I need to work on the interior before I can continue with anything else. You could have chosen to wallpaper the house before assembly but despite the small scale, this house is simple enough to be able to wallpaper afterwards.
I printed out some wallpaper and flooring in quarter scale. This is the time that printing wallpaper from a computer is ideal and inexpensive. You can get very good quality prints if you take the files you want to print to an office supply store. After I printed my patterns, I had to make a template of the floor to cut out the right size flooring from the printouts. This will save you ink because you can make the mistakes with the blank paper template rather than your print outs. Once the template fit perfectly on the floor, I cut it out of the printed pattern. I glued the pattern to the floor with a glue stick. It's really the best glue you can use for these small scale print outs because it won't soak through your paper and it has very good adhesion.
I placed the paper on the floor of the future kitchen. The oils in your hands can ruin your pattern if you touch it too much so it's better to press your paper down with a skewer or some other object. That way you can get into the corners very well and you won't rub the pattern off. The ink from the printer is very delicate and can easily rub off or smear. You can seal the paper to prevent these problems but the paper itself is so thin that I didn’t want to risk sealing it just yet. The glue in the back of it will help make it a little stronger so I can seal it later with a little bit of matte varnish. Test a small area on another sheet of the same paper to make sure it doesn’t ruin it. Printer ink can change color or bleed easily.
When you get ready to cut out the wallpaper from the windows, do it only after all of the glue has dried. The side windows can not be cut from the inside out because your knife won't fit so you have to be extra careful cutting them from the outside in. Make sure your xacto knife is very sharp and go slowly.
I’m finishing up the first floor completely before moving to the second. The gable shape of the roof which will make the second floor ceiling will force me to have to plan out very carefully where to position the wall partitions and what shape to make them on the top so the roof fits. I also have to decide whether it's best to wallpaper before or after.
You have to use one of the window trims to cut out the interior windows to size. They are way too big as is and you will see them poking out all around the interior trim. I cut mines to the size of the interior trim using the outer edge of the trim as a guide so the window fits right under the trim and the trim can be glued over it. Center the windows well so they all look the same. I guided myself by the middle line in the window. I centered it on the window trim and cut around from there.
I glued the plastic windows on first and centered them carefully. Then I glued the trim on top of them. I also glued the outside trim. I won't have enough of the interior trim for all of the windows so I will have to make my own from some cardboard. You can use any thin white cardboard, like the kind from cereal boxes. It’s the same thickness as the rest of the trim.
After gluing all of the bottom windows, I glued on the door. I had to make the interior door trim just like I did the missing interior window trim. I plan on leaving the door a wood color on the interior. I'll varnish it later.
I touched up the exterior paint and glued on the shutters. I then inserted and glued on the front porch floor.
Now it's time to keep going upwards to the second floor. I temporarily put on the front roof and held it with tape. I need to measure where the two side walls touch it because I will have to wallpaper before it goes on. I also dry fitted the back roof and marked where I needed to cut, so the top floor is open. After I measured, I cut it and now I have an open back roof.
Now I have to make the partitions. I was thinking of making three rooms up here instead of two. I was able to know how to shape the partitions by guiding myself on the shape of the side walls. With a lot of tweaking back and forth to get the right fit, I was able to make the partition wall. I used it as a template to make the second wall since I decided to make the three rooms up here. I marked where every partition wall goes and where the roof would fall. I began applying the different pattern wallpapers that went with each room on each marked wall and the interior of the roof.
Once the roof is wallpapered and in place, all of the wallpaper patterns will go in their corresponding rooms. Make sure you don't get your patterns confused and that they are all facing the same way.
Before gluing anything on, I made sure the floor was put in. I also wallpapered the partition walls before putting them on.
When that was done, I glued on the front roof first. Notice that I didn’t have to use the kits roof supports since the partitions I made will act as supports. Then I glued on the partitions making sure to butt them right up against the seam of where the two different wallpapers meet.
