Build directions

Main Street Bakery

10 STEPS
24 WOOD PIECES
NO GLUE
ABOUT 5.4 IN TALL

Before you start

Lay your pieces out engraved side up. Each step shows the pieces it uses, drawn the way they lie on the table.
No glue and no tools. The tabs are snug on purpose: press evenly and work each joint in a little at a time. Never force one corner.
Engraved sides always face out. Left and right always mean as you look at the front of the house, the side with the door.
The vellum is the thin paper that makes the windows glow. Each piece is the shape of its window or door frame, just a little smaller, so they are easy to match. If your vellum is still on its little card, press each piece out gently when its window goes on.
Painting? Paint the pieces before you build. Keep the paint thin on the tabs and out of the slots, or the joints get too tight.

How a window goes on

Dress the walls flat on the table before they go up. Every layered window and door goes on in the same order, from the bottom up. Here is one window, piece by piece, with the new piece in gold.

1. SillPush the sill's two end tabs into the pair of slots under the window.
2. VellumLay the vellum on the wall, its bottom edge against the sill.
3. FrameSet the frame over it so its bottom tabs drop into the sill's notches.
4. HoodPress the hood on over the frame's top tabs, its own tabs into the slots above.
5. PedimentStand the pediment in the hood's two front slots.

Step 1: The storefront
Lay the front wall flat on the table, engraved side up, and work from the bottom up. Push the storefront step's tabs into the slots under the big window. Lay the storefront's vellum (one long piece) against the step and set the storefront over it, its bottom tabs in the step's notches. Press the hood on so its notches close over the storefront's top tabs, then push the scalloped valance's tabs into the slots along the front of the hood, so it hangs under the hood like an awning.
Pieces for this step
STOREFRONT
STOREFRONT STEP
STOREFRONT HOOD
VALANCE
Step 2: The sign
Stand the sign board in the hood's other four notches, then press the cornice on over the sign's top tabs.
Pieces for this step
SIGN
CORNICE
Step 3: Upstairs windows
The three upstairs windows go on next: sill, vellum, frame, hood, then the pediment in the hood's front slots. Each window goes on the same way, as shown above.
Pieces for this step
WINDOW × 3
SILL × 3
HOOD × 3
PEDIMENT × 3
Step 4: Roof plate first
This house is built from the top down. Start with the roof plate.
Pieces for this step
ROOF PLATE
Step 5: Front wall
Slide the front wall on so its top tabs go into the roof plate's notches.
Pieces for this step
FRONT WALL
Step 6: Right side wall
The right side wall slides on the same way and meets the front wall at the corner. The corner tabs mesh like fingers: work them together a little at a time.
Pieces for this step
RIGHT SIDE WALL
Step 7: Back wall
The back wall slides on from the back and locks into the right side wall the same way.
Pieces for this step
BACK WALL
Step 8: Left side wall
The left side wall finishes the box. It meets two walls at once: seat one corner, then the other.
Pieces for this step
LEFT SIDE WALL
Step 9: Floor last
Set the floor down flat, tealight opening up, and lower the whole house straight onto it so the wall tabs drop into its notches.
Pieces for this step
FLOOR
Step 10: Light it up
Switch on the LED tealight, set it on the table, and set the bakery down over it so the light comes up through the round opening in the floor. Then drape the fairy lights over the roof and switch them on too. Use LED lights only, never a real candle.