Modern Dollhouse DIY

Malibu Beach Dollhouse Kit

After several attempts at trying to build my own modern dollhouse (and failing!), I decided to splurge on the Malibu Beach Dollhouse Kit from The Dollhouse Emporium in the UK.  The reason for choosing this house, pretty simple, it was on sale and they would actually ship it to Australia.  There are several other houses which I found and really loved the design of, but actually being able to buy one and have it delivered was another story.  My dream home would still be the Brinca Dada Emerson Dollhouse, but unfortunately I could not find one anywhere.

The Malibu arrived from the UK within one week of ordering it, which was super impressive given the size and weight of the box.  After opening it, I was a little overwhelmed, I'm not going to lie, there were many, many pieces and a 20 something page instruction manual!

Take note, when the manual tells you to do a dry run first, as excited as you might be to put together your dream home, do the dry run first!!

My top tips for constructing this house:

1.  MOST IMPORTANT do the dry run first, leave all the sliding windows pinned to the frames as they don't all match.  Mark which windows fit which frames use any method that makes sense to you, but this is important to achieve a good end result.

2.  When you have the house sitting together (not glued) decide on a colour scheme for the facade.  I would have like to have kept some more of my facade with the natural wood showing (i.e.; the window frames).

3.  Note pieces that do not need to be painted, i.e. top and bottom edges that meet the floor or ceiling this will cut down the 3 or more coats of paint you are going to need.  

4.  I would recommend not painting the sliding window tracks or the windows themselves first off.  Once my house had its 3 coats of paint the sliding panels where not so 'slidey'!!!!

Next step.... paint, and sand, and paint and sand.... and continue painting and sanding until you are happy the walls are well finished.  You will be able to touch the walls up once it is constructed, but the majority of it will be easier to do while is is still in pieces.

As for paint, I had a lengthy discussion with the sales person at the paint desk at the local hardware store.  I was advised to use a semi-gloss, however it still has that chalky feeling and I am considering doing a final coat in a gloss finish.  Obviously if you plan to wallpaper every room the paint job will not matter as much, but I am after the crisp white wall effect.

Partial dry run of the build, windows and frames left unpainted- be sure to mark which window fits to which frame!

Progress shot with part of the facade taken removed.

Picture of how the exterior of the house currently looks.  I am still undecided as to how to finish the outside.  In trying to achieve a modern look, I wanted to paint the very inside of the window frames black.  I will add more photos of the house as the renovations continue.