Laying the Floor

The quality of your floors are going to determine the quality of your dollhouse.  Floors heavily influence peoples' first impressions of a house (large or small), because they're such a large component of its decorating scheme.  They are, to put it bluntly, too large to ignore.  Therefore, its in your best interests to invest some serious time on the floor.  I know it's really boring, but trust me, in the end, it's worth it.

The floors in the Hampton are very simple.  In later entries, I'm going to show you how to install more complex floors, but for right now, I'm going to stick with the most ultra basic floor you can lay--the standard plank floor.  As with many miniature pursuits, it's a lot harder to lay this floor successfully than it looks.  Make sure you master the techniques in this post before you move on.

For the Hampton, I used flooring sheets.  Commonly called "scribed sheathing," these are sheets of basswood that come already inscribed with lines.  The scribed sheathing here is 1/16" thick, with 1/4" thick lines inscribed on it.  Each sheet is 3" wide.  I started by cutting sheets to fit into the room.  This can be sort of a delicate process--you want all of your sheets to line up along the front of the dollhouse.  Be careful when you cut the sheets, and remember: it really is better to measure twice, cut once.  Once you've cut all of your sheets, lay them in a line somewhere out of the way.

I stained the edges of the sheets before I installed them, to save myself some time and effort.  The disadvantage to installing, and then staining, the edges of the sheets is you have to get the sheets saturated with stain while, at the same time, keeping the stain off of the walls.  This isn't easy.

To install the sheets, I use quick grip, although any contact cement would work.  I prefer not to use tacky glue for this step, for two reasons: it contains too much liquid and it takes too long to dry.  A very wet glue is going to warp the wood, and the longer your drying time, the greater your chances of something falling out of alignment.  

Spread quick grip along the underside of the sheet, and then snug it against the wall.  Always start with the sheet that's going nearest to the door.  You want to make absolutely certain that the sheet is flush with the threshold of the door.  Here, because the room was slightly too small to fit my heavier (and larger) books, I used scrap wood to weight the strip in place.  This is a good technique to use, because it makes use of your otherwise useless lengths of scrap wood.  I snugged each piece of wood into place until it was firmly (but not too tightly) pressing into the sheet.

Wait for the sheet to dry--at least half an hour.  Then, you can proceed with the next sheet.

After you install the last sheet, you can stain the rest of the floor.  Here, the center section of the floor is still bare.  For the Hampton, I used a stain I mixed myself.  However, you can use almost any stain.  When I'm looking for a pre-made stain, I'm looking for one that's water based and fairly opaque.  I want one that's water based, because it dries more quickly and it's less toxic.  If at all possible, I prefer to work with non-toxic materials.  They're a lot safer for me, and they're a lot safer for any children or pets who might come in contact with one of my dollhouses.  I want a stain that's opaque, because it disguises the grain of the wood better.  Nothing ruins scale like a huge knot in the middle of your floor, or wall.

Once the stain dries (wait 24 hours), apply 3 coats of Krylon matte finish spray.  I always apply at least 3 coats before I sand.  3 light coats look a lot better than one or two heavy coats.  If you want a more "new" looking floor, apply 3 more coats, sand and apply a final finish coat.  

Gallery of Examples

These are pictures of several different rooms, from different dollhouses and roomboxes.  Although each room represents a different historical period and architectural style, I created the components using the same basic techniques we've been covering.  As always, please feel free to post any questions or comments.

I created these two rooms using the applique technique.  The white on green simulates the plaster appliques, which were so popular in Edwardian architecture.  The blue on blue simulates the comparatively simple woodwork, which was common in working class colonial American homes.

I created this half wall using the inset panel technique.  Paneling only one wall can help to add some architectural interest to the room.

Here, in the library of the Hampton, I combined floor to ceiling paneling with wainscoting. 

In the dining room of the Hampton, I combined floor to ceiling paneling with wainscoting.  Here, I replicated a classic Georgian style, where the door blends into the woodwork.  Georgians were obsessed with symmetry; it wasn't unheard of to go so far as to balance a working door at one end of the room with a pretend door on the other.  More practically, many Georgian architects compromised symmetry and practicality by hiding doors in the woodwork.

Here, in a roombox, I used trim to frame wallpaper panels.  In colonial America, wallpaper was very expensive; trading ships imported it from China, where artisans painted it by hand.  Even wealthy homeowners could only afford a little at a time, particularly since they had to replace it every few months.  In an era where artificial light came only from candles, kerosene and whale oil, decorations got very dirty very quickly.  Panels such as this were actually removable; the homeowner (or, more likely, his servants) could remove it from the wall, change the paper inside of it and replace it.  

I created a different look for the wainscoting by reversing the trim; instead of an inset panel, I created a raised panel.

Painting the Walls

Believe it or not, this part is trickier than it seems. It's just paint, right? Do I really need to go there? When it comes to paint, the possibilities for disaster are pretty much endless. My personal favorites include obvious brush strokes, ridge marks and, my personal favorite, gloppy puddles that appear for no reason. Here are some thoughts on how to avoid these common pitfalls and make the most of your painting experience:

