page 7 doing the dollhouse exterior

Let's Build a Dollhouse Page 7 Finishing the Exterior of the Dollhouse
All 3 of these dollhouses are made from the same plan. The first one is stucco, which I am explaining how to do, on this page. The second dollhouse is my dollhouse, it has siding. The third dollhouse is simply painted. Even the roof is just black paint. The shutters are made from paint sticks. I don't mind a simple finish like this, especially if the dollhouse is for a child


There are many ways to finish the outside of a dollhouse. You may just want to just paint the house, or use paper printed with brick etc. Using stucco is a relatively inexpensive way to go, I like it because it adds a lot of depth to the dollhouse. The main reason I did this house in stucco/ Tudor style is because I came across this neat stuff that I knew would make great 'oak beams'. It is real oak veneer edging. It was a bit of a pain because it was iron on! I could hardly iron it on to a dollhouse. What I did was iron it on to some Bristol board. Then stained, it and cut it out after the stain dried. It was worth all the bother, it is hard to see the details of the wood grain in a photo, but it looks great. If you want to do something similar read on. Whatever exterior finish you do, don’t forget to do the doors too!


It was important not to get stucco on the parts of the house where the oak and the window frames need to be glued. For the windows I made clear plastic templates the size of the windows with frames and held them over each window when I was applying the stucco mix. The clear plastic allows you to see that you have it in the right place. Keeping the stucco from where the ‘oak beams’ were to go was a bit more tedious. I taped off the design with masking tape. I wanted to get a photo of how to mask off where the 'oak beams ' will go with tape, so I was a bit hasty taking the picture. You can see, if you compare the the photo [right] with the finished dollhouse [below] that I changed my mind about where the beams should go after I took the photo :- )	.
I used a mixture of ivory latex paint [left over from painting my real house] with polyfilla for the stucco. This mixture dries rock hard. I mixed the polyfilla and latex paint in an aluminum pan, which could be thrown out later. Applied it with a sponge. It is important to pull off the masking tape while the stucco is still wet. It is a messy job, so think ahead about where that masking tape covered with wet stucco is going to go. It is important to pull off the masking tape while the stucco is still wet.
The exterior window frames should be applied at this point. Please refer to the FRAMING THE WINDOWS PAGE for hints on making the window frames. The glass for the windows does not go in yet! When gluing on the window frames the main thing is to make sure they are straight. GRAVITY IS YOUR FRIEND! Especially when you are gluing on window frames I wrote that in big letters so that you won't repeat a mistake I made on a former dollhouse. I glued on the window frames while the house was upright. They looked great, but, when I went back later, some of the horizontal frames had shifted from the force of gravity. I had crooked window frames. Yuk! I used Popsicle sticks for 3 sides of the window, and 1/2 inch cove molding for the top frame. After your outside window frames are glued on, fill in any gaps with pollyfilla , when that dries, sand, and touch up the paint. NOTE :The window 'glass' goes in after the interior walls are decorated. Paint the inside of the window frame before you install the windows or you will get paint all over the 'glass'. The 'oak beams' can be glued onto the house now. This job takes patience, but it is well worth the results.
If you have cut out an opening for the front door Glue the little dollhouse front door on the interior of the big door. The door can be cut out from Cutting plan 2. Place it 1/4 inch above the bottom edge of the door. Make sure this little door is glued on firmly as it will take some of the weight of the big doors. Wait until you have all the work on the interior and exterior decorating, before you put the little front door on.This includes having the door frame trim finished. You can see in the photo[left] how the bottom of the dollhouse door sits snuggly on the floor of the dollhouse when the big doors are closed. This takes some weight from the hinges, and ensures that the big door won't start to sag over the years. Frame the interior side of the door by adding some balsa wood trim .	Next Page 8 Finishing the Interior

BUILD A DOLLHOUSE LINKS
Build a Dollhouse Home	Build a Dollhouse Menu	Page 1 Cutting out the Dollhouse	Page 2 Cutting the gable end walls	Page 3 The Floors
Page 4 Cutting out the Windows	Page 5 Making the Windows	Page 6 Assembling	Page 7 Finishing the Exterior	Page 8 Finishing the Interior
Page 9 Building a Staircase	Page 10 The Roof	Page 11 The Final Assembly	Page 12 American Style Dollhouse	Page 13 Photos of the Interior

Links
Free Dollhouse Printables	Tutorials	Dollhouses and Miniature projects.
Free Printable Dollhouse Wallpaper	How to make sofas and chairs from cardboard and fabric	This link will take you to Jennifer's[my] dollhouse.
Dollhouse Grocery Printables	How to make dollhouse curtains from paper	See my hand-sculpted miniature dolls
More free printable Dollhouse Wallpaper	How to make a realistic Ascot boiler	Visit my five miniature shops
Printable Dollhouse Gift Bags and Boxes	How to make a stained glass window from stickers and markers	Carole's first doll's house
Links to dollhouse building suppliers	Kerry's dollhouse	Carole's second doll's house
Terms of use Non-commercial use only. You agree not to use instructions and the images on this website for any commercial purpose, sale, resale, or compilation. This doesn't mean that you can't sell a dollhouse that you build using this plan. Copyright © Jennifer Brooks 2003-2021 All rights reserved jjbrooks33@yahoo.com privacy policy site navigation