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2013-03-23T18:36:00.000-04:00

More Minis @ Blogspot will always be your number one stop on the internet for step by step assembly blogs of popular tab and slot dollhouses by Greenleaf and Corona Concepts Dollhouses.

These beautiful but often over looked dollhouse kits require a basic knowledge of their unique assembly process in order to achieve a successful outcome. I am dedicated to helping new dollhouse enthusiasts become better acquainted with these kits. So, give tab and slot dollhouses a second look and you will be surprised at how rewarding owning one can be.

In this blog, you will find helpful information on wooden, tab and slot dollhouse assembly and finishes. Everything you need to know to help you through your next dollhouse project is just a few clicks away.

Bookmark this site so you don't miss when new dollhouse models are added. Don't forget to visit my gallery and browse through my list of many informative links while you're here.

Enjoy your stay!

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 30

2013-03-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days I have been doing a lot of shingling on this dollhouse.

First, the front wall gable. I did a half timber trim in a contrasting, lighter purpler for the side gables but for the front, I wanted shingles in the same contrasting purple.

In order to do this, I had to make a template of the gable front and shingle it. Then I applied the shingled and painted gable template to the wall. This is the easiest way to do it since this dollhouse is small and it will be hard to try and cut all of the angles for these shingles in such a tight space. You also have the round window to deal with and it is so much easier to shingle around it on a template than on the actual wall. I also applied the exterior window trim, to the template itself before glueing the whole completed and finished template onto the wall.

Binder clips hold it firmly to the wall until dry. Once dry, you have to use spackle on all of the edges to hide any gaps.

I made templates of all the roof panels and there are a lot of them. I shingled and painted them all off the dollhouse. Once dry, I glued each corresponding template to the roof. Lastly I added the roof trim, which I painted in the same color as the shingles.

I think I achieved the look I was going for with this little dollhouse. It was a lot of tedious work to apply all of these finishes on such a small scale but the end result was worth it.

Browse through this dollhouses gallery here.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 29

2013-03-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today I finished the interior trim.

Like I have mentioned before, real miniature moulding can be very expensive and so I like to leave it for when I am adding an architectural element like a staircase that wasn't there or a gazebo to the front porch.

For crown moulding, baseboards and general trimming, which I have to do over and over on all of my dollhouses, I like to use basswood strips and thin dowels. They are not only relatively inexpensive, they are easy to work with because it eliminates the need for miter cuts and they are user friendly for tab and slot dollhouses which have unique measurements that do not always work well with real moulding. Tab and slot dollhouses are truer to scale than other types of dollhouses so real moulding sometimes looks too large for them especially for the smaller two and three room cottages. Not to mention all of the different angles and heights for windows and doors which might get in the way.

Speaking of which, is an issue in this particular dollhouse. The front door basically reaches the edge of the ceiling so applying moulding on top of it will not be possible. You will have to cut your mouling up to the door frame and then continue on the other side. It's not the ideal situation but these are the types of things that come up with tab and slot dollhouses so you have to work around them in the best way possible.

Trimming is essential for these types of dollhouses. In other types of dollhouses they can be considered a nice decorative detail to add more realism but in tab and slot dollhouses, they make all the difference in the world. You will not get a nice finished look unless you trim everything you possibly can. It makes the difference between just a dollhouse you put together to play with and a true personalized display case for your miniatures. You need for trim for aesthetic reasons and for the sturdiness of your dollhouse.

I trimmed the dormer openings of the attic with basswood strips. It hides any wallpaper edges on these walls which had to be wallpapered before assembly. You will need to do some miter cuts for this. I eyeball all of my cuts, if you can believe it. I used the dowels for the wall joints of the attic and the first floor ceiling.

You can use as much trim as you want. Some people even add trim along straight wall joints. This dollhouse though, did not require as much trim as I thought it would. I think it looks good with what I used.

I also trimmed the back edges of the walls and floors. This is another must. You want to make sure your edges are nice and finished and though you can sand and paint/stain them to match, I find that nothing gives it that truely finished look like trimming. With trim you can also straigten any curves or slants in your floor or walls and hide some areas that are not so nice to look at like the back, top edge of your staircase.

