Roofing a Dollhouse with Shingles

It's about time that I finished this dollhouse. I bought this dollhouse at a yard sale as a kit in a box for $150. It costs a lot more than that off the shelf. It's called Victorious Farmhouse. But we've got a little roofing here, an edging there, and there'll be some shingling here. And then of course we have the gabled roof and we need to shingle the roof. We have to shingle this area as well. The structure is all done. The outside painting of the exterior is done, but it doesn't have any shingling on the roof. That's what I'm going to work on today. The first thing I need to do is to draw horizontal lines across the roof to help me apply the shingles in straight rows. I measure every inch starting from the bottom edge. The carpenter rule is measure once, you'll have to cut twice. Measure twice, cut once. I mark two rows of one inch spaces so that I can line up the ruler and draw the lines. Once I reach the top of the roof line, I measure the distance the top line is from the very peak and use that to mark the top line on the left side of the main roof. Then I measure every inch going down to the valley where the gable end meets the main roof. Having accurate markings will make my job a success. I have to mark every section of the roof the same way, including the small overhang on each gabled roof and the cover of the side panel that opens up. With the roof marked, I'm ready to start applying the shingles. I start on the very bottom row. The top of the shingle lines up with the marked lines. On the valley, I have to cut the shingles at an angle. I like to work different rows at the same time. It gets boring just doing one long straight row, so I start a second row once I'm halfway through the previous row. All my crafting projects have to be CAD approved. The kit came with a large bag of shingles. Most of the shingles are about the same size. Some are lighter, some are darker, some have more grainy texture to them. They're basically the same size, most of them, but there are a few that are extra large, so it's a good idea to pull those out. You might need one to fill in an area. Right here, this seam, this seam is close to that, and this seam is close to that, and I didn't notice it when I was doing it. Typically, you don't want the seam to be so close to the other or to be in the same place. It is best to put this seam in the middle of the shingle. I know this will never be outside, the rain will never get on top of it, but this is Shito, my crafting buddy. She usually hangs out with me when I craft. Because the shingles are so thin, they want to curl up with the liquid glue. I am using tacky glue. It is my favorite craft glue. I use it for everything, for card making, for dollhouse creations, any kind of craft project. This is my number one favorite glue. It's just my preference. I like how it dries on my fingers and it'll just peel off, rather than leave my fingers sticky, because it's hard to do things when you have sticky fingers. But because it's a liquid glue, and these shingles are super thin, they're very, very thin. They're so thin that you can just break them with your hands. They will curl up, so I'm using a stick to press down, to hold down the shingles to give them time to dry flat. And I think I'm doing a pretty good job. These all are nice and flat. Just the row that I've just done wants to curl up. But this is the part that slows the process down. It takes a while for it to completely set, but I want them to look good, and I want them to lay flat, so it is worth the effort to hold them down. Shito played around in the house while I worked, and sometimes she checked on me to see what I was doing. I must admit, she is irresistible, even to my husband. For the angled cuts in the valley, I always dry fit to make sure that my cut will work. If not, I'll have to recut it or cut a different shingle. It is sometimes hard to move the piece around, so I use the tip of my blade to maneuver it. The first two shingles need a bit cut off at an angle before a full shingle can be placed in the row. I lowered my table as low as I could, but the house is so tall. I had to stand up most of the time while working the roof. Shito, you're pushing my scrap pile onto the floor. She has a way of seeking attention from me. Working behind this chimney is challenging because I can't see very well. My chimney is too short. I know that. I'll need to lengthen it so that it rises above the ridge of the house. That'll be the next project I tackle after I get this roof done, and then I want to make bricks for it. She goes everywhere. I think she has explored every inch of this dollhouse. It took me much longer to shingle this dollhouse roof than professional shinglers did my own home. They only took two days. I worked on this roof for several days, maybe even a couple of weeks, with my faithful companion hanging out with me. The front of the house took the longest. To break up the monotony of working the largest side of the roof, I switched to doing the little side roofs under the gable ends. It just felt good to get a section completed. I finally got it done. The big front is finished. The kit instructions recommended staining the shingles before gluing them, but I chose to do it my own way. My thoughts are that the stain may make them curl. I wanted to stain them flat, already glued down. I'm finally done putting up all the shingles. All there is left to do is the back side. What a silly cat. For this part, I needed to cut the shingles for the bottom row of the opening top to the exact size needed to keep my rows lined up with the sides. That is where my guideline was most useful. I cut two from one shingle. Isn't she a darling? Here, I was able to use clips to hold the shingles in place while the glue set, which was helpful. It made the work go much faster. Plus, this is the open side. This is the side that will get the most use, where hands go in and out, and I want to make sure that these shingles around the opening edge are very secure and they won't get bumped off. For the second row up from the opening, I could use larger clips to hold the shingles. That worked great. Sheetal loves to watch my hands work, and I do enjoy her company. And then, I invented another tool to help hold that top row in place. With two of them and the aid of a wide craft stick, I could glue and hold several in a row on that top of the top row. While I waited for them to set, it gave me time to pet my patient cat. I love her. This back side was done quite quickly. I'm glad that I started with the biggest side first and saved the easiest, shortest side for last. Isn't it funny how often Sheetal looks directly at the camera as if she knows perhaps she wants to be a YouTube star? Well, the last shingles are up. I couldn't do it without you. Now, I'm working on the ridge, which was another slow process. I worked from the outside edges in toward the center. What do you think, Sheetal? Is it done right? Once I passed the top of the front gabled peak, I could start on the gable roof, working from the back toward the front. That gave me three locations to work at the same time. I held the freshly glued shingles in place with masking tape while I went and did something else while waiting for the glue to set. After many days of work, the shingling is done. So, I masked off the painted parts of the house with plastic and painter's tape to get ready to stain the shingles in place. My cat wasn't happy that she couldn't get into the house during this part, but it didn't take me too long to stain it, even though I was working with a very small brush. This is the brush that I use for dirty jobs because I don't want to destroy my bigger brushes. I do wash the brush out with paint thinner afterwards, but that can also bring wear and tear on brushes. Also, staining rough shingles or wood brings wear and tear on a brush, so I don't want to use a good brush for this job. I chose for my stain a light gray. I felt that a soft subtle color would work best with the pastel colors of the house. I didn't want a dark heavy feeling for roof color. The house is done. It just needs the finishing touches, so for the next several videos I'm going to be working on finishing this house, and I may make a few changes as I go along. I hope you join me and that you enjoy the process. Stay tuned for more videos as I work on finishing this dollhouse. Thanks for watching!