Christmas House ~ Part II:

The house arrived in almost no time at all.  I suppose that's the benefit to living only about a state away from the manufacturer!!!  I did a lot to this house while waiting for my camera batteries to charge, so there are not a lot of photos...

It didn't take long for me to get my hands on it!  It's very tiny and there are not many pieces and parts, (for instance there are only 3 windows to assemble, the rest are just trims that will be glued onto the walls.  In one evening and about two hours today I've done quite a lot! 

I started with labeling and punching out each piece, I then organized them into paper bowls to keep them together and sorted. 

I then did the dry-fit of the house.  I have a basic idea of how dollhouses go together and being so small and not many "structural" pieces I honestly have yet to read through the directions.  I do not recommend this for everyone, I just kinda knew what I was doing and where everything went.  It really does go together that simply though. 

I made some markings during the dry-fit on what I want to pre-finish before assembly.  I have to wait for my wallpaper to arrive so I can make the wallpaper templates, but I already had my flooring handy so I drew and cut the floors for both the first and second floors. 

I then started staining.  I don't want white trim in this house, I am opting for stained trims.  I stained all the interior window casings and the interior of the front door. 

There is a bay window and it has a built-in window seat/bookcase, so I stained that front piece.  I will add knobs or something later.  I didn't stain the top part as I have a plan for that, but more on that later... 

I then stained the floors.  The flooring is red oak paper by Houseworks, and it's very nice on it's own or with poly, but I opted to put some stain on it to make it warmer.  I painted on the stain, (each floor board separately, there's not a lot) with a regular paint brush.  I wanted the stain to seep into every crevice on the flooring paper to get a little character in it. 

I next marked on the roofing where painting needs to be done, and made the templates for the shingles for later.  The interior of the bay roof, the entry roof and (possibly) the gable roof will be painted a creamy-white, along with the first floor ceiling.  The rest of the interior roof will be papered, the back roof included. 

The only final decision I have to make is whether or not to add a fireplace.  If I do so, a first floor side window will have to be eliminated, but that shouldn't be too much trouble.  The problem is finding the right fireplace to use!