07:52

Fixing A Hole In The Ocean

Mini people face death via the hole in the floor

Dear Melissa and Doug,

Why did you put the stairs in the middle of the floor? And why did you make such a HUGE hole on top of it?

The giant stair opening never seemed an issue until I decided to make this a real dollhouse. When you have a giant opening for stairs in the bedroom and attic, where do you put the bed? This is what happens when you make a kiddie dollhouse a "real" dollhouse.

The 2 stair openings were in the master bedroom and the attic. They were large because it allowed you to reposition the stairs to where you wanted them. Simple solid stairs that I had stained the treads and painted the risers white.

I really try for realism, so not having stairs bugged me (still does). But I really didn't want to cut a new hole on top of everything else I was doing. So, I plugged those holes and secretly know the resident teleport between floors. Okay? Don't ask questions.

Here's what I did:

I went to my local art store and bought a large sheet of birch (used for painting on) for $2.68 (also known as canvas board). Amazingly cheap. Easy to work with sizes, and tons of variety. Close to the same thickness as the floor

Trace the opening on to card stock and then traced it on to the wood sheet

Cut your wood using whatever you choose. Aim to make it a wee bit larger so you can refine it for a snug fit

Use your Dremel (or electric sander) to fine tune the fit. I also sanded the exposed top edges to a rounded shape for safety

Stain the wood and give it 2 coats of clear coat vanish

The wood for the ceiling (under the floor piece)

Cut a larger (by at least one inch all around) piece of wood to act as a new ceiling piece and something for your floor piece to attach to.

Paint the ceiling piece to match your current paint colour.

Since my floors are a dark espresso stain, I painted the not exposed side of the ceiling piece black. This ensured if there were gaps in the floor piece edges you would not see the white ceiling piece, but rather black

I glued stir sticks to the back of the floor piece and then glued it to the ceiling piece. This raised the floor piece up enough so it was close to flush

Using No More Nails adhesive throughout, I used it to glue the ceiling piece in place (along with its attached flooring piece

Use green painters tape to keep it in place and prevent buckling. Let dry overnight!

I didn't use heavy books on top because I didn't want to put too much pressure on it and cause the ceiling panel to push away from the actual ceiling.

Oh How You Learn......

As I was wrapping things up, I thought, what was the most important thing about this project to stress to my readers?

ENSURE YOUR WOOD GRAINS ARE GOING IN THE SAME DIRECTION

Yup. Well, I took the finished attic floor piece and popped it in and SURPRISE I didn't have the grain going in the same direction. It was horribly obvious and could not be saved. Total redo of that floor piece. You think I might have noticed it when I was sanding and fitting the piece? Ha.