Oh, little bed: a miniature

I've been looking on Etsy and eBey for replacement pieces for my dollhouse and have been coming up empty handed for some pieces. The time period I am trying to achieve is 1800something, and I am not sticking hard and fast to the Federal or Antebellum or any other time in American history; rather, I'm trying to make the house look like a mash of times. 

The bed that I made is a little folk art, a little... I'm not certain. It is based on extant pieces that I have seen at historical sites and antiques I have seen online, and would have been meant for a child or the 'help'.

This looks like a mess, but after discovering that the C clamps and quick grip clamps I had were too strong for the wood I was using and that rubber bands alone were warping and contorting the form in all directions, I turned to a favorite childhood toy for some support. My bed was slightly too big for the clamp, making the finished project slightly distorted - not as distorted as it could have been! Next time I am going to draw the concept, build the clamp, dry clamp then glue and rubber band it up.

Out of the clamp after 14 of drying time [brick for scale purposes]

To help hide some of the imperfections, such as one of the headboard posts blowing out and needing wood filler, I painted the piece with Federal blue milk paint, completely VOC free and child/animal safe.

Then it occured to me that I needed to cut in some bed rails. Derp. 

While I was cutting rail slots with my 1/4" Irwin chisle, I started sewing a mattress and bedding - more on that later.The wood is nothing fancy, a combination of bass an balsa available in a multi-pack from an average craft store.

the little dollhouse that could.

Presenting the Hofco Junior Collectors Series Gettysburg House Kit. It took a lot of digging on the internet and finally discovering a post on eBay of a partially assembled kit including the instructions [for which mine a long gone] with the name on it to figure out that this was my doll house and the manufacturer. I don't remember when I got it, I think perhaps it was a Christmas present?

That little table is all that I can find of the furniture that was in that house. Thankfully, we still have all the trim pieces to finish the exterior.

I got a bug in my ear to finish it, an so began a flurry of paper collecting an research online and pinning on pinterest

I wasn't sure where to start- walls? Floors? Put on an addition? 

Ceilings, suddenly, with cream milk paint, seemed like a good place to start. The interior hall is not finished; I can't quite get in there with the brush I have.