1. Start with good quality paint. Yeah, I know. But seriously, it does make a difference. A lot of people will tell you to start with a super expensive brush and, yeah, maybe that makes a difference. Considering as how I live on planet Earth, where I need to use my hard-earned money to buy things like groceries, I wouldn't know. I've found that the cheapo packs of craft brushes work just as well. Now, I don't get the ultra cheapo (like, 20 cents a brush) brushes, I get the slightly more expensive (8 bucks for 5) brushes. You can find packages of them at Michael's, emblazoned with inspiring names like "craft brush value pack." Basically, the difference is that these brushes are fake and the nice brushes aren't. The brushes with the white bristles (my personal favorite) are fake (faux, for you fancy people) white sable, just as the brushes with the reddish brown bristles are fake red sable. The bristles came off an assembly line, instead of from an animal. Apart from all other considerations, I can totally get behind not ripping the hair out of some hapless ferret by the roots. I don't dig hurting animals. Likewise, the bristles make it into the brush in basically the same way, too--they're gathered together in a big ponytail by a machine, glue is dabbed on the end of the ponytail by another machine, and they're inserted into a little metal cup. This little metal cup, called a ferroule, is then crimped shut by yet another machine. Finally, the ends are trimmed into a uniform shape. Voila, you've just achieved brush. Again, the difference is in the materials used--artificial glue instead of horse hoof glue (yes, "real" glue comes from horse hooves). One really good reason for studying art is that people can't BS you about materials quite as easily--a lot of "fine art" supplies exist to lure in suckers. Don't be one! Anyway, you can check out my work and decide for yourself if it sucks.

2. Decide, well in advance, what room is going to feature which colors. Nothing ruins even a really great paint job like poor planning. A neighbor of mine recently invited me over to admire her newly renovated kitchen. She'd spent a lot of money on it, and she'd gotten a great deal, at least when it came to workmanship: nicely crafted woodwork, expensive fixtures, professional paint job. The only problem was, everything in the kitchen was school bus yellow and candy apple red. I felt like I'd walked into a McDonald's. The moral of the story: coordinate! Remember, in a dollhouse, you can see all the rooms at once. For the Hampton, I chose a color I really liked, moss green, and worked around it. The master bedroom is blue, the library is yellow, and everything else falls somewhere in between on the color spectrum. Green (a mixture of blue and yellow) is the unifying theme.

Also, keep track of what other finishing materials you plan to use, when you select colors--what do you have in mind for the floors? The trim? I'm planning to use some stained woodwork, some painted woodwork, some carpet and some linoleum. I need to make sure that these choices are all going to blend in. For example, the stained woodwork is going to be mahogany, because mahogany--in addition to looking expensive--has a lot of yellow tones in it. It's going to go really well with my overall color theme. I tend to take materials on test-runs--as you can see, the carpet is just sort of hanging out in the master bedroom, while I get a feel for whether I like it there or not.

Also, note that I left a couple of the walls blank--I'm going to be installing floor to ceiling paneling. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating--the more planning you do beforehand, the better off you're going to be later on. It's a pretty sick feeling when you realize, halfway through working on a room, that you have absolutely no idea how you're going to make it work with the rest of the house.

3. Mark off the ceilings (if you finished them in the last step) with masking tape. Duh.

4. Get some (clean!) water. Do not use brush water, people. Pour a little paint into a Dixie cup and add water until the paint is the consistency of heavy cream. Yes, you want it a little too watery for this step. The point is not to cover well, but to lay a solid base coat. Plaster (and all forms of gessoes are just reconstituted plaster dust) is extremely porous. If you use thick paint, then you're going to end up with blotchy, ridgy walls. Lay on your first coat of paint. It's not going to look great. Wait for it to dry, and lay on another coat. Wait for it to dry. Lightly--and I mean lightly--sand. I really like extra fine sanding sponges for this. Now, you can start using a little more paint and a little less water. The learning curve here is really steep--you're going to find that you get a feel for what you're doing really quickly. Build up coats until you achieve opaque coverage.

Some troubleshooting techniques:

Don't give into the temptation to rush. These first steps are the slowest, but they yield the best results.

If you see little "holidays" (white spots, blotchy spots, strange areas) appear after you've just laid on a nice coat of paint, don't try to touch them up. If you do, then you're going to end up with a royally painty mess on your hands. Sit on your hands if you have to, but wait until the walls are fully dry before you play touch-up.

OK, so you have blotches and ridges--now what? First, wait for the wall to dry. Grab some sand paper (For this, I tear off part of a fine sanding sponge), dip it in some clean water and gently sand over the area. Rub in a circular, not a back and forth, motion. Wipe off any stray grains from the sandpaper with a damp cloth. Once the area dries, lay on one or two light coats of gesso. After the gesso dries, you can lightly sand it with an ultra fine sanding sponge.

OK, so you have visible brush strokes--now what? Depends on how bad they are. If they're bad, see above. If they're visible to the eye, but not too bad to the touch, then lightly sand the wall with dry sandpaper. Again, rub in a circular motion. Remember, it's better to spend too much time on this step than too little!

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!

Problem Avoidance!

Yes! You, too, can practice problem avoidance! It goes like this: before you put together the shell (or start doing anything, if it's already put together), practice a construction "dry run" in your mind. Where are the doors? Where are the windows? Is there any part of the house that's going to get blocked off? The Hampton features a "secret room" to the right of the bedroom and directly behind the bathroom--if I put it in before doing any of the finishing, then I'd pretty much be making it impossible for myself to paint the walls, add flooring or add a ceiling. Below is a picture of the floor without the walls, which form the secret room, installed.

Instead, I build the house without the secret room, and put the walls that form it aside for later. I'm not going to do all the finish work to the room before I install it, but I am going to do about half of it--the walls, flooring, and ceiling (but not the trim).

Pick Your House...

A great option for those of you who either don't want to waste time putting together a kit or find all those little bits and pieces intimidating is to purchase a pre-constructed shell. The dollhouse pictured here comes from my friends at Earth and Tree Miniatures, http://www.earthandtree.com/.

It's a wall-hanging dollhouse called the "Hampton." It's a great starter house, because it doesn't have a really challenging exterior (no windows!). It's relatively small, but it still has plenty of architectural interest. Over the next few weeks, I'll be turning this shell into some lucky doll's new home.