domidoll-stories

Search this site
Dioramas‎ > ‎

Condominium

The main frame of the condominium is indeed the beginning of all. I thought it would be nice to share with you the building process. Through trial and error, little by little the big condo took shape (and place) in my office. As the condo is situated in an imaginary city called "Paradise Island", you should not be surprised by the name I gave to regular rooms (the 4 always changing dioramas do not have names).
The total size of the condominium is:
Width: 174 cm
Depth: 50 cm
Height: 226 cm


For the main frame of the building I have used ready made shelves from IKEA. They are untreated solid pine. It is a durable, natural material. I bought
3 side units: 226 cm X 50 cm,

8 shelves: 83 cm X 50 cm,
2 cross brass: 100 cm.
This is only the Ikea advertising for Ivar system. The condo has only 8 shelves in total.


The shelves are spaced 56 cm from one another to give a lot of space over the doll's head, and make it comfortable to play with. On the far right pic, Sean (see Gang Identities) is showing you the scale(still naked sorry).
I have closed the sides and the 3rd wall (back of the condo). For this I have used a thin inexpensive fiberboard that was directly nailed on the side units. I have closed as well the exterior side-wall; at its base you can see the Nirvana's Window.

The far right pic shows one of the room with its walls. This is the white box I start all my dioramas with.

All the ceilings and walls were painted with white acrylics (water based paint). I added white curtains to close each room.

Here you have a general view of the condo with fully opened curtains.

Main floor: the Nirvana's shop and the Eden Café.

1st floor: Pierre's office and the Asian living room.

2nd floor: Lilly's office and Kiah 's office (not done yet in this pic).

Top floor (not visible): the Shangril'attic (storage room).

Under the section trial & error if only one, I should say that I have made movable sidewalks. They are two wood planks that rest on bricks and can be removed to play, organize or take close-up pictures

My first idea was to cover the plank with cement that looks like reel sidewalk. The effect was not bad , but moving the heavy planks was difficult, and after a while the cement cracked. So I removed/cleaned all the broken cement and replaced it with self-adhesive stone paper.