How Can I Buy or Build An Unfinished Room Box??

[Jim Smith]

My wife, Janice, creates wonderful room box displays. But neither she, nor I, want to build the unfinished room box from scratch. I just did a Google search to find suppliers of roomboxes and have listed them below. All of the suppliers have been listed in the Great Links Directory for Into The Glue.

If you know of other supplies, please provide links to them in a reply to this posting.


When buying a room box, keep the following factors in mind as you shop:

Material - Some are made from plywood - some from partical board -and some from other material such as foamboard. This can be important if you want to apply stain or attach dividing walls or furniture within it.
Open or Glass Front - some have an open front. These make it easier to see inside or rearrange your miniatures, but allow dust and pokey fingers to get inside.
Wood or Glass Top - some offer an option for a glass top. This can be useful to allow natural light into the box and to view details near the back of the display.
Wiring - some suppliers offer to pre-wire the box for you for an additional fee.
Building Your Own Room Box From Scratch
For those who have the experience and tools (or a willing partner), you can make your own custom room boxes. Lesley Shepherd has an great series of instructions at "Make a Simple Dolls House Roombox from Baltic Birch Plywood" (http://miniatures.about.com/od/makeminiaturedisplays/ss/balticbirchroom.htm).

Buy A Basic Unfinished Roombox
Scalecreations (http://ccwmfg.tripod.com/) - provides a variety of sizes and cofigurations. They also provide a service to pre-wire your roombox for an additional fee.

Manor House Miniatures (http://www.manorhouseminis.com/cat.asp?CatID=60) - provides an open front unfinished display box and a couple of pre-stained hanging store fronts.

Designs in Miniature (http://www.designsinminiature.com/page/1059751) - provide unfinished room boxes in several sizes.

Green Gables DollHouse & Miniatures Shop (http://www.greengablesdollhouse.com/Alessio%20Room%20Boxes.htm) - provides 3 sizes of solid wood, open front room boxes.

Mini Temptations Dollhouse Store (http://www.dollhousestore.com/index-RoomBoxes.htm) - provides several room box kits as well as other more elaborate designs.

Family Room Miniatures (http://www.familyroomminiatures.com/ROOM-BOXES_c_7.html) - provides several unfinished room boxes with glass fronts.

Al's Room Box (http://www.alsroombox.com/) - provides several unfinished room boxes with glass fronts. They will also create custom sizes for you.

Miniatures.com (http://www.miniatures.com/hbs/global/index2.asp?C=2635&T=shopping&I=aa_CatalogPage.asp)- provide nearly 20 room boxes in various sizes and configurations.

Buy A More Elaborate Unfinished Room Box
Fingertip Fantasies (http://www.dollhouseminiatures.com/Dollhouses/roomboxe.htm) - provides a "Conservatory Kit" and a "Street of Shops" ready for your imagination.

Mini Temptations Dollhouse Store (http://www.dollhousestore.com/index-RoomBoxes.htm) - provides several room box kits as well as other more elaborate designs.

Buy A More Elaborate Finished Room Box
Showcase Roomboxes (http://www.showcaseroomboxes.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SR&Category_Code=Large) - provides several finished room boxes - the room box is stained and equipped with items such as windows, staircases, etc and ready for you to place your miniture furniture and figurines in this setting. They will also make custom finished room boxes for you.

[rachelkarpf]

I am creating a room box of my Grandparents kitchen and have on idea what to do on the exterior. Just wondering how everyone else decorates their exteriors.

Thanks,
Rachel

[nobleday]

I'd never thought about decorating the outside of a roombox. I only have a couple of them, but they are "box" on the outside and "room" on the inside.

I would suppose the contents would be a clue for some kind of outside decor. Shingles and wallpaper both came to mind, half logs applied to look like the outside of a log cabin came next. Then how to protect it from dust and I'm back to thinking plain old box on the outside!

[Janice Lee Smith]

I've never been big on decoupage, but find myself using it alot on the outside of my plain wooden room boxes. I like doing a collage of things that relate, so that the outside is a story too. I usually print a lot of images from the web--and have to be careful not to smear our printer ink.

