Product Development
Getting Ready for the Spring Fling Contest
We’ve been working long and hard to come up with something unique, something unusual, something affordable and something LASER CUT! That’s right! The Greenleaf 2010 Spring Fling Contest will be centered on a fantastic laser cut structure at a price that will knock your socks off! To fit this kit into everyone’s budget, we will be offering a base structure that will have an optional addition available for those who want to expand on their kit. As with last year’s contest, the use of the upgrade option will have no impact on the judges, so you can feel comfortable competing with just the base model.
So what’s the big deal about laser cutting? I think that many of you might have that question and this will be the perfect opportunity to find out. For now, I’ll focus on the detail in the accompanying teaser picture. As you can see, the doors have laser engraved detail that we just can’t accomplish through traditional means. That’s just the start; it’s a breeze to strip out the pieces and sanding is minimal, so assembly happens at light speed! And speaking of speed, we’re even going to include some samples of our new speed shingles so you can be well informed about the laser cut options available exclusively at the Greenleaf Company Store!
Stay tuned as more details unfold as we approach the kick off date of March 20th (which just happens to be the first day of spring). This year’s contest promises to be more fun than ever … we can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with! As in previous years, the winner gets more than just bragging rights and cool prizes; they get to name this new product and be immortalized as part of the Greenleaf product line, right next to Annie’s Lobster Shack and the Loganberry Mill! So get your thinking caps on and just imagine what’s going to be behind these doors!
The Beaumont Dollhouse gets a facelift
The new laser cut Beaumont Dollhouse was just about ready for release when it hit me that we were still thinking like die cutters and not taking full advantage of our new laser cutting process. To date, all of our new laser cut dollhouse releases have been almost exact replicas of their die cut brethren. So we went back to the drawing board and decided to give the Beaumont Dollhouse a face lift!
One of the more significant changes has been to the windows. We decided to move away from our traditional silkscreen windows and added laser cut detailed mullions to a new double hung design. In addition, we changed the shutters to a new louvered design that adds an authentic appearance never seen before on a Greenleaf Dollhouse. All these changes looked so great, but the upper windows where partially covered by the pediment, so we lower all the second floor windows to show off these new features.
We didn’t stop there! The entrance way has been radically changed as well. Out with the double doors and in with a new engraved design with detailed sidelights to match. The raised panel door look extends to the interior doors as well! The French patio doors got a makeover that will make you want to head out to the balcony for a mint julep! And speaking about the patios, the new railing system makes the conservatory roof look so inviting; you’ll get a sun tan just looking at it!
There are other improvements, but you’re going to have to stop by the Greenleaf Dollhouses Company Store on August 10th for both the big picture and all the mini details. Because of a limited availability of the front columns, there will only be 12 units available for this initial release, so don’t miss out on your chance to own a new Greenleaf legend; the Beaumont Dollhouse Kit!
Greenleaf launches new line of laser cut dollhouses
Greenleaf Dollhouses is proud to introduce our new line of laser cut dollhouse kits! We are starting off with an old fan favorite, the Tennyson Dollhouse, which has been out of production for years. Enjoy this house like never before with it’s improved laser cut features. For new offerings, we have released a Dollhouse Lighthouse in both one inch and half inch scale, both of which have a level of detail that is amazing.
Laser cutting works by directing a high powered beam of light with incredible precision across the surface of a sheet of wood leaving a high quality finished cut. There are many differences in die-cutting and laser cutting wood, the most important is that we can realize intricate designs that are too complex for die-cutting. We can also cut smooth curves and even engrave highly detailed patterns into the wood, a technique that will add dimension and scope to our products. Additional benefits of laser cutting is considerably less stripping of parts and minimal sanding.
For over sixty years, Greenleaf Dollhouses has been die-cutting thousands of products with great success and will continue to do so. We look forward to a future of blending laser cutting into our product line, while continuing to die cut our dollhouse kits that are loved worldwide.Â
Base option for Dollhouse Lighthouse
The soon to be released Greenleaf Dollhouse Lighthouse will be accompanied by a base upgrade kit to add a new dimension to your miniature collecting. The Harbor Island Base Kit expands on the nautical theme adding an ocean side pier look around the bottom of your lighthouse. The unique construction allows you to rotate the base to the look that best suits your tastes. One side has an octagonal appearance while the other has a larger area for adding outdoor miniatures. The Harbor Island Base Kit is part of the new laser cut line of miniature products offered by Greenleaf Dollhouse.
The base sits flush with the floor and entrance way for a seamless appearance. It can be permanently fixed to your lighthouse or the snug fit allows you to let gravity do the work in case you want the option of rotating the lighthouse whenever the mood hits you. Being that the light house is an octagon, that leaves you with eight different positions to choose from! Please see the photo below for some examples!Â
EDIT:Â The Harbor Island Base and the Dollhouse Lighthouse are now available at the Greenleaf Company Store!
Miniature Lighthouse enters production phase
I know it’s been a while since my original post about our Dollhouse Lighthouse project, but I’m happy to announce that the long wait is almost over! As you can see, there are significant changes from the original prototype, largely due to a new manufacturing process at Greenleaf … Laser Cutting. Using a laser cutter, we are now able to add new design features that were impossible to obtain through die cutting. Additionally, you will spend less time in assembling your kit as many parts require no stripping and call for minimal sanding.Â
The Miniature Lighthouse will be available this month for sale exclusively at the Greenleaf Company Store with an expected retail of under $100! I’m still working on the name, so if you have any suggestions, please post them below!
