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Victorianna – final trim

Approximately 1,931 days after I started working on it and a good fifteen years after I started thinking about it, I can officially report that the back-to-back Victorianna bash is done!

Okay, not 100% done. I don’t have furniture for all of the rooms yet, but the house itself is finished, and it’s a good thing, because I’m moving to a new 1:1 house and I did not want to move this dollhouse-in-progress again.

After finishing the shingles and foundation, the last thing to do was to cover the exposed plywood edges with trim. This gives the house a clean, finished look.

One last room needed crown molding and baseboard — the room off the living room that I’m not sure what to do with. (Office? Music room? Craft room?)

I’m not sure if I ever posted a picture of the back door — this is a Houseworks Traditional 4-Panel Exterior Door. I have a love/hate relationship with this style of door — I love the transom at the top, but I hate the door itself, which has four raised panels on the front and is completely flat on the back. I added strip wood to the flat side to dress it up.

This is the same Craftsman style as the fake closet under the stairs, which is barely visible. I really like how this looks, and it’s easy to do with scrap wood. In my next house I might scratch build doors that look like this… I’m kind of over the standard Houseworks doors.

A while ago I set aside my last piece of baseboard (which is 1:12 chair rail that’s discontinued and impossible to find), but when it came time to finish this room I couldn’t find it anywhere. I dug through my scrap drawer and found a partial piece that had been stained, but it wasn’t big enough to do the whole room.

I went down a rabbit hole of making built-in cabinets along the back wall so I wouldn’t need to use baseboard there, but thankfully found the piece of baseboard before I glued anything in. Here’s the last room, finished!

Since I’m in the process of packing, I didn’t want to order anything new, so I dug through my strip wood stash and got creative with what I had. I used 3/16″ basswood (same thickness as the kit wood) on the walls and floors. For the roof I wanted the trim to also cover up the edge of the shingles, so I used 1/4″ there. I had *just* enough of the 1/4″ wood for the shingled parts of the roof, but not the flat part.

Instead I used 3/16″ angle trim on the flat part of the roof.

Where the 1/4″ wood meets the angle trim, I held the 1/4″ piece up against the sloped roof and then marked the points where it overlaps the flat roof.

Then I cut the trim with scissors. This wood is only 1/32″ thick, so it’s easy to cut.

The angle trim has a mitered corner.

Here’s something you’ll never see unless you get under the house and look up, but I couldn’t leave it like that.

Here it is with a piece of strip wood added. It doesn’t cover the tabs up completely, but it’s much better.

And…. it’s done! The Victorianna is finally done!




Oh, I also added the mullions that I forgot to do when I finished the bay window.

Here’s the finished house enjoying a sunny afternoon in San Francisco…

It might take some time to get my new workshop unpacked and functional, but now that the Victorianna is finished (yay!) I hope to set it up with furniture sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I’m planning to post a gallery (I took a bunch of pictures before packing up the furniture), as well as a recap that links to the key posts I made while building the Victorianna, so stay tuned for those.

12 Comments

  1. Sandra Stuckless

    Well done, you!! And with an actual full-size house move in the works…I am doubly impressed.

  2. Marilyn

    It’s fantastic! Great job.

  3. ann

    “Cute” really does not do this fine house justice, but I think along the way I have used every other adjective to describe this project. It’s a lovely house and you have a done fine job. It certainly does need to be decorated and furnished. Now, I am anxious to see what your next build will be. I a considering the newest Real Good Toys house, but I’m having a hard time talking myself into it.

  4. Diane

    Beautiful work, Emily! I love how this came out. Good luck with your move.

  5. Debora L.

    Has it really been that long?! It doesn’t seem like it. Congratulations on finishing the house, it was quite a project. You did a lovely job with it.

    • Emily

      Haha, thanks! It feels that long to me! :)

  6. Alayne

    The finished house is a joy to see…congratulations on completing it! Hope your real life move goes smoothly and you are soon settled into a new home.

  7. Sheila

    Wow! It’s so gorgeous! So impressed. Disguising the edges is something I always forget but it helps so much!

  8. Rhonda

    I certainly have enjoyed your journey and learned some things along the way. Congratulations on this beautiful accomplishment!

  9. Jeanne

    Hurray! What a feat! I love the shingling on the roof —

  10. Sarah

    This house is extraordinary. It’s unusual in its back to back layout. The access arrangement makes the room arrangement feel like a real house- not a flat dollhouse. The craftsmanship is excellent.

    • Emily

      Thank you!

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