Rooftop Garden
Creating a rooftop garden for your dollhouse requires some planning. By following my example with this Lily Dollhouse, you can gather ideas for your own project. Rooftop gardens work best on dollhouses with flat roofs.
To get a good view of the rooftop, place your dollhouse on the floor. I had already made a faux trap door on my roof, as I described in Week 34 of my assembly blog, and I had painted the roof a dark color.
Next, I made a paper template of the roof using copy paper and masking tape. I will use this template to cut out the grass that will cover the rooftop. Since this is a small area, you can find grass sheets at local craft stores in the diorama section. Be sure to buy a large enough roll to cover the entire area at once, as this product does not patch well.
After cutting out the grass using the template as a guide, I placed it on the roof to check the fit. You may need to trim the edges with scissors until it fits perfectly. Once satisfied, apply tacky glue to the roof and spread it evenly with a foam brush. It's important to use a thin layer of glue; too much can seep through the grass sheet and leave stains that cannot be removed.
Once the grass is glued down, arrange any items you want on your rooftop. This will help you design the hardscape. I created a corner vegetable garden for my rooftop garden using a kit from the diorama section found at some craft stores. This kit includes tiny vegetables that you place on a foam base. I recommend using a push pin to make starter holes for inserting the vegetables. The kit also comes with gravel and grass, and it works well for one-inch scale displays. There are different varieties of these kits available, and I plan to buy a flower garden kit to place opposite the vegetable garden.
In the middle of the rooftop, I designed a small area with potted plants, garden statues, and gazing ball. I used leftover gravel from the kit to enhance this space. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect; you want it to resemble a real garden area. You can find tiny accessories that will work with one inch scale displays at the fairy garden section of your local craft store.
