This week I have been working on the dollshouse room. Using my rough and ready carpentry skills, I boxed in the ugly pipes in the corner. This was quite challenging as neither wall is flat or vertical, plus I can't drill into the wall because it's been drylined to keep the damp out (waterproof membrane that can't be punctured). I got there in the end and as long as nobody ever (ever) touches it, it will be fine.
By the time I finished painting the box, and applying narrow strips of wood along the backs of the worktops to block the varying gap with the not-flat wall, I had realised that the rest of the room was looking really grotty. Cobwebs, dirt marks, random holes, stained concrete steps, peeling paint - it looked like a basement.
So I spent more time filling holes and sanding flat, painting the walls, and painting the concrete steps with floor paint. It looks a lot better.
The kitchen fitter still needs to come back and re-do the plinth, but I decided it was time to start unpacking some houses.
The first one I did was the Fairfield 1/24th house, which has its own blog.
Then I moved on to the next box, which turned out to be my Rik Pierce Gamekeeper's cottage. I'm unpacking on a little table, surrounded by a sheet, and I am carefully inspecting all wrapping to make sure nothing tiny is sticking to it.
Contents revealed - the house is buffered by two TV quilts and a sheep skin.
Out of the box - you can see all the bubble wrap padding the chimney.
Bubble wrap removed, but chimney still padded. Cling film is holding in the tissue paper padding the rooms.
Oops, we have some breakage: the decorative twirl on the roof cap has snapped off.
The inside was a bit tumbled around but nothing broken. This house is still a work in progress
Safe in the new display area with its dust cover over it.
Next up was the Canadian house. This is the first house I ever built, back in 1980. It's a bit basic in construction, and looking a bit battered now.
Padded with bubblewrap inside its box.
Bubblewrap cut away. This house used to have a nice porch, but I had to cut it off because it made the back-opening house very hard to turn around for viewing.
Lots of tissue paper stuffed gently in the rooms to hold contents in place.
Bit of an earthquake in the attic, and some of this stuff doesn't belong in here so I've taken it out now.
This house is very much my teenage dream house. In contrast to my parents' house, which was very functional and decorated in 1970s orange and brown, my dollshouse was full of pastels and florals and quilts and antiques. Since then, I've continued to add to it over the years, choosing things I like.
My idea of a luxury bathroom in 1980 - still looks pretty good to me!
The crowded living room, with dolls representing me and my husband, and lots of evidence of my hobbies - plus my teapot collection.
Nice Canadian style kitchen, this is an old Reallife Miniatures kit I think.
Next up was the French Gatehouse.
It had a big 'bumper' of cushions inside carrier bags, taped together into a sort of life vest.
Unfortunately this had both squashed the geraniums in the window box...
and smashed the stair railing. Some repairs needed here.
Also the rooftop finial had snapped off, but I can reglue.
Tissue paper revealed.
The bedroom has survived well, just had to rearrange some of the accessories.
The main living room is fine, just had to put back the lamp and some cushions and a stray bit of cheese.
The gate area was a bit topsy turvy, but easy to sort out.
Placed on the display area, waiting for repairs.
2 comments:
Wow it was fun to see these. Thanks for sharing. Are there more houses?
oooooh, what lovely dolls' houses! I love looking at how other folk have decorated their dolls' houses :-)
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