Stairs and railing

I could not postpone it any longer and felt I really needed to finish this decisive stage. It is eight months since I started working on the great stairs. I am glad that I wasn't satisfied with half-measures and actually made the steps one by one. The way the house is developing in its grandeur, it would have looked horrible without this improvement. Possibly, I regret that I haven't also made the railing with individual spindles as some people do. This is something I can do some time in the future when everything else is perfect.

I have been reluctant to glue the stairs and railings because - as my miniature friends have warned me - it is next to impossible to decorate around them. But sooner or later it has to be done, and now it is already later than late. I found the booklet of assembly instructions that I last used almost a year ago and looked up how to fix the stairs. I have had them temporarily fixed with tack on several occasions, but it is only when you start the actual gluing that all the issues emerge. As always, the instructions say cheerfully: "Glue and..." They do not say: "Let the glue set before your glue the next newel post". And they do not mention miles of masking tape to hold the pieces together. The thing is, it would be pointless to ask anyone to help because there is hardly space for my two hands inside the room. Thus: let the glue set and wait and do something else meanwhile ( which is exactly what I did).

Here I am not even halfway:

You can say that you have seen this picture before, and you have, but at that time it was just held together by tape and white tack. Now the main stairs are glued on, the side stairs are glued on, one straight railing is glued on, and everything is setting, held together by tape. The large chandelier is taped to the ceiling to give me space to work. I am just praying that under the tape it all sits correct. But it is beginning to look good. 

Here I have added the other side railing and glued newel posts to the front railing.

Three hours later, it looks like this, still with tack and tape:

I think it is important to remind everybody that when the instructions simply say "Glue" it can take many, many hours. And when people admire finished dollhouses they have no idea how much work there is behind the beautiful stairs and railings.

Come back soon to see how it turns out.