Page 11

Final Assembly

Before we can hang the doors we need to have something substantial to hang them onto.

We need to glue a vertical beam along the front of each gable end.
I used a 1/2'' x 1/2'' x 18'' piece of bass wood.

Make sure to glue and clamp this very tightly and let dry overnight.

see the photo below

The final thing to do is to hinge the doors onto the dollhouse.

I built all the rest of the dollhouse with no help at all, but I enlisted some assistance with this job.

I wanted to make sure I put everything on perfectly straight.

I used three small hinges on each side, be sure you use short screws, we don't want them sticking out the front.

Before you hang the front doors.

If you have cut out an opening for the front door
Glue the little dollhouse front door on the interior of the big door .

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.

The raised panels on the door are made from balsa wood.

You don't have to build the dollhouse all at once.

My original dollhouse did not have the front doors for several years. Since I didn't have much dollhouse furniture, I did not use the third floor at first.

Just like a real house, things change over the years.

I love the way this dollhouse turned out.

The dollhouse cost about $105 to make, excluding the cost of stain and paint.
Building it took some patience and persistence, but it didn't take a lot of money or fancy tools.

If you want to have a try at making your own dollhouse, keep in mind that having the desire is more important than having the experience.