Dollhouse Miniature Front Porch part 5

Watch the video here.

This week we are getting the window and door installed to our front porch project as well as attaching the brick.

I did get a lot of work done off camera to bring the project to where we are. In the previous videos we had started the siding and I demonstrated how to make the brick also. Off camera I did get all both of these done on my project as well as I painted the structure. I decided to only add the lap siding the front and side of the piece and added a tissue paper finish to the back. I was running low on both the upholstery trim strip and time and the tissue paper was a lot faster and I had it on hand. This time I used some cheap tissue from the gift wrap area of the dollar store and it worked really well.

For the painting of the main structure I first base coated (primed) with a white craft paint (I used Ceramcoat from Delta for all the paints this week). This gave me a consistent color base to work over and I felt the light green paint looked better over the white than over the plain cardboard strips.

For the green I used Ceramcoat in Light Foliage Green and since this is a matte finish paint I followed it with a coat of Matte Mod Podge to give it a slight sheen and to seal the paint.

Also off camera I gave the area where I will be putting the roofing a coat of Black craft paint. I will be putting a black roof on and didn't want the white of the foam core to show between the shingles. Since I know I am a messy painter I wanted to get this done before I did any of the work today so it wouldn't get black paint on it.

For the faux curtain behind the window I used the flap off a cardboard box that I had gotten in the mail. Recycling at its best. I did find that one side of the cardboard peeled off a lot easier than the other and left a nice surface that looks like the back side of a window drape. I simply coated it with 2 coats of the same white craft paint.

After gluing the “drapes” in place the window and door were glued in place and then trim was added. For the trim I raided my stash of strip wood for whatever looked like it would work. The strip wood is 3/8” wide and about 1/8” thick so it looks nice and substantial. For the trim over the door I used a piece of dollhouse crown molding that has been in my stash for years. I do wish I had cut it just a tad longer but it is okay the way it is. I decided against trying to film the cutting of the trim since I am sure I not doing it the correct way. I usually start with my pieces too long then cut a bit off until they fit.

I used some Light Ivory craft paint (Ceramcoat) to paint these followed by a coat of Satin Mod Podge.

All of the gluing was done using Beacon's 3-in-1 glue which has quickly become my very favorite glue.

Dollhouse Miniature Front Porch part 4- Prepping the Front Door

Watch the video here.

Sorry I have been absent for so long, I have just been really busy and really tired. Hopefully I am back on track now though.

So this week we are going to add a curtain to the window on the door for the porch project. I love the look of these little curtains in real life and I have wanted to use one on a dollhouse project for a long time. This is my chance and I am so glad it worked out.

For the sheer curtain I am using some of that 6” wide tulle from the fabric/craft store. It is usually fairly inexpensive and you get a lot on the spool. If you don't have this any sheer fabric will work.

First step was to cut a piece about 6” by 6” then fold in half and make a ¼” seam on the edge opposite the fold. This will form a sleeve from your fabric.

Now trim the sleeve to about 3 ½” wide.

Use a glue that will hold the tulle to glue toothpicks to the top and bottom then glue to the inside of the door.

The ribbon to gather the center is optional but that was the style I was going for here.

It really is that easy.

Dollhouse Miniature Exterior Finishes

Watch the video here.

This is a long video but I had so much I wanted to share with you all on the subject. After last week's front porch video a lot of you said you would like to see other options for the exterior finish of the project (or any miniature building for that matter)

I thought about how to present the different options in a way that would make sense and give the feel of the finish on a “building” without having to actually build an entire building. I decided to make a cube out of foam core and use each side for a different finish. I think it turned out to be a good way to demonstrate the techniques in a single place and I have a cool display piece out of it. I think this format might be fun for other techniques too, maybe interior walls or floors or??? What do all of you think?

So let's talk a bit about each technique here:

First up was the brick. Now really important when you do this for your building use a pencil where I used the pen. I just wanted you to be able to see the lines so you could follow what I was doing.

The lines for the bricks are ¼” apart and the bricks are each ½” long. Be sure to offset every other row to create the pattern if you are making the same brick pattern I did.

Next that wood siding from the 70's, I think the builder called it T1-11 when my folks built their house in 1977. If you drive through any neighborhood around here that was built at that time it is what covers most if not all the houses. Does anyone want to use it for a dollhouse, maybe. I'm not sure but I thought I would include it here. It is really easy to do and uses the same tack strip we used for the lap siding last week.

Now onto the tissue “stucco” or at least it kind of looks like stucco, maybe. Whatever I love this one and I used it on my big dollhouse (the Harrison) it looks great and a lot of people ask how I did it.

I couldn't do this tutorial and not do the egg carton stones. You can make them any shape you want, I decided to go with a more free form stone this time. Since the material is basically free and you can cut it any shape you want you can make any type of stone you want with this one. Feel free to use regular grout if you have it on hand or the caulking I used today.

Another stucco like finish can be made by adding sand to regular paint to make thick textured paste that can be applied to the walls. This also looks great especially when painted a pale color. I think it would also benefit from a light wash of a yellow tone but I didn't have time this week.

