As in the case of the stairway and its railing, it will be almost necessary to finish the interior of the house before it is finally assembled. To begin with, all ceilings can be painted with flat paint in white or cream. For the kitchen and bathroom floors, oilcloth can be glued directly to the wood; if it has a tiny design it will look like well-waxed linoleum. Better yet, oilcloth with a small checkered pattern will simulate tiled floors for the sun decks as well. Otherwise the latter can be painted or enameled a medium red, gray, or green. The garage floor is cement colored and all other floors stained or shellacked "natural," to suit.

Kitchen and bathroom walls are enameled; the other walls can be tinted with flat paint. For wallpaper, small designs can often be found in sample books. Baseboards and window and door casings are cut from bristol board, tinted, and glued into place.

Doll Furniture

Now that most five-and-ten-cent stores are stocked with miniature reproductions of traditional and modern furniture in plastic, as well as a variety of tiny household fixtures and kitchen equipment, the craftsman may feel that the time required to construct them at home is not worth the effort. However, if the scale of the commercial doll furniture is at variance with that of the doll house, or when stores are distant or not supplied with the desired types, the amateur toymaker will find that the construction of miniature, scale furniture is a simple and absorbing craft. The examples which follow were selected to demonstrate various types of furniture which can be assembled from odds and ends usually destined for the trash basket.

Dimensions

To fit into a house constructed on the scale of 1 in. to 1 ft., a few general dimensions should be borne in mind.

(1) Tables should not be higher than 21/2 in.

(2) Chair seats should be a scant 11/2 in. from the floor.

(3) A good height for beds is 1 3/4 in.; Hollywood beds are lower. All beds are at least 6f in. long.

(4) All plumbing fixtures are at least 2 1/2 in. wide.

Other measurements will fall naturally into place, especially after running a ruler or tape over an existing piece of (adult) furniture and converting the feet to inches.

Match Boxes

Safety match boxes, glued together, covered with paper, and then enameled or painted, offer one of the quickest methods for producing sturdy, modernistic furniture, with prefabricated, practical drawers. Averaging 1 1/2 in. wide, 21/2 in. long, and 3/4 in. deep, they fit easily into 1-in. scale models such as a "Mr. and Mrs." dresser or chest of drawers made up from pairs of match boxes laid flat, with their long edges butted together and glued either three or four boxes high. According to the 1-in. scale, these chests will be a standard 27 in. wide, 27 or 36 in. high, and 36 in. long. Heavy paper glued over the sandpaper sides, and a piece of bristol board over the labeled tops can be enameled to harmonize with the color scheme of the room. Escutcheon pins, or white or colored glass headed pins snipped short, will make realistic drawer pulls. In like manner two sets of flat boxes three high, separated by a strong cardboard top 21/2 in. wide and 41/2 in. long glued flat across the tops of the two drawer sections, will make a practical library desk.

Soap

Realistic porcelain bathroom fixtures can be carved from white soap. Figure 4.8 shows three stylized fixtures with standard, scale dimensions, which will fit into the bathroom of the model house. The basin of the lavatory and the tank of the water closet may be cut separately and joined to the lower parts with toothpicks and warm, melted soap. After the parts have dried for a day or two, they can be carefully polished with a paper napkin, followed by the finger tips or the palm of the hand; or they can be tinted with opaque showcard colors. To preserve them indefinitely, spray with colorless lacquer.

For those who are more adept at whittling or wood carving, soft pine or balsa wood can be worked into good-looking fixtures which can be enameled white or in colors. Skilled soap or wood carvers will probably elaborate upon the simple lines pictured. A large L-shaped hook and two smaller ones, minus collars, can be screwed into the wall over the tub and into the rear edge of the lavatory as faucets and handles.