In part 01, we had discussed a few issues, found solutions for the issues, and applied a first layer of paint to the walls on the lower floor. I am beginning this second part by painting all of the lower parts as needed. Since I did not think you wanted to watch me paint a ton of pieces, you will see these painted in the images below.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR PART 2 ON YOUTUBE

Let me say that painting the front staircase unit, the porch rails, and the main entrance roof assembly was not easy! This took several thin layers of paint and most of a day, plus a bit of sanding and some prep work. It can be a patience tester lol.

This morning, after some thought, I’ve decided to turn this into a Santa’s Workshop instead of continuing with the build as intended. With it being 1:48, it’s just too small to replicate the parts of the Hegeler mansion as I would want to. So, below you can see a few changes I’ve made from the photo above in light of the new theme.

I have used red flat back pearls and red bead trim for the accents. Two trees help to hide the area at the bottom of the stairs, where I glued kraft board to hide the gaps. TIP: You will find it easier to attach the bead chain by adding a couple of drops of super glue with the tacky glue to quickly hold it in place while the glue dries.

Texture paste mixed with Stickles glitter glue makes a pretty snow. Use a palette knife to apply the snow texture on the base, steps, and ledges on posts.

Small flat back pearls were used as tree ornaments.

I will be adding the same snow texture to the main base, but first, I need to figure out the flooring, then finish the inside of the walls, and get them glued in place. This is so that I can pile the snow up next to the walls after they are installed.

For the flooring and wallpapers, I’ve used digital papers found at CreativeFabrica – a great place to find these type items! These digital papers will typically be made 12″ x 12″ @ 300 dpi. You want to look for papers that say “seamless pattern” as well. I wound up reducing the flooring from 12″ square down to 3″ square and the wallpapers down to 1.75″ square so that they fit the scale I’m working in. A good way to test this is to reduce the image, then print it on normal printer paper, cut it out, and test it in the room. If the scale looks off, reduce the image size a bit more and reprint, then test. Once you have the size right, copy and paste the image to fill a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and print it on good-quality paper. I use either 80lb or 110lb paper in bright white.

If your flooring is not a simple square, like in this build, try this little trick I learned from Ara at Bentley House Minis! Use cheap post-it-notes laying them on the floor to build a template. Use this template to cut your flooring. Make any small adjustments as needed.

There are no doors in the kit for the lower floor inner walls, only door frames, so the flooring can go through the openings in the wall.

Now that the flooring is laid down, I’m beginning to work on the wallpaper. I’ve cut the templates out, measured them against the walls, made any necessary adjustments, and then used the templates to cut the wallpaper. Double-check how the walls connect before gluing your wallpaper! I’m not trying to match the paper from one wall to the other because I will be adding things that will cover those areas later on.

Here’s a look at all of the wallpaper in place. I also found a paper that had a repeating circle motif, which I shrunk down and will use as a rug. I always print rugs onto a canvas-type material you can find HERE. This printable canvas fabric can be used with an inkjet printer and works great for outdoor tablecloths and placemats. I will show the rug later.

A great way to paint windows and doors is by creating a painting board. I’ve used a stiff piece of chipboard with part of a silicone mat glued to it. Tape is laid down in strips and secured at the ends. The silicone mat can be cleaned with a baby wipe or a wet towel, making this painting mat reusable! Always test fit windows to see if any parts can be seen from the inside or outside. If so, you need to paint both sides. If not, you can paint only one side.

One of my favorite purchases in 2025 was the Signo Uniball UM-153 pen in gold and silver. The ink flows like magic, and the finish is amazing. It can be used over stains and paint without any issues. You can see here how I’ve used it to decorate the door.

So, this door had some issues in that it wouldn’t fit into the opening and lay flat. I think it was a couple of globs of glue, so I wound up having to sand the sides of the door unit a lot. It was also difficult to paint the door, as it was previously installed. Again, I wish they had not pre-assembled parts. I could very easily be wrong; it seemed like both the door unit and the door frames were too thick for the scale. I would have preferred that they were the same thickness as the window frames.

Here is a look at the door and frames installed. You be the judge and let me know what you think.

Once all of the windows are in place, it’s time to work on the wall trim. There will be trim at the top and bottom of all walls. In the middle room, there will be a third strip used to create a chair rail effect.

In the bay window area, additional trim will be added to hide the gaps between the pieces that make up the bay window.

Now, at the final stages of the lower floor, I have stippled some of the warm white paint on top of the brick walls to create a mottled style brick. Lightly applied, this adds a subtle change to the bricks.

The final touch will be to add snow texture all around the base, the bottom of the posts, and on the window frame tops and sills. I will have to wait on this part until my order for more texture paste comes in.

Hop on over to Part 3 (live when posted)

WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO FOR PART 2 HERE

I hope you are enjoying the build and that you will stay tuned for part 03 coming soon!

Take care, mini friends,

Teri

Here you can see the wall pieces for the first floor in place, making sure I have all of the pieces, and getting a visual idea of how everything fits together. I think this is always a great way to start a project and to find any potential problems, as has happened here.

If you look at the blue area above, you will see that when installed, the stairs push the wall back so that it will no longer connect with the front wall tab. There were three sets of pre-built stairs, all the same size. This leads me to believe that I’m not using the wrong stairs. I’ve also double-checked that I’m using the correct wall. I’ve also discovered that the newell posts are missing, so I will need to make these.

