CTYankee79 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Hello, My name is Kris and I live in western Connecticut. I’ve built quite a few balsa airplane kits and have tried my hand at model boats as well, but I just started building my first dollhouse. I have two young children (3 and 1) so realizing that they are too young to play with a dollhouse I decided my first one will be a haunted Orchid for Halloween. Although I normally don’t need an excuse to build something I figured people that don’t understand the joy and complexity of a dollhouse may question why a grown man has randomly decided to start building dollhouses! I hope this orchid will be the first of many. I’ve been scouring these forums and the web in general and have gained a lot of knowledge but as it goes with the internet there is almost too much info, so I wanted to join this forum to be a part of the community and to focus my questions a bit. I started finishing the windows as that is the first step, and I’ve already run into a question I have about the interior/exterior window sashes...I imagine this isn’t the place to ask that though? Forgive my ignorance as I’ve never been a forum guy and I’m a little in the dark as to the etiquette. Thank you and happy to be here! Kris 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 You are most welcome to the little family, Kris, and a great many grown men enjoy this addiction hobby; Ferd Sobol, Mark Turpin and our own members, including pdlnpeabody and rojam18801. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debsrand56 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Welcome! Trust me; no one on this forum will ever question your decision to start building dollhouses. There are many men on this forum. Without meaning any disrespect to the others, two of my faves are Keifer and MikeUK. If you'd like to ask a question, you can start a new topic under "General Mini Talk." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalesq Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Hi and welcome! i don’t know if you found these instructions for the Orchid or not but you can find them here. They better explain the double hung windows. I suggest that you not glue your windows together until you’ve painted or stained them, and you may want to wait to install them after the structure is complete. I encourage you to do dry fits (using masking tape to hold parts together) of the house to make sure everything is going together as expected. The dry fit process will help you identify areas to prep ahead of installation because they will be hard to reach later. http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=downloads&module=downloads&controller=view&id=51&do=download&csrfKey=e19f7f92d616381113a52cc3b268ca9f 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mid-life madness Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Welcome Kris What a fun project. The Orchid looks terrific haunted. Enjoy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shareb Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Hi Kris! Good for you! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Before you know it those kids will be wanting to work on stuff with you! I homeschooled my two and because we are all so creative we did a lot of that sort of stuff together. I'd say your 3 yr old would probably love a shoe box of his/her own to create a room! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 BTW, if your instructions say anything about using hot glue, DON'T! I use carpenter's wood glue to glue wood to wood and clear-drying tacky glue to attach the clear acetate window and door inserts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesp2k Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Hey Kris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTYankee79 Posted August 30, 2018 Author Share Posted August 30, 2018 20 hours ago, Dalesq said: Hi and welcome! i don’t know if you found these instructions for the Orchid or not but you can find them here. They better explain the double hung windows. I suggest that you not glue your windows together until you’ve painted or stained them, and you may want to wait to install them after the structure is complete. I encourage you to do dry fits (using masking tape to hold parts together) of the house to make sure everything is going together as expected. The dry fit process will help you identify areas to prep ahead of installation because they will be hard to reach later. Thank you--those instructions are wonderful and after reading them through I have answered my own question about the double hung windows! 16 hours ago, Shareb said: Hi Kris! Good for you! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Before you know it those kids will be wanting to work on stuff with you! I homeschooled my two and because we are all so creative we did a lot of that sort of stuff together. I'd say your 3 yr old would probably love a shoe box of his/her own to create a room! Thats a great idea, thank you! 15 hours ago, havanaholly said: BTW, if your instructions say anything about using hot glue, DON'T! I use carpenter's wood glue to glue wood to wood and clear-drying tacky glue to attach the clear acetate window and door inserts. Thank you Holly, I am using wood glue and white glue as well. I do have tacky glue but I used Elmers for the windows as well as gluing the interior/exterior casings on the bay window together (in case the glue made its way to the acetate as the parts were compressed). Now I just need to decide what kind of glue for the shingles and clapboard siding.. Thank you everybody for the warm welcome and pointers :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qubanqtee Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 What a great idea! Lots of great info and members to support here! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 Technically I think Elmer's all-purpose white glue is considered a tacky glue; it's what I use for the acetate inserts. Something else I do with the Orchid's bays (well, not the White Orchid, which is the now-extinct plastic version) and the bays and tower projections on other houses as well, is to take the long bamboo skewers and glue them into the junctions of two parts of the bay where they come together, to fill that gap. When the glue is dry I then take spackling compound (you can use drywall mud or joint compound, if you prefer) and cover the corner seam to fill gaps, and when it has thoroughly dried I sand it smooth and flat so nothing shows when it's painted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTYankee79 Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 What a great idea with the bamboo skewers for the bay window. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 You're welcome. Sharing tips and experiences is what we do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teresabuie@ymail.com Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 hi Im new here and Im putting together the bathroom kit and there is no instruction on how to put together the toilet paper holder . if someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WBrownIV Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Kris, As a total newbie to dollhouses myself I say Welcome! I'm finally getting around to building the dollhouse I gave my sister as a B-Day present in the early 80's There are great folks on here that will freely give their advice and guidance. Remember, the only bad question is the one not asked! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Welcome to the little family, Teresa. You must be assembling the Chrysnbon bathroom kit, either the fixtures or the accessories, because I don't believe there is a toilet paper holder in the Corona Concepts kit, at least not when I have built it. You can see how the Chrysnbon toilet paper holder looks when complete (it's a pub bathroom): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTYankee79 Posted October 31, 2019 Author Share Posted October 31, 2019 Well its been over a year but dollhouse is finally complete in time for Halloween! Just thought I'd share a photo to this topic. I will post more photos in a separate post. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debsrand56 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Well, that turned out beautifully! Looking forward to seeing more! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Oo, the Haunted Orchid! I can't wait to see what you did to its innards; the yard is uber cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTYankee79 Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 On 10/31/2019, 4:29:40, Debsrand56 said: Well, that turned out beautifully! Looking forward to seeing more! Thanks! Can’t wait to build more On 10/31/2019, 5:08:51, havanaholly said: Oo, the Haunted Orchid! I can't wait to see what you did to its innards; the yard is uber cool. thank you holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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