This little dollhouse is just about done. Shingling is what's left and I will begin that tomorrow.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 28

2013-03-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a cold couple of day here in Florida and so I didn't work on the dollhouse. I find that when it's cold, the glue and paint just doesn't dry properly.

Afterwards though, I went ahead and installed the front porch trim. This will need a lot of work. You will have to sand it a couple of time and apply touch up paint accordingly. The details are very small on this railing and paint easily globs in the corners, no matter how careful you are. I find that a craft knife like Xacto, will help you scrap out any paint globs from tiny places. Then you can just touch up the paint in that area. Be careful, you do not want to loose any of the dollhouses details because of the paint.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 27

2013-03-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that those that have been following my blog for a while now, may have noticed just how many days it has taken me to get this far on this little dollhouse. Typically it does not take this long but these half scale dollhouses require a lot more work and detail. They take a lot more time especially with the exterior finishes I chose for this one.

Today I was able to finish the front wall siding up to the roof eaves. This is where I will stop using siding and I will use shingles to complete the top half of this wall.

Now that this lower part is done, I can go ahead and begin the porch trim installation. The side trim has to go on first and you can see how it hides the rough edges of the siding once its up.

Notice the porch roof. I used black sandpaper to cover the flat, horizontal areas. This sandpaper is going to be a very similar color to the roof color I am going to use and the foundation color. It gives it a nicer finish than just paint alone and I did not want to shingle an area that is not slanted nor very visible. This sandpaper piece came with the kit.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 26

2013-03-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

The kit instructions are very good at detailing how this door is installed but I will give you some tips.

First dry fit your door so make sure it fits. You will have to sand it down on all sides so the door does not snag on itself as you open and close it.

Sand the sides of the door tabs that go into the floor and top unit holes. These tabs are square but they work better rounded and without any sharp sides that will snag as the tabs turn in the holes.

Assemble the top unit as instructed. It basically goes laminated together to form the top door trim but it has two holes for the top door tabs to go into so it can move.

Make sure you have a good door fit before you install the bottom tabs of the door into the porch floor and the top tabs to the top unit. Slide the top unit into the top of the door opening, with the door in place.

Swing the door to make sure it all works and take it out again if it does so you can glue it back in. Make sure to not get glue on the moving parts of the door.

Use spackle both on the door edge and the opening to fill in any gaps in the laminated parts.

Add doorkobs if you wish.

If you can remember the picture of the Lawbre Dollhouse, I am trying to borrow finishes from, in the introduction of this assembly blog, then you will remember the stonework on the front facade of the porch foundation.

I had a similar stone pattern printed out, in scale and the right color, and glued it to the front of the porch foundation, recreating the same look. I used tacky glue, sparingly to glue it.

Your stone work does not have to be a printie. You can create it using paperclay, wood, real stone and mortar, stone veneer and even polystyrene plastic stone sheets. You can even stencil your stone look using craft paint. Your imagination is the limit.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 25

2013-02-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Now this front door assembly, is quite tricky but once you decide on how you want it to look, it can go quite smoothly.

First, you have to paint your door trims but do not paint the little tabs that go into the top and bottom holes, which will cause the door to have movement. That's right, this is a working door without the need for hinges and it's part of this kit features.

I wanted this door to have a complimentary colored stained glass so I went online, printed the stained glass as PDF, in the right scale, and then had my local office supply store print them out for me. The colors are very vibrant and the paper is good quality.

I made four print outs because I have to laminate their backs together in order to make two stained glass "window panes" for the double doors. That way you can see the stained glass from the exterior and interior of the dollhouse.

Use a glue stick to laminate these printies together because it has minimal moisture and will not wrinkle or warp your "panels".

Now this particular door does not have bottom panels. It has window openings on the top and bottom. This is not the look I want. I want stained glass on the top and panels on the bottom so I had to make them myself.

I used a strip of birch veneer siding to make the middle and bottom panel. It is the right width for this door and the perfect thickness for sandwiching between the door panels.

I painted the top part dark purple and the bottoms light purple. Of course, I had to dry fit the siding between the panel doors in order to mark where to paint.

