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South Carolina Y'all


rimali87

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Hi! I'm Lindsey and I'm from the Charleston area of SC. I have 2 daughters ages 8 & 9 and we are homeschoolers. I am completely new at dollhouses, besides playing with them as a child. :)  I've always loved looking at other people's work with dollhouses and in awe of  the realistic miniatures but never did it myself. My daughters love dollhouses and crafts so I knew this would be fun for us to do and enjoy together. I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm I glad to have this blog to help me. Now all I need are the dollhouses which should arrive in the next few days.  Any advice for a beginner is more than welcome. :)

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Welcome, Lindsey. I love it in your part of the world. My favorite place there is Magnolia Plantation. I hope one of these years we can go back down there again.

Right now I am building dollhouses for my two grandsons. They love the one I built for their sister. When we get out to NY to see them at Christmas, we are all going to do Fimo food. It's so much fun to be able to work with kids!

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Welcome, Lindsey!  The Pierce is a really pretty house, and I know your daughters will love theirs.  

The best advice I ever received was not to use hot glue on anything but shingles, even if the instructions tell you to do so.  I use wood glue or tacky glue, and I think everyone in this forum has a favorite brand!  Another good piece of advice is to dry fit everything so you don't glue parts on backwards or upside down (had to learn that one the hard way, unfortunately).  

I look forward to seeing your progress on both houses!

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There are bunches of threads on "getting started" you could do a search for.  My basic tool list begins with a Stanley utility knife and a couple of packs of new blades for most cutting job, a couple of rolls of 1" masking or painters' tape for the dry fit (I have built  couple of kits and I still do the dry fit), and glue (I have no favorite brand, but I don't even use hot glue on shingles; I live in the deep south).  A carpenter's square is nice to have for squaring the corners and checking plumb, a miter cutter is nice for cutting baseboards and cornices when you get to the decorating, and I find that a nice flat white (or off white) interior latex house paint makes a great primer.  For me one of the main reasons to do the dry fit, besides room arrangement, is to figure out what needs stain vs paint (You can always paint over stain, but staining over paint doesn't work; neither does trying to stain over glue). 

When I open the box the first thing I do is to take out the acetate sheets for the door and window inserts and slip them between the sheets of the Warm Up paper and lay them next to the box lid.  Next I take out the instructions and read through them, and lay them and the schematics sheets on top of the Warm Up paper.  Next I take a pencil or marker and go over the number on each sheet of plywood, as well as to arrange them into numerical order in the box lid.  When I find strays that have fallen out of their wood sheet I use the schematics sheet to see where they go and tape them back with a bit of the masking or painters tape.  I set the pile of wood sheets back into the box bottom, read through the instructions one more time with the schematics sheet to see which sheets I need for each step.  I then lay them and the Warm Up paper back on top and put the id back on and go eat chocolate or sip a bit of single barrel bourbon and ask myself what I have let myself in for, and wait for the  kit to begin to talk to me and tell me what it wants.  After a year or two of building I have found that the kit sometimes doesn't wait until the box is open to start yammering at me, but this is a heads up so you won't be surprised or shocked or think you're losing your mind.

When I'm ready to build I lay the acetate sheets in their Warm Up paper in the box lid, along with the schematics and instructions, give the instructions another scan, and begin.

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1 minute ago, rimali87 said:

...do I also use regular house paint after the house is primed? 

I do.  Those little sample paint jars from the hardware store are just the right size.  I can also tint the white primer with acrylic paints to get custom tints and colors.  Both interior latex and acrylic paints are soap and water clean up, so you don't have to spend a fortune on brushes.  I save the old mayo and jelly jars and wash them out to hold water.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/2/2015, 8:26:46, kathi17 said:

Welcome, Lindsey. I love it in your part of the world. My favorite place there is Magnolia Plantation. I hope one of these years we can go back down there again.

Right now I am building dollhouses for my two grandsons. They love the one I built for their sister. When we get out to NY to see them at Christmas, we are all going to do Fimo food. It's so much fun to be able to work with kids!

Thank you for mentioning Fimo Food!!! I've never heard of it but was planning to make small clay food with my daughters for their dollhouses! Now I know it has a name and found all kinds of ideas! :happydance:

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  • 6 months later...

So, after much delay, I'm finally starting to build the first dollhouse. I feel very unprepared and I really don't want to ruin it. When glueing the pieces together,  do I glue along the bottoms of the whole piece or the joints or somewhere else? Any help would be great, thank you!

 

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The Pierce. I used masking tape but I'm still unsure where to glue. Do I only glue where the pieces lock in? (Reminds me of a puzzle) yes, I am that person that asks such obvious questions. Lol I make the inexperienced look experienced. :)

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Glue along the entire length of the join - wall to wall or wall to floor, not just where the tab is.  Use masking tape and clamps, if possible to hold the pieces together firmly while they dry.  Carefully wipe away any excess glue that may have oozed out. 

To keep corners sharp and in line, I've heard of using your kids' Legos to build a corner jig.  I've never tried it (my son's tub-o-Legos is tucked into the far reaches of the attic!), but it sounds like a great idea!  :) 

And don't forget to prime your interior where you want to wallpaper!

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Lindsey, because you are new no one has had to beat it into you that there are no stupid questions.  In addition to running a bead of carpenter' wood glue along the length of the edge that glues to the end of the adjacent wall I also apply a bead of glue to the tab that the notch butts up against, and I also pop a few heavy duty staples along the edge I'm gluing to, to help hold things in place whilst the glue dries (belt & suspenders), as well as taping the join.  I also do this to the edge of the floor pieces.  Then when I'm priming, painting or papering I can flip the house onto its sides or u[side down to reach where I need to.  Whatever exterior treatment I use on the house will cover the tops of the staples.

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