Right, I finally got around to assembling my own so-called “dollhouse in a dollhouse” – kit by “Cuteroom”, a little French house on a scale of 1:144, called “Happy House”
And if you ask my opinion, well, it was quite hard to do, honestly! Mostly because of the tiny, tiny bits, my gosh!
Would I ever do this again? Who knows, but not for now hahaha! But then again, there are a lot of new versions of tiny dollhouses on this scale coming out, and they look so tempting, that I might just forget about the struggles lol!
Anyway, today I will review it and explain my process with pictures and videos!
As an Amazon and Etsy associate, I earn a small commission from your purchase, with no extra charges for you.
But first, what is a dollhouse in a dollhouse again?
A dollhouse in a dollhouse, often referred to as a “nested dollhouse” or “dollhouse within a dollhouse,” is a miniature replica of a dollhouse designed to fit inside a larger dollhouse.
The typical scale of a dollhouse for a dollhouse is 1:144 Scale, where one inch equals twelve feet in real life. This is mostly used as a miniature dollhouse placed inside a 1:12-scale dollhouse.
A 1:144 dollhouse kit by Cuteroom called Happy House, my Review and assembly process.
In the past, I have assembled lots of DIY dollhouse kits before, but all of them were on a scale of 1:24. Well, more or less, it looks like the kits by Cutebee are a little bit smaller than the ones from Robotime.
Anyway, it was the very first time that I had assembled one on such a tiny scale: a 1:144 dollhouse that looks like it has a French style, in my opinion. (I’m not sure which style you would consider this to be?)
1 144 scale dollhouse kit Cuteroom
Buy Now →Check out more details and prices in the link above
Now, the one that I got has the brand called “Cuteroom”, but this time it was very hard to find out for me if this is rebranded, as so many are,
But I’m quite sure it is, because other kits that look very similar, have totally different brand names, so that’s suspicious to me haha!
dollhouse in a dollhouse by Kisoy
Buy Now →Check out more details and prices in the link above
Anyway, this is what it looked like at the start when I unpacked it, sorry for the bad lighting 🙁
As you can see, I was quite unsure about starting this one, it all looks so finicky and tiny!
But as usual, everything turned out well in the end, let’s take a closer look at what I’ve been doing and my thoughts:
I should have started with the lights, but I am always waiting with them till the very end, as I’m afraid to do something wrong :-).
- So I started by painting the white parts. Here’s where I had some issues with chipped and broken pieces when clicking them out of the frame.
My advice? First, use a crafting knife with a small blade before pushing them out!
- So, let’s start to assemble all the little pieces first, according to the included manual.
On the contrary to the new generations of kits like the Sakura Densya book nook, you do need glue to glue pieces together, instead of just clicking them together.
Sometimes you still need clamps to glue things well together.
BIG HINT: if you are going to cut wires at a few mm long, make sure to first BEND THEM, before cutting them off, for the kitchen faucet for example, as once you cut it off, you can’t even grasp the end with your fingers anymore!
- After you assemble the small furniture, the process is getting easier though, just continue to follow the English instructions in the manual, to the letter.
And again, sometimes you do need to clamp things together, otherwise, things might get uneven, especially to covering the hinges.
Talking about the manual, I was confused in the beginning, and I think this could be better organized! But if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me in my Facebook group!
Almost there:
The final step is also always the electricity, and to be honest, that is not my favorite part, ever haha!
But it was quite easy to do, only be careful when you need to dismantle the edges!
As you can see, the lights are attached to a battery case, which is all included in the kit.
I think that overall because I took many, many breaks, this kit took me about 25 hours to assemble. But was the result worth it? I’ll let you be the judge haha!
Check out the final result on my YouTube channel:
A Review of this dollhouse in a dollhouse on a scale of 1:144
1 144 scale dollhouse kit Cuteroom
Buy Now →Check out more details and prices in the link above
I give this kit a well-deserved 8,5/10.
The Good.
- These DIY dollhouse kits are quite new and unique in the current market, innovation it is haha!
- These don’t require much space at all, so you can have lots of them if you live in a small home haha
- A Very affordable kit and the price/quality was all right
- a unique scale in the dollhouse world
- I love their designs!
- All furniture is included, so after finishing it, you have a complete dollhouse filled with goodies!
The Bad
- this didn’t happen much, just only one time I think, but a part of the roof was warped, even on such a small scale this can apparently happen!
- Very finicky to glue together, I didn’t think I was going to make it, at a certain time during the process, when creating the flower hanging baskets, that was so difficult!
So you can definitely say that I found this quite hard to make, I’d give it an 8/10 level on the level of difficulty.
- I didn’t like the back part (the wall), where you needed to cover the wall by just using paper, you can still see the wires for the lights underneath it.
But who will check out the back often will they? 🙂
- You do need some level of patience for this one, in my opinion lol!
- No batteries included
My Final Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed the process of my dollhouse in a dollhouse and that you will enjoy it as much as I do!
If you have any questions about this article, please feel free to leave them down below in the comment section, or join me on my social media channels below.
I wish you happy crafting!
Kind regards,
Lizzy
Hi everyone!
My name is Lizzy, and I am an amateur miniaturist obsessed with everything in the dollhouse and miniature world, ever since I was a teenager.
So far, I have created 2 dollhouse projects, a backyard shed and a miniature treehouse, tons of DIY dollhouse kits, and “hacked” some.
I also created a fairy garden, and lots of small and simple miniature projects on my YouTube channel. (mostly made from trash or everyday items).
I love to write as well about all things happening in the miniature world, hence the reason why I created this blog!
I wish you happy reading and crafting!
Lizzy
I simply love the idea of a “dollhouse in a dollhouse”. Your instructions are clear and to the point. I will share this article with my family and friends who enjoy this sort of project. Thank you for sharing this with us. All the Best.
Thank you Joseph as always and I hope your family will enjoy this little cuty!
All the best as well,
Lizzy