Dollhouse Kits: Painting Techniques

Dollhouse Kits: Painting Techniques

Painting will take up about half of the time that you will spend creating your dollhouse kit. It is fun to see the dollhouse take shape with the new color and design. Our suggestions in painting your own dollhouse are as follows: plan the painting process, choose the appropriate brush, and paint multiple smooth coats.

Plan the Painting Process

We recommend that you protect areas that you will not need to paint, or that will be painted with a different color with masking or painters tape. This technique will insure a straight line, and also speed up the detailed work as you will not have to worry about the crevasses or edges.

Also, just another tip on painting dollhouses is to use wax paper instead of newspaper to lay the wet pieces on. We find that when we lay down newspaper you will inevitably pull some little newspaper pieces into your dollhouse when you pick up it up. Wax paper will not attach to your wet dollhouse wall.

Choose the Appropriate Brush

It is almost comical to think of our first dollhouse. We were so eager to have everything perfect. We used very small brushes, perhaps ¼ inch wide to do the painting process, and we found very quickly that it would take forever. Also we discovered that there are actual differences in brushes, and that there are brushes for different types of material. Check out your local craft store and ask them for a good sturdy brush that will work well with a wood surface.

We recommend that you have a variety of brush sizes. The larger brushes should be about 4-5 inches wide, the next size will be 1 inch wide, and you will also want one or two fine (¼ to ½ inch) brushes with which you can paint the windows, and other small pieces. Quick tip: if you are going to have multiple people working on this we would recommend that you have more than one brush of the same size.

Paint Multiple Smooth Coats

How many coats should I put on? This is a common question amongst new dollhouse kit constructors. A helpful tip is to focus more on consistency than coats. Let one coat dry completely and if it looks completely covered you are okay to stop, but if it is thin or inconsistent then we would recommend putting on another coat. The important thing to remember is consistency.

Conclusion

Good luck in your painting process! Just remember to take it slow until you get a knack for it. If you will plan it out, use the right brush, and keep it smooth and consistent you will have created a beautiful dollhouse from your dollhouse kit.

Dollhouse City offers doll house kits, accessories, and helpful hints in setting up your dollhouse kits.