I primed all of the walls and ceilings of the living room. I then applied the ceiling paper. The best way to do this is to make a template of the ceiling using copy paper and then transferring it to your ceiling paper. Check the fit before you glue.
If you want to save on expensive wallpaper paste, you may use tacky glue to apply your ceiling paper. Ceiling paper is thick and will not buckle or warp with the moisture of the tacky glue. Apply evenly but sparingly. It does not take much of it to create a stronghold for your paper.
I then applied the wallpaper. Because the bay wall openings are square, it will be easy to create trim to frame them later.
I also began to install the flooring. I am using Greenleaf's Miniature Scale Vinyl Hardwood Flooring: http://shop.greenleafdollhouses.com/ProductInfo.aspx…. It is easy to install and cut with scissors.
When applying the flooring, cut around the tabs and slots where the bay walls will go being careful to not block any areas needed for installation. Work your way up to the living room doorway, add the first door side trim, which goes over your flooring. Dry fit the door so you can continue adding flooring around it. Make sure you butt your flooring up to the door to create a flush edge. Then you can remove the door and continue applying the rest of the flooring. Cut the flooring around the front bay like you did the side one.
Finishing The Bays Interior
You can wrap your wallpaper around the bay edges but I chose to create a trim for them instead. I just framed the opening with strips of wood, making sure they went right up to the edge of the opening for a flush fit. I then sanded, applied spackle and painted. This gives the edges a nice smooth finish. The decorative piece that goes in the openings, will be applied later but this frame will match it nicely.
You must do this before installing the bay walls so that you have adequate access to all areas.
Finishing The Bays Exterior
The exterior of the bay opening will hardly be seen but you can get a peek of them through the windows so you do not want to leave them with unfinished raw wood. Because of the limited visibility though, you also do not want to over do it with your finishes.
I recommend you paint the sides the same color as your trim so that it gives the illusion that the trim wraps around the bay wall edges. The sides will be mostly covered by the bay walls so wallpapering them is not necessary.
To the top of the bay, you can add wallpaper, because this will be the most visible part when peeking in through the windows. A scrap of wallpaper will do and it can be applied with tacky glue spread evenly and thinly. You do not want to waste wallpaper paste on such a small area.
You can also apply ceiling paper, with tacky glue, to the bay as well or you can just paint the bay ceilings since, once again, the visibility of it will be limited. I have plenty of scrap ceiling paper so I used it on mines. The ceiling paper will not interfere with the placement of the bay walls so you can apply it now.
Keep In Mind
I always try to use products sold by the manufacturer (when available) for the finishing of these dollhouses because they are specifically made for this type of dollhouse kit. The flooring I'm using, for instance, is easily cut around all of the different wall angles that are a common feature in tab and slot dollhouses.
These products are also in the proper scale for tab and slot dollhouses, which tend to be truer to scale that cabinet grade dollhouses.
Aside from the finishing products, I also try to use the doors, windows and staircases that came with the kit, as they are kit appropriate and will not cause installation issues. They are also easily detailed by you, with inexpensive craft items, creating a unique element for your dollhouse, not found anywhere else.
Always apply door and bay openings trim over your flooring, so your flooring must be done around each bay before you can install the bay opening trim.
Butt the edges of the uncut flooring sections when joining planks. This will keep the joints nice and even. Always face the cut sections towards the walls because they will be covered with baseboards.
Afterwards you can begin applying the bay walls because they must be installed before siding the dollhouse but do not apply any of the exterior bay trim yet because that must be applied after siding.
