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FRONT VIEW OF HOUSE BACK VIEW OF HOUSE DISCLAIMER FROM ORIGINAL PUBLICATION IN WOMAN'S DAY MAGAZINE, MID-OCTOBER, 1976: The designs herein are exclusively for the use of the individual purchaser only. Reproductions of the material may be made for charitable purposes, but the purchaser warrants that the articles produced from the use of the designs will not, with the exception noted above, be sold, bartered, traded or otherwise delivered to a third party for a consideration. Sheet 1: Please note that the list of materials and supplies were compiled in 1976, forty years ago. Since that time many new dollhouse materials have been produced for crafters. Please use your discretion in choosing new materials or supplies that would be more suitable for your dollhouse construction. I have taken the liberty to substitute some finished dollhouse products as opposed to making them from larger materials. MATERIALS LIST Platform and Floors: One 4’ x 8’ sheet ¼” plywood One 12¾” x 14¾” piece ½” plywood 20 feet of 1” x 2” pine 16 feet of 1” x 1” pine House: One 4’ x 8’ sheet ⅜” cabinet-grade plywood 30 feet dollhouse window and door framing sized ⅛” x ½” 10 feet dollhouse window sills sized ⅛” x⅝” One 3’ x 4’ piece ⅛” plywood for roofs 26 feet roof edging sized ¼” x ½” 2 feet roof cleats sized ¼” x ½” Skylights: One 1’ x 3’ piece .10 thickness clear acetate ⅛” wide matte black chart tape ⅜” wide matte black chart tape Fireplace: Two 4” x 17¼” pieces ¼” plywood One 4” x 4½” piece ¼” hardboard 3 feet of 1” x 3” pine One 3” x 4” piece 1” pine stock Chimney Top: 2” piece 1⅝” diameter pole 1” piece ¾” diameter dowel One piece ¾” x 2” x 3½” pine scrap Stairway: One 2½” x 60” piece ½” plywood 2½” x 4” x 8” block cut from pine or plywood Terrace: One 13” x 15” piece ½” plywood 40 feet of ⅛” x ½” dollhouse trim stained to resemble redwood SUPPLIES (some supplies are for the furniture; patterns for furniture will be provided at a later date) White wood glue ¾” and ½” wire brads or small nails Pigmented shellac primer (i.e. Kilz) White and green semi-gloss latex enamel (or colors of your choice) Acrylic paints Plastic wood filler ½” x ½” brass hinges for front door Aquarium sand Site gravel Miniature white brick PROCEDURE Step 1: Cut ¼” plywood, 1 x 1 and 1 x 2 pine stock for platform pieces and assemble with glue and ¾” brads as shown on Sheet 2. Cut ¼” plywood for floors as shown on Sheet 2. Attach large floor piece in position on platform as indicated. The smaller ¼”plywood floor piece for the garage is attached later. Cut out ½” plywood sub-floor for the terrace. Step 2: Cut walls 1-5, 9-16, and 24 from ⅜" plywood as shown on Sheet 4. Test-assemble walls around floor before cutting out the window and door openings as described in the General Directions. Step 3: Assemble garage walls around the smaller floor piece. Step 4: Cut pieces 6-8, 17-23 from ⅜" plywood and the staircase assembly 26-31 from ½” plywood as shown on Sheet 4 (Note: Do not attach the staircase trim until after painting.) Step 5: Cut out all window and door openings and assemble the lower level pieces permanently as described in the General Directions and as shown on Sheet 3. Step 6: Cut pieces for the chimney as in the Assembly Detail B on Sheet 3. Assemble with glue and brads. Do not fasten in place. Step 7: Cut floor 31 for upper level from ¼” plywood as shown on Sheet 5. Cut walls 32, 33, 35, 36, 39 and 40 from ⅜" plywood as indicated. Test-assemble parts and position on lower level with chimney standing in place. Make certain there is clearance around chimney for the coat of sand paint. Cut the pieces and assemble them for the removable skylight as in Assembly Detail C on Sheet 3 and roof G-G under Sheet 6. Test-fit these pieces on the lower level with the upper level in place. Step 8: Assemble the upper level pieces permanently. Remember that the upper level is removable. Cut cleats and attach to underside of upper level floor as indicated. Fasten chimney in place, using glue and brads through lower level wall 10 and by toe-nailing into floor. Cut walls 4, 7 and 8 to fit as shown on Sheet 3. Cut out doors and install these walls permanently. Step 9: Cut and attach vertical cleats on both sides of the lower half of the stairway landing window. Cut pieces 41-47 as shown on sheet 5. Assemble gallery permanently but do not attach to piece 42. Step 10: Cut the parts for the fixed skylight as in Assembly Detail D, Sheet 3, to fit. Assemble and attach all pieces. Do not affix the acetate until all painting is complete. Step 11: Cut and assemble all roofs A-A through F-F as shown on Sheet 6. Cut and assemble chimney top but do not attach to roof. Step 12: Following the assembly details under Sheet 3, cut and install window and door framing. Cut and install the front door frame, sill, doorstop and door as on Sheet 3. Cut and install the garage sill 25 as shown on Sheet 4. Hinge door to frame after painting, using ½” x ½” brass hinges. Step 13: Cut ⅛” x ½” dollhouse trim stained to resemble redwood for terrace and railing as in Assembly Detail E on Sheet 3. Attach these parts to ½” plywood sub-floor. Set aside until painting is complete. Step 14: Refer to the General Directions to finish the house and do the landscaping. GENERAL DIRECTIONS