Glowworm Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I just purchased my first dollhouse at a sale. It is already built but now needs to be painted, etc. I'm not sure where to begin. Do I need to prepare the wood by priming first? Also - what is the best way to paint it? Paint the trim first and then the body of the house, or the other way around? Can I stain the wood floors? And how do you tell what scale of house you have? Thank you for any advice.Glenna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Welcome to the mini world. Beware, it is addictve. To determine scale measure a room in inches. Then compare it to these measurements - use 1 inch equals 1 foot for 1:12 scale (sometimes written 1/12), 2 inches equals 1 foot for 1:24 scale (1/24). So if the room measured 8"×10"×9h", it would be 8ft x10ft and a 9ft ceiling height in 1:12 scale. Yes, do prime or seal the wood before painting or papering and yes, the floors can be stained and sealed. You can also use a dead pen tip to scribe planking into the floors before staining for more realism.If the trim is glued in place already, I would paint it first, then when good and dry you can use painters tape to mask the edges to paint the walls.Ideally the trim is added towards the end of the construction process to avoid these issues but anything can be accommodated one way or another. Mini folks are very inventive types. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Thank you Selkie. Yes - the house is already put together including the trim. It's going to take a lot of patience to paint the trim because it looks like a Tudor style with lots of trim involved. I don't know what it's called or the brand for that matter but it seems to be built well and sturdy. The bottom floor looks like it already has flooring that has planks in it but the top floor does not. I haven't even started searching yet for flooring supplies, etc. I just picked the house up last night. But I'm anxious to get started and learn all I can about furnishing it, etc. I'd like to add flooring to the top floor that matches the bottom floor. Also - is there any particular kind of paint I need to use to paint the outside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 If you want to keep in a Tudor style you could use spackling to create the stucco effect. Dab it on, smooth to effect you desire, let dry completely, paint and age to suit you. You can use craft paints or house paint (look for the sample size jars or use up leftovers). Craft paints are a little thinner. But with any of them, several thinner coats are much better than one thick one. Sand lightly inbetween.Hobby Builders Supply (miniatures.com) is an all around miniature vendor with an excellent reputation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Welcome to the little family, Glenna (I went to high school with a girl named Glenna!). I built the Glencroft, which is a Tudor style Greenleaf kit. I stained the half timbering on it. I made templates of the downstairs exterior wall spaces and glued sandpaper "bricks" on the templates: I used spackle for the stucco on the exterior second floor. For the interior I also used spackle on most of the walls and on the kitchen and bathroom floors. The roof started out as black construction paper colored with chalk pastels; you see what the sun's UV rays did to it. I have since painted it slate color. Take your time, be generous with the painters or masking tape, and have fun. If you happen to hear the house talking to you about what it wants, listen to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Wow you've done an incredible job on your little house havanaholly! I hadn't thought of brick but that looks amazing. Does it add a lot of weight? Or did you say it's paper? I don't particularly like the door that came on my house. Is that something that can be changed easily?Thank you for the paint info and the vendor information Selkie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 As soon as you have made 5 posts you can start an album and upload a picture or two of the house you got. If you show front snd back it will help folks ID the house and give you more suitable advice. (Plus we are all eye candy addicts)Anything can be changed!! You can purchase or build your own parts, furniture and accessories.You can "bash" your house which simply means customize it to suit you, divide up rooms differently, add dormers or create additions, greenhouses, landscapes, and on and on. I use notebooks to jot down ideas, sketch out plans, etc. I also peruse internet images for ideas and save them in inspiration file folders on the computer. It is not a race unless you want it to be. My advice is to take your time planning and investigating and work at your own pace. Some folks are speed demons with their building and others are pokey joes. No right or wrong. Enjoy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 OK. I will upload some pics this weekend. Since I'm a beginner I don't think I'm ready to tackle many changes yet. haha. But I might be able to handle the door. First I need to figure out how to paint it. And ultimately I want it to be a dollhouse that kids can play with so I'll be looking for tips on buying furniture that not only looks good but is durable enough to be handled by little hands. It will definitely be a slow process because I have a few other hobbies that take my time. But this is something I've always wanted to try but was afraid of the building part. I was happy to find one already built. Thank you all for you help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Hi, Glenna, and welcome to the forum! If you're building the house for play, consider the age of the kids. If they're under 10, don't worry about painting as they may quite possibly redecorate with crayons or markers or sticker or whatever else strikes their fancy. Painting the interior walls is more practical than using wallpaper. Save the wallpaper for when they get older. Now, the kids you're planning it for are no doubt well behaved angels, but some of their friends are not. Any gingerbread, porch railings, shingles, etc., may not last long. It's so much fun to pick off! Doors that open and close will get ripped out. Window panes may not last, either. The young ones like to reach through the doors and windows to fiddle with stuff inside the house. Figure the house may be used as a seat or a stepping stool to climb on high furniture. This is not to discourage you, but a suggestion to think about the end users of the house before installing nice wood floors, a new door, and other fancy stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Thank you Kathie. Those are good things to think about. This house will be kept at our house and played with under close supervision so I'm not too worried about the crayons or markers but the doors and windows could be issues. And I'll try to find durable furnishings. I just noticed the link to your blog. I will definitely check it out. