MiniLindsay

Hello from another Washingtonian make sure to visit Connie up at CJN Miniatures in Edmonds, I think she's the only one in WA that has a storefront and she's been open for 6 months. Such a helpful gal!

Looks amazing for your first one! I'm still in the beginning stages of my first one and it's not nearly as good as yours! Great work.

Thanks! It's hard to turn off the perfectionism, but I suppose that that is what my first build will be all about - like you said, learning a lot from making mistakes. I have read a lot about dry fitting before gluing anything, yes. So far I've just used masking tape to dry fit everything together before I glue. I was told that hot glue was a no-no, but that regular Elmer's wood glue was also not good. Any suggestions?

Selkie - great advice about priming in the sheets. You're right, I believe this may present a problem for the smaller pieces! I sort of dont love the trimming that the Arthur kit comes with, anyway... It's possible that I choose to bash that part and do it my own way ;) thanks for your reply!

Shannon - your apple vodka comments are much appreciated! Feel free to let loose ;) thanks for the welcome. It's good to hear that you prime first, construct, and then decorate. I think that's what I will do next time since I already am not favoring some of my wallpaper choices. I guess I could always go over them later! Enjoy your weekend.

I spoke with the owner on the phone for quite some time, I'm working on my first build ever and she gave some good advice! I'll be heading there to visit her shop this weekend and can't wait. Let me know if you know of any other shops in WA, they are hard to come by!

Some photos of the beginning stages...

Hi there Greenfield community! I've been lurking for several weeks on the forum and finally worked up the guts to post. I gave away my childhood dollhouse and extensive collection in my teenage years - I thought I grew out of the hobby. Little did I know that I would become massively obsessed with creating a new dollhouse in my mid-twenties! I believe it is due to this middle point in my life, where I have a growing career and finally have money, but don't have enough to buy a house, and I don't have anyone to buy one with, yet. Solution: make my own miniature version. For that reason, I am drawn to more modern, glam styling reminiscent of West Elm and all of the bright white, grey and gold styling of Pinterest. What can I say. For my first build ever, I chose the modest Greenfield Arthur. I thought four rooms wouldn't overwhelm me too much, and it was an inexpensive kit that I could cut my teeth on. I'd like to get some of the community's feedback on what techniques I've used so far, and also ask for some help. 1) I popped out of die-cuts only the pieces that each step called for to prep. I sanded lightly those pieces, then primed (latex primer from Home Depot). Sanded again, sometimes primed again, and sanded again. For the little pieces of trim and the stairs and such, I actually painted primer over the entire sheet while the pieces were still die-cut in the sheet. Good/bad? Yay/Nay? I did this to most of the main pieces (base, second floor, sides, partitions and roofing) before I even pieced them together for a dry build. 2) THEN I dry fitted the main pieces together. I found that most of the slots didn't fit, so I ended up using an exacto knife to ensure they fit flush with their counterpart. I used masking tape to hold it together. 3) At this point, I knew that It was going to be more difficult to wallpaper and install flooring while the house was constructed; so I opted for wallpapering and flooring before the house was glued together, while the pieces were flat. This was an option given in the handy Warm-Up Instructions in the kit. So far in all of my research, I haven't seen much of that done, is there a huge disadvantage to doing these items before it's glued together?? See my photos for my handmade hardwood floors and one side of wallpaper so far. What I did was made sure the pieces were nice and primed and sanded so that they were smooth, then sprayed them with spray adhesive, then laid the piece onto my paper, right away. After that, I took my exacto knife and cut around the piece and through the window holes. 4) ROOKIE MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: I wallpapered the wrong side of the house on accident. I'll put that in the books. 5) ROOKIE MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: I wallpapered the right side of the house, but I put the piece down on the wrong side of the paper. I had to quickly rip it off and turn it around. Now there is a little sticky darkness on my paper. Sad day. It's easy enough to cover with a picture frame or painting, but still. I'm sort of a perfectionist. 6) So, right now the status of my house is that most of the interior walls are intermittently taped together in the dry fit, but I'm stuck on what color to paint the bedroom. Kitchen - Bottom right corner room - marble flooring and subway white tile wall accent on right side, still unsure of other walls' color. Probably white.Living Room - Bottom left corner room - reclaimed wood style hardwood and white brick accent wall (should I do actual textured brick, or wallpaper?? Any good suggestions for where to get this?) I want to put a pink fireplace on this wall. Chic!Bathroom - upper right corner room - grey longitudinal stripes and pink walls, fabulous gold hexagonal tiling for flooring (yay for cute scrapbook paper!)Bedroom - upper left corner room - grey latitudinal stripes with whitewashed boarding (created with large popsicle sticks) that goes up to the window height. Still debating on other walls in this room and also the flooring. I have nothing for the bedroom really figured out at all.