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The Orchid many questions


Minaeu

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I got ahead of myself I think. Last week I made a couch and yesterday a really cute farmhouse table. I had collected wooden tea boxes for fridge and base cabinets. I sanded house for a dry fit and for fun put in my made furnishings. Hahaha, they are overpowering , look so big for this house.

I can go in basement and cut down the table and I can always make another couch but before I glue the bed together I would like dimensions if anyone can help me. I had chosen to make a full size bed as opposed to a twin size but , once again, it is going to be so big in the attic area. I know it is 1/12 scale so I made couch 6 long, 3 high and 2 deep I am thinking on making maybe a loveseat type lol, maybe just a chair?

Any furniture measurements you can pass along,( chairs, couch, twin bed ,cabinets) would be so helpful and greatly appreciated.

Questions on construction:

- kit says attach windows first but I see most of you apply wallpaper or paint interior before doing so, it does seem easier that way. must I follow assembly to the letter?

-can I use popsicle craft sticks for hardwood flooring?

-scrapbook paper for wallpaper- attached with mod-podge? yes /no???

-must I use the staircase? if no how to cover that hole?

- I want to use siding for exterior finish, (when I get that far), is 3 packages enough?

Thanks for any answers. I am sure I will have many more questions, sorry to be such a bother on my second  day of joining :ermm:

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Wow, that is stinky. I don't have the Orchid but I have a similar style and size (Sugarplum).I decided to scale down all my furnishings for that reason. I can't even tell you what scale I used as I did eye test. 

I know they are smaller than 1:12 and larger than 1:24. 

I decided before I make anything I made paper and foam board testers to see size. This way if I out need to modify size you can adjust your template by a snip or addition. 

Good luck

btw, I really want the Orchid next. Think they are adorable

Sorry, didn't answer your questions

popsicle sticks-yes

staircase-that's a personal choice but these cottages are so small and they take a lot of room

scrapbook paper, I'm sure you could use them

heres the measurements on my furnishings I made already

full bed-mattress- 5" L x 3.5" W x 3/4" thick, bed frame/5 3/4" L x 3 3/4" W. Height from floor to top of mattress is slightly above 1.5"

couch dimensions- 5.5" L x 2.5"D x 3" H.

you can see the pics in my Sugarplum album.

im making a template for a wingback chair now. If you want, once I have all the pieces drawn out, I can scan and send to you

 

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Hi Gladys, Welcome to GL!

Yes, you can use craft sticks for flooring. I made a template out of poster board, then glued my sticks to the template but some builders glue directly to the kit floor. I'm new at this and felt more comfortable with a template. One thing I didn't take into account was the sticks made my door not fit:-(( The extra thickness of the sticks will make the door too long. I didn't discover the problem until my door was already primed, painted, glued, etc. and ready to install. It would have been easier if I had shortened the door before I started the finishing process.

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=gallery&module=gallery&controller=browse&album=7159

I used scrapbook paper and glued using the real wallpaper paste found in a tub at HD or Lowes. It allowed me enough time to get the paper positioned the way I wanted it.  It's about $7.00 a tub and will last a long time. I just put saran wrap over the top of the glue to help keep out air before I put the top back on for storage. I love modpodge, again it's just preference. I applied a couple of coats of matte modpodge on top of the paper to seal it.  I also applied modpodge to the top of my craft stick flooring. I've read that in some climates the modpodge becomes tacky but I haven't found that to be an issue.

I don't plan on using the stairs in my Orchid either to allow more room within the house. I will apply glue around the cutout perforation to secure it in place.

All of these tips I learned here on GL. There are many different opinions, experiences, and applications. None of them are wrong (except hot glue lol)

I'm anxious to hear someone answer the siding question because I only ordered two bags from GL. I may use shingles in the eaves and gable area.

 

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Hi Gladys,

Michele is right about the furniture, look at her album to see what she did. Another idea for a bed in the Orchid is to do what a lot of people do, and turn the raised part in the alcove into a bed. That would leave you more room for furniture.

- kit says attach windows first but I see most of you apply wallpaper or paint interior before doing so, it does seem easier that way. must I follow assembly to the letter?

