When I first got my dollhouse, the two staircases were in a sorry state. A lot of the spindles were broken and the handrail and newel posts were hanging off. I had no idea how to make dollhouse spindles, so I bought some 1:12 scale Streets Ahead spindles but they were way to big for the staircases – I’m still trying to get to grips with dollhouse scale!
So, as I couldn’t find any spindles online, I asked my father-in-law Neil if he would make some for me. Neil has been making model boats, aeroplanes and railways for about 40 years or more so he had the tools, skills and kindness to make some for me!
Below is a step by step guide to how he made the new spindles for the dollhouse staircase:
Step 1 – Measure the spindle holes and find doweling that fits
You’d think this would be the easiest step, but actually it took two of us, looking in multiple places to find 5mm round doweling. I tried Homebase and B&Q and Neil tried various modelling shops but eventually found the right size doweling in Hobby Craft for just £1.25 for nearly a metre of doweling, which was enough to do all the spindles for the staircase.
Step 2 – Measure the doweling height
Neil measured the height from the steps to the handrail, taking into account that the handrail is angled, so he took the longest length as the measurement. In the picture below, the new spindles are already in place, but the image shows where Neil took the measurement from.
Step 3 – Cut the doweling to length
As Neil is a seasoned model maker, he had the vice and small saw needed to cut the doweling to the correct length. He used the vice to keep the doweling steady while he sawed the right length off.
Step 4 – Sanding the spindles
Once the spindles were cut to the right length, Neil sanded one edge down so the top of the spindle would fit the angle of the handrail.
Step 5 – Fitting the spindles
Once the spindles were cut, Neil then glued them into place with wood glue. In the photo below, the top staircase is the one where Neil made the spindles and the bottom staircase has the original spindles salvaged from both staircases.
Making dollhouse stair rods
I wanted to carpet the stairs with a central runner but when I looked at the price of stair rods, brass ones cost up-to £22 and although they look awesome, I didn’t want to pay nearly £50 towards revamping two staircases. So I spoke to Neil and he had the genius idea of making stair rods from kebab skewers!
He cut them to size (4cm), then stained them with wood stain and drilled a tiny hole in each end so they would be easier to hammer in. Neil also gave me some tiny railway track pins to attach the stairs. It was really tricky to hammer the track pins in, so Neil suggested I use another nail turned upside down and hammer this instead. This did make it a little easier but it was still a bit of a faff.
The carpet is a wool mix grey stair carpet from Melody Jane and cost £2.50, I cut it down to 4cm wide and peeled the self adhesive back off to stick it down to the staircase.
The finished staircase
It took a while to hammer the stair rods in (Neil says he will drill some guide holes for the next staircase!), but I’m so happy with the end result!
