LittleLapin Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Hello! My name is Meghan and I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. Back when I was six my grandpa made me a dollhouse. I adored it. Would play with it for hours, go to a local miniature store to look at all the things I wished I could get for my dollhouse, had a book that had lots of miniature interiors inspired by different time periods. Eventually though I grew out of playing with it, so it sat collecting dust for the most part, with my younger siblings occasionally wreaking havoc on it. But recently I got the idea to pull it out of the attic and fix it up to be even better than before. It's not a Greenleaf dollhouse, I'm not sure what dollhouse it is actually. It's in worse shape than I thought, looking at it was seriously distressing. I'm going to have to replace the exterior bricks, the shingles of the roof, railing on the balconies, redo the floors, reattach the roof. It's a little overwhelming honestly, but if I go bit by bit it should be manageable. And it'll definitely be worth it to see my childhood dollhouse in good condition again.Any advice, words of wisdom, and encouragement is highly appreciated! And I look forward to meeting you all and learning a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLapin Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Some picture of the dollhouse. It's in such bad shape it makes me cringe, but I hope I can get it in good order again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Welcome to the little family, Meghan. I hope you haven't been flooded, or do you live nearer the mountains?Overall your house appears to be structurally sound. The exterior brick is paper? That is easily removed, take a rag wet with white vinegar and water to finish stripping it off and when the walls are dry gently remove that front door surround in case any paper is underneath. Sand and prime the walls with a flat, white primer (water-based). If you want brickwork, you have numerous choices; more brick paper, paperclay, papermache egg cartons or packing material (or make your own sheets of it) or sandpaper cut into bricks (I paint my walls grout color and use the sandpaper "bricks").Carefully measure your window and door openings; Houseworks carries replacement components. How thick is the wood your house was built with? The Houseworks component are made to fit 3/8" thick wood. If you can't find exact fit replacements, you can either fill in pat of the openings with scrap wood or gently widen them with a utility knife; so I would wait to replace the brickwork until you have your replacements. I have found when I do rehab work I like to make my own doors and windows.Shingles are easily replaced, and you can either use card, heavy paper, sandpaper, paperclay or the wood shingles that Greenleaf sells. I do recommend painting the roof to match whatever you use on your shingles for color.Houseworks also makes components to make railings, both for those decks and for stairs; and if you can remove the stairs you can make replacement stringers and treads, or at least clean up the ones you have; and also make risers and backs for the stairs, at least for the first floor, so they look a whole lot more finished.That's just to get you started; I make everything I put in my houses, even when I build a new kit, including furniture, accessories and dolls. I'm 73 and I do play with my houses, so take that into consideration as you rehab yours. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbnmini Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Hello Meghan! And we just need to warn you now.....this dollhouse thing is VERY addictive! ;)As Holly said- looks like your house is in relatively good shape. Remove the exterior paper as she explained. Wood trim can be gently heated with a heat gun or hair dryer to loosen old glue and then gently pry it off with a scraper.Are the walls firm? If not, they may need to have some wood glue added - most of the time I end up removing the wall, scrape off old glue and re-install using proper wood glue. Are the interior walls painted or papered? They look pretty good, actually, but can be easily updated with wallpaper if you'd like. If you plan on doing wallpaper, it is easier to do that before you install any windows and doors.That deck railing looks like simple strip wood and small dowels - so that should be an easy fix.As for the windows- meh, I'm terrible at making my own stuff, so I'd just purchase some Houseworks replacement windows. Use scrap wood to fill in the space to accommodate the difference in width- be sure to spackle & sand the seams. Windows can get expensive, you can often find a good deal on ebay.BTW- I love the little shades! They would be easy to replicate!Have fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Also, if you do change out the paper and the walls under the old paper have not been primed, do sand and prime them before putting on new paper; the acids in wood over time leach into the paper and turn it brown. Regular paper will do this, also, for the same reason; dollhouse wallpaper is acid free, usually, as is most scrapbook paper, and a lot of people use scrapbook paper with small designs quite successfully to wallpaper dollhouses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLapin Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 My city missed the flooding thankfully! And thank you all for the tips! I've begun removing the exterior brick today. The walls are pretty sturdy, found out after removing some of the brick paper that my grandpa used tiny nails to put a lot of the walls together as well as wood glue. I was planning on using egg carton bricks for my exterior, the results look so good for everyone else! I hadn't even really thought about the stairs! But I definitely would like to replace them with something more sturdy and realistic looking. All the interior walls are painted and they have held up pretty good, I think I may still repaint them (especially the attic, not a fan of the bright pink for a room anymore). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbnmini Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Glad to hear that you didn't have any flooding!Looking forward to seeing your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapz Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Welcome to the forum, Meghan! What a wonderful project you have there. Very beautiful house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra from Olde Cape Cod Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Looks like your grandpa built it to last! Great project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckMouse Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Welcome to the Greenleaf family, Meghan. That's a wonderful little treasure you have there. The others have given you good advice on rehabbing it. The most important feature of that house is the love that went into building it. You can't replace that with anything. Please keep us posted on your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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