EDIT:Â The Dollhouse Lighthouse is now available at the Greenleaf Company Store for $99 with FREE shipping!
The 2009 Spring Fling Roof Options
Our goal at Greenleaf has always been to keep dollhouses and miniature collecting an affordable hobby. With that in mind, you can imagine the challenge when we are designing for our Spring Fling Contest. We need to have a project that not only surpasses affordable, but we also have to deliver it to you free of charge. In an effort to meet that end, we are offering this years contest house with a roof upgrade option. The standard roof on the right offers the appearance of a metal roof. The upgraded roof on the left is made up of the wood slats that offers a unique alternative. The upgrade kit will be available at the time of purchase for an additional charge.
The Greenleaf 2009 Spring Fling Preview
It’s time to get ready for our third annual Spring Fling Contest! We were so impressed with last years entries, we went all out with a totally new design for you to work with. As always, our goals were to keep it simple; easy construction, ultra affordable delivered price and something you can use at the end of the contest. So introducing, the yet to be named, Winners Bungalow! It’s going to be great fun… a bigger project, bigger prizes and a new category for young miniaturists 15 and under! Stay tuned for more contest details!
Dollhouse Lighthouse spotted at Greenleaf
A Dollhouse Lighthouse? Yes, that’s right, a miniature size lighthouse! We’ve been getting a ton of request from folks that are looking for a dollhouse lighthouse kit that is made in the USA, so we pushed forward with a prototype. This 48″ tall miniature lighthouse is pictured next to our Vineyard Cottage Dollhouse and it looks like something straight off Martha’s Vineyard! As with everything at Greenleaf, our goal is to keep miniature collecting affordable, so we’re shooting for a retail price of under $80. This one is still in the design phase, so please yet us know what you think!
The 2008 Spring Fling Contest Results
I would like to start off by thanking all of you who participated in this contest. As the entries started rolling in this year, I sat with a smile saying to myself, now that’s the winner! As the entry count climbed, a feeling a dread crept in… it was just going to be impossible to pick the winners. I wasn’t alone; the judges went from glee to gloom as we neared the end of almost 250 pictures. One of the judges even resigned which left me with no choice but to call my Mom out the bull pen to help. It was a daunting task, but after rounds of voting and a lot of shouting, the decisions were made. With that being said, I present you the winners of the 2008 Spring Fling Contest:
The Big Bus… a new kind of Dollhouse Kit.
Get ready to start your engines because the Big Bus Dollhouse Kit is coming to town.  It all started with an email from our friends over at Hobby Builders Supply. The Miniature Mad Man, Ernie Collier, mentioned something about a bus in his March newsletter which got a tremendous response. It didn’t take long before we got the call; “Make me a bus”!Â
This isn’t the first time we’ve been challenged by HBS. Our Houseboat kit was the direct result of Ernie’s love of real houseboats. He got it in his mind that it would make a great project for miniaturist and decide to drive us crazy until we finally made him a prototype. I have to admit that the houseboat dollhouse kit has become very popular, so this time, we didn’t hesitate and knocked this project out in record time!
When I sat down with my development team and said BUS, they all scratched their heads.  We had three goals; Make is stylishly, make it functional and make it affordable. We started our research and struck a target retail price of $40 and with in a week (okay, maybe two weeks), we where sending pictures to HBS for their input. As you can see in the picture below, we originally had the opening on the opposite side of the bus. Ernie and his team made mention of his and we were in full agreement, so we switched it around and started the final prototype.
Now that the details were hammered out, it was time to roll up our sleeves and get busy! Introducing a new product is quite involved for us at Greenleaf. We needed to transform a sample that was hand cut on a jigsaw into a manufactured product; fist layouts, then tooling the dies, sampling, more tooling, more sampling and then finally making a box and packing it all up. Since this item is an HBS exclusive, there was no need for a point of sale label, but there was the matter of assembly instructions. In steps Hobby Builders Supply resident-miniaturist, Sally Cook-Thomas. We have worked closely with Sally in the past and it’s always been a joy. Sally was also responsible for writing the Houseboat instructions which were spot on, so we are grateful that she took this responsibility off our desk. It’s a very involved process that would have bogged us down and drastically effected the released date, so three cheers for Sally. On top of this commitment, Sally took one of our final prototypes and decorated it for the HBS catalog cover and was kind enough to share it was us (so six cheers for Sally). Her Sixties theme is whimsical and fun, so I used it as the focus of the above flash slide show.
Greenleaf now has three dollhouse kits based on a transportation theme. First, there was our Miniature Travel Trailer, followed by our Houseboat kit and finally the Big Bus which is now available for pre-order exclusively at Miniatures.com. They are running a pre-order special, so you can get $5.00 off the $39.99 retail price. This coupon code, WPC2812, MUST be entered in the media code box while checking out. For those of you interested in the recreating the Sixties theme, there are more pictures of Sally’s bus with links to some of the items she used available here.
In closing, I’d like to thank Ernie for approaching us with this project. I’m sure that he could have imported this kit for less money, but when possible, he prefers to buy products made in the USA. As an American manufacturer, this is something we always appreciate!
NOTE: There is a larger version of the above show available at the Greenleaf Miniature Community.
Click here to see it now!
New at the Greenleaf Doll House Forum- From the Greenleaf Forum Memeber Blogs
Aww, thats very kind of you Dean! I will save my pennies and see how soon they'll be enough to ...
We been kicking around the idea of doing just that Caroline. I mentioned this in an interview I did ...
Absolutely amazing!! Beautiful, thoughtful work, Dean! Have you all thought about releasing trim, railings, and molding details that ...
