AmyM137 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) Hi my name is Amy and I live in Great Falls, MT. I am receiving the Pierce Dollhouse for Christmas. I have wanted a Dollhouse for as long as I can remember. My niece was given The Garfield and I have been playing with that the past few weekends. It is not finished, just enough for a girl to play with. I added stickers and christmas lights to give it a little personality. I am excited to start on the Pierce but am having trouble deciding whether to upgrade the windows and put on siding. I am afraid it will be to much for a beginner. I only want to do this once, and would like it to be right the first time. I am hoping decorate it with white, gray, silver and mirror finishes. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. I am overwhelmed and excited. I don't even know where to begin. Edited November 29, 2015 by AmyM137 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Welcome to the little family, Amy. I also started out thinking I would only ever build one dollhouse... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathi17 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Welcome, Amy, Holly is right, once bitten by the bug, it's pretty hard to stop at just one! I have built 11, no, wait, 12 dollhouses, (I always forget to count the one I made for my granddaughter), and am now building number 13 and 14 for my grandsons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarfieldThumbelina Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) Hi Amy, I would recommend sanding all of the edges of wooden pieces first. Next, it would help to prime the wood with white paint. The white looks nice on the edges that show instead of the brown wood color (especially with the colors you are using). Make sure you keep your pieces together, so you know where they will go in order to follow the Greenleaf directions. As tempting as it is to get the house "up and running" ALWAYS select and apply wall coverings and paper flooring BEFORE assembling your house! It will look cleaner and save you time in the long run. Wood flooring can be applied after. Happy to help with any other questions! Best of luck, and your color choices sound lovely! -Stephanie Interior Designer ASID Affiliate Proud owner of the Garfield Greenleaf "Thumbelina" Edited November 29, 2015 by GarfieldThumbelina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Amy, remember that not only is each of us an individual, but each build wants to be done individually. Stephanie has mentioned what works for her. I find that gluing bare wood to bare wood works best for me, and I always dry fit first (assemble the shell with painter's or masking tape to see how it goes together and how it will look) to see what I'll want to prime and what I'll want to stain (one can always paint over stain, but it doesn't work very well to try to stain over primer or paint). Some builds I might decorate first (if I wont be able to fit my hands into that are once the house is together)and others I might wait until after; but mostly I decorate as I build. One of the reasons I began to dry fit every build is that I when most kits begin to talk to me and tell me their back story and what they want to look like. I like to take a little bit of spackle on my finger to rub over the sanded edges of the walls, after the house is together, to get a smooth finish. Some people finish those edges with channel molding. The important thing is to relax and have fun. Real life houses aren't perfect, and striving for "perfection can paralyze your creative muse. Some of my best bashes resulted from ghastly mistakes. Like Kathi, I have gone on to build a house or two, and I still get the newbie collywobbles whenever I open a kit and start to build. Don't use hot glue to build your kit. I find that carpenter's wood glue works best for me; others like tacky glues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapz Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Welcome to the forum, Amy! There is lots of useful advice here, just take it one day at a time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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