first house The next building to come along

Once I finished the first house, I wanted to make another. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but they were fun to make and pretty cheap entertainment. I was not however, thinking about where I was going to put them and how much room they would take up.

I wanted a couple shops since I thought they'd be fun to eventually furnish, so I drew up a building with three small shops on the lower level and a nice spacious apartment upstairs. This building ended up 45" long not counting the sidewalk area with the steps on the right end. This building was a lot easier to make than the first house. Basically just a big rectangle, with no rooms behind other rooms. The top of the building is flat and has a fake tar and stone roof, so the tenants can use it for a big deck.


first house A view from the back

Here you can see the finished apartment with its' large porch off the kitchen. Downstairs the three shops have their floors in and are waiting to be rented so the tenants can finish the decorating to their liking. Wouldn't that flat roof be a great place to watch fireworks from?!



first house The entries to the shops

These were a lot of fun to make. I used a paper crimper to make the ribbed awnings over each window, with foamcore cut for the ends. The little signs above each shop were made on the computer and printed off and glued to foamcore scraps. The doors were the hardest, I made them out of acrylic which was a pain to cut! They're trimmed with silver contact paper to look like aluminum trim.



first house The roomy kitchen

Lots of cabinets in this big kitchen, plus a nice long countertop for breakfasts or lunches. All cabinets and appliances made of foamcore scraps, of course. Hardware is little beading spacers.



first house The livingroom

The other end of the kitchen and the wide entry into the livingroom. Hardwood floors (printed paper) are throughout the whole apartment except for the bathroom.



first house The modern bathroom

The roomy bathroom, decorated in black and white, is waiting for a shower curtain and a few towel bars and it's ready for tenants. The toilet was a little tricky to make out of foamcore. I glued several layers together and carved out the toilet bowl. Next time I think I'd make it out of clay.



first house The bedroom

A goodsized bedroom finishes off this apartment. Already decorated with moon and star wallpaper and coordinating border, it will be fun to fill with bedroom furniture and accessories.



first house The big porch

This was a fun thing to add to the building. I needed stairs somewhere and decided to put them on the end of the building rather than taking up space somewhere inside. At first the door was going to be on the end of the apartment, but this extended porch was more fun to add.




first house One of the shops downstairs

All of the shops downstairs are the same size, 15" square. The placement of their doors and their windows differ a little. The center shop has a center door and two smaller windows, while the end shops each have a door off to one side and one large display window. The flooring is different in each shop too.



first house The entrance to one of the shops

Here's a closeup of one of the shop entrances. You can see the door is recessed a bit. I changed the names of the shops and had to make so many new signs I lost count of all of them. The only one still the same as it first was, is the Frank 'n Stein Pub.



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