When the River Runs Dry

It seems to me like every time I fall in love with a product, its discontinued.  I can't tell you how many tools, paints, plastic sheets, trims, etc. have vanished from the shelves, replaced, if at all, by seriously inferior products.  Apparently, I was the only customer enlightened enough to understand their worth!  More times than I care to admit, I've been left high and dry, halfway through a project, unable to finish the way I wanted because the river ran dry.

Even when a product isn't discontinued, sometimes, it can become really hard to find.  Suppliers stop carrying products, and that means favorite stores stop carrying them, too.  Spending hours on the internet, searching for a missing product, is nobody's idea of a great time.

And, once in awhile, I come home from the store with the same product only to discover...it's not the same, after all.  Continuity can be a problem for some manufacturers.  Having created multiples of the same item, myself, I know how difficult it can be to ensure that each one is exactly the same as the next.  The world of dollhouse miniatures is a small one; often, hiding behind the labels, even the big, brand name labels, are individual artisans, with other jobs and commitments.  This field is, for most of us, a labor of love; it's not uncommon for us to stay up late into the night, working on projects, long after we've come home from work, cleaned the house, fed our families, and put them to bed.  Moreover, artisans run into the same problem customers do: unavailable, or suddenly incredibly expensive, rare, or hard to find materials.  

Resultantly, the same wallpaper pattern from the same company can come in slightly different colors, the same paint can come in slightly different consistencies, the same wood can have a slightly--or totally-different grain.  If you're detail oriented, then inconsistencies like these can be a real nightmare, partially or even totally derailing your project.  What can you do?

Always buy what you need for a project, plus at least 10 percent more.  For example, if you need three sheets of wallpaper to finish a room, buy four.  Also, consider working in small, discrete steps; think of the house phase by phase, rather than organically.  Instead of buying a few windows, some flooring, some wallpaper, and some pretty trim, buy all the windows you need, finish them and install them, before moving on to the next step.  Instead of finishing a room from floor to ceiling, wallpaper--or paint--all the rooms first, before installing trim.  Plan out what trim you want to use in each room, and then buy enough trim for each room, finishing the room before you move on.  When I first started finishing dollhouses, I tended to snatch up whatever trim looked good, long before I was even ready to install trim, and lose it, forget about it, or discover, much to my sorrow, that it actually looked hideous inside the house.  I wasted a lot of money--and time--that way before I wised up.  Now, I buy everything in much smaller installments, but I almost always buy enough of everything.  

Painting 101

A recent family effort to paint a hall inspired this post.

Some of these pointers are going to be obvious.  Some of these pointers are going to be new.  It depends on your experience and skill level.  But, we all have to start somewhere, and a refresher is usually a good idea.

1.  Two, three or even four thin--thin!--coats are better than one thick coat.

2.  Allow enough drying time between each coat--at least 30 minutes.

3.  Masking tape really does work--if you use it right.  Apply masking tape only to a clean, dry surface.  That means, free from oils, dust and any other gross bits.  When in doubt, wash the wall first!  You can spray a little Windex on a dry paper towel and lightly wipe the area with it, but be sure to let the wall dry.  Then, tear a strip of masking tape from the roll.  It's better to use several medium length strip than one huge strip--masking tape can become unwieldy.  Carefully press the strip down, smoothing it out with your finger as you go.  The secret, here, is really good adhesion.  After you apply the strip, run the dull edge of a butter knife along the edge, to really press it into place.  If you're using multiple strips, then make sure to overlap them by about half an inch.  This is where the butter knife trick really comes in handy.  When you're painting the edge, don't run your paintbrush along the edge of the masking tape--this is going to encourage paint, especially watery paint, to seep under it.  Instead, angle your brush so that your strokes are perpendicular to the edge.  You want to brush up to, and over, the edge.  Brush lightly!  Also, if at all possible, don't water down your paint.  It's much better to have a few light coats than one heavy coat.  If your first coat doesn't cover completely, then don't worry about it.

4.  Don't use turpentine with latex paint.  Turpentine is oil based, latex paint is water based.  Oil and water don't mix; over time, oil based solvents (like turpentine) eat into water based paints.  A good rule of thumb is, don't mix.  Either use all oil based products--primer, paint and solvent--or all water based products.

5.  Gesso and latex paint are permanent.  Yes, this includes craft paint.  If you spill some on yourself, then you need to wash it out immediately.  Use cold water (hot water sets stains) and don't rub.  Turpentine and other solvents do not remove them, so don't even try.  All you're going to get is an oily mess.

