Advice

[Hdb3674]

I've just started on My First Dollhouse, the lily. I'm stuck. I don't know whether to paint, to glue, or how to proceed. I've painted and assembled my doors. And my windows. The next instructions asked me to glue the window casings to the walls. I don't know if I should paint the walls first. This is proving a daunting process and I don't want to mess it up, partly due to my OCD. LOL. Could someone help?

[Sable]

Windows and doors are installed last. Too easy to mess them up while doing the rest of the house.

[havanaholly]

Heidi, while you're calming down, go to the Newcomers' Forum and post an introduction.  Then go out and get yourself some painters' tape (blue) or masking tape (beige), some Probond wood glue (for the wood parts of your kit), some clear-drying tacky glue for the clear plastic parts) and some emery boards and a good sturdy craft knife or utility knife with lots of new, SHARP blades.  As you read over the instructions again, use the tape to assemble the pieces of the shell of your Lily.  As you do this you can use your knife and emery boards to shave/ sand the tabs and slots to fit together more perfectly.  We call this step dry-fitting the dollhouse kit; it will let you see how the parts fit together and how it will look before you begin to glue.  I find that at this point the house begins to talk to me and tell me how it wants to look, whether it wants a linoleum kitchen floor or painted or wallpapered walls, etc.  When I take the house back apart I go ahead and stain the floors whatever color they want to be, even if I'm laying floorboards, so any gaps I miss won't show up so bad.

The next step I do is to take all the door and window trims and lay them over the openings they go with and trace around them with a pencil.  Then I split a lot of pieces of the tape into 1/4" widths and use them to mask off the areas I want to glue wood to wood, not to paint or primer.  I prime the ceilings, decorate them and paint them, and do any painted effects on the floors (masking off where I'll need to glue walls).  I find that what works for me is to begin to glue the house together.  Once I have the walls and first floor in I begin to decorate the first floor:  primer, paint or wallpaper, flooring (boards or tile), and LAST I put in the interior doors and their trims (I make my own pin-hinged doors from basswood; matboard also works well).  I have also recently begun to make my own working windows, so I wait to install them and the exterior doors the very last thing).  Then I put in any stairs and the second floor, and keep going until I get to the roof.

You find what order works most comfortably for you and above all, have fun.  Real life houses are not perfect.  I tend to try to make my houses look real, not perfect.

[jrchob]

You might find some help at this link

http://moreminis.blogspot.com/

[Khadi]

6 hours ago, Hdb3674 said:

I've just started on My First Dollhouse, the lily. I'm stuck. I don't know whether to paint, to glue, or how to proceed. I've painted and assembled my doors. And my windows. The next instructions asked me to glue the window casings to the walls. I don't know if I should paint the walls first. This is proving a daunting process and I don't want to mess it up, partly due to my OCD. LOL. Could someone help?

The Lily is a challenge.  I am currently working on one myself, and I must say it is probably the one of the most difficult houses that I have ever built.  It also has the challenge of double-hung windows.  The actual wall of the dollhouse will become part of the window and it's a little tricky so you may want to assemble at least one before putting the house together to make sure you know what you are doing.  I wouldn't install all of them because the window holes become good handholds as you put the center section and outer walls together.  If you are painting the walls, I would do that before full assembly because a lot of areas become hard to reach once it is assembled.  If you are installing wallpaper, you may want to measure and cut it while you still have easy access but not install it until you have built the structure because it may tear while assembling.  

I would do a lot of dry fits before you do glue.  Make sure you have all of the interior walls that need to be added, etc. before you glue.