Page 7

Finishing the Exterior of the Dollhouse

All 3 of these dollhouses are made from the same plan.

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!

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 .

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Page 8
Finishing the Interior