The Sugarplum Cottage Dollhouse Day 2

Now that the shell is completely dry, I have to begin the interior finish. I’m going to stucco the first floor ceiling first. I can't do it later or my wallpaper will be ruined. To create the stucco, I first needed a small container and a thick bristle brush. I put in about two heaping tablespoons of spackle into the container and mixed it with one tablespoon of paint. You can use any paint you want, but I’m using acrylic white paint. The measurements are approximate, you just want more spackle in the mix than paint. I didn’t have to make a big batch of this mixture because the dollhouse is so small.

You want to mix the spackle or paint combination until it looks like a thick cake icing. If it's runny you won't be able to make patterns in it and it will just go on flat like paint. The thicker the mixture, the more texture you’ll get out of it. I then brushed it onto the ceiling in circles to make a pattern. You can make any pattern you want. The trick is in how you use your paint brush. You can dab it all over the ceiling, make circles or irregular brush strokes, any kind of stucco design you wish. You just want to make sure you cover all of the ceiling evenly and thoroughly, including the corners and edges. I put about three coats of this paint mixture on mine.

It doesn’t matter if it gets on the walls because I’m going to wallpaper the top half of my walls. You can use this mixture for any stucco work you want done, including the whole outside of your dollhouse. It hides gaps very well. White paint and spackle are always on hand when you build dollhouses, so it's economical. You would be amazed at how quickly it dries and keeps its texture throughout.

I’m going to prime the walls downstairs. I really only need to prime the top half of the walls since the bottom will be covered with skinny sticks to make wooden bead board. I primed the dollhouse while it sat upside down, so I wouldn’t accidentally drip paint on the floors. I’m going to stain those so they have to be kept protected from any paint.

I have to let everything dry completely before I begin to wallpaper the top half of my walls. I also have to wait for the stucco to dry completely before I can touch up anything I want to on it.