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The Laurel-My first attempt


pamlynn

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Hi there. This is my first attempt at putting together a dollhouse for my daughter. It's supposed to be the big Christmas gift this year. Does anyone have any helpful hints for me? Also, I wasn't able to find anything that said shellac, so I got all purpose sealer. Am I supposed to mix this half and half with rubbing alcohol?

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Congratulations on a very worthy project. Work on it as often as possible as it will take longer than you expect. Christmas gets here mighty fast! I found out that small pieces of double sided tape will work wonders to hold trim or other parts in place so you can see how they look before the final gluing.

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The only sealer I use is primer and that is only on places I want to paint. You can use stain right on the floor and then put poly over it if you want wood floors. ( some people score the floors first to give it a more realistic look) I did the Laurel for my daughter and it is a great easy house to do.

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I'm not sure what scoring the floor is. I just thought I'd sand it up a bit and wait for inspiration to hit. As I'm unsure what the floors and walls will look like, I was going to make patterns for them and decorate them later. Does this sound the way to go?

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Scoring the floors is where you take a knife ( xacto or box cutter) and a metal ruller and score ( don't cut all the way through) to make it look like planks. Since this is for a child they probably will not notice if you do or don't. I built mine for my daughter in 3 days. It was a constant three days though. We also had a plan and a very short time line. You will want to paint or paper the walls behind the stairs before you put them in. You did not mention how old your daughter. Mine had just turned 6 and I let her pick out all the colors and such. I did not wallpaper because I knew it was going to get remodeled as she grew and it is easy to paper over paint. ( she has already changed the blue painted roof to shingles) The only thing I would change is to make the porch have dowel posts and leave off the rails. It's easier for small hands. I have pics in my gallery if you want to look.

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Hi and :p! Yes, it is fine to do the interior decorating later. All of us have our own ways of building and each has an order to it that differs from others. There are some pinned topics in General Minis on getting started that may help you. Good luck!!

:p

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My daughter is 11 and we've been talking about making a house for her for a very long time. I'm an at home mom now and can do this for her while she's at school. I'm building it at my friends house, which is currently empty. Major surprise for my princess! Do I have to buy siding? It looks like a lot of folks didn't use any.

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!Welcome to the forum!

Im glad you found us in time to share your journey with you!

we are very greedy for our eyecandy!

as for siding....I have built many houses and have not used it yet....LOL

there are lots of alternative methods to give your house a finished look.

if you have not done anything to the wood I would recomend that you stain the floors a color you can live with...surprisingly the kit wood stains up beautifully....I very seldom use store bought flooring. after staining...use polyurethane on them....this protects them from "oopsies"

an 11 yr old is going to want nice furnishing....so spend your money there.

I spray my walls on both sides with kilz spray primer

you can purchase dollhouse wallpaper but you can also use some scrapbook papers, material,

or print your own.

The Laurel is a great house!

Happy Building!

nutti :)

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THANK YOU! For the great welcome and the hints. Like I said, I'm building this at my friends house and it's a surprise, so running home to look at a picture of what I'm supposed to be doing can be kind of a hassle. I've decided to do my homework the night before that way I won't have to run home. I sure wish detailed pictures would have been sent with the kit, but I guess that would be silly. Keep the helpful hints coming, as I do enjoy them as well as the pictures. I finished the bathroom kit and will post pictures as soon as they get loaded.

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My first house was the Laurel for my daughters last christmas. It took me 2 months to finish but i work and don't have a lot of time. I put the stairs in mine but wish I hadn't. since it was for the kids it didn't leave a lot of room to manuver, but they are ok. I loved building this house. I hope you have fun.

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Welcome to the forum, just be prepared for the house to talk to you, and change it's mind from time to time...at least that's what I'm running into. Adding things, leaving things off are entirely up to you. I'm building my first house that has A LOT of trim and decided to leave a lot off. There are no dollhouse inspectors, and being your first house be prepared for frustrations, but everyone on here is so helpful. They listened to me vent, and helped me through a lot of questions. I would have never been able to build my house without them. And most importantly, ask all the questions you want, there are no stupid questions, and there is usually someone on here that has a great answer, or you'll end up with a lot of great answers. Most of all, enjoy!

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