Howdy!

So, I'm going to build a dollhouse for my 5 year old (will be 6 just
after Christmas) daughter for Christmas. I want to build from scratch,
partially because I really enjoy the design part of the building, and
because I do want it to be something _I_ made. Also, this is something
my dad did for my sister when we were young.

I want it to be a play doll house, but one that she can grow with, and
has elements beyond just being a box for the dolls' home. Of course, our
currently 3 year old son will likely play with it too, and we will have
another child in January. Sturdiness is important.

I'll admit to not having done a lot of research, yet. I've been watching
the group for a short while. I did some googling about this newsgroup's
archives, read the FAQ, and did some searching on the net (the net
searching was really hardly frutiful ... there was SO MUCH out there on
miniatures ... not surprising, but I was not successful at refining my
searches). So one thing that I could use is suggestions of a book or two
for someone tackling the project I am tackling.

My current plan (and some of the reasoning behind it):

Fairly simple 3 story (two and attic level), 1 room deep house. Open
from the "front". I am planning on having large hinged doors that can
"shut" the house to make it actually look like a house, although I would
guess that for 99% of the dollhouse's life, these doors will be open.

Style - Spanish (I sat down with my daughter and we looked at a lot of
different style houses, and Spanish was the style she chose) I think it
is a lot easier than Victorian, which was her second choice. I also
think that it is a style that she could modify in the future. Mostly, it
means that doors and windows will be arched, and some "windows" will be
stylistic. Also, some half-columns separating the kitchen/dining room,
and hopefully a stucco outer wall.

Scale - 1:12. This is where my wife and I have had the most talks.
First, we were looking at playscale, because chances are barbies will be
used in the dollhouse at some point. However, I prefer to not focus on
the barbies, so we moved to 1:12. Then we looked for dolls that fit this
scale, and we didn't really find any (it wasn't a very big search
though). There seemed to be several popular choices that were just under
this scale. So for a bit I went to a strange smaller scale (I'm not sure
what it would have worked out to, and don't want to do the math right
now). But after doing the reading of archives, and actually thinking
about little hands being able to reach in, etc., we ended up on 1:12. We
will still probably go towards furniture and dolls that are just below
that scale, but the house will be built to accomodate the wide variety
of toys that will hopefully be used with it (my sister's dollhouse saw
home to small dolls, barbies, star wars figures, transformers,
hotwheels, and so on).

There is part of me that really wants to make this a "real" house ...
with realistic sized rooms, stairs, etc. But I've moved somewhat beyond
that. The ceilings will be 12", and the depth will be 12". Width
probably about 36". I still would like there to be access between all
rooms, but I may in the end decide against that. I do want stairs,
though. Any suggestions on how to make the stairs work (12" up, 12"
depth)? We also do plan to have a bathroom.

I plan to put the whole thing on a 'foundation' which will have a drawer
built in.

We plan on very little decorating ... a little because of timing but
mostly to allow our daughter to have a role in decorating the house how
she wants.

From reading, it seems that 3/8" plywood is the way to go for
sturdiness. With the size indicated above, will this be too heavy?

I plan to do just a one slope roof ... but may wait on that until the
end, and if time permits make a peak. Also, time permitting, I want to
do the tile roof.

Windows will be empty holes (maybe with trim). For a playhouse, I just
don't think anything is needed to represent the glass.

I'm about ready to dive in. If you made it this far, any thoughts on the
above or suggestions as I move ahead would be appreciated!

Thanks!

-Robert