My Garfield Arrived

[Rose]

Well my house finally arrived. I have mixed feelings. lol The Garfield is a beautiful house but I do not like the wood. I built my first Greenleaf house 15 years ago I think. Since then I've only built the MDF houses. I have to change my whole way of thinking through this. I will definitely follow the directions. They are hard to understand though. I found Ginas(More Minis) blog and it is sooooo helpful. Thank you Gina! With my mdf houses I always prime the inside walls with paint so the bare wood won't suck up my wallpaper paste. I will do the same with these. My question is about this wood warping. Should I prime before I put the walls up or will it be ok to put the walls up and then prime them. Will they warp while standing. MDF doesn't warp so I never had to worry about that.

[havanaholly]

If you reinforce the edges with steel staples as you glue the wood probably won't warp, especially if you apply a couple of light coats, rather than one heavy coat..

[KathieB]

1 hour ago, Rose said:

I always prime the inside walls with paint so the bare wood won't suck up my wallpaper paste.

Priming also seals in the natural oils in the wood that will eventually migrate into the wallpaper and turn it brown. 

Holly's idea of a couple very light coats of primer is a good one. Warping occurs when water soaks into the wood fibers, causing them to swell. If you want to prime before construction, you could also "paint" the reverse with plain water. If both sides are equally damp, little or no warping will occur. 

[Inge]

Good luck with your Garfield!! Hope you have a big room in your house when you have finished it. I cut the whole right hand section off and when I was at the shingling stage moved the two pieces downstairs and finished it. It would not have fit thru my doorways. I put it in a corner as it needed to be able to turn....big big big. lol

 

[MargieG]

Did you just get a new Fairfield, Greenleaf dollhouse? Do you think you could scan the building instructions and post them? I’m in desperate need of the build instructions.

thanks,

Margie

[havanaholly]

Margie, the Garfield is the largest 1:12 dollhouse kit that Greenleaf makes.  The Fairfield is a 1:24 kit with totally different configuration of rooms.