I spent the afternoon working on the door to the dollhouse. It’s pretty much done, though I have to do a bit of finishing work because it doesn’t fit perfectly. The door (which is actually 2 doors glued together) are from the replacement kit that Barbara sent me. The original house had no door. Greenleaf dollhouses are dicey on fit to begin with, but since the replacement doors were from a newer kit, the fit isn’t exact. I’ll try to tweak them, but frankly, I’m just thrilled that I got them in there! And that my leaded glass insert worked.
No doorknob yet. I’m looking into that. I wanted the outside of the door to be stained and I applied 4 coats to get it to the color I wanted. I could have painted it dark gray like the trim, but that was too matchy-matchy and I thought it deserved a rich wood finish.
Since Greenfield doesn’t supply any hinges and miniature door hinges are notoriously hard to install with all sorts of stories about damaging the wood, I went with a suggestion that I found on the Greenfield forum. Insert a piece of chamois or fabric or Tyvek between the two halves of the door and then insert it between the molding/trim and the wall. I used Tyvek from an old envelope. It worked. Not beautifully, but it worked. I very seldom open the door on Hummingbird Cottage since I’m usually looking at it from the big opening, so I’m fine with it the way it is. I’ll add some touch-up paint where the trim doesn’t quite meet the door.
This is why I don’t like this brand of dollhouse. They are less expensive, which is great, as dollhouses can be expensive, but the savings is shown in cheap plywood that is splintery and components that aren’t uniform. Every piece of trim that is to be used around the windows and doors is uneven, narrower at the top or the bottom. It’s annoying. Everything has to be sanded and when you sand, you risk making the piece too small, as large chunks of wood come off. So you have to try to fix things, which results in a lot of extra work. If they provided the windows and doors as inserts already installed in frames, I’d like these kits a whole lot more.
Complaints aside, I think a little more tweaking will make them look even better. Baseboards are next, but I usually hold off on them until I’m sure of furniture placement. I don’t install one long baseboard on walls where there will be furniture, as the furniture is then too far away from the wall. (It’s why I don’t like the baseboard heating in my real life house.) Once I know where everything should be, I cut the baseboards to fit around the furniture. So, that can wait.
Now, the bedroom. And, of course, gathering more and more bits and bobs for the living room and kitchen. I love decorating the rooms, it’s my favorite part of the process.
Hang in there. Last night, I had my first really good night’s sleep in a long time. Sigh of relief.
Stay safe.
Happy Thursday.
