Keeper's House Build - Day 1: Getting Started, Putting It Together

Today was an actual build day!

Kind of.

Sort of.

Not really.

Well, not exactly.

I knew from yesterday that there were a few things I had to do first. That’s where I started.

First Things First

The first thing was squaring off the door, window, and stair openings. According to the instructions, the openings are a bit rounded when the kit is finished and sent, so it’s up to me to square them off. I’m supposed to take a knife and make two cuts along the openings into the corners. Fortunately, I have an Exacto knife at the ready.

An Exacto knife on my ping-pong table. — *Exacto knife at the ready*

So, I looked at the stair opening first and wasn’t really sure what I was seeing. I mean, I can see the opening, but it looks fine to me. Here’s what I saw:

A close-up picture of the top floor stair hole. The cut out looks pretty squared off to me. — *The top floor piece stair hole*

It looks pretty squared off. But, upon closer inspection, I get what they’re talking about

A close-up of the stair hole in the top floor piece. Now it's clear that the corners are rounded off and I need to square them. — *Now I see the rounded corners*

I made the cuts (sorry, no pics. It was just me) and it was pretty easy. Using the Exacto knife was the way to go on this! Here’s what it looked like after

A close up of the stair hole after I squared the corners with the Exacto knife. — *A squared off stair hole. Maybe.*

I did the same for the window and door. But, as I was looking at my work, I wasn’t so sure I was doing it right.

I figured I better check, so I got out the stairs, door and window.

Starting With the Stairs

The stairs come in two separate pieces. I don’t know why but I’m sure I’ll find out. I had to figure out how they go together. After a bit of fussing and fitting, and referring to the diagram, I settled on this:

A picture of the two stair pieces. They're not joined together, but are laying the way I think they will be connected. Unlike the diagram, the stairs are not one straight line. It's curved when you look at the stairs from the side view. — *My best guess for connecting the stair pieces*

Here’s what it looks like standing up

A picture of the two stair pieces standing up while I hold them. It looks like a functioning staircase from the front view. Also, I have a messy basement which you can see in the background. — *The front view. I think it works!*

Yes, my basement is messy. Moving on.

I took the top half of the stairs (because that’s what’s going to attach to the opening), and held them together. This is what it looks like from the back.

A view of the staircase held up to the floor hold from the back view. This is to test the fit and see how the pieces line up. — *The back of the stairs*

The stairs are kind of centered because I need room on one side to attach it to the house and the rail goes on the other side. I think this will work. We’ll see.

On to the Door

Then I slid in the door. From the back, it looks perfect.

A view of the door dropped into the opening from the back, or inside, of the house. It's a perfect fit. — *A perfect fit!*

From the front, a little less perfect. Here’s a close-up.

A close-up view of the door dropped in the opening. There are gaps at the top and by the corner. — *Close-up of the door*

See the gaps? That’s where I squared things off. Only, they don’t look so square. I’m going to leave it because I’m afraid that if I square it off too much, I’ll have an even bigger gap. I’m going to bet wood putty or filler will help out here.

Then Priming

I know this is a controversial thing. Some say you should paint before you assemble, others say you shouldn’t. Since I’ve never done this before, I went with the instructions. They say to do one light layer without sanding first and to keep the paint out of the grooves.

OK. Sounds good.

I ran out to Home Depot and got these.

A picture of Kilz primer and some wood stain. — *Paint and stain*

The wood stain is for the door and window trim (I think) and maybe the stairs. The paint, I know is primer and sealer. This is what they had in stock in my store.

Also, it’s oil-based. Again, that’s what was in stock. I suppose I could wait until there is other stuff in stock. But, there’s also plenty of advice that says use an oil-based not a latex-based (or water-based) paint because it’s better for the dollhouse (in terms of the wood, I guess?).

That didn’t sound right to me so I ran back to the Internet to check and couldn’t find opinions one way or the other, so I stuck with what I had.

This is my first mistake. Oil-based paints are awful.

First, they smell. I didn’t have a mask, but I was only doing three pieces (more on that in a minute), so I figured I’d live. Second, they are very runny and dripped down the side. Third, what a pain to clean up! Fourth, my basement stank afterward!

My advice, water-based paint. Lesson learned.

>>Which paint is right for your dollhouse? Read up on the different types of paint.

I decided to just do the outside for this go round. I was a little short on time, and I’m not sure what color I’m doing on the interior walls just yet, so I’m going to wait. Hopefully, this is the right call.

Like I said, the paint is runny. I quickly figured out that I needed to put a tiny dab on the brush then start in the middle of the piece and work my way out to the edges. That helps minimize the dripping. I managed to keep the paint out of the grooves, but what a pain. I went side to side (the direction of the clapboard) to get a smoother, more even finish.

It doesn’t look like it in the picture, but really, it’s a decent finish.

The painted side piece. The paint goes in the direction of the clapboard (side to side) and finished really well.

Here’s a finished piece and an unfinished piece.

A side-by-side picture of a painted and unpainted piece of the dollhouse. — *Side by side*

As I was painting side number two, I noticed that the clapboard was a little loose in one spot.

A close up of a loose piece of clapboard I noticed after painting. — *Loose clapboard*

There was nothing I could do while painting, so I made a note to check on that when the pieces are dry.

The painting was easy. Maybe about 30 minutes. Then I had to clean up.

Cleaning Up Means Setting Up First

Fortunately, I have mineral oil lying around, so cleaning up the brush was pretty easy. I just squirted some mineral oil on the brush and rubbed, rinsed, and repeated until clean. Ditto for my hands. After I put everything away, though, I noticed some paint spots on the ping pong table.