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Reviving childhood foursquare

Skellington
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Skellington

Skellington

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Hello! I'm a graphic designer in Olympia, Washington, and I'm looking to dip my toe back into the miniature world.

My old dollhouse has been collecting dust in a closet at my parents' place for fifteen years, but in the next month or two I'll finally have room for it (which'll make my folks quite pleased!). I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head, but I've been surprised how excited I am to poke at it again, and I really couldn't face the idea of giving it away -- for one thing, it's a dollhouse format unlike any I've ever seen: an almost-foursquare house with an open back and hinged front, with different room accessible from each side.

The dollhouse also has some history. When I was four, my infant brother needed an open heart surgery that could only be performed in Philadelphia. Mom went east with him, they sent me to grandparents in Oregon, and dad was stuck at home in Washington with a brand new job and a ton of anxiety. He decided he needed an engrossing project to work on during insomnia, found the dollhouse at a garage sale, and spent weeks chipping up old floors, laying new one, installing walls, and wall papering. (The heart surgery was a success, btw).

I spent years making things for it before it got relegated to the closet.

Now, I really don't need another project; I've got paintings to work on, a real house remodeling project to finish, a yard to landscape, music to play, a job... but after spending five years remodeling a human house the dollhouse looks so refreshingly easy. Not to belittle the skill required for miniatures, of course, but there's no plumbing! No drywall! No inspections! And I have a lot more experience with both tools and art than I did as a young teen, so things that seemed daunting then seem do-able now.

Anyhow, the huge-miniature house isn't even at MY house yet -- I still have to clean out a corner of the guest room -- but I'm starting to plan and figure out what I need to tackle first, and I have a LOT of ideas for both fixes and changes. 

 

- Skellington

dh1.jpg

dh3.jpg

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Debsrand56

Debsrand56

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Welcome!  What a wonderful story your house has, and it looks like you have some really nice pieces inside.  Looking forward to its renovation.  Warning--you will become addicted to this hobby, but it will also bring you hours of pleasure. :)  

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Elsbeth

Elsbeth

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1 hour ago, Skellington said:

-- for one thing, it's a dollhouse format unlike any I've ever seen: an almost-foursquare house with an open back and hinged front, with different room accessible from each side.

 

 

The front and back opening houses were more common in the past and many vintage plans show front and back openings - and Jackie Dieber's plans are almost always 2-rooms deep. But that seemed to phase out in the 80s and most kits today are 1 room deep. 

I love your house - it has a colonial/georgian look. Sorta 1940s style to it. I think you will like all the things you can get for it these days - 3D printing and scrapbook papers have really opened up some ways to make unique expressions with dollhouses.

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Skellington

Skellington

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Thanks, everyone -- this is exciting! 

1 hour ago, Elsbeth said:

The front and back opening houses were more common in the past and many vintage plans show front and back openings - and Jackie Dieber's plans are almost always 2-rooms deep. But that seemed to phase out in the 80s

I think you will like all the things you can get for it these days - 3D printing and scrapbook papers have really opened up some ways to make unique expressions with dollhouses.

It's certainly a different world than the mid 90s when I was last involved. I used to get *one* catalog of things I couldn't afford and pour over it for months. Now I can waste whole days on the internet instead. Dad would've acquired the house in 88, I think? I'm a bit confused as to when, seeing as I was four/five-ish. 

As for dad, well, he's mostly pleased I'm planning on moving it out of his closet... but I think he's happy I still want it, too. ;)

1 hour ago, Debsrand56 said:

Welcome!  What a wonderful story your house has, and it looks like you have some really nice pieces inside.  Looking forward to its renovation.  Warning--you will become addicted to this hobby, but it will also bring you hours of pleasure. :)  

The stuff inside runs the full gamut -- stuff I saved up for, gifts from my parents (my mom dreamed about having a real roper stove, so she made sure the dollhouse had one!), and stuff I made from age 10ish up to 16 or so. Sadly, all the little sculpey things I made in my teens aren't *quite* as wonderfully done as I remembered them being. :p Cleaning it out -- serious dusting, tossing broken bits, etc -- is obviously the first order of business. Then I can figure out the next step.

Here's a shot of the opened front (I have more, but I'm uploading piecemeal because of the cap). The living room/parlor runs the full depth of the house. I have vivid memories of pulling a toddler I was babysitting out of it by her ankles.

1 hour ago, TerriAnn said:

Hurry and get that corner cleaned out to move this sweet baby in!  Love, love and love.

 

If the dollhouse excitement encourages me to get the clutter out, it'll have inspired SOMETHING useful!

Do y'all usually start a thread documenting a project, or just post about specific pieces? I've been lurking for a week or two -- ever since I decided this was coming home -- but I'm not quite up to speed on the etiquette. 

dh2.jpg

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KathieB

KathieB

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5 minutes ago, Skellington said:

Here's a shot of the opened front (I have more, but I'm uploading piecemeal because of the cap).

