House No.2 The Makeover Tasklist - March 2007

Groundwork Number Task Done 1 Construction: Fastening and sanding existing structure Yes 2 Building and staining windows, doors, and shutters Almost 3 Cutting and staining roof beams Yes 4 Building, texturing and fishing entrance steps. Building and staining ballustrade. Almost 5 Cutting and priming stripwood for inside stucco 6 Building and priming chimney 7 Building and staining balcony roof and fence 8 Cutting, sanding, priming, and painting/staining outer trim 9 Priming Shell

	Decorating Number Task Done 10 Electrifying the house 11 Wallpapering and painting ceilings 12 Installing roof beams and inside stucco 13 Laying floors, perhaps installing base boards 14 Texturing and painting outside walls and chimney 15 Stone flooring for balcony and porch 16 Installing windows and doors 17 Installing lights 18 Installing balcony roof and fence 19 Attaching outside trim 20 Attaching sealing strips to the visible edges 21 Attaching chimney 22 Covering the edges of roof, chimney and balcony with copper 23 Covering the roof and balcony roof with slates Why such a list? I wrote the list above because I learned it's necessary to keep in mind what's left to do - and its order! Obviously, building or decorating a dollshouse is a very complex task that involves many little, interrelated steps. One thing I learned from the process of designing and building our house no.1 is that one cannot think too much in advance. Even in the planning stage I thought: "why didn't I think of that before?" numberless times. Obviously, misplanning can cause problems and extra work. For instance: It is cleaner and easier to install the windows after wallpapering, this way you can hide the raw edges of the wallpaper around the window holes. However, before you wallpaper you should electrify the house - but not install the (wall) lights! When you install the lights, the walls should be finished - that means that you first have to finish the outside walls as well if you plan have exterior lights. It might also be sensible to do the flooring first and then install the doors. If they collide, you can easily sand away what's too large on the doors... Also: Better paint the windows before you glue and install them; install a chimney breast before but the fire surround and mantle shelf after you wallpaper, or wallpaper the chimney breast before you install it; would you do the floorig before or after installing the whole fireplace; attach inside stucco after you've wallpapered, but think carefully whether you want to paint the ceilings before or afterwards... Examples are endless. As always: think ahead! --------- If you believe this might be useful, feel free to copy the list above and modify it according to your dollshouse's needs. Old House Makeover II Instruction, Hints & Tips .
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