The Coventry Cottage Dollhouse Day 2

Installing the porch roof is a difficult step, so dry fit several times to get a feel of how to best put it in. It's supposed to snap around the dollhouse and sort of clamp it all together. If your walls are straight with work well done, it should be easier to move along with the build. That’s why I always emphasize to keep your dollhouse straight and joints tight from the foundation up. If a part doesn’t fit right, don’t rely on spackle to hide the gaps. Do everything you can to make it fit right before you move on to the next step.

To make the installation of the front bay easier, I painted the bay roof first. I then added the walls. Installing them is easy. I clamped everything to dry. I’m not going to install the sill yet because the bay has to be painted beforehand.

Before you can begin working on the porch posts, you should finish all of the painting. Make sure you paint the floor, porch roof, top and bottom, and all the walls. I painted and then spackled all of the gaps and gave it a second coat of paint.

For the porch posts, you have to make sure the porch is finished and that the posts and trim are completely painted before installation. All the porch posts and trim have to be assembled at once. I put each porch wall first and then each corresponding trim on top of them. Don’t let the glue dry before finishing it completely or you won't be able to move things around in order to make it all fit. Start with the posts that are closest to the front bay.

While the porch is drying overnight, I worked on the bay. I spackled all the gaps between the floor and roof. I then painted the bay and added the sill, which I had already painted and was ready to be put in. I put skewers between the bay walls. The gaps there were just too large to cover up with spackle and it wouldn’t have looked right. The skewers helped conceal and perfect the look.