Do y'all usually start a thread documenting a project, or just post about specific pieces? I've been lurking for a week or two -- ever since I decided this was coming home -- but I'm not quite up to speed on the etiquette. 

We love eye candy! So glad you've joined us. What a treat to see how you go about sprucing up this little gem. :) 

When you've made 5 posts, you can open an album in your own Gallery to share progress pictures.  You can link the gallery photos in your posts without using up any of the limited space allotted to images placed in messages.

Personally, I like it when a member starts a thread with the name of the house and maybe a bit of description and then keeps adding updates as the build progresses. That way all the information about a particular house is easy to find for the thread originator and any of the rest of us who may want to refer back to it.

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Skellington

Skellington

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Okay, so this is post #3, and I just have to blather on twice more to get an album. ;)

(I've my own web hosting as well, and a casual blog, but it's much more fun to share things with people who'll actually be interested)

I'll try to tackle the Corner of Doom this weekend. It has all those random bits in it that accrue from remodeling and don't have a real home.

3 hours ago, Elsbeth said:

I love that hall with the stairs! And the wainscoting!

I know dad did the bathroom wainscotting and downstairs wood floors. The upstairs wood floors were there when he got it (actually the whole house had the same stuff); they're a bit ripply and buckled. He said it was such a pain chiseling out the downstairs that he left the upstairs as it was. Haven't decided if I'm going to chisel where he dared not tread yet. A lot to figure out before I hit that point!

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Skellington

Skellington

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Oh, here we go, post number four -- If I'm going to start a thread, I better name the thing. All the known kit-built houses have that figured out, which is really handy. Names are hard. I have a lot of untitled paintings and unnamed fiction characters following me around waiting for that inspiration.

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Sable

Sable

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A note for the future--I noticed that the roof has broken bits along the edge. When you replace those pieces make sure you line the bottom row up with the roofline rather than have them hanging beyond it. This ensures far less breakage in the future.  

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havanaholly

havanaholly

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Sarah, before you start chiseling those floors try laying a rag dampened with warm water & white vinegar to see if that will loosen the adhesive originally used; makes prying up the old floor a lot easier if you can soften the glue.  If it was built when your dad got it for you, I wonder if it was originally a scratch build?  Is the base with the drawer it's sitting on part of it?

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KathieB

KathieB

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2 hours ago, Skellington said:

(I've my own web hosting as well, and a casual blog, but it's much more fun to share things with people who'll actually be interested)

You could blog it on your own blog and put a link in your signature line here, like my link below. I stopped blogging here when a couple of forum software upgrades wreaked havoc with some of the blog files. 

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stickyfingers

stickyfingers

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Welcome! That is a fabulous and unique house! What a treasure, and so happy for you that no one ever decided to throw it out.

I did an extreme makeover on my childhood house, which is what lead to this obsession and now a dozen or so kits in the waiting, plus three nearly-done houses. Here is my unsolicited advice. Take a LOT of pictures in it's current state, and think carefully about how much of it you are willing to undo.

When my house was finished, it was far, far "better" than what my mother had done ages ago. I redid doors, windows, added siding and singles, finished the floors, painted everything, added wallpaper, got rid of all of that old and tacky furniture, and turned into my vision of what it should be. And then I was sad. Really, really sad. I had turned it into a  completely different house. One that in no way resembled the old house that my mother had tirelessly and secretly worked on for me in between a full time job, being a full time student, and mother of four. My mother is not a painter, or a woodworker, so it was a bit of a mess. A glorious mess that came from her hands and heart to make me a very special Christmas gift.

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Elsbeth

Elsbeth

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2 hours ago, stickyfingers said:

Welcome! That is a fabulous and unique house! What a treasure, and so happy for you that no one ever decided to throw it out.

I did an extreme makeover on my childhood house, which is what lead to this obsession and now a dozen or so kits in the waiting, plus three nearly-done houses. Here is my unsolicited advice. Take a LOT of pictures in it's current state, and think carefully about how much of it you are willing to undo.

When my house was finished, it was far, far "better" than what my mother had done ages ago. I redid doors, windows, added siding and singles, finished the floors, painted everything, added wallpaper, got rid of all of that old and tacky furniture, and turned into my vision of what it should be. And then I was sad. Really, really sad. I had turned it into a  completely different house. One that in no way resembled the old house that my mother had tirelessly and secretly worked on for me in between a full time job, being a full time student, and mother of four. My mother is not a painter, or a woodworker, so it was a bit of a mess. A glorious mess that came from her hands and heart to make me a very special Christmas gift.

What sad but lovely (and loving) story, Linda.  Definitely struck a chord, here. Very sage advice, too.

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