The Rosedale Dollhouse Day 4

Today I primed the back of the staircase and wallpapered it to match the rest of the kitchen walls. Wallpapering these staircase backs is a little tricky but I basically wallpaper the bottom back first and then the top, wrapping about an 1/8”th overhang around the edge. The wrapped over strip will not be visible since it is facing the front of the dollhouse, not towards the open back. You can also stain or paint this area.

I then stained the first floor and glued the staircase assembly to it by fitting the tabs into the floor slots.

While that dried, I stained the second floor and then inserted it into the staircase assembly. This part is very hard to do. The instructions say that if you turn the floor at an angle it goes in smoothly but do not expect it to. That may be the case for raw wood but you're working with a stained floor and wallpapered walls. All of the moisture from stain and the wallpaper paste have swollen the wood making any type of sliding in, nearly impossible.

It will take a lot of effort, patience and hammering to get this floor in. Don’t use glue because it's not needed right now. This floor is not going anywhere and you will glue the surrounding walls to it anyways. Glue will be very messy and possibly drip over your wallpaper and ruin it. Try to not ruin your wallpaper with the floor edges but chances are that you might have some damage. That can be repaired by covering up the damaged areas with leftover wallpaper of the same print. Match up the patterns so the patch is invisible.

Now that the first floor is dry and the second floor is in place, it's time to put up some more walls.

I started with the front wall. It fit in place perfectly with no struggling because of the laser cut tabs which seem to fit the slots like a glove. I then put up the right wall.

Clamp everything with masking tape. Make sure all tabs are in the slots fully and edges are all flush with each other. I used tacky glue to glue the walls together because it does not drip and it dries clear. Since wallpaper is very close to what I’m doing, a clear drying glue is vital. Afterwards, I went over all of the interior joints with wood glue for extra reinforcement. Don’t use wood glue on the joints where wallpaper meets raw wood. Wood glue does not dry clear and will ruin your wallpaper. Only use the wood glue for the raw wood joints.

I glued on the back first floor strip. It's located on Sheet One and it's not marked in the schematics. Align it to the back, underside of the first floor and clamp until dry.

I also went ahead and installed the second floor staircase railing which goes between the wall and the long staircase railing. Glue and clamp until dry.