Plastering the Walls

Everyone has their own personal preference, and I'm going to teach you mine. The most common method (which I dislike) is to use wallpaper 100% on every surface possible--the reason being, it's relatively easy. Once you get the hang of hanging wallpaper, you can speed through the house. Here, the good news and the bad news are the same news: you get professional results, but your house doesn't look very good. Too much wallpaper looks busy--all these little designs, side by side, are a lot for the eye to take in. Picking coordinated colors is a big issue in any dollhouse decorating project--unlike in a real house, where you see only one or two rooms at a time, in a dollhouse, you very often see all the rooms at once. Any plan should take this issue into account. To that end, I prefer to plaster at least some of the walls in any dollhouse I build.

OK, you're probably going to read on and go, "Is all this necessary? Why can't I just gesso and sand the plywood?" The answer is yes, it is and the reason you can't is, the grain of the plywood will raise and show through. No matter how many coats you apply, you're going to end up with gessoed plywood instead of dollhouse walls. It's really an issue of scale and, for me, being an obsessive perfectionist. The technique I describe here can be a little challenging to master at first, but becomes much easier over time and provides beautiful results. I promise you, with all these building and decorating techniques, the learning curve is very steep--you're going to be creating things you love in very little time.

To complete the basic finish work on the walls, you're going to need 9 things:

1. Artist's bristol board (vellum or smooth, it doesn't really matter)

2. Mod Podge

3. Gesso

4. A brayer (my brand preference is Speedball)

5. A rubber squeegee

6. Scissors or an X-Acto knife

7. A pencil

8. Trash bags

9. A cheap painter's brush

All of these things are available at any major craft store, such as Michael's. Ask for help if you can't find them all right away.

The first thing you want to do is lay down trash bags beneath your work area. This procedure can get messy, especially if you've never done it before. Make sure nothing valuable is lurking nearby.

Cut out pieces of bristol board the size of the room you're working on first. Don't forget, you can do the ceiling, too. Remove the pieces of bristol board for a minute and, using your painter's brush, slather some mod podge onto the surfaces of the room that you want to cover. Don't skimp--too much is better than too little. Remember, the idea here is to provide a good adhesion, not to look pretty. Below, you can see how the mod podge should look when it's on the wood--thick, visible, but not dripping.

Next, you want to apply the bristol board. Keep in mind, you need to work relatively quickly here--you don't want the mod podge to dry. After you've pressed each piece of bristol board into place, roll the brayer over it (using some solid downward force) to force the air bubbles and wrinkles out. You can also use the squeegee to get into tight spots, like corners. Keep going over the bristol board until it begins to feel dry to the touch--you don't want any last minute air bubbles appearing. A thick paper like bristol board can sometimes be challenging to work with, because it twists and buckles as it begins to dry. Anticipate this problem, and you're going to be home free.

After you're done with each room, go around the edges (don't forget holes for doors and windows!) and very gently wipe away globs of excess mod podge with a slightly damp paper towel. It's better to remove these globs now, when they're easy to remove, than wait until they dry.

After you're done with all the rooms you plan to do, make yourself a cup of tea and read a book for awhile. You should NOT do anything else until the bristol board is completely--and I mean completely--dry.

When the bristol board is completely dry, use an x-acto knife and a hard surface, such as a piece of plywood, to remove the excess paper. You can lightly--and I mean very lightly--sand along the edges with 240 grit sandpaper to remove any paper fluffies. Press the piece of plywood against the inside of the wall (against the bristol board you want to cut) and gently run your (very sharp) x-acto knife down along the edge. This way, you're removing the paper with as clean a cut as possible. You want to make very sure to avoid pulling or tearing, which is why it's so important to save this step until the bristol board is dry. Remove excess paper in window holes in the same way. Below is the Hampton with excess bristol board partially removed. Note that, here, I left some walls blank because I'm planning to use other treatments (such as wood paneling) on them.

The next step is to apply an even coat of gesso to the bristol board. Ultimately, you want to apply 3 coats, and make sure that the gesso dries completely between each coat! This is the "plaster" on the walls. Don't start trying to sand until you have at least 3 coats and, even then, be very careful--vigorous sanding is going to cut right through the gesso and rip up the bristol board underneath. If you find that you end up with gesso ridges on your walls, sand them down very lightly with wet sandpaper. A good way to avoid this problem is to keep the gesso a little bit runny by mixing it with water before you apply it. It's better to put on 5 thin coats than 3 gloppy coats.

After the gesso dries, lightly sand it with dry 240 grit sandpaper. You're now ready to paint!

A note on order: you'll notice that I haven't mentioned the floors, other ceiling treatments, or wallpaper yet. There's a good reason for this: gesso is not only messy, but also permanent. So is acrylic paint. You do NOT want to start installing your beautiful (and expensive!) treatments until you complete this step. Doing things in the proper order goes a long way to eliminating many of the common construction problems we miniaturists deal with. Don't worry, we'll get there soon!