I decided to finish my dormers in a different way this time. I wanted to add detail to the walls but I did not want to do it with siding.
A lot of dollhouse builders want to finish their bays, dormers or other architectural details with shingles but find that the one inch scale shingles look too large or may even clash with shingled roofs. The solution is to use shingles that are half scale or quarter scale on your one inch scale dollhouse to finish these areas with. I happened to have quarter scale shingle strips so I decided to apply them to the dormers. They are the perfect size for these dormers. They are small enough to not look like roof shingles. You can do the same with the half scale shingles as well.
Because I covered the dormers, they need corner trim. I created it using strip wood. I also had to apply thinner, strip wood along the joints of the dormers front wall and roof. The gap there was too large to cover with spackle and even though the dormer has gingerbread trim for the roof, the gap would still be visible when viewed from below.
Since the walls of the dormers are covered, you will be able to see the shingles through the exterior window trims' top opening. This opening has to be covered with a small piece of thin cardboard. That way when you install the window trim in place, you will not see the shingles peaking through the decorative hole.
Just like with all of the other windows on this dollhouse, you must use spackle to hide the gap between the wall and exterior window trim before you install your interior window trim. This gap is caused by placing the exterior window trim over siding, or in this case, shingles. You have to spackle, sand and paint this edge so it is properly finished.
I created wooden window mullions using square dowels in the same size as the silk screened mullions. I just apply the wooden mullions right over the painted ones. I did it for the interior and exterior of the windows, just like I had done for the living room French window. The interior mullions have to be done before the window is installed. The exterior ones are done after the window is in place. It is difficult but worth the time since the wooden mullions really give the windows realism and depth.
I created iron works for the dormer window using leftover widows walk. I did not want it to look exactly like the widow's walk so I cut it in half. I glued it right over the exterior window trim.
I then created a flower box from strip wood for the dormer window. Adding a lot of detail to this dormer, really makes an otherwise plain dormer stand out.