Wallpaper is better applied before the window frames whenever possible. I also always paint before I assemble, then do touchups where needed later on.

-can I use popsicle craft sticks for hardwood flooring?

Yes, or, just draw lines in the regular flooring with pencil, following the grain to make planks. Then use a steel ruler to score them, and stain and varnish the floor. What I use for flooring though, is paper thin veneer. It can be cut with a paper trimmer or scissors, and is so thin it doesn't interfere with anything. A lot of members have gotten iron on veneer at Home Depot.

-scrapbook paper for wallpaper- attached with mod-podge? yes /no???

Yes, scrapbook paper works great, but real wallpaper paste is better than Mod Podge. In my climate, Mod Podge does get sticky, and it also bubbles up in damp weather. It might be okay where you live though.

-must I use the staircase? if no how to cover that hole?

I didn't use the staircase in mine, I just left the piece in the hole, and spackled around it. It takes up too much room!

- I want to use siding for exterior finish, (when I get that far), is 3 packages enough?

So far, I haven't used siding, but on the Greenleaf site, they say 3 bags of siding, so it should be enough.

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6 hours ago, Minaeu said:

I got ahead of myself I think. Last week I made a couch and yesterday a really cute farmhouse table. I had collected wooden tea boxes for fridge and base cabinets. I sanded house for a dry fit and for fun put in my made furnishings. Hahaha, they are overpowering , look so big for this house.

I can go in basement and cut down the table and I can always make another couch but before I glue the bed together I would like dimensions if anyone can help me. I had chosen to make a full size bed as opposed to a twin size but , once again, it is going to be so big in the attic area. I know it is 1/12 scale so I made couch 6 long, 3 high and 2 deep I am thinking on making maybe a loveseat type lol, maybe just a chair?

Any furniture measurements you can pass along,( chairs, couch, twin bed ,cabinets) would be so helpful and greatly appreciated.

Questions on construction:

- kit says attach windows first but I see most of you apply wallpaper or paint interior before doing so, it does seem easier that way. must I follow assembly to the letter?

-can I use popsicle craft sticks for hardwood flooring?

-scrapbook paper for wallpaper- attached with mod-podge? yes /no???

-must I use the staircase? if no how to cover that hole?

- I want to use siding for exterior finish, (when I get that far), is 3 packages enough?

Thanks for any answers. I am sure I will have many more questions, sorry to be such a bother on my second  day of joining :ermm:

Keep your handmade goodies for future builds/ reference.  I make most of the furniture that goes in my builds from kits, if it will fit, or from scratch if it won't.  I measure the pieces in my house and scale down, or use the measurements from catalogs, ads, etc.  Sometimes I have to scale down from there.  In the case of the Orchid I use that front gable as a bed platform.

One of the purposes of the dry fit is to follow the instructions without glue to see if they need to be tweaked for easier building.  I don't usually follow the instruction to the letter when I'm actually gluing, especially the doors and windows, and certainly NOT when the instructions say to use hot glue. 

You can use anything you want for flooring.  My two preferred methods are to scribe floorboards directly into the wood and to split & cut "boards" from iron-on wood veneer I buy at the hardware store.  I also really like the self adhesive vinyl tiles and "wood" flooring in the Greenleaf store.

I also buy premixed regular wallpaper paste to use for all my wall coverings:  wallpaper, dollhouse wallpaper, scrapbook paper, giftwrap, fabric...  As I build I prime the walls with flat white interior latex paint and possibly a skim coat of spackle that I sand baby's-butt smooth & flat when dry (if the grain is really noticeable or if there are irregularities in the plywood) and paper over that.

If you want to leave the stairs out of a build it's simplest just not to punch out the stairwell hole.

If you look at any of the houses in my albums in the Gallery you will see I don't use a lot of siding; but when I do I love the siding strips that Greenleaf sells.  Don't worry if you order too much, as those strips can also be cut down and glued down on the floor (I like rubber cement for this).

IMHO answering questions is one of the primary purposes for having this Forum.

