Willow help

[Barrierunner]

Hi, a few months ago I bought my first dollhouse kit. It is for my daughter for Christmas so I have plenty of time to do it. I decided on the Willow. I recently opened the box and was very overwhelmed by all the pieces, as the instructions said, I tried not to panic. I left everything in the box and decided to do some research before tackling this project. I am a little confused because I found some conflicting information. I imagined that I would put the house together then paint and decorate it, however my husband along with the instructions and a few sites on the internet said to paint the pieces first as I go along. I don't understand how I can paint and decorate it first without seeing it all together and deciding on which rooms will be what colour etc. Where do I start with this, I am so confused lol! Also I saw that some people stain the floors and prime everything else before putting it together. If I stain the floors, do I just leave them like that? I am not looking to do anything super fancy since my daughter will be playing with it, although I do want to make it look nice and last. What options are for the flooring? I saw someone stained and applied Popsicle sticks to look like wood, would I just glue those with wood glue? And what do I do for the ceilings? Do I just paint these white? I was told by the place I bought the house from to use wood glue, however some sites said to use white glue and a glue gun. I am conflicted on what to use. I thought wood glue made sense...I really want this house to be stable and to last years. One last question, I am planning to wallpaper most of the rooms and use scrapbook paper, do I still prime the walls then adhere the paper? What would be best to adhere the wallpaper to the walls? Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

[Lisa_F]

Hello Zoe & welcome to the forum!

I've not built this particular house (but am seriously considering it - as a matter of fact I just signed into the forum to ask a question about this very kit!) but have built a few others & think I can answer some of your questions for you.

1. Whether or not you paint/decorate as you put the house together or wait until you have finished the build is entirely up to you - with one important exception. If there are areas of the house that are impossible or difficult to get to once it is built then you should paint/decorate those first. If all areas of the house are easy to access after it's built then you can do it either way. I have done it both ways and I myself prefer to paint/decorate after the house is built. The only painting I do before I build is the trim pieces - they are much easier to paint before they are attached to the house.

I would suggest putting your house together in a dry fit - which means to put the shell together with masking tape - and see if there are going to be any hard to reach areas. Doing a dry fit will also give you a feel for how the house is going to go together and will show you any potential problems (like tabs & slots not matching up exactly).

2. Staining & priming - again this is a personal choice - whether to do it before building or not. I myself always wait until the house is together.

3. Staining the floors - you can stain the floors and leave them like that or you can draw floor board lines with an ink pen prior to staining or you can put in a different floor all together. I myself like skinny sticks (like popsicle sticks but skinnier). I build (glue) them on a piece of cardstock cut to fit the room, stain it and then put it in the house. I use Aileene's Tacky Glue to build my floors. I also use Aileene's Tacky Glue to build my houses and glue on my trim. Wood glue will work great too. Whatever you do, don't use a glue gun - today's glue in the craft glue guns is not the same as it used to be. If you use a glue gun to put the house together you may end up with it falling apart in short order.

4. Ceilings - you can paint them, use a ceiling paper or do something to texture the ceiling and then paint it. I mix baby powder in my ceiling paint and then paint it on the ceilings thick and then use a sponge & pounce the wet thick paint to give it a little texture.

5. Priming Walls & wallpapering - yes, you will want to prime the walls before putting the wallpaper on. If you put the wallpaper on without priming the walls first your wallpaper will eventually discolor. There's something in the wood that will leach into the paper making it discolor. You can use regular house paint to prime - you don't have to buy primer specifically for this. I just use a flat latex house paint left over from other dollhouse builds. There are many options for adhering wallpaper to the walls - some people use real life wallpaper paste, some use thinned down glue, some use Mod Podge and some use Yes Paste. And there are probably several other options I'm forgetting at the moment. I personally like Yes Paste.

Hope this helps a little! Have fun with your house & please share pictures as you work on your build. We love eye candy around here!

Lisa

[havanaholly]

Hi, a few months ago I bought my first dollhouse kit. It is for my daughter for Christmas so I have plenty of time to do it. I decided on the Willow. I recently opened the box and was very overwhelmed by all the pieces, as the instructions said, I tried not to panic. I left everything in the box and decided to do some research before tackling this project. I am a little confused because I found some conflicting information. I imagined that I would put the house together then paint and decorate it, however my husband along with the instructions and a few sites on the internet said to paint the pieces first as I go along. I don't understand how I can paint and decorate it first without seeing it all together and deciding on which rooms will be what colour etc. Where do I start with this, I am so confused lol! Also I saw that some people stain the floors and prime everything else before putting it together. If I stain the floors, do I just leave them like that? I am not looking to do anything super fancy since my daughter will be playing with it, although I do want to make it look nice and last. What options are for the flooring? I saw someone stained and applied Popsicle sticks to look like wood, would I just glue those with wood glue? And what do I do for the ceilings? Do I just paint these white? I was told by the place I bought the house from to use wood glue, however some sites said to use white glue and a glue gun. I am conflicted on what to use. I thought wood glue made sense...I really want this house to be stable and to last years. One last question, I am planning to wallpaper most of the rooms and use scrapbook paper, do I still prime the walls then adhere the paper? What would be best to adhere the wallpaper to the walls? Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

Please introduce yourself at the Newcomers' Forum.