Once that was done and dry, I assembled the doors by sandwishing the "stained glass" on the top part and the colored siding on the bottom, creating a stained glass, paneled door.

Use small binder clips to clamp the laminated parts together.

This assembly must be completely dry before installation to the dollhouse.

While that dried, I went ahead and painted the porch floor.

Remember that you do not have to print out your stained glass. You can make your own, real stained glass using kits and supplies they sell at your local craft store.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 24

2013-02-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

You must use either a Q-tip or a stiff paint brush to apply spackle to all of your gable edges and then touch up their paint. The siding never is perfectly flush to the gable joints so spackle will fill in any tiny gaps. This is a must step before you install your gable gingerbread trim.

Do not try to use your finger to do this because it will just glob spackle on your siding and it will loose definition as it gets close to the gable. A brush will help you get the spackle in the gaps and not under the siding where it will glob in the overlap.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 23

2013-02-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

After I painted the siding, I installed the exterior window trim, sills and sill trim. As you can see, it would have been extremely difficult to cut siding around these details successfully.

You will need to use some kind of weight to hold your window trim flat against the siding.

You might have a slight gap under your window trim because of the extra thickness of the siding underneath. Use a Q-tip and fill with spackle. Then paint it.

I assembled the front porch steps. Notice in the pictures how they are put together. You begin their assembly through the bottom of the dollhouse.

If you want to make your steps and risers different colors, you must finish these parts before assembly. I plan to make them all one color so I was able to assemble the entire steps to finish them later.

I added the window shutters to the dollhouses. If you want the shutter trim to be a different color, you must finish it before laminating it to the shutter backs. Always paint everything before installation.

I then glued the finished shutters to the dollhouse. Having already installed the siding, I did not have to cut it around my shutters and I got a nicer, neater finish.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 22

2013-02-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

I installed the interior window trim and window panes to the front windows today.

I sided the front lower half the dollhouse as well. It is a little difficult to do this with the porch roof installed but you would not want to install it over siding, so you just have to deal with a little difficulty going around the porch roof gable with your siding.

Try to get the siding angles as flush as possible to the roof but remember that you have to use spackle later, along these joints, to tidy them up.

I did not install the exterior front window trim yet. It has to be installed after siding.

These laser cut dollhouses have very precise and thinly cut trim so you have to get your siding as close to the window opening edge as possible.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 21

2013-02-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

After the porch roof and main front roof is on, you can go ahead and install the back roof. Use a mallet to get tabs into slots and then masking tape to hold everything together until dry.

You then have to install the front gable roof roof.

Now this roof is a little tricky because you don't really know where the wallpaper will fall in the interior until the roof is on so you might want to patch any prints that might fall into the wrong room as you assemble. Do one side first and check your wallpaper and then do the other.

Make sure its straight and flush. Clamp to dry.

You should install the front door side windows, exterior trim at this time as well.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 20

2013-02-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

You have to install the porch roof before you can proceed. You don't want to install this particular roof over siding so it has to be in place before you begin your front wall, exterior finishes.

Lay the dollhouse on it's back in order to install the porch roof panels.

I will paint mines later, when the glue is dry because there is good accessibility all around for me to do so after installation.

Use a rubber mallet to get tabs into the wall slots.

Run glue all along the joints after installation and make sure all joints line up and are square to each other where the panels meet.

Clamp with masking tape and let dry.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 19

2013-02-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

In order to install this roof, you must finish it first.

I went ahead and primed both roof panel interiors. Let dry.

Don't waste your time trying to wallpaper the back roof panel. The interior area is way too thin as half the panel is interior wall and the other half is exterior eaves. I suggest you just paint it a complimentary color. I am going to choose white because all of my interior trim is white. This area of the roof will only be visible when you look in through the attic windows. You still wouldn't want to leave it as raw wood though. You should paint it.

The front panel is different. It is completely viewable through the back of the dollhouse because it will make the front wall of your attic.

Dry fit it to your dollhouse so you can mark with a pencil where the eaves are and where the second floor partition wall divides the panel. Each side is a different room so you want to match your wallpaper patterns accordingly.

