So cute!