The Rosedale Dollhouse Day 1

The Top Riser on this dollhouse is shown larger in the schematics drawing than it really is. The part is actually very narrow and looks more like an interior window sill. Keep this in mind, so you do not accidentally throw it away and become confused trying to find a Top Riser that is as large as the rest of them.

I removed all of the pieces from their sheets, labeled them with a pencil using the schematics as a guide and bundled them together with masking tape or containers to hold the smaller pieces. You do not have to do this to build the kit. It's not necessary. It just makes the process faster since I don’t have to hunt down pieces in all of those sheets. If you’re a newbie, you might not want to do this because it can be very confusing if you're not familiar with Greenleaf kits.

This is a laser cut dollhouse kit but it is assembled in the same manner as a stamped kit. There are just a few finishing details you will have to be familiar with. All of the parts are finely laser cut so all of the edges are nice and smooth. You will have minimal splinters on some edges. I probably sanded down about ten of them in the entire kit, so that’s really insignificant. The rest of the edges do not need sanding since the laser cutting makes them pretty smooth and I am going to use dark stain for the interior. If you plan on using light stain, you will have to sand the dark edges off. Be careful, since too much sanding can alter the details and fit of the parts. I would recommend a dark color stain or painted trim for laser cut kits. It would make your job easier.

The edges of the kits parts are dark because of the soot left over from the burning that the laser makes when cutting. It will make the tips of your fingers black as you handle the pieces and you will have to wash your hands a few times before it comes off. You will need to wipe down these edges since the soot will mix with your light colored paints and cause them to change hue.

You would probably think that the laser cutting on the edges would make the glue harder to adhere but it does not have this effect. The glue adheres just the same as with the regular stamped kit. The edges are still just as porous as their dye cut counterparts, for perfect glue adhesion.

The laser cutting makes the details exceptional since there are no jagged wooden edges in the fine gingerbread work. The wood is still 1/8"th plywood so you're still getting sturdy wood.