Once you wallpaper your pattern and paint your eaves, you can install your roof. This roof goes in easy but you must use a rubber mallet to make sure the wall tabs go into the roof slots. You need a nice tight fit all along the seams. Clamp with masking tape until dry.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 18

2013-02-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today I finished both dollhouse side walls. I added more siding to the top of the half timber trim area.

At this point, the next step is the roof installation.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 17

2013-02-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today I worked on the half timber trim which decorates the top part of the side wall gables.

Trim also must go on the back edge of each side wall so you get a nice finish on your siding.

I went ahead and installed the exterior window trim for the round second floor windows. Do not do the interiors yet and do not install the window panes either. The roof still needs to be installed and you don't want to damage your windows doing so.

Notice that I installed the bay roofs today. I installed them over the siding for a cleaner and more finished look. I covered the slots on the main walls with siding and cut off the tabs of the bay roofs that go into the main wall. They are not needed. The bay walls themselves have a tab that goes into the roof slots so you can omit the ones on the main dollhouse walls.

I installed the bay's roof trim.

I had first wanted to apply a finish to the bay walls, like shingling the top part of the walls but there isn't much space to work with so I left them as is. I can apply this finish the front. main dollhouse wall.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 16

2013-02-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

I went ahead and painted my siding today. Siding can be painted before or after installation. It's up the you which one you want to do. For this dollhouse I painted it after installation and I used hot melt glue, in the low setting, as the adhesive. This siding is not going to be holding up any components so hot melt glue works fine for it.

As you can see, the different textures are really starting to give this dollhouse it's flair.

I added the exterior window trims to the bay windows.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 15

2013-02-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

In order to apply siding to this dollhouse, you must dry it your side porch trim so that your siding sits flush to it. I unfortunately realized this after starting the bottom three rows of siding and now there is a gap between the porch piece and my siding down there. I am hoping it will be hidden once I paint the siding since I painted the wall before siding it so any little gaps would be less visible.

I used a basswood strip to make my lap width guidelines. It seems to be the right width. Of course siding lap width is one of those things that you have to leave up to personal preferance. Some people like thinner lap widths and others wider.

I took my siding all the way up to the area where the gable begins. That's where I stopped and added a white trim to seperate the two areas.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 14

2013-02-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

I began to work on the exterior by applying my paint in the areas that I am invisioning for this project. I only applied one coat because I just want to get a visual of how I am going to do this.

I did paint the foundation though. I was unable to find the color I wanted to at the craft store, to match the Labre Dollhouse color scheme, so I had to make my own by mixing gray and black together and getting a charcoal hue.

Mixing your own paint can get the exact color match you want but it does come with it's pitfalls. You have to blend enough so that you can store it for touch ups later because you will not get the exact same hue if you have to mix a new batch.

I painted the foundation trim white and applied it to the dollhouse because it must be in place before I begin siding.

My camera is having a very hard time capturing the correct hue of my purple palette. The flash makes it worse. Take my word that it is a very pretty scheme that even I like and purple is not one of my favorites.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 13

2013-02-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

I installed all of the baseboards today. I used basswood strips that I bought at my local craft store. They are in the wood crafts section. I bought the narrowest ones I could find to keep to the scale of the dollhouse.

I also trimmed the bay window openings. This dollhouse brings trim for the openings but it is very narrow and so I preferred to make my own.

You can already see the difference that interior trim makes so even if you have to buy the simple trim that I use, rather than expensive real miniature moulding, then it's well worth it. You wouldn't want to skip this step.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 12

2013-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today I went ahead and installed the front door, side window, interior trim. I need to have these installed before I can apply the baseboards to the dollhouse.

I also installed the second floor staircase rail. This dollhouse does not bring railing for the staircase itself.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 11

2013-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

After your bays are dry, you can go ahead and install them on your dollhouse. They go in like a breaze.

Don't try and clamp them with masking tape through the interior because it could damage your wallpaper. I have used masking tape before on wallpaper and generally it won't harm it, if the paper is thoroughly dry, but scrapbook paper is a little flimsier than real dollhouse wallpaper. The laser cut feature of the dollhouse will have such a nice and precise fit for parts that you won't need to clamp them anyways. Just make sure all tabs are tightly in their slots and there are no gaps around the walls.

