Today, I installed the second-floor door, which is easier to do while the roof is still off. Since I’m not using the exterior trims for the windows, I repurposed them for this door, as it doesn’t come with any trim. The windows are smaller, so I extended the door's "legs" by attaching thin sticks. It's not perfect because the trim had to be joined, but at least the door is trimmed—better than having no trim at all. Once the roof is on, any imperfections will be less noticeable, but leaving the door without trim would make the dollhouse look unfinished.
I also finished trimming the interior door, which also lacks trim. I made the trim from skinny sticks; again, it's not ideal, but it’s better than nothing. The front door came with interior trim, which I glued on.
Next, I trimmed the ceilings using skewers and left them to dry. While they dried, I glued on the roof that I wallpapered yesterday. It went on easily because I had done the wallpapering beforehand, so I didn’t have to worry about the twists and turns inside. Everything is done except for the trim. With the roof drying and unable to work on the exterior yet, I completed all the trim on the second floor using skewers. The first floor is mostly done except for the trim that separates the two wallpaper patterns in the living room. I can’t install that until I put in the window's interior trim; for now, I've only done one side of the staircase wall.
Before proceeding further, I need to stucco because it’s messy and difficult to control when adding details like bricks or paint. First, I have to decide how much brick I want on the foundation. Since the base of this dollhouse is very thin, I'm only bricking the walls and leaving out the front of the porch and back base. I want about three rows of bricks on the foundation, so I marked a line around the bottom of the walls where I won’t apply stucco to ensure that it adheres properly. I recommend priming the dollhouse before applying stucco with a coat of your chosen color. This helps with adhesion and prevents dark wood from showing through.
Now I'm mixing the stucco. You can mix it with water or latex paint, but I'm using acrylics in an old milk container—8 oz of Greenleaf Dollhouse Stucco mixed with 8 oz of acrylic paint in a cream tone. I'm making it somewhat thick for more texture. Acrylic paint makes a thicker mixture than latex would, so keep some extra handy in case you need to thin it out; however, mine turned out perfectly thick. It was hard to take pictures during this process due to all the mess. Applying stucco is quite messy as well.
I used a large brush to cover the entire dollhouse and then went back with a smaller brush for finer areas and added texture. The texture turned out rough and visible; unfortunately, my camera doesn't capture it well due to lighting, but I love how it looks. It dries quickly enough to handle but will take several hours to fully dry, so I'll be careful with it.
The brick sheets I got are rubbery, and I'm using Aileen’s Quick Grab Tacky Glue for adhesion without needing clamps. One side of the dollhouse needs a patch because one strip was too short. These sheets don’t patch well, but since it's in a less visible area at the back, it's not a major concern. It's better to patch in hidden spots rather than in front. Instead of cutting and patching, I decided to wrap around a corner.
The dollhouse came with window sills that I painted and glued on first while it was lying on its back. Then, I cut bricks for beneath each window sill by cutting a strip vertically and trimming every other brick half so that they fit together seamlessly. I did something similar for each side of the window but only made those strips long enough to reach up to where they curve before placing individual bricks for the arch. Always dry fit your brick pattern before gluing to ensure everything fits correctly.
After bricking around the windows, I glued in my “leaded” glass that gives a lovely frosted appearance. I modified both roof and porch trim to create gable trim by painting them red and gluing them flat against the wall's edge at the gable. Additionally, I adjusted a gable finial to serve as a trim piece inside the front gable wall. I'm planning to buy more detailed ridge trim with small peaks since this dollhouse lacks a tower or flat roof for a widow's walk. To make moving easier, I created a base for the dollhouse from its original cardboard box with brick around its edges.
Finally, I assembled and clamped the door so that by tomorrow it will be dry enough to fit into its opening.