Never apologize for asking questions.

I will answer your questions with what I do, which may or may not work for you.

Open the box, put the acetate window and door inserts sheet between the pages of the warm-up sheets, and set them where you can see them.

Read the instructiion sheet.

Examine the schematics sheet and take the plywood sheets out of the box (I set them on the boxlid). With a Sharpie pen trace over the number on each plywood sheet and compare it to the picture on the schematics sheet. I put the plywood sheets back into the box in reverse numerical order, with the highest number sheet on the bottom of the box and sheet #1 on top.

Read the instruction sheet, comparing the numbers and parts liisted with where they are on the schematics sheet. Lay all the paperwork and acetate transpanencies back in the box, close it and go fix yourself a cup of hot chocolate or aged bourbon and read a trashy novel or take a long, soaky tub bath and get a good night's sleep.

Assemble painter's tape, utility (or craft) knife, corkbacked steel straight edge, selfhealing cutting mat, carpenter's wood glue, sandpaper, sanding block, clamps and primer (I like flat white interior latex).

With your painter's tape and knife begin dryfitting the shell of your kit. This is where you sand or shave the tabs & slots for a perfect fit.

I prime first, before assembling with glue, so this is where I trace along adjacent edges. I slice painter's tape lengthwise into strips 1/4" wide and mask off the edges that will be glued together (including tabs & slots), since paint/ primer/ stain causes wood fibers to swell. and doesn't do wonderful things for glue joins. I mask off around door and window openings, where I will glue on the frames. Whilst the house is in dry fit you will be able to see which parts will have to be decorated before assembly (stairwells, interior hallways) and which can wait until the walls are up. I have been known to turn my utility knife upside down and scribe "floorboard" lines into the wood and then stain it. I also like to split 6" lengths of iron-on wood veneer into floorboards; they take stain nicely, too. The reason for priming first is that all wood contains acids that will, over time, discolor paint or wallpaper.

You can paint your ceilings, use paper on them, or any combination of treatments, just like for your walls. Anything that can be done with & to a real house can be done in mini, if you want to.

You don't mention how old your daughter is. If she's very young, you might want to leave off doors, windows and electric lights until she's older. Just painting the house and staining the floors should be fine, and paint the roof rather than shingling it at this point should be OK.

[rbytsdy]

Welcome, Zoe-- you've come to the right place!

There are some fabulous Willows here-- Stenty's Willow http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=1548 and kellyannmo's half-scale Willow http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=5560

for example.

You can see my Willow build blog here: http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?app=blog&blogid=82&cat=7

Everyone finds her own ways to do things, but these are the methods that I've come to prefer:

I was planning on using wallpaper and floor/ceilings mounted on cardstock, so everything needed to be primed. I sanded and primed (and then sanded on the primer) the Willow's walls and floors and ceilings (being careful not to get primer in the corners that glue would be used) and then glued it together with wood glue. The Willow is all big open spaces so I wasn't concerned about not being able to reach after assembly. I dry-fit the assembly a few times (with masking tape) until I'm sure everything will fit together correctly. I like to see the whole house structure together so that I can map out my wallpapers!

I use wood glue for main structural joins, and Aileene's tacky glue for just about everything else (including plank flooring). I don't even own a glue gun. For flooring I have also used plastic "tile" sheets, scrapbook papers or upholstery fabric; I used to use popsicle sticks but now I like basswood strips (more to scale and not any more trouble than the sticks).

For ceilings, I have been using the embossed scrapbook papers that one can find at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

Looking forward to seeing your build!

[Muriel]

I came across an already built one here in a model railway shop in the UK (family selling a few non railway related bits in their shop) and was so excited! I rehabbed it, and had no problems decorating it already built. I think the downstairs right room has a fireplace/shelf area - I think that must have been loose because that would probably have been less easy to decorate once glued in.

Have fun, and dry fit as often as you need until you feel comfortable glueing - I've built my Fairfield in dry fit at least 4-5 times already!

[mesp2k]

...I agree with rbytsdy - in dry fit you can see each room all put together also the whole house & at lease come to some decorating conclusions &/or actual painting/wallpapering etc.

[havanaholly]

My kits talk to me, and in dry fit is when they tell me how they want to look and if they want anything bashed (different ir additional).