6.  If you put on a thick coat of paint, then you must remember, drying time is exponential--one thin coat might need 30 minutes to dry, but one thick coat might need two hours or more.  One mistake a family member made was to assume that, because the wall was dry to the touch, the paint was completely dry.  It wasn't.  When he pulled off the masking tape, stringy blobs of paint came with it.  "Dry to the touch" is not a good test, don't use it.  In fact, don't even touch the wall--or furniture or whatever else it is you're painting.  Do the dishes, polish the furniture, go grocery shopping or work on another project.  Do something to distract you from waiting, otherwise you're going to end up poking and prodding at the wall.

7.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  Our brothers and sisters with desk jobs often forget that painting is a skilled trade.  It might not be rocket science, and it might not require graduate school, but it does require ability.  Being smart, or being good at something else, has nothing to do with it.  

Finally Trim!

By now, your house has all the basics--floors, walls and ceilings.  Fun, isn't it?  Believe it or not, you're over the hump.  Yes, adding trim is time consuming, but it's also a lot of fun.  It's the part I always look forward to when I start a new house.  So now you need to ask yourself, what kind of house do I want to have?

Now, more than ever, you need to plan.  I cannot stress this enough.  Why?  First, trim is very expensive.  I bought trim yesterday for four roomboxes and a small dollhouse, and it cost me about 150.00.  You need to know, before you go into the store, what kinds of trim you want and how much of it you're going to need.  Of course, don't discount the value of in-store inspiration--one of the reasons I actually trek to New Hampshire to buy supplies instead of ordering them online is, actually handling the different products gives me new and interesting ideas.  But, one caution I have is, don't buy it if you can't envision how you're going to use it.  I have a "materials graveyard" full of fun components I have yet to find a plausible use for.  I'm sure that, someday, inspiration is going to strike...but in the meantime, I'm stuck with them.

The first thing I do is clean out the dollhouse.  Do you do it, too?  Do you leave little bits of sandpaper in the rooms you're not currently working on?  How about your brayer and x-acto blade dispenser?  Come on, you know you do.  Remove them!  Put them away!  Dust the dollhouse!  You want it clean and tidy--and empty--before you even touch your trim.  

The second thing I do is place the trim I want to use for a particular room inside that room.  Here, you want to do a little measuring.  For the crown moulding, do you need two strips or three?  Give yourself a little leeway (for cuts), not less than 2" but not more than 6".  It might seem like this procedure isn't necessary...you have a general idea of what goes where, maybe even a highly specific idea.  Do you really need to physically place everything where it's going to go, just so you can take it all back out again and cut it?  In a word, yes.  First, you're going to surprise yourself, when it comes to quantities.  You're going to need much more trim than you think in some rooms, and much less in others.  The last thing you want is to find out, half way through installing the trim, that you don't have as much as you need.  In this business, nothing is certain--sometimes manufacturers discontinue trim, and sometimes they actually change the pattern.  Once, I was working on a very elaborate roombox, and, halfway through cutting the trim, I discovered that I didn't have enough.  I ordered more of the same trim--I knew it was the same because I had the part number--from the manufacturer, but when it came, it was subtly different.  Much to my dismay, I learned that the manufacturer now cut that pattern out of a shallower blank.  The two trims, the old and the new, didn't match--I had to start again from scratch.  Second, you're going to get confused.  It gets harder and harder to remember, as time goes on, what trim goes where.  Trust me on this!

Now, grab some rubber bands and some sticky notes.  Gather up the trim for each room, one at a time, and gently bundle it together.  If the rubber band is too tight, then it can cut into the wood.  Write the name of the room on a sticky note, and slip it inside the rubber band.  Now, put the trim bundles aside.  I favor small plastic wastebaskets from Target for this purpose--they're cheap and useful, an awesome combination.  As you work on each room, you can take the trim bundle in question out of the wastebasket and use it.  This is a great method if you want to maintain a certain level of organization.  I often work with expensive supplies, or work on multiple projects at the same time, so organization is essential for me.  

A note on scrap wood: I keep two separate containers for scraps, one for basswood strip scraps and one for trim scraps.  Often, a particular piece of wood is too short for my current project, but perfect for a future project.  Wood is very expensive, so I try to get as much bang for my buck as I can.

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.

A Note on Hardware

I, personally, think expensive hardware is worth the money. It makes a huge difference to the believability of your room. The most commonly available hardware is Houseworks, which is OK but not great. All of Houseworks' hardware is brass, for starters, and brass isn't exactly the right look for many houses. Its also extremely simple. Houseworks' whole product line is really best suited for Victorian, or modern, dollhouses. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with either, and nothing wrong with simple styles, in general, using Houseworks should be a style choice--not your default option. There's absolutely nothing wrong with vanilla, and sometimes vanilla is exactly what you want--but before you reach for vanilla yet again, try another flavor! There are so many flavors to choose from.