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Glenna, sometimes it's the adults you have to keep an eye on. I had a house with a screen door. it wasn't hinged but glued in place. An exuberant visitor squealed, "Oh, what a cut little screened door!" as she grabbed it hard enough to pull it off. Luckily repairs in mini aren't as daunting as repairs in real life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Thank you Kathie. Those are good things to think about. This house will be kept at our house and played with under close supervision so I'm not too worried about the crayons or markers but the doors and windows could be issues. And I'll try to find durable furnishings. I just noticed the link to your blog. I will definitely check it out. Thanks again. Welcome to the forum! I recently built a dollhouse for my 2.5 y/o, and I left out the doors and windows---I figure we can install them together when she's a bit older. It's actually her older brothers I'm more worried about. The other day I looked into the dollhouse to find one of her dolls lying on the floor, surrounded by toy soldiers! I found a good deal on Plan Toys dollhouse furniture, and I'm waiting for it to arrive. It's not the most realistic furniture out there, but it is very sturdy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 When I rehab houses quite often I have to make new doors and windows. My latest kit build, the Washington 2.0, I just went ahead and cut out the window openings and made all working new doors and windows. I suggest to locate a source of basswood sheets and stripwood and mini millwork (Hobby Lobby and Michaels sometimes have the latter).As I mentioned, the brickwork on the pub is sandpaper. If you go to the Team Glencroft building blog I describe how I did all that in my section. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Cool. Thank you havanaholly. I will check out your blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treedydi Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Welcome, Glenna. I am also in Kansas, about an hour and a half East of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Wow. I wish you lived a bit closer. I was wondering if there might be a local group here in Wichita. I'm not sure how to find out. Look me up if you ever get to Wichita. Nice to meet you. Glenna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 Here are two pictures of the house I bought. I would appreciate any suggestions for exterior colors and room ideas. I would like to change out the door and windows if I can figure out how. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueirishmoon Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 That would be the Duracraft Tudor, TD-200, prior to 1989, when they changed that design. Duracraft has been out of business for several years. It's a cute house, similar to the Greenleaf Glencroft. You're only as limited as your imagination. If you want it to look traditional, try stucco outside and the trim painted dark, or you can make it look like brick or stone. On ebay there is a seller who sells great stone-patterned wallpapers with bumpy texture, so they look pretty real. One of the members on here used it to finish their large scale tudor, I think it was an Arrow Dream dollhouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 Thank you blueirishmoon. I would like to paint it a gray color with white trim but that's not really traditional is it? Hmmm. I will have to check out the stone wallpapers on ebay. Since Duracraft is out of business would I still be able to change out the front door and windows with a different brand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueirishmoon Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Sure! You can order houseworks brand windows and doors from miniatures.com. You may have to enlarge your openings slightly, though. You could also try searching for "timberbrook" and "Carlson" on ebay; sometimes old stock from them shows up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 Thank you so much for your help. I will look on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Be a tad cautious on the stone papers. There are a few sellers who only use photo style papers and market them are the real textured paper. They are poor substitutes. A trusted brand name for the stone and brick papers is Noch. It is sold by a variety of train and miniature vendors and come in different scales. It has a good embossed texture, is heavy weight paper and is applied with wood glue. It comes in approx. 6x12 and 6x25 inch strips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckMouse Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Welcome, Glenna. Glad you could join us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowworm Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 I have a question regarding flooring for the second floor. (The bottom floor has wood flooring already.) I'm thinking of making the small space in the middle a bathroom and I'd like it to have a tile floor. Can I do the outer rooms with wood and the middle section with tile? And if so, how would I do that? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Glenna, make a paper template of your bathroom floor and put it in place and trace both sides. Mask off the bathroom floors and stain or otherwise prep your wood floors. Wen you re happy with them, remove the masking tape/ painters' tape and carefully mask the stained floors where thy will meet your tile floor. Prime your tile floor with a flat finish primer and you are good to go with whatever tile effect you want. For tiles I have used paint chip samples and painted paper:and I have used spackling compound:and I have used pieces of real self-adhesive vinyl floor tile:and once I evn used real mini ceramic tiles, because they survived the rehab of the house they were originally in:Basically you can use anything for floor tiles that your imagination suggests or the house tells you it wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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