aimeegirl Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Hi there! I just bought my first doll house kit, it's a Corona Concepts: The Orchid #9301. I'm taking a trip to Michael's Crafts later today or tomorrow and wanted to pick out some paints. What brand/name/kind do you recommend I use? I don't want to do anything too extravagant with this house, as its my first and right now i'm hoping to just continue on with it and not lose steam as I often do with projects. But I've wanted a dollhouse since i'm 4yrs old and now ..at 32yrs old, I really want this!! LOL Any suggestions or info would be wonderful. Thanks all, Aimee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Aimee, before you wipe out Michael's craft paint section, go to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and see if they have any flat whit interior latex paint (soap & water clean up), which is a better buy from them than from the hardware store, and works not only as a primer but you can mix acrylics paints/ craft paints with it to get your own custom colors. Secondly, check out Benjamin Moore, Ace hardware and the other paint companies that sell the small sample jars of color accent paints, because for the same price as those itsy bottles of craft paints at Michael's you can get enough of any one color to paint your Orchid (it's how I painted my Orchid, as well as all the other houses I've built). This hobby of ours can be outrageously expensive, but there's no loss of quality because one practices a little economy!lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimeegirl Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 Hi Holly.. Thanks for that! My husband is very BY THE BOOK (he's usually the one who reads the instructions front to back and i'm usually the one who follows my creative instincts). We went to home depot and picked up the smallest can of BEHR premium plus exterior water based primer & sealer. Is this ok to use? I figure it can be used for future houses as well. He says we need to seal the wood prior to painting.. is this right? Also, once sealed and primed, is it OK to use craft paint? Or does it have to be regular house paint? My hubby is insisting on buying lots of cans of paint and i'm like, um.. hello i dont want to spend a fortune here. Who knows if we'll build another dollhouse after this?? Sooo, what IS most economical for us do you think? Thanks for all the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbytsdy Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Welcome, Aimee! Holly's suggestion is a good one-- everyone has their own favorite paints and mixes. I like to use interior latex semigloss for alot of things, including exterior walls and trim, because it has a certain durability to it and after a couple or few coats, I don't have to seal it any further. I do use acrylic craft paints (I buy the cheapy ones, which isn't always a good idea because they tend to glob up and not cover very well ) and I also use them to make my own paint color mixes (if I'm going to use alot of a special color mix, I mix alot of it and keep it in a babyfood jar) but then I seal them with Minwax semigloss or satin waterbased sealer. As for primer, I often just paint on a few extra coats of whatever paint I'm using, especially if it's the exterior paint. For example, I used Olympic interior semigloss latex in "Green Tea-Leaf" for my San Fran (in my gallery) and I think I put 4 or 5 coats on total (with light sanding inbetween) before I was satisfied with the coverage. (I use Kilz waterbased primer or white acrylic to prime walls that I intend to wallpaper, though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Also, once sealed and primed, is it OK to use craft paint? Or does it have to be regular house paint? My hubby is insisting on buying lots of cans of paint and i'm like, um.. hello i dont want to spend a fortune here. Who knows if we'll build another dollhouse after this?? Sooo, what IS most economical for us do you think? By-the-book folks have a tendency to go slightly bonkers in the mini world. What they sometimes have a hard time coming to grips with is that THERE IS NO BOOK! Whatever works for you is the way to go. I like to read about how others have addressed an issue, mull over all of them, and then do what my instinct told me to do in the first place. The point being: there really is no wrong way! As for painting, you can use craft paint or house paint or stain or almost any combination thereof in nearly every finish available. I personally don't like glossy paints for miniatures; the glossy surface reflects light, which highlights the tiniest flaws. I like semi-gloss or eggshell for the exterior, eggshell or flat for the interior. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrchob Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Hi Aimee, As you are beginning to see there are lots of ways people do things, and they all work!!! For myself, I use an interior semigloss for the exterior house and interior woodwork. I have not primed the exterior but used three coats of paint. I do prime the interior walls but I use a flat latex paint which I apply with a small roller before construction. I have used a semigloss for some interior walls before as it was paint I had here although I love to wallpaper rooms. I particularily like the Benjamin Moore sample jars that Holly mentioned. There is a wide selection of colors. Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Welcome to the group. Holly,s suggestions are good ones. Quick note! Do not use hot glue as your instructions say. Use wood glue!!! Current hot glue is not the same kind as the old and will break down and your little house will fall apart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Behr is great. I also like Glidden paints. You can get sample sizes of both at Home Depot for less than $3. Also always check out the Oops rack, sometimes you can find great colors for cheap. You can get craft paint if for trim if you want but I prefer the colors of the 'real' paint, especially because the chips in the store make it easy to color coordinate. Every time I buy craft paint for trim thinking it'll work, it turns out not to coordinate well. When I first started building dollhouses about ten years ago I bought quarts and they're still mostly full. So much paint I'll probably never use. I wish I'd known then what I know now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I use Home Depot's little sample bottles. That way it's convenient, I can take home color samples and get an easier idea of combining colors, house, trim, door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLyn M. Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I prime everything with Mod-podge,use little paint samples or get acrylic water based paints.Everything water based..non-toxic/smelly,NO HOT GLUE..I use Elmer's regular glue or Elmer's carpenter glue and get tons of masking tape.Always dry fit your houses-that way you can see if you will be able to paint a room when it's glued together or if you should paint/wallpaper first.Then the masking tape will hold a wall nice and tight while the glue dries.Oh...and I'm sure you guys will be making more that the one house!!Have Fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Also a good tip, don't seal, prime, or paint any area you wish to stain! Staining and then covering with poly or varnish will seal the wood fine. As far as what would be the most economical for you, try to use first what you have on hand. Lots of things can be used to seal wood. Primer (Behr, Kilz, whatever), gesso, mod podge, or leftover house paint. I use a combo of whatever I happen to feel like at the time. I almost always use gesso for the interior. On my current house, I had a particular color I wanted to use (based on an actual house), and it was made by Behr, so I bought the Behr paint that has the primer already in it. I am painting it on siding, which I am applying to bare wood (glue will generally stick better to raw wood, so don't prime areas that will be glued like wall edges or around windows), and it seems to be covering well. I also have used craft paints. I like the Ceramcoat brand, and buy it when it goes on sale at Michael's. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I used to seal the wood first; had to sand it all back down when I wanted to stain anything, too! You learn by doing, but sometimes it's a lot more economical to learn from the mistakes of others... If you're priming the wood, it's getting sealed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonie Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Im using the paint samples from Home Depot. They are plenty. I have also tinted a few myself using the Acrylic paints from Walmart. My best suggestion is only apply a light 1st coat of paint. I applied my first coat alittle on the thicker side to get it to cover and it made my wood wet and they bowed out a bit. Now im having a bit of trouble getting the pieces to line up. Fixable but Lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sable Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Kilz primer, then acrylic paint. Latex is just a plastic coating, like putting a ballon over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thimble Hall Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 I agree with Sable, I prefer acrylic to latex, I think it more forgiving and gives a bit more time than latex which I think just seems to sit on the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ute Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 My instructions say to paint immediately before doing anything else. Some people say to dry-fit first to mark lines where not to paint (apparently glue does not adhere to painted areas too well?). Is it safe to give it one coat of flat interior latex paint and then do a dry fit? Decisions, decisions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mid-life madness Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 For the interior I use Gesso. I apply it after I have glued. I haven't done a house that has hard to reach places yet. Supposedly Gesso is good under the wallpaper because it prevents the acids from wood from discoloring the paper as it ages??? Is there going to be areas of your house that are hard to access once you have glued? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestPaces Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 46 minutes ago, Ute said: My instructions say to paint immediately before doing anything else. Some people say to dry-fit first to mark lines where not to paint (apparently glue does not adhere to painted areas too well?). Is it safe to give it one coat of flat interior latex paint and then do a dry fit? Decisions, decisions! I read the advice to not prime/paint too late, I did manage to stick everything together but next house I will leave bare what's going to be glued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sable Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Ute said: My instructions say to paint immediately before doing anything else. Some people say to dry-fit first to mark lines where not to paint (apparently glue does not adhere to painted areas too well?). Is it safe to give it one coat of flat interior latex paint and then do a dry fit? Decisions, decisions! Latex just sits on the wood, it doesn’t penetrate very well. It is best to put latex on top of a primer, a primer gives it more bite. Gesso or Kilz primer or even shellack is what I use. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreatureCrafter Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 I would buy plain white interior paint to use as primer and for finishing ceilings and then just use sample pots. I picked up some discontinued colours for next to nothing and also some large pots of miss mixed colours from a store that does custom colour matching. The colours are lovely but obviously the machine did not match well enough for the customer. I now have 10 different colours for the price of one usually. I can mix them with the white or with each other and never need anymore paint. I have more paint than I could ever use if I decorated 100 doll houses. You really use such a tiny tiny amount. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 I use flat white interior latex paint for a primer that seems to work just fine for me as a primer. I tend to build from the ground up (AFTER at least the first dry fit) and to decorate as I go. I mask off the places I've traced in the dry fit where I will glue and stain whatever I'm going to stain before priming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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