Some of my favorites are,

1. Olde Mountain Miniatures (available from Earth and Tree Miniatures, www.earthandtree.com, or directly from their website, www.oldemountain.com) makes historically accurate American colonial hardware in a variety of styles. The entire line is of wonderful quality, and perfect for a colonial or federal house. A noteworthy feature of the line is the fact that Olde Mountain Miniatures divides it up by time period and geographic area. If you're really into historical accuracy, then this is very valuable. I'm currently building a historically accurate New Hampshire colonial, and I appreciate the fact that I can purchase hardware that's historically accurate not only for colonial America, but also for colonial New Hampshire.

2. Designer Home (available from Earth and Tree Miniatures) has a wonderful line of Victorian hardware. Although its similar to Houseworks, its much more detailed. I used Designer Home hardware in the Hampton.

3. Mainly Minis (www.mainlyminis.net) sells a working Westminster chimes doorknob and doorbell. It comes with its own seperate electrical circuit and battery box.

Don't be afraid to get out there and look around!

The Doors!

Order matters, which is the main reason why planning is so important. In the first dollhouse I ever completed (notice I say "completed," not "began") I did each door only after I finished the rooms that it connected and I left the windows until absolute last. Needless to say, nothing ever looked quite right. Installing the doors first allows you to achieve a much tighter fit with all the trim in the room. Ultimately, you're going to end up with a room that looks much more like a room in a real house.

Today I'm going to talk about finishing a pre-made door. In the next couple of posts, I'm going to teach you how to make a variety of different doors from scratch. Trust me, you're a better woodworker than you think--within a few weeks, you're going to be a door making champion.

1. Pick a door, any door. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume that you're working with a standard Houseworks 6 light door. The term "light" actually refers to the 6 little inset panels in the door. But, regardless of what door you choose, the procedure is about the same so bear with me.

2. Sand that baby. The trick here is to be (don't I know it) firm but gentle. This should resonate with the parents out there: you want to get rid of the obvious flaws, but not push so hard that you rough off the beautiful, crisp edges. These are, after all, what make the door interesting. Start with a finer grit of sandpaper than you think you need, maybe 240, and go slowly. A little bit of sanding sponge (they tear pretty easily) works great to sand down those beveled edges.

3. If you're staining one side (or both sides) of the door, now's the time to do so. If you're staining (or painting) both sides, order isn't as much of an issue, but the reason you want to tackle the stain before the paint is, wood is porous! Any gesso or paint that gets on the wood now is going to stay there, and that's not really the look you want. Stain the door (remembering the sides of the door), and lay it aside to dry. After it dries, apply your first coat of varnish. I use matte or semi gloss spray varnish, here. Sprays, unlike liquids, don't leave brush strokes. It's very important, however, when working with a spray to apply very, very, very thin coats. Don't try to cut corners on this step. Waiting about 30 minutes between each coat, apply 3 thin coats of varnish. After the door is completely dry (usually about 2 hours), lightly sand the door with either 400 grit sandpaper or an extra fine sanding sponge. If you sand through to the wood, it's OK--you can fix it. Using a small brush, touch up the area with stain. If you're using a water based stain, then mixing a little bit of brown acrylic paint into it helps to thicken it up and increase coverage. And remember, real wood doesn't look completely uniform and that's what makes it so expensive.

4. Remove any dust from the crevices of the door with a clean, dry craft brush and repeat the sanding and spraying procedure. After the door is clean and dry, spray a single, final finish coat on and leave it to dry.

5. If you're painting the other half of the door, then now's the time to break out the masking tape. I use 3M painter's tape. It works well, but nothing's foolproof--this is a tough step. If you're using a pre-made door, you might want to consider staining or painting both sides of the door the same color. Run the tape around the sides of the door, creating as straight an edge as you can. Use your fingernail (or a scrap of wood) to gently press the tape into the door. You want to ensure a tight seal, here. The tape is going to give you a smooth division between the stain and the paint.

6. Break out the gesso and gesso that baby. After the gesso is completely dry, lightly sand the door. It should feel smooth to the touch.

7. Break out the paint. As with the walls, you want to start out with a slightly watery first coat--except around the edges of the door. Here, you want to apply the paint full strength, angling your brush strokes towards the tape. Once you're finished painting the door, set it aside to dry for at least a couple of hours. Once the door is dry, gently remove the tape. If you painted both sides of the door, you can use the same technique with the tape to separate the colors of paint from each other.

