Lion's Head Manor is a model of my dream home. I would like to share my home with the world of
miniatures. I've spent the last four years working on my home finding it to be challenging at times, but
always extremely rewarding. I hope you enjoy viewing the pictures displayed within this website as much
as I have enjoyed putting this project together.
The whole idea of building a dollhouse started off with this need to create something with my own hands.
I've always loved woodworking but I was missing the proper environment to be able to create the things I
so desired.
It happened one day while walking to the doctor's office, I stumbled upon a miniature shop and suddenly
a whole new world opened up before my eyes. Suddenly I could see endless opportunities I never had
before. I could build the house of my dreams and furnish it with all of my favourite pieces.
I remember entering the store for the very first time. I felt a little uncomfortable because I was not sure it
was a guy thing to do, but the storeowner made me feel very comfortable very quickly. I went back to the
store many times to get answers to all my questions, and received far more information than I was ever
expecting. The owners proved to be very helpful and extremely indispensable in helping me solve the
many problems that suddenly popped up with the many new things I was discovering.
After about a month I finally sat down to take into serious consideration the floor plan I would use for my
project. I had decided to create something small for the first time. But, as was expected of myself it soon
turned into a large project. I wanted to be sure that I had plenty of room to experiment with the many things
I wanted to create.
I had decided from the start that the house I would build would be a Georgian house and that it would
have a mixture of both the best of the European and American designs (at least the things I like the best).
I wanted a mixture of large and small rooms, and I wanted my staircase to be a little more elaborate than
the average dollhouse. I decided that the stairwell would be in the hallway, which would be located in the
centre of the house (see layout).
Finally after six months of changing my mind, I finally came up with the perfect design. It would be a
rectangle in shape with three rooms per floor. The attic would have two rooms. The original exterior
details were far more elaborate than the actual finished project, which had columns running on the front
and backside of the house. The columns had all been prepared and made ready for application; than it hit
me, the house looked far better without the columns covering up much of the brick work.
A solarium was a much later addition to the house and does not appear on any of my designs. I just
thought it would be nice to have a sitting area full of flowers. The original ceiling was made up of
three-barrel vaults covered in clouds. The new ceiling will be made of stained glass (a new hobby of
mine), which I hope will be just as beautiful as the original. Beneath the solarium is the covered terrace
with a stone barbecue.
Even later then the solarium came the railings along the roof line which stood bare for many years after
the initial construction took place. But finally, one day while browsing through my books on Georgian
Architecture; the idea hit me, "I will create an elaborate railing to crown my home". The roof line finally
looked complete.
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