Questions about Minwax/Poly, Electrifying/wallpaper, molding,floors

[bluecaly]

Hello Everyone, I have several questions about different areas.

I found a Victorian styled built dollhouse at a Flea Market but it needs some tlc. The highest point on the dollhouse is 33 inches tall.

I am building multiple House of Miniatures Kits and Realife Miniatures kits, what is the best stain and polyurethane/shellac to use? Any suggestions? I have the Minwax 2 in 1 stain/poly, would that be ok? Oh and I bought the wood preconditioner since the wood is old and dry.

I was wondering about flooring in a dollhouse? I want to do wood floors. Some of my floors just need a stain/finish, others need wood flooring installed on top because of the two pieces of wood coming together. Any product suggestions? Also if I use wood clapboard as flooring what glue should I use? Or is it best to buy the ready to install wood flooring?

I plan on electrifying my dollhouse but I am not sure if I could do it myself or if I should have it done at the dollhouse shop near me? I want to have multiple outlets in each room to move lamps around. Also after installing the electricity, how do you wallpaper? The shop near me charges $10 per room for electric + $10 to wallpaper. My dollhouse has 5 to 6 rooms.

I have a 1:12 or 1:1 scale dollhouse with small 10 3/4 inch deep rooms that are 9 1/2 inches in length. With ceilings that are about 9 1/4 inches tall. I want to add molding on the top and bottom of the walls. Is there a size of molding that would be best for such small rooms?

Thank you for your responses, I am new to the hobby of miniatures. I need to learn the skills and secretes of miniatures. I appreciate any tips or advice.

I have included a picture of my house and the wallpaper books that I will be using.

[More Minis Dollhouses]

Wow thats the Tennyson Dollhouse, congratulations! Nice find.

The Minwax brand stains and poly will work well for your kits. If you find it in the pen version it would be even easier to apply for small areas.

There are a lot of wood floor products for a dollhouse but the one I've seen most often is the Houseworks wood sheet. You would probably want to adhere it with a non water based glue in order to reduce warping. I believe some people use rubber cement to adhere it. I personally like the Greenleaf vinyl wood look flooring. Very easy to install and has a real wood look finish.

Wow that is an excellent price for electrifying and wallpapering a dollhouse. Being the lazy person that I am, I would probably go for it if I didn't have the experience and know how. If you want to do it yourself though, its easy and you should apply your wallpaper to templates made of foam core or card stock so you can access your wiring later if a problem comes up. Adhere your wallpapered templates to your dollhouse walls using double sided carpet tape or poster puddy so they are easily removable later. You can also wallpaper right over your tapewire and cross your fingers that your wiring will last...

Your moulding should be for one inch scale dollhouses. I personally do not buy miniature mouldings because they do tend to look out of scale with the smaller tab and slot model dollhouses and so I make my own but you can defiantly get one inch scale mouldings and if they seem too large, you can get them in half scale to use on your dollhouse. It might have a better proportion.

Welcome to the world of minis!

[More Minis Dollhouses]

*definitely not defiantly......lol silly autocorrect.

[Rhonda]

I make my own floors usually out of craft sticks sticks or thin veneer strips. I use wood glue on both. Where did you find your wall paper booklets? I love the look of the Victorian one. I as of yet have not wired a dollhouse but there are many people here who will advise you on that. Welcome to the forums.

[havanaholly]

The dh wallpaper books are from Dover Publications; you can Google to go to the website and order them; check out their other dollhouse books. I use rubber cement to apply woodstrips for flooring, although I also like to use the iron-on wood veneer split and cut to size, and for that I use a narrow bead of tacky glue and then merrily run my iron over the floors once the strips are all down; then I finish them with stain.

Welcome to the little family, Maria. Your dollhouse is 1:12 scale; the house you live in is 1:1 scale.

[bluecaly]

I make my own floors usually out of craft sticks sticks or thin veneer strips. I use wood glue on both. Where did you find your wall paper booklets? I love the look of the Victorian one. I as of yet have not wired a dollhouse but there are many people here who will advise you on that. Welcome to the forums.

I found my wallpaper books by posting a wanted add on craigslist and a nice man sold them to me after contacting me. I have seen them on ebay once in a while but you have to search the author.

[bluecaly]

Wow thats the Tennyson Dollhouse, congratulations! Nice find.

Thank you for your advice and identifying the dollhouse. I tried looking up pictures online with no luck. Now I know

[WyckedWood]

Best of luck with your house and new hobby:-)

Amazon is a good source for finding inexpensive used dollhouse books, including the Dover books.