While the walls were in place, I held them steady and drew a pencil line around each wall, which will help me to see exactly where the flooring will go.

Next, I will remove the walls, one at a time, and use them as templates for each wall covering. Make sure that when creating the template, the inside wall (the wall to be covered) is facing upward towards you. If both sides of a wall will be covered, be sure to note which is the left or right side!

The templates were created on 110lb cardstock. I did not make templates for the bay window walls, as these will be covered with texture instead of wallpaper.

The entire front stair section you see above comes pre-built in the kit. I wish this hadn’t been the case, as it will not be easy to paint, I think. One issue that is common with laser-cut kits and curved stairs is that the railing sections are cut flat and then glued in place at angles. Because of this, the pieces rarely line up next to each other. To disguise this, I’ve used some baker’s twine to create a handrail. When the entire piece is covered with a textured paint, the twine will look fine.

Painting this entire piece brings up a second issue in that there are gaping holes at the back underneath the stair steps. You do not see these areas from the front, but you will from the sides, so I need to do something in this area.

Here you can see where I’ve added Kraft board to cover the holes. The area in the front has gaps small enough that I believe they can be covered with the texture paint or wood filler.

So this is what the lower floor looks like when connected to the outside stairs and with the posts all in place.

VIP NOTE: I was incorrect in the image below and in the video, stating that the posts are placed with the double edge at the top. The double edge on the posts should be placed down and glued into the base.

At this point, I need to decide how I want to make the bricks on the outside wall areas. After much thought and several attempts at various ideas, I painted the surface and discovered that if you use a light hand and a thin coat of paint, 99% of the scored brick lines will still be visible. Where a line wasn’t clear, I used a mechanical pencil with a fine lead to draw the line while removing the paint from the line. This works best right after painting, before the paint is completely dry.

Using the backside of a craft knife in the grooves will work just as well. Both methods were used below, and it’s mostly hard to tell the difference. I also like how the single light coat of paint gives the bricks a bit of a mottled finish.

I am now considering adding a lighter color to the top of all the bricks. They do appear lighter in color off-camera, so I will let this sit for a bit and give it some thought.

For now, here is a look at all of the walls painted and put in place. I won’t be gluing the walls in place until I have finished the inside of the walls in Part 2.

And now, to address the issue I discovered with the staircase. I’m not sure why this was an issue, but installing the staircase as intended made the wall on the right lean to the right and unable to attach correctly to the left front wall. My solution was to remove the stair riser that was glued into the base, cutting off the tabs, then gluing it to the bottom of the staircase. I also cut the tabs off the bottom step on the staircase so it could be glued flat to the floor without using the tabs. This was the only way I could get the stairs to fit properly and keep the wall straight.

I’m not sure if the same issue will arise with the remaining stairs, but if it does, I will use the same solution to fix it.

LAST MINUTE NOTE: I did manage to find a photo of the original house before the exterior was refinished. I do think now that they have most likely patched and painted or cleaned most of the exterior brick on the mansion based on the photo at right.

It appears to me that the bricks were all the same color to start, and what we see in the photo is where the bricks had aged and were distressed by the elements.

Thank you all for following along! I hope you found something of value in this post and please feel free to leave questions or comments below if you like.

Till next time . . .

HOP OVER TO HEGELER BUILD 02

WATCH THE HEGELER BUILD VIDEO FOR THE INTRO AND PART 01

Happy mini making,

Teri

After eyeing this awesome 1:48 quarter-scale laser-cut kit, I was able to grab it at a mini show for a fantastic price! As you can see below, some sections have been previously built, which could be a challenge to finish. However, I love a challenge, so it should just add to the fun!

The house is a complete kit with working interior doors, Main Entry door, side exterior door, all shingles precut for fitting the roof, plexiglas, frames, stairs, and rails. Main stairs, interior stairs, doors, and roof windows come preassembled for quick assembly.

The house measures 13W x 11D with porch stairs and 11.5H.

The house has nine inner rooms plus an attic space with a back opening.

You can purchase this house at laserdollhouses.com

The Hegeler Carus Mansion, a 1876 Second Empire masterpiece and National Landmark by architect W. W. Boyington. Located at 1307 Seventh Street in La Salle, Illinois, it is one of the Midwest’s great Second Empire structures. Completed in 1876 for Edward C. Hegeler, a partner in the nearby Matthiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company, this mansion features seven levels, fifty-seven rooms, and 24,000 square feet. It showcases intricate parquet floors and hand-painted ceilings. Beyond its architectural splendor, the mansion played a pivotal role in various fields, including industry, philosophy, publishing, and religion. Immerse yourself in the grandeur of a bygone era and a family’s captivating history, both locally and internationally.

If you would like to learn more about the mansion, you can visit the WEBSITE.

I’m so looking forward to getting started on this project! On one hand, I want to build and finish the project as it was intended. On the other hand, I keep seeing an awesome Santa’s Workshop!

HOP OVER TO HEGELER MANSION BUILD 01

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR HEGELER MANSION BUILD INTRO & PART 01

Till next time . . .

Happy mini making!