starting house today

[LizaJane]

Dollhouse was delivered last week. Spent the week getting my work space, tools, paint, etc ready. Never done this before, but have wanted to since I was a little girl (that was a long time ago). Here I go. I'm a bit nervous since one of the first words on the directions were DON'T PANIC. HA, now that's funny.

[LizaJane]

I think I already broke a piece. And, nothing is marked!!! Oh dear, two minutes in and I feel like crying already. UGH

[amyole]

Breathe deeply. Remember: everything is fixable with spackle/wood filler, glue and paint or wall paper.  

[Sable]

What kit are you building?

[jbnmini]

Take a deep breath.....and go have a cup of coffee. Or wine. 

Read the instructions -again.  Go thru the pieces and compare to your parts list and try your best to identify each piece and lightly mark it with a pencil.

When you are done.  Go have another cup of coffee.  Or wine.  And go to the next step tomorrow!

[jbnmini]

Truer words were never spoken!  Don't Panic!  Take it slow.  You WILL make mistakes, but everything can be fixed/covered up.  Spackle is your friend.  ;)  When you get too frustrated, walk away.  Even if it is for a couple of days. 

We will all be here for encouragement and advice!  Good luck and have fun! 

 

 

[LizaJane]

I am trying to reply, can't figure that out. as you read, broke a piece already. I am attempting to build the Westville, but maybe I should build a shed first. Geez, I've built Sauder furniture for years, built my bike, can work on my car, but this is the first project that has brought me to tears in the first few minutes. My daughters are going to help, maybe they can figure out some things for me. Perhaps I will need more patience than I am used to having.

[LizaJane]

Whew, ok, went to a different computer and now I can type a reply.  I didn't think I was THAT incompetent.  As I said, I am attempting to build the Westville house.  Feel like I should have started with a shed, but my daughters all voted for this one saying, "we'll help!".  As I stated in OH DEAR, I've built Sauder furniture for years, built my bycycle, can work on my car, but this is the first project that has brought me to tears in the first few minutes.  I am taking the advice:  I labeled pieces and have walked away for a moment to BREATHE.  Patience is not one of my strong points, but I think this project is going to require MUCH. 

[Risotto]

Jbnmini's suggestion to come back to it tomorrow is a great one.  When I am feeling frustrated with what appear to be roadblocks, a day away and fresh perspective works wonders.  Somehow your brain will keep puzzling on the problem while you sleep and things will work out better the next day! 

[suej]

Welcome Elizabeth! I am new to this hobby and didn't even have the Real Life experience that you have. I found my philosophy to be "enjoy the journey as much or more than the destination". You may have to use a utility knife to re-score the pieces within the sheets for better removal and less breakage. Also, don't prime the sheets before you remove the pieces. There is something about the priming process that locks in the pieces! Ask me how I learned that. Read this Forum everyday and you will find inspiration to keep on step by step. There are several members here who have GREAT blogs. One that comes to mind is http://moreminis.blogspot.com/2008/05/westville-day-1.html.

[LizaJane]

Thank you thank you thank you for telling me about the priming.  The directions leave so much out. 

[Gleise]

No worries... My first build (McKinley) I broke about 3/4 of the trimmings ... and over-sanded the back pieces... spackle/wood filler are your friend and hide all your sins... Take a deep breath and step back for a few minutes... All will end well!

[shannonc60]

Just be patient. If you can do all those other things, you can build a dollhouse kit. Do a dry fit first and read Gina's blog noted above. It is a treasure trove of construction information.

[fov]

Hi Elizabeth,

I merged your three topics into one. To reply, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you should see a text box you can type into. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions (hover your mouse over my username and then click Message in the little box that pops up).

I never actually finished the Westville, but I blogged about the early steps, maybe my pictures will help you. You can see them here (they're in reverse order, so start at the bottom and work your way up.

Good luck! This is a sweet little house. Just give yourself time to read the directions and don't feel like you need to rush through the steps. You don't even need to do them in order if they don't make sense to you that way.

[LizaJane]

OK, feeling better.  Marked my pieces and laid everything out.  Guess I was overwhelmed.  Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

[Minis On The Edge]

Welcome to the neighborhood Elizabeth   Looking at the kit at first is shocking sometimes. Just remember, by the inch, it's a cinch. By the yard, it's hard ( my husband always says that to me) . Just focus on each step as they come Along, and you'll be surprised how simple it all comes together.

[havanaholly]

Welcome to the little family, Elizabeth (also my middle name), there is a team building blog for the Westville.  I have built more than one kit and have wept may tears with each and every one!  That said, the building process is a lot of fun, overall.  Do invest in masking or painter's tape and do dry fit build it first with the tape, without gluing anything) as you go along.  In addition to helping you to figure out the directions the dry fit gives you the opportunity to sand or shave your slots and tabs for a more perfect fit.  You aren't in a race, this is a hobby.  It doesn't have to be perfect (I'd never have finished the first kit I'd built if it did), and it will look good.  I had to reglue nearly every piece of trim when I built the Glencroft because the wood in my kit was old & brittle; in addition to tears I used a lot of *magic* words

[blueirishmoon]

Hello and welcome! Sorry to hear of your difficulty. But like everyone else has said: we can rebuild it, make it stronger...Don't give up hope. Yes, even small kits can have lots of pieces. Yes, you may break some. But it is doable. There wouldn't be so many members here if it wasn't!