As you can see now after the install, the bay is not that visible so wallpapering it would have been futile.

This little dollhouse is certainly coming together.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 10

2013-01-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

Now you can really appreciate why I suggested to assemble and finish the interior of these bays before installation to the dollhouse. They are tiny. You might not have this same problem with the one inch scale version of this dollhouse.

I decided to stain my bays to match the staircase and floors since they are too tiny to wallpaper. After staining and painted the window mullions inside and out using the same techinique that I used on the dollhouse shell windows.

After that was dry, I began installing the trims.

Not only are the bays tiny but you have to cut out your windows from the window sheets. Use the trim as a guide for the side windows and the actual window openings for the front ones. Make sure you leave enough leeway at the edges so the windows can be glued onto the dollhouse.

The side windows have square shaped trim but the front windows trim has to be assembled from the four wood trims provided. This would have been very hard to do with the bays installed.

Install the side trims first for your front window and then the top and bottom.

It's going to be messy. The parts are very small and even if you are using a fine tip for your glue, it is still going to get everywhere. Don't panic. Tacky glue dries clear. Just don't get any on your window panes because then it will be visible, even being clear.

Once the glue dries, you will see that everything begins looking nice and neat and detailed.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 9

2013-01-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

After your wallpaper is dry, you can cut out the bay openings and install the staircase.

This staircase is very difficult to install. Laser cut dollhouses have very precise fitting parts and all of this wood has swollen with the moisture of paint and stain. This makes the tab and slot fitting very tight and very hard.

That is why I suggest to make a very strong dollhouse shell and staircase because you will have to use a mallet to hammer this staircase in place. If your assemblies are not strong, they will break during this process of tapping and extreme pressure.

Use a long thick dowel or any other strong object in order to reach in to where the staircase is and hammer gently but firmly. There were a few times there where I had to use a lot of stregnth to hammer the part into place. Use force as needed, depending on what works.

Be careful with your wallpaper but if it does sustain damage, it can be easily repaired with scrap pieces and a glue stick.

You may also have to repair any damage the floor stain sustains.

Once your staircase is in place you will need to cover the second floor tabs with wood filler. Leave the filler over night so you can sand it smooth once dry. It also takes stain much better once thoroughly dry.

Do any touch ups needed on the ceiling surrounding the staircase assembly.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 8

2013-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

You can go ahead and wallpaper the dollhouse at this point. You will have to leave the attic for later because the front attic walls are created by the roof and that can not be installed at this time. So you can go ahead and do all of the side walls.

It's a little tricky to wallpaper this dollhouse because of the window mullions. You do not want to cover them with wallpaper so you have to dry fit your wallpaper pieces and with a lamp shining on the exterior of the dollhouse, you can use a pencil to outline where your windows are. Then you have to cut them out before applying the paper.

It doesn't have to be a perfect cut out but be careful. Laser cut dollhouses have very precise fitting parts so you want to cut as close to the window opening edges as possible so that the interior trim covers up the gaps well.

As you can see I am not using traditional dollhouse wallpaper but rather scrapbook paper in a complimentary color theme to the exterior of the dollhouse. I do not plan on decorating the dollhouse with furniture on the interior so this paper works fine. I just want a nicely finished interior even though the paper does not have realitic, true to scale prints.

I folded my wallpaper over the edge, that faces the front door, of the first floor partition. This is because that edge will be visible since the front door of this dollhouse is operable and can be opened to expose the staircase. You could cover it with trim like the back edges but it's not going to look as good.

The Half Scale Diana Dollhouse Day 7

2013-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

You need to finish the floors before you can put up the wallpaper.

This wood has almost no grain visible. It seems to be birch because it is very light, almost white, and has no grain. It is also not as porous because it doesn't see to soak up stain very well. It's almost like trying to stain plastic. This can affect the way your stain looks. I used a brush to try and get some kind of grain effect but you can use a foam brush.

I also stained the staircase so it will be ready.

The dark edges of the wood pieces, compliment the stain.