My first dollhouse - orchid

[Kataylor3712]

Starting my very first dollhouse ever. Ive done house miniatures.

Questions:

Is it better to sand and paint before assembly of parts.

 Can I use arcylic paints? 

Any other thoughts/suggestions 

Thanks in advance 

[havanaholly]

Oh, I hope you'll introduce yourself in the Newcomers' Forum, I'd like to hear more about the miniatures you've made.

Sand and/or shave the parts needed to make a better fit, and use painter's tape instead of glue to fit things together (we call this "dry fit"), so you can look the house over and let it tell you what it wants to look like.  Because glue adheres better bare wood to bare wood, I do some rather tedious prep work, like noting what wants stain rather than paint and tracing abutments with a pencil so I know where to mask off then I'm ready to prime and paint or paper (you can always paint over stain, but stain over paint just doesn't ever look right).  I use flat white or off-white interior latex paint to prime with, and it can be tinted any special color you want with acrylic paint (I use mine from the tube, but you could use craft paints if that's what you have).  Another useful thing about the dry fit is that you can see where you will absolutely have to decorate before gluing because your hands won't fit.

The Orchid is a cute house; I have built two, so far.