The SIlla Design Centre.......My Third Dolls House Project.

The Silla Design Centre was the project that changed everything for me. This was the project that really began my collecting and made me realise that this was not only a way to fill my empty nest but now a real passion.

Once again I bought this DHE Marshall and Snellgrove kit on Ebay. It was unbuilt and completely untouched. This is a fabulous kit for a shop and all the mouldings and small details have really been thought about. It is a big kit but even now I love this building.

 After the Bakery I wanted to do a shop with proper display windows and this kit certainly fulfils the brief. There is plenty of room for these DHE chairs and units. Red, white and black are the colours for this project clean, crisp and modern. 

 The design centre was created to showcase a group of modern chairs that I discovered on Ebay. This iconic sixties chair had to go in the shop window. 

I also had a go at making topiary rose trees which I was quite proud of and have stayed intact amazingly. The roses are from Hobbycraft which was fast becoming my second home

 I tiled the roof with cardboard roof tiles by Peter Clark which are a fabulous product as they keep your dolls house light, are really easy and incredibly reasonably priced.

The window boxes have my own topiary trees and flowers from larger stems of artificial flowers. By now I had also discovered the model railway shelves in Hobbycraft and had started collecting all sorts of scenic materials.

 These are the green topiary trees I made with quite nasty wooden flower pots. As you can see the tall tree is a little ragged! 

The attic floor is for the young and trendy owner. They have a little studio room with kitchen by DHE and a futon bed. Food is obviously important to them as the kitchen island is full to over flowing.

 I'm not sure but I think some of these pieces come from Country Contrast and Platts Mini Packages.  

You can't beat a black and white bathroom. I would quite like this myself!! 

 This house was my first attempt at bringing the back of of the opening door into the whole project. A very simple idea to be sure.

These black and red 'tiles' are made from corrugated card and I remember being quite chuffed at my daring at the time! You can see why I love this house though, the windows are brilliant both inside and out. 

The first floor is the gift and home sections. On one side there are handbags, luggage and perfumes. 

 On the other: vases, retro china, by Just Ann and Bill and kitch.  

 Most of the items are in fact beads of all types and are a great cheap way of creating an effect.

The downstairs showroom is completely open plan and in the showcase for all these wonderful copies of beautiful modern chairs.

 The floor is self sticking walnut strips and they are also quick and cheap, especially if you are doing a large house for the first time.

 Most of the lights are DHE but a couple of the funky ones come from Elf Miniatures.

 As does this desk and laptop.

 Of course there had to be a couple of black and white cats and this one was my very first purchase from Miss Sally's World. 

While I was working on this project I discovered Blogland and began to stalk various blog sites in earnest. What a huge resource this is. So many wonderful people sharing their ideas and inspirations. It seemed like every day I was able to learn something new. I was now completely hooked and will always be grateful to the many hobbyists and artisans who take the time to share.

Blogland also introduced me to dolls house fairs and I made my first trips to Miniatura and KDF and what an eye opener they were to this novice! I was the archetypal kiddie in a sweet factory and came away full of wonder and ideas. 

In fact I was already building my next project and looking to finding a way to have a work area in the house where I could dream away to my heart's content!