vbharrington Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Since I am not able to work on my dollhouse through the work week, I bought 7 rooms of Greenleaf furniture kits to assemble when I have a few minutes here and there. I realize that this furniture is not what one would really want in a "show piece" house, but think that with some extra care customization, the furniture will be great to fill the house with as I replace it with nicer pieces. Anyway, for starters, I'm not totally thrilled with the quality of the wood, unlike my house kit, these pieces are very fragile and always seem to splinter and break, no matter how careful I am with the X-acto knife. I'm trying not to be discouraged, but it's frustrating. If anyone has any tips, advice, etc for these furniture kits I would appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sable Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I'd cover each piece with drywall compound (I bought a premixed tub of it from HD or Lowes) to fill in the imperfections. Let dry. Sand them well and spray paint them. Others may suggest wood filler but I personally find it harder to work with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 There are quite a few folks who have done fabulous jobs of upgrading these pieces by adding extra do-dads fancy striping, faux paint treatments, and decorative painting, etc. to them. As to the breaking, I agree that spackle works better for me than wood filler, but I would probably only put it on a chipped out or uneven area or the edges for example. If you prime them after that, they take paint quite well. If you want a wood look and don't feel the wood will stain evenly, you can use a pre-conditioning treatment on them first. Minwax puts one out. You might also try a clear seal on them and then wipe on faux stain mixture made from watered down acrylic paints. There are some mediums you can mix into acrylic paints to create a faux stain look as well. The big thing to be careful of when trying to have a stained appearance is that stain does not adhere to glue so be very careful not to spill glue on the visible surfaces. Perhaps just look at these as your starter pieces. You know like when you first get an apartment or house, you don't always have all the best of the best. You gradually replace things later on as you can afford to. That's my take on it. Good luck. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 I haven't had a problem with breaking or splintery wood. From time to time I use the kits until I make something I like better. I furnished the rehab I donated to Toys For Tots with the kit furniture in the kitchen: the parlor: and the bathroom (and I had fits getting that squared commode stool to look "real"): 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I bought all the rooms for my dollhouse. I to had similar issues with splintering but I think that is just the makeup of the wood/cost. However, the nice thing is you can fix the pieces up yourself. Good advice here on how to make them look better. I'm going to get me some knobs and stuff for mine. I cant think of the site now but I found one that showed these kits and how to make them look better. One hint i do recall was using a small screw hook for the kitchen faucet and two ear ring backs for the hot and cold handles. Think I am going to start more of the furniture this weekend since it is gawd awful hot outside and my work are is not air conditioned. These kits are small enough i can do them at table inside and not worry about a mess. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Scrap wood or chipboard is nice to have on hand to make backs for some of the pieces. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I really enjoyed assembling the Greenleaf furniture I had so I got me another kit. I bid on and won a kit from goodwill auction. It's the greenleaf 56 piece dollhouse furniture. This time I'm going to use spackle on the awful edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 On 7/21/2016, 9:25:48, havanaholly said: Scrap wood or chipboard is nice to have on hand to make backs for some of the pieces. I save all my bits of wood left over from pop outs. They come in very handy a few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I am fiddling with my new 56 piece furniture kit. I wanted to try new techniques to make them look better. I like that they are cheap enough to include in a sell house and keeps price affordable. My biggest issue with these kits are the rough edges/sides. No matter how much you sand they still look ugly. I am adding spackle to smooth the rough edges. It does seem to work pretty good except it has a hard time sticking properly at first. I read here to add glue to spackle. I did that in equal protons and it turned into a gum consistency, Which may work for larger gaps? Not sure how that would dry. Seemed to work like silly putty. Anyhoo... So do use the spackle straight up or a dash of glue? I wonder if there is some way to paint on a product to smooth out the edges? Some kind of filler..smoother...Other then spackle or drywall paste? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 7 hours ago, thresadep said: I read here to add glue to spackle. I did that in equal protons and it turned into a gum consistency, Which may work for larger gaps? Not sure how that would dry. Seemed to work like silly putty. Anyhoo... So do use the spackle straight up or a dash of glue? I wonder if there is some way to paint on a product to smooth out the edges? Some kind of filler..smoother...Other then spackle or drywall paste? Half and half is a bit too much. Try just rubbing some glue in to the edge and then apply the spackle or drywall mud. If you let gesso evaporate to the consistency of heavy cream, that could be applied with a brush and would fill in the tiny depressions, but it might take a couple or three coats, depending on how rough the edges are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 I dig a bit of spackle out on my fingertip and rub it vigorously along the rough edges until I cannot feel or see the roughness, and let them dry, and then sand off all the excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Good advice. thank you both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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