[LizaJane]

I asked this question somewhere earlier, but can't find where i put it.  UGH, not a computer wiz.  Do I put the whole house together first with tape?  or just a step at a time?  when do I paint, before I put it together with tape?  after?  I did not plan on painting the inside since this is my first house, but can I do that after it's put together?  I'm finding lots of good advice here, been reading for over an hour, but I still can't quite picture all the steps.  Sorry for being such a newbie and thanks for all the advice.  It would be so much easier to watch someone do this!! 

[jbnmini]

I think I would do a dry fit first....decide what each room is going to be and think about how it is to be decorated. When the house is in dry fit you can see where the sections are that will be difficult to reach once the house is glued together - those are the places that you def will want to paint/paper before final assembly.  Once I've contemplated and planned and sketched....then I would take it apart and do the priming, painting, etc. 

[havanaholly]

There are no "steps" per se, what I described is what works for me.  I do assemble most of the basic house with tape and let it sit there whilst it & I chat about what it wants and figure out what I will be able to wait to paint/ paper decorate after it's glued and what I shall need to go ahead and work on after I take it apart and before I begin gluing.  I wait until the interior of the house is decorated to install doors and windows and mask off the area where I'll glue on the door and window trims outside before decorating the exterior.  Some people just dry fit as they go and some don't bother with the dry fit.

Since you are building the Laurel you might want to mark off where your porch pieces will go and decorate the exterior of the house before building on the porch.  I acquired most of a Laurel that had been built with hot glue and was falling apart (click the hyperlink to see my pictures of the process), so I used DH's heat gun to finish disassembling the house, scraped off the hot glue and rebuilt it with a decent carpenter's wood glue (either Probond or Titebond, I forget which, whatever I had on hand at the time).  The windows and doors were trashed beyond belief or reuse and there never was a porch, so I got to make all those; I even had to add onto the porch roof to make it right.

Sometimes I scribe my floorboards directly into the kit wood and also prepare the ceilings after the dry fit and before gluing.  If I do, I go ahead and with a pencil and trace all the joins I'll glue later, mask them off when I untape the house, and go ahead and prime the walls.  I am unbelievably messy with a paintbrush!

[suej]

There is a You Tube video series by Joanne's Minis. Click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arzWFfcu-HY&list=PLmmEsoOU8p344wvsB4sxdQ6RACPfOFRKL

It should take you to Video 1. These are followed by six or seven additional videos showing "dollhouse tab and slot".  I bet I have watched this series 7 or 8 times, and will probably watch them again. Once you get some confidence and keep reading you will feel better about jumping in. The biggest thing to remember is that so many people do things a little differently and there's no right or wrong-except for Hot Glue. It's a no-no for building the shell. Document your build by summarizing each step along with a photo. Open a gallery here on Greenleaf. It will help you remember what you liked and didn't like so you change it on your next one. Another thing is that we all use our favorites (I don't even know what many of my favorites are yet) in regard to brands and products. For example, if wallpapering, many use YES glue, and others use regular pre-mixed wallpaper paste. When you find a tip or technique that you believe will be helpful I found it beneficial to print it out. If you use your computer much you could mark it in your favorites folder.  It's just going to take trial and error. BUT keep on step by step. I believe you will love this hobby!!

 

[Soapz]

Welcome to the forum, Elizabeth. As many said here before - don't panic, breathe and enjoy.

1. As for first steps you already started right. The pieces need to be removed from the frames - a utility knife or box cutter can help with the stubborn ones and makes a cleaner 'edge' on occasion.

2. The tape is something we use to make a dry build - that means no glue involved yet, it does give us an idea about how it will look - and if we have to evict family members from our homes to make more space for it. <- This only applies for really big houses.....

After we have an idea about what we are dealing with - we get started and start gluing the pieces together permanently. With wood glue. Lots of wood glue.

3. From here on it is your personal preference: You can prime the pieces and then glue them together or glue them together and prime later (some do that because they use spray primer). Whatever you like best.

4. Usually you build from the bottom up: Base plate, walls, dividing walls, floors/ceiling, - rinse and repeat according to how many stories your house has - then put on the roof.

5. Most decorative/architectural elements can be done before you attach them to the house - such as: trims, windows and frames, doors and frames, chimneys, shingles, porch stuff..... It is not advisable to drink alcohol when attaching trim - it might cause sections to go on a bit crooked. 

6. IF you decide to go the alcohol route you might do that while you are still at the dry-build stage  - refer to step 2. 

7. If you didn't succumb to the alcohol, the exterior should be pretty much done. Landscaping is usually what most do last.

8. Smile - you are halfway there! Well, actually you are not, but I'm being very encouraging, right? 

9. Go crazy with interior design. And, more importantly - decide if you want to use battery operated lights (easy install) or wire the house. IF you choose to wire the house we need to talk you through that when you reach that stage - it's not complicated, but it takes a good strategy. If you go for battery lights, continue:

10. A lot of us make paper templates (white strips of paper - or I use old paper) and use those to cut wallpaper and flooring material to size. A good template should get you a near perfect fit for whatever material you use.

11. Now that the floors and walls are in, it's time to go broke: furniture, curtains, and everything else you can think of - and you are done! 

I hope this helps you a bit, we all are here to help if you need us. 

[havanaholly]

You don't have to go broke with furniture, etc; a lot of us make things for our houses.  Check your library to see if they have any books by Patricia King and Helen Ruthberg.  People might look at you funny as you begin saving table trash at restaurants and scouting parking lots and shop floors for bits & bobs to use, but they'll get used to it as there are more and more of us out there.

[amyole]

Just one more thing, Chris: if you DO succumb to alcohol, it might not matter if things are crooked!