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Here's your chance to own the discontinued Real Good Toys 1:12 scale Thornhill Dollhouse Kit. Best of all - it's FREE! I got this kit in the 1980's. I started putting it together and never finished. (It became a tool holder as seen in the picture.) It is a little worse for sitting around, but never painted or papered. It was taken apart for our move to Waynesboro and I came to the conclusion I am NEVER going to put this thing together. It is huge! Two rooms deep like a real house and probably could be gorgeous. I have - I think - all the hinges included with the kit. I cut two dormers and have the Houseworks dormers, but not the windows. I also have an pdf file I can send you with all of the instructions because mice ate my original paper file. No shipping, obviously, but I can help you load it at pickup.

Welcome Paula! I have had some success with using nail polish remover/acetone but be careful because it will damage painted/finished surfaces. Stinks too so work in a well ventilated area and wear a mask.

Welcome to the little family, Molly. I somehow wound up with two Fairfield kits, so I built one of them inside out and made them halves of a Bar Harbor summer cottage. It is 1:24 scale, so I found that all the furniture I had purchased for it was closer to 1:32 scale and much too small, and ended up making most of it, as well as the little family that lives in it.

Hello all! I am here to see how this all works. I have just gotten the Fairfield, but have not started it yet. Many years ago, I built a 12 scale dollhouse for my daughter. Since then I got into the book nooks, a simple two room miniature and a 'house' (three rooms and a garden). Now I am ready to dip back into a whole house. I am very much into customizing my builds, so I may be asking some how to's to get a custom bit to work. The Fairfield is pretty much a Gothic Revival Victorian style, so I am considering using gothic arched widow in the upper story and fancier rectangular windows in the ground floor. Different front door, perhaps a coffin door. Yeah.

I may be late to this post but I also have an ACP Victorian. Received as a kid, built with dad, picked up again after his passing and my aging. I joined this forum and pulled away. Not interested in procrastinating any longer. Curious to see your house status and progression. Here's an image of mine...

Thank you for the advice 😁 I know nothing about heat guns so that info was well needed! I might hit my dear old dad, he was a very fastidious house builder, cabinet maker in his time, to come and give me a hand… I will not ask my heavy handed husband 😂 he breaks everything he touches!

Just be careful with the heat gun and, if you can find a mount to hold it to let it cool between uses, do so; or else invest in a heat-resistant pad to lay it on, and turn it off when not in use. Also, it's easy to scorch the wood if you hold it too close to the house whilst softening the glue. These are things I have discovered from my own use of the hubs' heat gun.

Thank you 😊 I’m grateful to be here… I will try all the above! I’ll buy a heat gun as the last time I used my hairdryer to soften glue I blew it up 😂😭

I have a Greenleaf Willowcrest dollhouse new in box. I bought it from someone who had opened it, but it is securely sealed. I'm only getting rid of it because I have too many other ones I want to work on first. I know I'll never get to this one. It is VERY heavy and cannot be shipped. I'm willing to drive up to an hour to meet someone. I'm in central NY.

ROTFLMAO! Have you read my mantra "mistakes are learning opportunities when you have no other instructor"? Obviously I have made a huge number of mess-ups; I learned early on to forget perfection and go for realism, and if you pay really close attention to the 1:1 world and objects around you, ain't none of them perfect.

I've just listed a few rare kits I am cleaning out of the attic this week. Here are the listing on eBay. If you are interested, message me and I can make a deal for the Greenleaf Forum People! Batrie New Orleans Kit - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156173356936 Skilcraft Country Manor Kit - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156173348436 Model Homes Add-A-Room #1 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156173334803 Model Homes Add-A-Room #2 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/166721256679 Model Homes San Francisco #1 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156173328670 Model Homes San Francisco #2 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156173329560 Opening Scene Replica's ZuZu's Bedroom (Its A Wonderful Life) - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156172074783 Houseworks Porch Shell Kit - https://www.ebay.com/itm/166719665106 American Craft Products Coachman Clock Roombox Kit - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156172047194 Midwest Treasure View Kit #1177 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/166719658760 Midwest Treasure View Kit #1176 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/156172042014 Midwest Treasure View Kit #1175 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/166719652299 I will be adding more in the coming weeks. Matt

I would recommend using Google Docs, which, if you have a gmail account, should be free and easy to use. You just have to click the "share" button in the top right corner, and set it accordingly (I always recommend setting it either to "view" so nobody messes with it, or "Comment" so people can do exactly that without changing the document). Otherwise, if you just copy and paste the normal link, everyone will have to request access and it's a headache to sort through.

