The attic requires the most attention. I covered the gap in the ceiling that revealed the shingles. Instead of buying wood trim or fabric, I made my own trim from cardboard. I used the box from the dollhouse, cut four pieces to size, and painted them with the same stain I used before. They blend in perfectly, and no one will realize they are cardboard.
I used skewers to trim all the ceilings and finished the baseboards in the attic with thin sticks. I also glued wooden caps onto the staircase rails.
Outside, I applied stainable wood filler to touch up around the dormer sides.
Now, let’s review this build and discuss two issues I had to fix. First, there was a problem with the porch railing. One of the posts was misaligned, leaning awkwardly no matter how I turned the dollhouse. This made it impossible to glue it to the back of the porch roof verge board. The cause of this misalignment is unclear; it’s just one of those unpredictable issues that can happen during dollhouse assembly. To keep the post straight, I had to hold it back, but that made it too far from the verge board to glue. To solve this, I laminated small pieces of thin sticks together to create enough thickness between the post and verge board. After gluing this piece in place, I attached the post trim over it, making my repair nearly invisible.
Second, I misplaced the risers for the back porch steps and couldn’t find them anywhere. To replace them, I measured and cut risers from cardboard that matched those on the front steps.
Finally, my piece for the widow's walk arrived for the back of the dollhouse, so I installed it. The pattern doesn’t align perfectly due to the length of the pieces and roof size, but it’s not noticeable when joined at the back or on a corner.
You can visit this dollhouse gallery here.