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I didn't read through all of the responses so not sure if someone already suggested. You can sand and prepare (wood filler paint ) your window frames and fit them on, but just don't permanently glue them down, use tacky wax to hold them in place until you're ready. That's what I do :) 

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During the dry fit I lay the door and window trims over their openings and trace around them.  I mask off those areas when priming/ painting.  I finish the trims separately and glue them into place after the rest of the decorating is done.

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Progress so far:

Instead of using pop sticks for flooring I scored floor and stained. Thanks for that tidbit Kathi and Holly. Need to poly it for some shine and then distress it a bit too.

I have painted all interior walls and then spackled and sanded, to baby bottom smooth,(thanks Holly), today I will paint a faux finish on them in my colors I have chosen.

My second floor is warped a bit , I think I will scribe both sides of that so that ceiling as well as flooring in second floor looks like whitewashed planks. Any suggestions on how to unwarp it?

Still have not fiddles with roof pieces and want to prep those today also but 2 weeks ago I started to paint my office and have not finished it yet so maybe finish real world stuff and then see if I have time to prep roof structure.

I did order some used books from Amazon yesterday too and can not wait for them to arrive, I got suggestions from reviews here. I tried to choose those that had patterns for furnishings so I do not oversize anything again haha.

so todays questions :)

-- Is water based poly okay for finishing the floor? Guides say varnish but I have none, I prefer the poly as it is low odor. I also have solid finishing wax which I use when I

repurpose furniture with chalk paint (real size furniture) maybe that's a possibility ?

-- When I get to the glue part, directions say to apply glue to sides of floors but also I would put glue on tabs too correct?

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I always use water based poly on floors that are not planked with real planks. For real planks, I use regular varnish to keep them from curling, but you won't have to worry about that with scoring.

I love the idea of the whitewashed planks on the floor and ceiling, it will look very shabby chic!

When you use the furniture patterns, hold the paper patterns in your house, to check the sizes. If they look too big, you can always scale them down a bit. Making your own furniture is so much more fun than buying it!

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4 hours ago, Minaeu said:

Progress so far:

Instead of using pop sticks for flooring I scored floor and stained. Thanks for that tidbit Kathi and Holly. Need to poly it for some shine and then distress it a bit too.

I have painted all interior walls and then spackled and sanded, to baby bottom smooth,(thanks Holly), today I will paint a faux finish on them in my colors I have chosen.

My second floor is warped a bit , I think I will scribe both sides of that so that ceiling as well as flooring in second floor looks like whitewashed planks. Any suggestions on how to unwarp it?

Still have not fiddles with roof pieces and want to prep those today also but 2 weeks ago I started to paint my office and have not finished it yet so maybe finish real world stuff and then see if I have time to prep roof structure.

I did order some used books from Amazon yesterday too and can not wait for them to arrive, I got suggestions from reviews here. I tried to choose those that had patterns for furnishings so I do not oversize anything again haha.

so todays questions :)

-- Is water based poly okay for finishing the floor? Guides say varnish but I have none, I prefer the poly as it is low odor. I also have solid finishing wax which I use when I

repurpose furniture with chalk paint (real size furniture) maybe that's a possibility ?

-- When I get to the glue part, directions say to apply glue to sides of floors but also I would put glue on tabs too correct?

What sort of faux finish are you using on your walls?  (I love faux finishes) 

If there is much of a warp, dampen both sides with a dampened rag, lay it between sheets of paper towel and waxed paper and pile some flat, heavy weights on it (my old nursing school textbooks come in very useful for this; old encyclopedia volumes will work, too) and let it dry.  If the warp is slight, gluing it into place will often take the warp out.  I run glue along the edges of the floor and on the bottom side of the tabs.

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1 hour ago, havanaholly said:

What sort of faux finish are you using on your walls?  (I love faux finishes) 

 

I tried to mimic my living room walls am unsure if it needs to be lightened a bit more. Just did base coat and then using a tiny 1/4 inch sponge I sat for 2 hours and dabbed on 2 complimenting colors. (Retired gives me a lot of spare time lol.)

Second floor I am thinking to try chalk paint, 2 colors and distress /sand a bit off here and there? Have not decided yet. Nice thing about paint is you can roll over it and start all over again :).

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