DIY Wooden Dolls House Handcraft Miniature Kit-Paris Coffee & Cake Shop Model with furniture

Having shelled out rather more than I was comfortable with to build my first dollshouse model, I think it only fair to give this kit a write-up. I have designed 1/12th scale houses and furniture, but my late husband was the maker, so I only have basic construction skills for this type of project. I'm an artist and general crafter, working in polymer clay atm, mostly making 1/12th scale food items..It arrived from Amazon well packaged, in a sturdy box. The majority of components are bagged up with code letters, and larger pieces loose in the box. The instructions, while including some typos, several poor (sometimes hilarious) translations and a few wrong dimensions, are thorough and image rich. Elimination will see you through checking off the contents.You do not need to cut any wood, beyond some minor trimming. All these bits are cut to size. You will however make a lot of components up from card, pasted to fabric, and paper templates pasted to card of various finishes. Some hand sewing is also required (I'm dreading that bit!). You need your own needle and thread. A wodge of stuffing fibre is included.All wooden parts are finished in matt paint and I found the dimensions to be accurate enough not to need trimming- one of the curved top windows did need some shaving back to fit, but as the edge is glued inside the window opening it didn't show. Having checked the parts off systematically i was impressed to find the only missing item was one gilt filigree bead cap, for which I had spares in my jewellery stash. Absolutely EVERYTHING you need (except tools, glue and batteries) is included down to gold foil and pieces of paper for making flowers.There is a musical movement which I don't remember being in the description, which plays a suitable tune which doesn't grate on the ear, and the sound quality is equal to the expensive Swiss movements I have used in trinket boxes in the past. The lights can either be powered by a battery box (2 x AA) or a " voice control unit" which takes three button batteries. Both are included. As there is no explanation of the voice control I opted to use the standard battery box.After trying to spread thick glue to paste the first couple of wallpapers, I found a 50/50 PVA/ water mix painted on the MDF was the best method to avoid cockling. Be aware that some pieces protrude over the edge deliberately to cover butt-ended joins later. The printed paper is glossy and I strongly recommend new scalpel blades to avoid "fluffy" edges, as gloss paper is the worst for making clean cuts. There's some fiddly doily cutouts with black edges which are going to be problematic! And some labels are tiny!There are two hinged sections. The screws are tiny so you need watchmakers screwdrivers, also use an awl or compass point to make a tidy starter hole through the hinge so the hinge joint opens cleanly. The shop window section needs to be assembled prior to the hinges (so it's square, or it won't open cleanly), so it's a bit fiddly to fix the hinges straight as you can't lie this section flat.Being an import no glue or batteries are included. I opted to use a combination of PVA craft glue and superglue, depending on how fast I needed the joint to set. Remember to brace right angles against a 90° support to get a clean join.Certain components such as door handles are made up of jewellery components, I recommend you get a set of jewellery pliers if you don't have any, the smaller tipped the better.Some of the fabric pieces were squashed and will need pressing with an iron to flatten them for use.I am a newbie when it comes to lighting. The LEDs provided are very flimsy and there is no insulation between the wires. Gummed paper is provided to wrap around the contacts but having had a total fail on my first attempt (wire broke off, although probably/hopefully rescuable, as there's no spares), I'm thinking judicious use of hot glue blobs might be a better option. These are then wrapped mostly with gold shiny paper.The templates for fabric and other accessories are printed on paper, to size, but not all have English or part numbers so it's a bit of guesswork to figure out which shape relates to which item.My biggest gripe is the scale of some of the plastic cake accessories. As an example (I make 1/12th scale polymer food) the macaroons are MASSIVE. My 1/12th ones are quarter of the size! Also the colours are pretty garish. And this is somewhere near a 1/24th scale model. So I might well ditch the provided items and make some truer to scale.Also I'm not sure if the rear servery counter totally covers the battery pack and musical movement. It looks a bit short which is a disappointing design fault as the working "guts" should be adequately concealed to preserve the illusion.Overall I'm pretty impressed. I shopped around a long time before deciding on this particular kit, and I think it is worth the money (I paid about £55- you don't save much on other drop-shipping portals and the delivery time is much longer, plus any disputes can be tiresome). It's going to stretch me in learning new skills (especially sewing, lol), but the attention to detail is astounding, and I especially love the chemise (and I am totally NOT into girly stuff, but it is perfect for the setting). There are over 60 mini projects to make after the actual café carcass! And that's lumping stuff like box/coffee bag making together.It's a "cute" project but in keeping with its Parissienne theme. Not over-the-top "kawaii", no plastic pets thankfully!!I have no regrets buying it, and will adapt certain things as I go, but largely will build it "as is".I consider this a great starting model, it has the café area, a terrace and bedroom, lots of interest, so it get five stars from me despite the comments above.Hope whoever reads this finds it helpful.

This is by far the most challenging and best model I have made to date. This is not for the faint hearted and definitely not for beginners!! This is the 6th model I’ve made. Among the models I’ve done are the miniature Japanese house and garden, florist shop, greenhouse, all very challenging and fiddly. The Paris cafe has been very challenging. This model has taken approx 110 hours to complete, the instructions are scaled back in places and some things are mislabelled so take care to read carefully as it’s easy to misinterpret, otherwise I do highly recommend - I loved every minute of this project!

The product is simple but the instruction are not written too clearly.There have been difficulties in identifying parts as the measurement don't quite tally.The product building is wooden with paper walling patterns applied.Many of the interior items are plastic, metal and paper.It is not a child's toy.

This kit is beautiful! I’m currently working on it now and loving every moment. The seller Lemogo is fantastic; I’ve bought a few of their miniature DIY kits and the customer service is the best I’ve seen. Thank you for a great product and service!

This was the third kit I've made and by far the best to date. It gave me weeks of enjoyment during lockdown putting it together. All the pieces fit well and although it would be a little difficult for a beginner, would recommend for anyone with some experience.

This is the most wonderful crafting project, which spans lots of different activities, including cutting, modelling, wiring and sewing.I’d highly recommend this to anyone who has patience and loves cute small things.I also had one part missing and the company was incredibly quick to respond (it was int he post within a few hours of my email) and they were absolutely lovely in their replies.Highly recommended.

This kit could be great, there’s a lot of parts to it and it’s very beautiful however the quality of the materials just isn’t good enough. A number of the wooden parts were warped and bent, the paper for the walls and floors looked cheap and some parts don’t fit properly together.Overall I wouldn’t buy another kit from this brand, it would be a great price if the materials were good quality but it’s too expensive for what you actually get.

It took a long time to build this and was a bit of a challenge but so worth it when its finished, absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed the building up too.

Mooi bouwpakket. Veel details en leuk om te bouwen.

A mi hija la encantó

Het product op zich is ontzettend leuk natuurlijk - anders had ik het niet gekocht. Maar voor de enorm hoge prijs had ik wel een betere service verwacht. Het pakket was helemaal stuk, gehavend en open aangekomen.Vooralsnog lijkt er niets te missen, maar met zoveel verschillende delen heb ik nog niet alles kunnen checken. Absoluut niet tevreden.

J'ai déjà fait quelques maquettes , celle-ci est vraiment jolie et agréable à monter ! Le matériel est de bonne qualité ... toutes les pièces sont belles et solides, mais bien sûr, il faut prendre son temps , savourer ces moments paisibles et concentrés ! Je ne suis jamais pressée de finir ma maquette . Je viens juste de la commencer!

Ho acquistato questo articolo per passare il tempo, e sono felice di averlo fatto.Divertente, creativo e il risultato è a dir poco meraviglioso. Assemblarlo non è poi così facile, ma ne vale la pena.