The Christmas Advent House Kit contains everything you need to build the main structure of the Advent House. However, due to shipping constraints and customer preferences, there are some things we do not provide. The following is a list of additional items you may want and/or need to complete your Advent House. These are Amazon Affiliate links.
ASSEMBLY:
- Exacto Knife No 1 : To assemble the Advent House, you'll need a good sharp knife. Start with this simple knife, or...
- Exacto Knife Set : Upgrade to a knife kit for more working options.
- CA Glue Extra Thick :To glue the kit together, we use CA Glue. This bottle works well and comes with a small tip.
- CA Glue Extra Thick Refill : And you'll probably need more than just that small bottle, so pick up an extra bottle of glue.
FINISH PREP:
- Wood Putty Kit : Once the structure is glued together and dry, you'll need to putty all the tabs and slots and corners and edges.
- Sanding Blocks : And when the putty is all dry, you'll need to sand. We use several different grits and prefer using foam blocks like these.
- Painters Tape : After sanding, you'll start painting, but you must tape off areas you don't want painted. The wider the tape the better to cover more area.
- Clay Brick Cutters: If you purchase the Real Clay Brick option, you'll use these to cut the individual bricks (for around the door and the windows). The plastic brick is cut with a scroll saw.
PAINTING:
Then the painting starts. The following are the types of finishes that we use:
- Flat Gray Primer: For the bases and then also a light coat on the windows and door and atrium/tower before painting those parts for a clean smooth finish.
- Matte Black Primer: For the flat roof and the backside (and the outside of the back door).
- Glossy White: (Optional) You can add this to the interior of the Advent House, and inside of the back door to aid in the reflection of light out the windows, atrium, tower and front door.
- Gray Stone Texture: We use this on the bases and the roof for texture. The bases we leave with just the stone texture (we think it adds a nice 'concrete' look), the roof we'll add green paint overtop the texture, giving it an asphalt shingle-like texture.
- Semi-gloss Hunter Green: For the Angled Roof pieces.
- Shiny Gold: For the Window Keystones, and the Tower Spire - and anywhere else you want to add some gold.
- Glitter Blast Diamond Dust : To add additional sparkle to the gold, or anywhere else, we like this diamond dust spray.
- Matte Clear: Once everything is dry, we use this to protect the paint, especially on the textured areas. We prefer matte to reduce the 'glossiness' of the finished product.
OTHER ITEMS:
- Clear E6000 Glue : If you are adding the brick exteriors, you can use the same CA Glue to attach the brick, or you can use this clear E6000 glue. We use clear so it's less noticeable if it oozes out anywhere. We also find the E6000 to be a little more forgiving when gluing all the brick into place.
- Black E6000 Glue : When attaching the windows to the structure, you can use CA glue, but we like this black E6000. Not only does it give you a little more time to ensure everything is where it belongs before it set up, it also helps block light escaping from between the frames and walls/roofs.
- Inkjet Friendly Vellum : If you didn't purchase the preprinted window images, you'll also probably want to get some Vellum for printing your own images for behind the door and the windows. We use inkjet friendly Vellum. We use the same CA Glue from above to attach the vellum to the parts.
DECORATION:
Finally, once it is all put together, you may want to add some decorations during setup, such as:
- Snow Blanket
- Powdered Snow
- Snow for the roof
- Snowy Model Trees (not to scale)
- Ice Skating Rink (not to scale)
- Clark W Griswold (not to scale)
- Cousin Eddy (not to scale)
- Cousin Eddys RV (not to scale)
And there are many other exterior decorations you can add to make this a unique-to-you Christmas Decoration.
Are there other things you find helpful in this build? Let us know!
