While everything dries, I decided to begin painting the half timber trim. This is something that has to be done before installation. The half timber trim on this dollhouse is made of white cardboard. Don’t let the cardboard intimidate you. The possibilities for what you can do with it are endless. You can even stain it. All you have to do is paint it brown with one coat only, to look just like wood grain. I was surprised when I first saw the effect with the first coat of paint. Several coats of paint were needed for the right tone of brown.
While the parts for the half timber trim dried, I worked on the chimney side. After some analysis, I realized it lays flat on the wall. I printed out some bricks and glued them to the area that will be the interior of the fireplaces. I then glued on the chimney side and clamped it.
I wallpapered the back walls for a finished look from the outside. I also wallpapered the bay and set it to the side for it to dry completely before gluing it to the dollhouse.
Now I’m ready to begin some bead boarding. I cut skinny sticks to the approximate length I want them, about half way. They do not have to be perfectly flush on the top and bottoms because I’m going to trim them.
I then began gluing the first one on the front left corner. Then I worked my way to the door. I was really hoping that they would turn out flush to the door because this dollhouse has no interior trim. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the front window. I glued in the window first and then began the bead board on this wall. I began from the edge of the door and worked my way to the window. It did not end up flush to the window edge. I prefer it to be flush to the window, so I began from the door side. I can always hide the window with drapes without hiding the door. I changed up the pattern a little under the window.
Then I began the other side of the window, starting from the wall. It did not turn out flush to the window. If I try to add another skinny stick in that area, it will be visible from the outside, so I have to leave it alone. There is nothing I can do about it except that when I buy the drapes for the window, this will all be hidden.
I trimmed out the bead board, top and bottom with skinny sticks. I put in the fireplace hearth, sides and mantle before I began bead boarding on this wall. After trimming, I began staining. It is so much easier to stain this bead board after installation. I love the way that I stained the fireplace darker. This was actually a mistake but it worked out in the end. I stained the top floor as well just to have that done.
I put in the door because I want to finish the front wall. It went in very easily and then I painted it blue. I also painted the entire front wall, sanded it and then painted it again.
I dry fitted the half timber trim first to see exactly what it doesn’t hide, so I can spackle it. With this dollhouse it is not necessary to spackle all of the tab and slot gaps because the half timber trim will cover most of them. I saw that one particular slot wasn’t covered, so I spackled, painted and then glued it on the painted half timber trim.
I glued on the entire bay assembly to the dollhouse. I continued finishing each side of the dollhouse and installing the half timber trim. You have to watch your trim until it is completely dry because it has the habit of popping up in certain areas. Use plenty of masking tape to clamp everything but keep an eye on it.
I printed out more bricks and covered the entire exterior of the chimney with them. I used a glue stick to apply a lot of paste to the wood itself and then applied the brick printed paper. Don’t use watery glues on regular typing paper because it will warp massively.
I used the doors' window exterior trim as a template to cut an exact replica of it on leftover cardboard from the dollhouse to make an interior trim. I painted it the same color as the fireplace.