Preparing and Cutting Materials: To assure accuracy when cutting the walls and other parts of the dollhouse, measure, mark and cut one piece at a time. Use a carpenter's square to check all right angles. Also, when laying out pieces, be certain to allow for saw cuts and make certain to do all cutting just outside drawn guideline, that is inside waste area. To cut out windows and doors, measure and mark the positions as indicated on the diagrams. Drill four holes close together inside window cutting lines to make an opening large enough to insert your saber saw blade. With a fine-toothed blade, cut out all windows and doors. Sand all cut edges to remove splinters. Fine saw marks from the saw blade will be covered by window and door frames. Assembly: To test-assemble, use masking tape or wire brads partially driven in so they can be removed. If a part is too long, trim it; if too short, recut the part from fresh stock. Use rejected piece for a smaller part. When a portion of the house is test-assembled and all parts fit, draw match-marks with a pencil across adjoining pieces and number both marks lightly with pencil. Vary the positions of the match-marks and their number. This assures correct reassembly. Sand all pieces to remove burrs along cut edges. To assemble permanently, align match-marks, then coat with white wood glue and assemble with brads, some inserted in the original holes. Use glue and brads to attach walls to lower and upper floor levels. Check joints with a square before glue sets. If assembled pieces do not remain square and rigid, nail a brace diagonally across assembled pieces to hold them until glue sets. Always wipe away excess glue immediately with a damp cloth. When dry, use a fine nail set to set all brad heads slightly below surface. Finishing: Fill all nail holes and surface defects with wood filler; sand smooth and dust. Apply sealer/primer (i.e. Kilz) to all platform, house and roof surfaces. Do not apply sealer to the terrace assembly. Use a 3"paint roller to apply sealer to larger areas and a brush to work in corners and tight places. Sand and dust all parts again. Paint house with white latex enamel; let dry. For colored interior house walls (see asterisks * on diagrams), front door, chimney top and fireplace hearth, use acrylic paints. Dollhouse wallpapers can also be used on the interior walls. For roofs and trim, add a brown acrylic paint to white latex enamel to make tan color. Paint roof edges, window and door trims; let dry. To remaining tan paint, add a small amount of aquarium sand. Mix well and test consistency on scrap lumber. Keep adding sand until you have an evenly applied texture. Coat top surfaces of roofs with sand paint, except for small area for chimney top on upper level roof. Allow roofs to dry. Glue black chimney top in place. For plaster-like texture on fireplace, add sand to white latex enamel as described above. Paint fireplace. To simulate concrete floor in the garage, add small amount of black acrylic paint to white latex enamel, then add sand as described above. Paint garage floor. Interior Floors: The instructions included here from 1976 will have you doing everything from scratch. Because there are so many wonderful dollhouse paper and wood products to create your interior floors, I have declined from including them. Landscaping: To finish yard area, draw guidelines for path to front door and a 3½” diameter circle for each tree. And here again I deviate from the 40 year old instructions. You may paint yard area with medium green latex enamel, or you may use one of the many "grass" products made specifically for dollhouse/train landscapes. For path to front door, brush glue on and sprinkle with site gravel; or use brick or stone pavers found in craft stores. Add trees to your landscape that can be found at your craft store. The instructions recommend to use miniature white bricks (mentioned in supplies) to finish the edge of the circle around the trees. Sheet 2: ASSEMBLY KEY FOR FRONT ASSEMBLY KEY FOR BACK ASSEMBLY KEY FOR PLATFORM DRAWING 1 - Base Assembly Sheet 3: DRAWING 2a - Lower Level Assembly DRAWING 2b - Lower Level Assembly ASSEMBLY DETAIL A - Front Entry ASSEMBLY DETAIL B - Chimney ASSEMBLY DETAIL C - Removable Skylight ASSEMBLY DETAIL D - Fixed Skylight ASSEMBLY DETAIL E - Terrace Sheet 4: Lower Level Details and Stairs CUT ALL WALLS FROM 3/8" PLYWOOD EXTERIOR WALLS: See Drawing 2a and 2b for placement of walls walls 1, 2 walls 3, 4 wall 5 walls 6, 7, 8 walls 9, 11 wall 10 wall 12 wall 13 wall 14 walls 15, 16 walls 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (note different thickness of plywood for walls 21, 22) walls 24, 25 STAIRCASE : DETAIL DRAWINGS 26-30 Stair Assembly Lower Stair UPPER STAIR BLOCK DETAIL and WALL 28 wall 29 walls 30, 31 Sheet 5: Upper Level Assembly and Details DRAWING 3 - Upper Level Assembly part 1 (enlarged bottom view of upper level floor above) Upper Level Assembly part 2 UPPER LEVEL DETAILS wall 32 wall 33 wall 34 wall 35 wall 36 wall 37 walls 38, 39, 40 wall 41 wall 42 wall 43 walls 44, 45, 46, 47 Sheet 6: Roof Assemblies DRAWING 4 - Roof Assemblies Assembly Detail A, B, C, D Roof Assemblies A-A and BB Roof Assembly C-C Roof Assemblies D-D and E-E Roof Assembly F-F Roof Assembly G-G
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