**Unfortunately Photobucket lost all of the original photos I had taken for this post, so I can only show the finished photos. **
I primed the floor in a dark brown color because I will be using walnut colored hardwood flooring. You should always prime your floor in a similar color to your flooring, so that no raw wood peeks through planks, in corners or along edges.
I then wallpapered the entire room.
This staircase only goes against the staircase wall and no other wall joins to it, so it can be finished before installation. I am finishing mines in the same way I finished the first floor staircase. I will wallpaper it to match the room, but first some touch ups have to be done to the staircase along the overhanging steps. I used spackle to fill in any gaps and then touched up with stain and paint. Just like with walls, the area that is going to be wallpapered, must be primed.
I didn't have a big enough wallpaper piece left but joining the wallpaper for this small area, is easy. I just matched the pattern and made sure the overlapped seam faced towards the windows and not the back of the dollhouse.
While the staircase wallpaper dries, I finished the edges of the staircase opening. Remember that one of the top edges will be the top step, so you have to stain it to match your staircase steps. You will not be able to do this properly once the staircase is installed, so make sure you get all of these edges done beforehand.
After the wallpaper of the staircase was dry, I installed it. This staircase will not go in easily. You will have to use a mallet to make it fit. Apply glue only to the floor area. I found that if I lined up the back tabs into the slots and then used the mallet to pound the top section into place, it went in easier. Make sure that the staircase is sitting flush to the wall.
Once the staircase is in place, it's time to apply the ceiling. Turn the dollhouse upside down for this. Just like with all the other rooms, you have to make a template of the ceiling and then transfer that to your ceiling paper for cutting out. Use tacky glue for your ceiling paper. It doesn't have to be applied with your expensive wallpaper paste.
I then began to install the flooring. I am using the Greenleaf vinyl, wood look flooring. It is applied in the same way that real wood flooring for a real life house would be. Just stagger your joints and keep your planks straight. This vinyl flooring has a sticky back but I still use tacky glue to hold it in place better.
Because the door opening of this room, does not have a door, you will have to run your planks through the walkway and into the hall.
Since this flooring has a sticky back, you will most likely get some of the goo on the front. You will have to clean this off of your floor, once it's installed and the glue is dry. You can use a product like Goo Gone or just rub a pencil eraser on the sticky spots until they are removed.
The trim work is what makes these dollhouses beautiful and a lot of trim work was done in this room. Because the staircase is installed, it can be a little difficult to trim certain areas but there is no area that is inaccessible.
I trimmed all of the ceilings, the bookcase and the floor. You will have to dry fit a section of the staircase railing, the part that butts up against the right wall, in order to fit the baseboard trim along this wall. Just don't glue the railing on yet. It will only limit your space in this room further and make it much more difficult to do the windows when you're ready to. The railing can be installed later on without a problem since it is completely accessible.
I trimmed the staircase side to match the first floor staircase.
I applied extra trim along the right wall staircase opening, between the second floor baseboard trim and the first floor ceiling trim. This gives the staircase opening a more finished look.
If you see any wallpaper peeking through between the baseboards and the floor, just take a very fine tip brush and paint the area to match your flooring.
Another room done.
