Today, I worked on the living room bay wall on the first floor.
Siding and Windows
I installed siding up to the porch roof and then added one of the windows. This process was similar to what I did for the front of the dollhouse, but this window has a sill, unlike the French window at the front. The installation went smoothly. I recommend sanding the slots on the sill well and then using a mallet to tap it into place.
Living Room Bay
The living room bay on this dollhouse is quite plain, so I decided to enhance it. I added a stained glass ceiling by gluing my finished stained glass over the opening I created and framing it with trim from the dollhouse kit. I also added extra trim along the back edge against the sided wall.
To give it a more detailed appearance, I installed Victorian trim along the tops of the roof fascia. Even though there’s no siding on these walls to create gaps, I still spackled and finished the inside edges of the exterior bay window trim. It's important to eliminate any gaps, no matter how small, especially with white trim. I added white dowels between the windows at the bay wall joints for extra detail and depth. This not only strengthens the structure but also hides gaps without needing spackle, which can be difficult to sand smoothly in these areas.
To incorporate architectural details from the Morley Dollhouse, I framed the bay under the windows with strip wood, similar to how Morley's front bay is framed. I then used a stencil and spackle to create raised designs on the inside of each framed panel, echoing Morley's bay design.
Foundation
I decided to make my own foundation trim because the dollhouse's original trim was rough and uneven, with some corners not meeting properly. Using balsa wood strips allowed me to achieve a nicer finish.
For the foundation, I used printed brick paper and wrapped it around the bay as well. While this wasn’t my first choice for stone—I'd hoped for a lighter color similar to Morley's foundation—I couldn't find a suitable option. I considered using a plastic polystyrene sheet but was put off by wrapping plastic around such a complex foundation. Paperclay was another option, but I didn’t have any on hand, and working with it seemed daunting. Plus, it would add extra thickness that wouldn’t work for my foundation. In the end, I chose gray brick paper, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Since it's thin paper, if I find a better stone in the future, it will be easy to refinish.