8. The frame of the door breaks into two parts: the lintel and the threshold. The lintel is the part that encases the door, and the threshold is the part that sits on the floor. In most houses, the threshold matches the surrounding floor--wander around your house and have a look. If, for example, you're going to be installing hardwood floors, then you might want to paint or stain the threshold to match. If you're going to be installing carpet, or tile, then you might want to paint it a brown or cream, to coordinate. In most houses, the lintel matches the trim on the door. Keep in mind that the lintel will be visible after you install the door.

9. Once you've finished the door, it's time to install hardware. If you're yearning for something other than the basic brass options, then my friends at Earth and Tree, www.earthandtree.com, have an awesome selection. Personally, I like to use something different every time.

10. Now, reassemble the door with the frame. It can be especially tricky to realign the threshold with the lintel, and I usually use a gluing jig for this step. If you don't have one, then small clamps work just as well.

Your door is ready to install. Personally, I don't use the trim that comes with pre-made doors, but that's a matter of personal taste. At this point, if you're using pre-made doors, you want to go through your house and install them all. If you're making doors from scratch, then tune in next time!

Which Dollhouse?

A note on selecting a dollhouse: start small! It's really tempting to, with your first or second house, set out to achieve all your construction and decorating fantasies. Finally, a chance to have that victorian parlor you've always wanted, install that really pretty wainscotting you've been saving, build a cute little window seat! You know what you're doing, after all, you have a number of room boxes under your belt. No! Stop! Intuitively, it might seem true that a 10 room dollhouse is really just 10 room boxes stuck together. It isn't. A dollhouse, even a small dollhouse, takes a LOT more work--and money--than you think. Things go wrong in any craft project, and in a dollhouse, those things can multiply exponentially--very quickly.

You're going to lay down flooring wrong, end up with inexplicable bubbles in your wallpaper, try a few new techniques that backfire horribly. A dollhouse can be, among other things, a huge money pit--and even worse than having to lay that pretty flooring you love so much twice is having to pay another 45 bucks for it. Pretty soon, you're stuck with a half finished dollhouse.

Trust me, I know--and if you think I'm the only one with a few half finished dollhouses under her belt, check eBay. A small dollhouse only seems boring until you take it out of the box and start to actually try to put it together--and start to freak out!

Before You Start...

This post marks the start in a series on how to build a dollhouse. You're going to be following along with me, dear reader, as I do just that. However, before we get to the fun stuff (watching me suffer), we need to get through a couple of preliminaries. Every book you read starts with the really boring "now preparation is important" speech, and I'm going to start that way, too. I'm going to start that way because, with the first couple of dollhouses I built--and never completed--I ignored it. I wanted to jump right in. I still do. The only difference is, now, I have a designated studio space so it's a little easier to do. But seriously, you need to pay attention to preparation. If you know anything about crafting, then you already know the basic "buy high quality glue"-type recommendations. I'm going to spare you those and, instead, give you my own list.

1. Designate a space for working on the dollhouse and nothing else. When I was in law school, my current dollhouse project lived on my kitchen table. This not only made for awkward dinner parties (my kitchen table was also my only table), but also for even more awkward crafting sessions. I'd have to unpack my supplies, work for an hour or two, and then pack them up again. I lost pieces, I forgot which moulding went to which room, etc. A good rule of thumb for space is, designate about twice as much as you think you're going to need--believe me, you're going to spread out.

2. Invest in some furniture--at a bare minimum, a table and a workbench. This doesn't have to be expensive. I still use the cheapo tables I bought at IKEA years ago, and they still work great. If you want a high-end workbench, Sears sells the entire Ultimate Garage series. It's affordable and sturdy. The idea here is, your dollhouse can live on the table and your tools can live on the workbench. If you have any extra money or space, consider investing in another workbench, to hold your "in progress" pieces--it's nice to be able to lay out all those little bits of molding you're sanding.

3. Invest in some organizational supplies. I buy all of mine at Target. Whether you use drawers, bins, whatever, find a way to keep your various woods, trims and other supplies seperate. I particularly love Target's small plastic kitchen organizers, little trays that are about 10" x 7". I have a ton of them (they cost about 1.50 each), and I put the bits for each room in a separate bin. That way, no matter how complicated things get, I'm still organized--and portable.

While it's tempting to go on and on about all the tools, tricks and storage ideas you need, I'm going to give it a rest. Lists like this are inherently difficult because everyone's at a different place in terms of available space, budget, and skill level. If you have any specific questions about tools, then ask me--and if you have some better ideas than mine, then please educate me (and my readers).