First, the tower wall itself has to be primed and measured to see where the floors connect, so that the first and second floors are wallpapered before the wall is glued on. After this wall is glued on, you will have no access whatsoever to it from the inside of the dollhouse. This is because the entire winding staircase will be in the way, except for the third floor.
While the tower wall's primer was drying, I continued work on other things. First, I made sure the staircase was complete with an inspection. Then I began putting up partitions. You have to begin from the first floor for stability and extra support as you build up. The third floor partition is a tricky one because it has no supporting structure. I found out the mallet did a good job supporting it while the glue dried.
While the partitions dried, I measured the tower wall and applied its wallpaper. Make sure you apply the right pattern on the correct wall.
While everything dried, I made the interior door for the bathroom/hallway partition. Both of these walls are wallpapered on either side, ready for the door. I decorated the door with wood punch-out pieces from other dollhouses. I will put the door knobs last. I then stained the door. If you bought miniature door knobs for your dollhouse, you will have to put them on before you install the door. Most interior, miniature door knobs have to be hammered in place. You will not be able to do that if the door is vertical. You could end up breaking your door or the dollhouse wall. I am going to use jewelry beads for door knobs, to be glued later.
Make sure you get the right size door for your opening. It seems like each opening has a different door size. I pushed it into the opening until it was flush on all sides. If it gives you a problem, tap it in with the hammer and remember to sand it down for a perfect fit. I'll leave the trim off for now.
I primed the partitions that make up the wall in the dining room directly opposite to the staircase. You will have to wallpaper this wall before you erect the tower wall. I cut the wallpaper around the staircase landing.
By this time, all of the partitions were steady enough for me to glue on the tower wall. The wallpaper was dry enough. To put this wall on, just lay the dollhouse on its back. It will help immensely. It also won't be easy. You're going to have to strain to get it in there and may also have to use the mallet. Once it's on, clamp with masking tape. I turned the dollhouse upright afterwards. The dollhouse is very light, so turning it in different directions will not be difficult.
While the tower wall was drying, I began priming the rest of the partitions on the interior of the dollhouse. While they were drying, I began decorating the closet door. Again, I used leftover punch out pieces. I later stained it.
Once the primer dried, I began wallpapering the bedroom and got that squared away. Then I wallpapered the hallway next to it, where the gothic window is. The entire second floor is now wallpapered. I didn’t worry too much about the bedroom closet interior because I am putting a glued on door there. You can hinge the door for function. Once the wallpaper dried, I applied the closet door. This door cannot be held from the back, so tap it in gently to reduce extra work and avoid it from not fitting correctly.
I double checked everything I’ve done so far for the next difficult step - the roof. I put in all of the third floor interior walls, which were stubborn and required a mallet.
Then I built the chimney. With limited clamping area, just apply a lot of glue. Any dropping of glue will be covered by the mansard roof panels.
I painted the interior gray on this fireplace to resemble a kind of stone. The hearth is next, before the wallpaper. Otherwise, you're going to have difficulty with the enclosed chimney in the way. You also cannot wallpaper this room right now. If you do, the wallpaper will suffer because a lot of glue is required, so cut the wallpaper around the hearth once you're ready to apply it.
I then glued on the mansard roof support which goes around the roof edge like a trim. Use the mallet for this. It's very hard to get it in there without it. Start from the corner, once you hammer that corner into place, the rest goes right in.
So far there is no need to paint before construction. I can paint this entire edge support after it has dried, right on the dollhouse. This is because the mansard roof is visible right now, but not later, as it will be covered by the panels. The dollhouse will have siding and trim underneath the edge support as well.