Yes absolutely! Great idea! I need to clean it up a little and it will keep being updated. I will wait until I gather all the good tips and post it. But I won't wait too long. How do you think I can best share it? Thanks!

Ooh! Would you be willing to make the doc public? Completely okay if not 🙂

Holly and friends, I am keeping a Word doc with your wonderful tips and advice. Thank you all!

Welcome to the forum! I agree with everyone else-try using a hairdryer at the joins and a Stanley knife. You can also heat the glue, use the knife, heat the glue, use the knife continuously until you get it apart

Oh my Holly is there any trick you don't know? Small packages keep arriving here, almost daily lol. Now I definitely need one of those, or some kind of magnet set-up! I keep trying to jury-rig stuff, but the right tools are a great help. It's nice though because my father was very handy, and he is no longer here. I think of him when I work on the doll house. I do have plenty of frame strips for the extra box, so I can make new frames. I will definitely try with the putty knife. I am having custom paint mixed tomorrow to match the wallpaper...I have an idea to make the turret area easier to do...I will try a bit of wallpaper only under the windows. But I am still quite far from that. I will post Yes one of our ballet ladies is 80 and she is fabulous and skis as well! There is also a very accomplished guest instructor, who was a professional dancer, and I believe she could be 90, or at least late 80s. She is the most graceful human I have ever seen! Back to spackling and sanding today. Many thanks again for all!

😆 I know the feeling! Welcome! I like Holly's suggestion of seeing if you can soften the glue. Otherwise, somewhere recently someone was talking about using an exacto knife (a Stanley for example) to just slowly and gently carve away at the glue. I had to do that recently to a disassembled house, and the glue didn't come all the way off, but at least I got the pieces apart. Otherwise, I've heard alcohol can help soften some glues, but I haven't had any luck with that, plus you don't want to warp the wood. Hopefully more people on here will have more ideas that can help! Good luck!

Welcome to the little family, Paula. I wonder if it would be possible to soften the glue with a heat gun or some sort of solvent to help disassemble a section of the roof for hinging.

I purchased an old dollhouse a few weeks ago from Marketplace which I am going to renovate. I am in Australia and the only manufacturer of dollhouses here is no more, so I've been looking everywhere here for one to renovate. My waiting paid off and I am now the proud owner of the most beautiful house! I did a 'reverse image' search on google and my house is known in the USA as 'The San Francisco' and 'marmod huis De Victoriaanse Villa' in Europe, the 'houses' were sold as plans only that you had to build yourself... The issue I have with this house is that the attic/roof is sealed and I have been going insane trying to find how to remove the roof, or cut into the roof so that I can put hinges on it without damaging it. There is so much wasted spaced up there and I am desperate to open it up. I have searched youtube, Facebook groups (with and without the same house) but I am unable to find a "help me PLEASE, my roof is glued shut & I want to open it up" anywhere... If anyone can offer some advice or steer me in a direction it would be sooo greatly appreciated 🤩

Well, yeah, but I'm an occasional sheller and born beach bum... I grew up in West Palm Beach, FL and the hubs grew up in Gulf Breeze, FL, so hiking in sand barefoot along the water line is something we both could do all day long when we were a tad younger, and are good for a couple of hours even now.

Thanks for the reminders!

Havanaholly here. My personal wood glue preference is Titebond wood glue (with the red cap). The hot glue that is most available for craft work is not very good for holding wood to wood over the long haul. Back in the days of Dean's grandfather (Dean owns Greenleaf now; his grandfather designed many of the houses) the hot glue he used may have been better. I live in the southeast and between the ambient heat & humidity hot glue just doesn't do the job.