One of the small things that can make a big difference is finishing the back edges of an open dollhouse. I haven’t needed to do much besides paint these edges in the various houses I’ve built because the wood was nice and clean, or I covered it with another material that eliminated the need for finishing. For The Haunted Heritage, there was channel trim on the outer edges but none on the inside edges. Additionally, some of the inside edges were warped or comprised of multiple layers of wood, like the pocket door wall.
You can see from my previous post on the attic, that the second floor ceiling board is rather uneven. This is due to the fact that I made the board from three pieces, the bathroom wall might be slightly shorter than the bedroom wall, and the parlor ceiling is sagging ever so slightly. Being an old house, it actually works in my favor, but I wanted to tone it down when looking at the open back.
Using one long strip of corner trim across the back edge of the attic floor helps disguise the minor warp between the three boards that make up the second floor ceiling. The back surface of the trim is painted dark brown, but I painted the top portion to match the attic floor.
For the remaining back edges, I used various widths of basswood to make a clean finish.
I painted these dark brown to be less obvious when the open back is viewed as whole.
Dark brown allows the edge to fade into the background so the focus remains on the rooms and furnishings.
Over the next week or so, I’ll be posting room by room finished settings of The Haunted Heritage. Of course, no dollhouse is ever completely finished, but it’s time for me to wrap this one up and move on to the next great thing! :D
I love the silhouette of the black cat on the roof. :D
