I think I got inspired to do this after one of my many viewings of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I knew before I started that I'd have to find the perfect Belle doll: the right size (about 1:12 scale) and also a quality item (porcelain, not plastic, and nicely painted/dressed). I found one on Ebay and as soon as I received her, I set about making her bookshop.
The shop is constructed from a Greenleaf Dollhouses kit, the Primrose. It's a small one that can be used an addition to their Laurel kit, but it can also be its own entity. It was small and affordable and even the name of the kit matched the Beauty and the Beast theme.
In order to decide what I wanted the shop to look like, I watched the movie. ALOT. The opening scene takes place in the town's market, and all the buildings are stone and brick in the classic European Tudor style of architecture.
I used egg crate, torn into pieces, for the faux stone finish on the exterior. Then I added dimension with chalk and paint. I used a semi-dark stain on the wooden shingles and the window frames.
I painted the interior gray, but I didn't bother doing stonework on the inside because I didn't want the walls to show much. I wanted to fill in inside with tall bookshelves.
I think most of the stuff inside was found at thrift stores, including Mrs. Potts. She is actually one of those collectible Squinkies. Chip, and the other dishes on the table, are part of Disney miniature tea set.
Lumiere and Cogsworth are pvc figurines.
Belle's gown is a scrapbooking sticker, the mirror on the table is a jewelry charm, and the enchanted rose in the glass dome is from a Hot Topic necklace.
This is probably the best result I've ever had from making a kit. I would like to add some more details to the outside scenery, maybe some sheep and a fountain. And more than anything else, I wish I had a 1:12 Gaston.
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