Sharing my next big project I bought this dollhouse a couple months back with the intentions of fixing it up, making it look fantastic and then gifting it to my kids. It’s definitely a project that I know will take a long time and will require a lot of work. I don’t think I’ll be done this year but maybe the next which is fine because my kids will be older and they’ll be able to enjoy it alot more.
Calling all the paint experts. What would be the best way to paint the exterior on this? It’s a wooden exterior but it has a glossy paint on it already. a question for my crafty family what would be a cool thing to add to this dollhouse once it’s done?
I want to be able to add little miniature things I make with my cutting machine but that will be for later
Also if this is not an allowed topic for this tag I can always delete it. I wasn’t sure
This is such a fun project, and your kids will love it when it’s all finished. I renovated my daughter dollhouse a little while ago. I let her pick the colors she wanted and then painted it and surprised her with it one day.
For painting I would sand, sand and sand some more. That glossy paint isn’t great for painting over it. It will just peel and flake off.
I would totally add some little flowerpot windowsills to the front and some curtains for the windows on the inside. It’s a very cute little doll house. I also added lights to my daughter’s doll house. They were just little light bars that you could turn on and off with a remote. I used double sided tape to secure them on the roof of the rooms. I also had scraps of floor vinyl and left over carpet for the floors of the doll house. I don’t have pictures of the curtains and flowerpot windowsill planters I made either.
I’m in awe! This is such a wonderful dollhouse and amazing tips you’ve shared! Thank you belle! one more question, after I sand it, should I paint with acrylic or should I spray paint? I’m thinking acrylic would be the way to go right?
Yeah I would go acrylic paint and apply with a brush paint. I actually grabbed those sampler pots you can get from the hardware store. It was cheaper to buy them rather than the paint tubes that I normally buy for crafts. After you finish all your sanding brush over it with a dust pan brush and vacuum it out. Get rid of all the fine dust. I would then paint with a primer coat first, these are usually white. Then apply 3 coats of your colored paint. Don’t apply the paint too thick as it won’t dry. It’s better to do more coats and letting each one dry rather than doing a heavy coat. Need any more help, I’m happy to help. I built the doll house and also all my lizard enclosures. I love wood working.
I agree with @BellethehowtoGuru… primer is definitely a must for woodwork as the first step before painting. That’s also what the staff at our local paint store advised me when I asked about proper surface prep because I did some TV cabinet a few months ago…
Thank you!! I was so lost on how to even start this project but this has helped me a ton! And thank you for offering further help I’ll definitely keep that in mind
Calling all the paint experts. What would be the best way to paint the exterior on this? It’s a wooden exterior but it has a glossy paint on it already. 
I’ll be sure to remember primer!