Usually bays are better painted, than sided, to make finishing easier and prevent issues that will affect the end results. For this dollhouse though, I wanted to side this bay but I wanted to alternate between shingles and siding. The one inch scale shingles will look to large and blend too closely with the dollhouse shingled roof, so it's best to use half or quarter scale shingles for this. I just happened to have quarter scale shingles on hand.
I first went ahead and framed the opening to the bedroom and living room, with trim. I also painted the rest of the foundation. I applied back edge trim to the back of the dollhouse and painted the foundation as well.
I then began working on the bay. I added the bay trim to separate the foundation from the bay walls. I then began glueing the shingles. These quarter scale shingles are easy to use because they are cardboard and can easily wrap around the bay in one continuous strip. I continued siding with them until I reached the bottom of the window.
I then added trim to separate the shingles from the siding. I sided around the window with regular siding. I used hot melt glue for both the siding and the shingles but I used tacky glue for all of the trim.
I sided all the way to the top of the window. I again added thin trim and continued with the shingles.
I was unsure if the pattern would line up with the top window but it did. I was able to begin and end the shingles on the bottom and top of the windows in the same way.
This is a very time consuming process, so take breaks to prevent tiring yourself out. Stand away from the bay to make sure that your siding lines are straight and make sure that your siding pieces match at each wall corner. You also have to make them butt as closely as possible to each other at the wall corners. You don't want gaps between the walls.
When you're done, you will have to use spackle to hide any minor gaps at the corners where the siding strips meet. I also applied a trim piece to the back of the bay wall to help even out the cut ends of the shingles and siding. I then used spackle to hide any gaps.
The windows are finished the same way as the other windows by applying the pediments and sills after the walls are finished. You also have to use spackle between the window sills and casings in order to hide the gap that is left there. You should also use spackle at the bottom foundation joints.
Keep in mind that these dollhouses are not perfectly square. The window openings, for instance are not exact measurements, so your siding can look a little crooked in some areas simply because the windows are not completely straight. The windows are also not at an exact position from each other, so each window might have a different lap width in the tops and bottoms.
Also the siding strips themselves are not all exactly the same widths, so even if your lap width measurements are true, once you apply the strips, the widths might slightly vary. This is also true for these shingle strips. Just keep everything as "straight" looking as possible and once the entire bay wall is done, the minor variations in lap widths or a slight slant in your siding, will not be very visible.
Now this bay has a unique, detailed look.