Since this is about your Grandparents, could you use copies of photos? It would be a miracle of old photos if you have any in the kitchen, but layering on any would be really interesting. Maybe print-outs of ads for kitchen items of that time? Print-outs of old clock faces--your Grandmother's recipes--activites, like games, that took place in the kitchen--dishes they owned--etc. I'd be tempted to do sepia tone on some things to give them that great aged look.

[rachelkarpf]

That is a GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!! You got the wheels in my head a spinnin'
Thanks!!!
-Rachel

[Janice Lee Smith]

Hey, Rachel--
If you run prints from your computer to use, you might try spraying extras with fixatives to see if that will keep the ink from smearing when you apply Mod Podge, or varnish, or whatever you use. I forgot to write down my experimenting, so please let us know what works! (And yes, I will write it down!)

[nobleday]

There is a great website I use to research a particular era and the decor. It is a historical photograpy site http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm?bhcp=1 . You type in a keyword like kitchen, click Show only those with digital images and uncheckmark all except Photographs. Put in a date span - like 1920 - 1935 and search. Then when it brings up pictures, you click on the photo or the link that says View Large Image.

Use your "back" arrow to go back, after viewing a photo. I like to use keywords like model home or parlor to see the way the homes were decorated. Also you can narrow the date span

[rachelkarpf]

I will let you know how it turns out Janice. I am excited to start on it.

[Mountain Geo]

I discovered that there's a kind of glass you can use that almost is invisible (no reflection). It's more expensive, and it can't be cleaned with an ammonia solution. BUT I've had several people start to reach into my room box only to discover that they are poking their finger onto the glass! It's that unobtrusive!

If you're building your own room box, keep in mind that you'll probably want to put some sort of picture frame in front. Don't make the mistake I did with my scrooge box of not taking into consideration how much of the scene is blocked if you don't raise up the base of the box. (I had to set my first room box on 2 x 4's so that I could have the inside part of the picture frame just slightly come above the floor of the room.

[Admin]

I'm familiar with "Museum Glass" which doesn't relfect lights as much as normal glass, but this sounds even better. Is there a name for it or a supplier that you use. I'd like to try it.

Thanks,

Jim

[Mountain Geo]

It may be museum glass, Jim. I bought it at the Michaels store here. It was more costly than any of their other glass, but I've been completely satisfied with how it turned out.

Geo.

[Janice Lee Smith]

Hi,
Jim's starting a new job, so I'll ask the question I know he'd ask--once I told him what it was--:D Did you buy the glass from the framing department itself at Michaels, or from the aisles?

[Mountain Geo]

Good question! I purchased it from the frame shop. I had them cut it to the exact size to fit into my roombox frame.
Geo.

[Janice Lee Smith]

Love that they cut it to size! I'll definitely check it out.
Thanks!

[rachelkarpf]

I posted pictures of the outside of my Grandparent's kitchen roombox I built. Check it out at senamena.blogspot.com
Thank you everyone for all your great ideas. Now I have to finish the inside.

-Rachel

[Janice Lee Smith]

Wow, Rachel! That is just wonderful! Brought tears to my eyes--I think I need to do a project like this.

[nobleday]

It worked out beautifully, I forget who suggested it but what a great idea!

[rachelkarpf]

Thank you! I am really enjoying it! Hope my family does as well.

[minidar]

I'd never thought about decorating the outside of a roombox. I only have a couple of them, but they are "box" on the outside and "room" on the inside.

I would suppose the contents would be a clue for some kind of outside decor. Shingles and wallpaper both came to mind, half logs applied to look like the outside of a log cabin came next. Then how to protect it from dust and I'm back to thinking plain old box on the outside!

I am making a Mardi Gras roombox. The out side will show and it is just a box. So I printed off Louisiana Postcards into a collage and I will spray it with hairspray before putting it on. Have not gotten it on yet, but can let you know how it works.

Maybe you have done all this before and have had success, if so share the results.