Now that the structure has dried overnight, I started priming the walls using the same color I plan to use for the exterior, as I have plenty on hand. I also painted the ceiling with this color.
In addition to priming the walls, I primed the floor using the same brown paint that I will use for staining the tiles. This helps conceal any raw wood in small gaps between the tiles. Since I'm applying a dark stain, any light color showing through these gaps would be noticeable. I chose Greenleaf Dollhouses wood tiles, which can be glued down in various ways. You can create a template like you would for shingling or draw lines on the floor as guides.
I opted to start from the back edge of the main living room floor. I used hot glue to attach the tiles. Since they are made of thin veneer, I wanted to avoid curling, which can happen with siding. Hot glue is suitable here because it keeps them flat and prevents shifting while they dry. In traditional tile laying, you typically start from the center and work outward, but I began from a corner. I'm not concerned about how the edges align with the walls since I'll cover them with baseboards later. My main focus is keeping the lines straight.
Painting the floor first helps minimize visibility of tiny gaps between tiles, as it's impossible to get them perfectly flush. To maintain continuity, I extended the tile lines through door openings and cut the ones against kitchen walls. Laying the tiles was straightforward, with minimal cutting needed. The grain pattern adds a nice touch, so it's best to scatter them rather than trying to match them up.
After finishing the first floor, I lightly stained the tiles a dark brown, thinning out the stain to highlight the grain variations rather than completely covering them. This gives them a ceramic or stone-like appearance.
I wallpapered the living room in two tones - a textured top and a patterned bottom. I'm not worried about where they meet since I'll use trim to cover those edges. I also wallpapered the kitchen.
Before installing trim inside, I needed to put in the staircase. It's simple to install. While it dried, I tiled and stained the second floor. When staining the staircase, I realized there was a partition wall on this floor. To address this, I tapped around until I found a hollow sound indicating a slot and used a box cutter to expose it for inserting the partition wall. Although I could have left it out, I preferred its appearance and took extra time to include it.
Next, I'll need to wallpaper the second-floor gables and partition before continuing. After wallpapering those walls, I installed the staircase using two different stain tones - darker for the rails and lighter for the stringers and treads. This combination complements the hues in the tiles nicely.
While waiting for the staircase to dry, I added baseboard trim around the kitchen, varying the stain hues to mimic tile material. Since this dollhouse doesn’t come with interior door trim, I made some from basswood sticks and only did the lower half for now so that I could install baseboards around it. As that dried, I finished up by adding the handrail and top back piece to the staircase.
While everything dried, I prepared for installing roofs by measuring each room after dry fitting and wallpapering accordingly. They will be ready for installation tomorrow.
