I had already added ceiling paper to the living room area when the dollhouse was upside down. I have to admit that I have done some dire mistakes in choosing wallpaper for this dollhouse but that's because I had totally forgotten how difficult it is to finish its maze-like interior. This paneled, living room wallpaper is really pretty but not compatible with this dollhouse. There are way too many window and doors openings in this room and so you don't get to see the pretty panels. There is just no way to position them so they don't land in an opening and you don't want to patch your wallpaper unless absolutely necessary.
I also forgot that this living room has a bay. I should have gotten four sheets of this wallpaper but only had three and I barely made it. I have none left for touch ups so I am going to have to be extra careful with this wallpaper during the rest of this assembly. Always get extra wallpaper for rooms with bays because you would be surprised just how much you need for a small bay. Because this bays ceiling is flush with the living room ceiling, the wallpaper does not need to be cut in half for easy positioning, like what had to be done with the Beacon Hill Dollhouse.
I was able to position two panels of the wallpaper on the front living room wall but barely. The front, tall window is not in the middle of the wall. It is slightly off to the left. This caused me to not be able to put the panels on either side of the window, as I would have preferred but at least I was able to get them in an area where they are visible, since the side walls didn't get any panels.
The kitchen and kitchen bay were not difficult to wallpaper at all.
Kitchen Tile Floor
I love Victorian tiles and was looking for the right moment to use a pattern I had found on the internet some time ago. This flooring may not be historically correct with this tile wallpaper and might even make you slightly dizzy, but I still had to use it. It is blue like the wallpaper so it some what matches. I printed this Victorian tile paper from the computer. I took it to my local office supply store to have it printed so the colors and pattern came out real rich and crisp.
Installing it was another story. The paper you print out from your computer, never prints out large enough to cover an entire area at once, even one as small as this kitchen floor. That's why I don't like printing my own paper for wallpaper but when you absolutely have to, like with this flooring, print it on normal copy paper. Do not print on cardstock or every patched seam will be visible.
I had to patch this flooring paper in about five different areas. I matched the tile pattern each time so the patches are invisible. Because the paper was printed on regular, thin, copy paper, the seams of the overlapped patches are invisible as well.
I glued down my tile floor using tacky glue, applied sparingly to the back. Do not try to use wallpaper paste on such thin paper. It will tear and become overly wet. This can cause your pattern to bleed. The ink from printers is not color fast. Be careful and always test a small area first to see how your chosen adhesive will effect the pattern. This holds true if you decide to use double sided carpet tape as well. This tape can cause ink to bleed as well.
The tacky glue will cause the paper to slightly wrinkle but as it dries, the paper will flatten out. Once it is completely dry, you can give it about three coats of gloss varnish and it looks like fancy, shiny, Victorian tile.
Aside from installing some baseboards and trimming the sky light opening of the living room bay, I began installing the floors on the first floor.
Vinyl Wood Look Flooring
I could not decide if I wanted dark or light flooring. The Beacon Hill already has light flooring, so I didn't want to use it again on this dollhouse but I also didn't want too much dark in an already dark interior. Why decide on one when I could use both? I decided to do just that. I used both light and dark colors to create a contrasted floor.
When you have an open walk way between two rooms, like this dollhouse has between the living room and foyer, you want to make sure your floors continue, seamlessly through out. I had to create thresholds for the kitchen doorways since the kitchen has a different type of flooring. They are basically created using a piece of flooring positioned sideways, between the doorway openings.
All doorway trims are added after the flooring is installed and you will have to trim them a little at the bottom to make up for the added height of the floor.
It takes a lot of touch ups around the baseboards, ceiling trim and doorways for the dollhouse to look properly finished. This takes a lot of patience and a lot of turning the dollhouse upside down and sideways in order to reach a lot of the nooks and crannies.
All inside edges of doorways have to be sanded, spackled and painted so they look finished and smooth.
This flooring can actually be touched up using paint, especially around the doorway trims. That is what I love about Greenleaf Dollhouses, vinyl flooring. It is specifically made to work perfectly with tab and slot dollhouses. It is true to scale and easily cut to fit around all of the architectural details on the floor plan of these dollhouses. You just have to install, the finish is already done for you.
The flooring hides any small gaps around the staircase. Now the dollhouse is starting to take shape.
