I Need Help on the Fairview Dollhouse.

[Teedles]

I just recieved the fariveiw dollhouse in the mail. My friend and I invited over another friend to help us: but now we are debating how we should go along with building it. We have already punched out all the pieces for the first floor. We have also sanded them and arranged then for glueing. But, we are questioning whether to paint all the peices now, not punch them all out, paint it in the end... - we've come up with many possible ways going about it. But we can not decide which way to use. The instructions give us options, but, seeing as this is our very first dollhouse that we are building, we are not sure which one to use. Now, we are insearch of opinions from people who have built this dollhouse or have built any other dollhouse. Please, what do you think we should do? We are stuck! Please help. Thank you.

[Peggi]

My first suggestion is dry fit the house--meaning put it together without glue, using masking tape or painter tape to see if all the tab and slots fit and to get an idea of how the house will work.

Some people put primer on before building and some afterwards, primer helps cut down on the number of coats of paint you'll need and also if you are planning on wallpapering makes it easier to manipulate.

Do you plan on staining any parts such as the floors or stairs--do not paint or seal first.

Doing a dry fit will also help you see how difficult or easy it would be to paint after the build. I've not built this house so I'm not familiar with any of its hard to reach places.

[Teedles]

oh em gee, thanks so much!

[havanaholly]

Peggi didn't mention that you should take lots of pictures as you go along, both to share with us and keep some of the members from siccing the eyecandy cops on you, but for your own information, so that when you get ready to build another house you have a record of you did this one.

The instructions are useful but do NOT have to be followed religiously. In fact, I have started an album for the Laurel rehab I'm doing because the house was assembled with hot glue and I got it falling into pieces for $2. Here is why you should NOT use hot glue to assemble a dollhouse:

Assembling a dollhouse with hot glue DOES make it a lot easier on the person coming behind you who will rescue & rehab it.

[blue_moon992]

With the Fairfield, I would definatly paint/paper/stain before putting the walls in permanatly.

Doing a dry fit is the best idea.....then mark which rooms are which (I had a hard time figuring that out lol) then take it back apart and decorate.

The fairfield is so small in some places that it is almost impossible to get into later.

I learned this the hard way of course

Good Luck!!

[fov]

Funny, my advice is the opposite - I wouldn't paint before assembly. With the Fairfield I had a bad time with pieces warping after they were painted, and in particular with the chimney pieces and tower not fitting together well after they had been painted. If I had it to do over, I would have assembled the shell first, before doing any painting.

I used scrapbook paper for the wallpaper and it was stiff enough that I was able to get it in without too much trouble. The spots you may have trouble with are the foyer and the far end of the second floor hallway, but other than that, I wouldn't worry too much about papering or decorating the inside until the shell is put together.