Since we just did the “lap siding” last week I applied that to the cube off camera and just painted it on camera this week.

So now you have 6 options for the exterior of you miniature building. It would be fun to mix some of these to create a really special building.

If you have another finish you would like to see me do let me know. Maybe when we get 6 more ideas we can do another cube full of them.

Dollhouse Miniature Front Porch part 3

Watch the video here.

This week we are finally going to be starting to add the siding to our front porch project. I am sorry I haven't been very regular in my video schedule life has been crazy lately. Between the new job, getting sick and then being snowed in I haven't gotten anything done the last month. Hopefully I can get back on my normal schedule soon. I do thank you for your patience in the meantime.

I am using a lap siding on my porch with an area of brick on the wall under the big window. I decided to add the brick after being stuck in a batch of roadwork a few weeks ago. I ended up sitting in front of a particular house for almost a half hour and as I sat there I was studying the front porch. I really liked the look of the brick so I decided to use it in this project.

Please let me know if you would like some other exterior wall finishes also. I can add some short demos of other types of siding if you would like. Just let me know what you would like to see. Pictures would be great too so I know what the look is you are wanting.

Dollhouse Miniature Front Porch pt 2

Watch the video here.

I want to start by saying I am sorry I was out of frame and that I didn't get much done this week. I have still not been feeling great after being sick last week.

So this week we are going to add the roof to the front porch. I almost forgot to get this done before I added the siding.

For the roof area we only need to cut 4 rectangles of foam core.

1 @ 12 ½” by 6 ¾” (roof)

1 @ 12” by 6” (ceiling)

1 @ 12” by 2” (back)

1 @ 6” by 2” (sides) – this is cut on the diagonal to make 2 pieces

We will also need a scrap of foam core to fill the area between the roof piece and the front wall of the “house” I decided to do this this way so that the roof could have a flat area where we join it to the house. It should all make more sense as we move work on the area in coming weeks.

I know I said I was going to trim the roof piece along the side but I totally forgot until I had it glued to the house. It looks fine so if you want to trim yours go ahead but it will work either way. I blame the mistake on my cold medicine and the fact there was about 5 days between when I filmed the parts of the video.

Next week we should be moving on to the siding. Let me know if you would like a video on different options for dollhouse siding.

Dollhouse Miniature Front Porch pt 1

Watch the video here.

This week we are beginning work on our new project series where we are going to be making a dollhouse scale front porch. It is designed to be a freestanding display. This was a request from one of the wonderful members of my Facebook page. It is very loosely based on a kit that was available many years ago. I say very loosely because it is a porch and it has the basic components of a front porch. I think it is about the same size but I'm not sure.

I don't remember who made the original kit but there used to be lots of pictures of the porches made from the kit around. Some people set them up and never changed them. Then there were those that decorated their porches for every season and some went all out on that decorating.

There were a few things about that long ago kit that I never liked. One was the way the door and windows were not next to each other but rather on adjoining walls. The other big thing for me was that you could look right through those windows to whatever was behind the display. I have been thinking for a couple of years how to change both of those things.

This week we are working entirely with foam core and I am using the type from the dollar store. I really do prefer it over the craft store variety and usually have at least a couple of sheets on hand for projects. In addition to the foam core you will also need whatever door and window(s) you plan to use. Here are the cutting dimensions for the project:

Back wall unit:

2 pieces @ 13 ½” tall by 13” wide

2 pieces @ 13 ½” tall by 1 ½” wide

Side wall:

2 pieces @ 13 ½” tall by 9” wide.

back wall unit

Be sure to cut the window/door openings before you glue the back wall unit together.

I am using plain old Tacky glue and cheap sewing pins to glue the pieces of foam core together. The pins make for a much better bond and keep everything lined up while the glue dries.

back wall unit

I am making the side wall from two layers of foam core just to make it more durable.

sidewall pinned

top view of back wall unit

Next week we will be adding the siding so think about what kind of siding your house should have. Right now I am planing to use the cardboard strips like I did for the corner roombox to create lap siding. You can use any type of siding you wish. We will be adding a foundation, porch and base in future weeks.

Dollhouse Miniature Window

Watch the video here. 

This week we are making a window to use in the project that I plan to start next week. This is a really simple window, nothing that opens. And again we are just finishing the front side since there won't be an interior that we can see on the project. If you need a window with a finished back side just repeat the same steps on the reverse side.

My window was cut from the same piece of leftover plexi-glass that I used for the door. I cut it 4 ½” square.

I used some strip wood that was about 1/8” wide by 1/16” thick for the interior strips. I glued them on and cut to size after the glue set. The outer “frame” was just skinny sticks.

I did pre-paint all the pieces of wood with an ivory craft paint then coated with satin Mod Podge. We will be making the visible outer window frame when we install the window.

I used Beacon 3-in1 glue for this project. I found in a quick test that it held the wood to the plastic and did not fog the plastic. I hope that the hold will remain over time since I haven't been using this glue for a long time I am going by what others have said about it lasting.