Click on photograph to enlarge
| The secret
to the construction of these doors were the hinges which were
especially designed and made for this project. These hinges are shown
in the
photograph to the right. They have an extra flange to increase the
gluing surface. Two sizes of hinges are shown. The larger size was
used for the doors and the smaller size was used for the Indian
shutters and the smaller panel doors created for the kitchen cabinets.
They were also used for the doors of the linen closets that were built
into the eaves of the second story bathroom. |
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| The sketch
(which is not in scale) shows how these hinges were mounted to maximize
the
gluing surface. The hinge flange on the door side was glued into place
with five minute epoxy using an extra strip of wood that ran the entire
length of the door to cover them and add strength. A slot just big
enough to accommodate the hinge was
drilled into the door frame as shown. This slot was filled with epoxy
and the hinge slipped in and bent back as shown. The door frame was
then glued into place in the door cutout, again using five minute epoxy. |
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| The
photograph on the right shows some of the left over door parts. The
enlarged image shows the slots that are cut into the door panel frame.
Also shown are the panels slipped into the grooves and partially
assembled. Unlike the real doors these panels are not free floating
panels
to accommodate changes in humidity and temperature, but are glued into
place using Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue. The door including the side of the door frame with the hinge is given two primer coats and two finishing coats. Between each coat of paint the unit is sanded with 400 grit sandpaper. |
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| The two sides
of the door frame not attached to the door are glued into place with
ordinary household Goop. Then the third side with the door is glued
into
place with five minute epoxy. The door frame molding is not put into place until the wallpaper is mounted so that the molding can hold the wallpaper edges down firmly. The last step is to glue into place the door threshold which is stained, not painted. Shown on the right are the finished doors minus the door knobs for the upstairs guest bedroom. |
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| The kitchen doors are shown here before their knobs have been installed. You can see that they are much slimmer than doors in most dollhouses because these are in actual scale. |
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| Here is a better view to illustrate
the door thickness. This door opens into the second story sitting room.
|
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| This is a good view of the jog in
the wall created by the front chimneys. It is easy to see how cleverly
the builders made use of the jog in the wall, creating a closet to fill
the space remaining. In the lower portion of the closet, closest to the
exterior side wall on the right of the photograph, there are shelves
for storage, making every square inch, no matter how short, a valuable
space. |
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