jerry325 Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I am getting ready for my first dollhouse building experience. Bought the Pierce for my daughters birthday. I will probably have plenty of questions and if anyone has built the Pierce and has advice before I dive in, feel free to respond. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 G'day Kent. Welcome in. Cheers Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I am getting ready for my first dollhouse building experience. Bought the Pierce for my daughters birthday. I will probably have plenty of questions and if anyone has built the Pierce and has advice before I dive in, feel free to respond. Thanks! Hi Kent and welcome to the forum! Your daughter is a lucky girl to be getting a Pierce and you'll have a wonderful time building it! It's not nearly as intimidating as it appears at first. Just go slow, follow the instructions and you'll do just fine with it. While it's a big house, there's nothing really complicated in it's construction. It was my second house and took me about six weeks to build it. I wallpaper and paint prior to assembling the house, but that's a matter of personal preference. If you do decide to paper/paint after you build, the only hard parts to reach are the insides of the bays and the back corner of the large room on the second floor. I've got lots of pictures of my Pierce while it was under construction and after it was completed on my website: http://www.debsminis.com I've got lots of other pics that aren't on the website so if you run across something you'd like to see that isn't there, let me know. The one thing that I would really recommend is that you do a "dry fit" of the house before you start the actual building. (A dry fit is putting it together without glue, just use masking tape to hold it together) When you do a dry fit, you can mark any slots or tabs that might need shaving to fit snugly and it gives you a chance to see how all the pieces go together. Use a pencil to make notations on the wood--you can erase them later on. After you've done the dry fit, you can take it apart and then start on the actual building with a lot more confidence. Oh, and you may have noticed that there are a LOT of pieces for the windows on the Pierce. It will save you a lot of time later on if you use envelopes to separate the pieces for each window into their own envelope and mark which window it is and whether it's the interior or exterior window. The general opinion about the staircase in the Pierce is that it takes up a whole lot of space and tends to look kind of bulky. If you decide to use a different staircase for it, you can find some really nice ones, but it's a decision you'll want to make fairly early in the building since the staircase goes in when you're putting in the floors. The forum is filled with really knowledgeble and helpful folks so if we can answer any questions, or even just cheer you on, we're happy to do it! Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry325 Posted June 12, 2006 Author Share Posted June 12, 2006 Thanks Glen! And thanks for the advice Deb. I will probably have many questions over the next few weeks. I am hoping to have this done for her birthday, Aug 17th. I will say that though I have never built a dollhouse, I have experience building things with wood, just not on such a small scale! I did get the 6 room furniture collection that Greenleaf sells - mainly to save some money up front - and have put most of those pieces together with little difficulty. Grandma was out for a visit this last week and took the 3 rooms I had put together, home to paint and stain them :lol: . I think I am going to start the house in the morning when I get off work. One question that I have is wiring... I ordered a lighting kit yesterday. It is the tape type and I am wondering if I can install the tape, test it, paper the walls, and then install fixtures at a later date. Like I said I want to get it done for her birthday, but with the cost of the light fixtures, I would like to be able to add them as I can afford to get them. I really dont see why I couldnt but just wanted some feedback. Thanks (and look for those future questions! ;) ) Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPCullen Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Welcome to the forum Kent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wenlaine Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi Kent, welcome to the forum! Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Welcome to the forum, Kent, we're glad you're here. A lot of people have built the Pierce (I'm not one of them, but hope to "some day"). if I can install the tape, test it, paper the walls, and then install fixtures at a later date. I don't see why not, but I think you might want to take pictures of the wiring layout BEFORE you cover it with paint/ wallpaper/ flooring so you will know where it is when you're ready to install fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry325 Posted June 12, 2006 Author Share Posted June 12, 2006 That is a great idea, thanks for the tip! Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakyshaky Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi and welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi and welcome to the forum. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peggi Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I think I am going to start the house in the morning when I get off work. One question that I have is wiring... I ordered a lighting kit yesterday. It is the tape type and I am wondering if I can install the tape, test it, paper the walls, and then install fixtures at a later date. Like I said I want to get it done for her birthday, but with the cost of the light fixtures, I would like to be able to add them as I can afford to get them. I really dont see why I couldnt but just wanted some feedback. Thanks (and look for those future questions! ;) ) Kent Welcome to the forum, Kent, we're glad you're here. A lot of people have built the Pierce (I'm not one of them, but hope to "some day"). I don't see why not, but I think you might want to take pictures of the wiring layout BEFORE you cover it with paint/ wallpaper/ flooring so you will know where it is when you're ready to install fixtures. Definitely take pictures, also I believe Darrell has a trick of placing his tape 1/2 up the wall all the way around and that way he always knows where to find the tapewire. One thing I did also was to print out some printies of outlets from a Jim's Printable mini's and glued them to my wallpaper to mark the spot for placing an outlet later. Darrell has a tutorial in the gallery on wiring if you would like to look it over for some tips. He's very good. Oh and welcome to the forum. Your little girl is lucky. How old is she? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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