Working on my first project for my daughters

[stlouism]

Hi, 

I'm Melanie. I was given this massive dollhouse from a friend, and I'm so pumped to start working on it. I have two little girls and I'm hoping to have it up and running in a few years (right now they are 2 and 2 mos). Evidently the dollhouse is my friends' great grandmothers and was brought over from Europe. It has water damage, missing pieces, warped roof, lead paint probably, but I'm still super pumped to do what I can and make it functioning (but not a masterpiece) for my kids. Would love to show everyone, but I guess I need to do 5 posts before I can ask for advice?

[Sable]

Lead paint will be your biggest challenge. I would completely dismantle it and send it out to professionals to have it removed. What is the wood’s  thickness and can you tell if it’s solid wood or laminated plywood? 

[havanaholly]

Welcome to the little family, Melanie.  You need to make five posts in order to put pictures into albums in the gallery here; you can ask all the questions you want from the get-go.  If this dollhouse really did belong to your friend's great-grandmother I'll bet it's an oldie (maybe Tri-ang?).  I'd think about letting an antiques appraiser have a look at it to see if it's worth restoring before merrily stripping off the old paint and shingles and gutting it, just in case.  If it's not worth restoration I would do as Sable suggests; you do NOT ever want to fool with old lead paint, and how astute of you to consider it.

[stlouism]

Thanks to you both for your quick commenting! Are all of these giant old dollhouses from kits? The Tri-ang style doesn't look compatible to what I have here. Mine has a rounded front porch with columns and the roof line is hipped with a front gable. To me, it looks like cardboard??? covers the outside wood. That can't be, but just the way that the water has damaged it, it looks like cardboard layers peeling back. Plywood definitely makes up the main house. It's got old electric wiring that doesn't work (but SO cool)....wonder if it's outside my talents to get that going again. My friend covered up the old wallpaper with target wallpaper and painted all the floors white. I don't like the work she did and I started peeling back her target wallpaper to reveal an amazing old wallpaper different in every room. 

Found a store in St. Louis that sells miniatures so maybe I'll wonder in there today and ask some questions.

[stlouism]

Thanks to you both for your quick commenting! Are all of these giant old dollhouses from kits? The Tri-ang style doesn't look compatible to what I have here. Mine has a rounded front porch with columns and the roof line is hipped with a front gable. To me, it looks like cardboard??? covers the outside wood. That can't be, but just the way that the water has damaged it, it looks like cardboard layers peeling back. Plywood definitely makes up the main house. It's got old electric wiring that doesn't work (but SO cool)....wonder if it's outside my talents to get that going again. My friend covered up the old wallpaper with target wallpaper and painted all the floors white. I don't like the work she did and I started peeling back her target wallpaper to reveal an amazing old wallpaper different in every room. 

Found a store in St. Louis that sells miniatures so maybe I'll wonder in there today and ask some questions.

[KathieB]

Gosh, Melanie, that is one gorgeous old house. Good luck with the rehab.

You mentioned it was electrified. In a house this old, I'd recommend removing and replacing all of the electrical components. 

[havanaholly]

Oh, my Lord!  What your friend did to that house is a shame.  It is very nearly an antique (I had a particle board dollhouse from just after WWII with electric).  No, the old dollhouses were not from kits, they were manufactured and in Europe Germany and England turned out some really boss houses.

[Sable]

That looks like one of those German Gottschalk Red Roof houses: 

http://www.belle-epoque-dolls.com/en/categories/diaporama1.php?ref=HM120

[Sable]

More Gottschalks: 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/311100286742158582/

[sparklepuppies]

I see her house on that page. Good detective work Sable!

What a great house! Have fun with the restore. :)

[Keifer]

What a cool house.  Definitely needs some love but it looks like it has good bones as they say.   The pintrist pin that detective sable provided us with dates it at 1928.  

[Mid-life madness]

Gorgeous house Melanie!

With the state that it is in, I don't know if you could decrease its value much. I know you were trying to do it up for your daughters, but maybe contact one the bloggers who love these houses and get an opinion as what to do with it. It is definitely a treasure!

[WestPaces]

Is it this one? 

[stlouism]

Wow the internet is amazing. In less than 24 hours, I've learned that this house was produced in Germany by the Moritz Gottschalk company. Because it has a red roof, it dates somewhere around 1928. I'm in a pickle here, because I genuinely love this house and would love to paint it whatever color I think would be fun and youthful but still do a good job fixing it up, but does that compromise the history? Should I restore it to it's original appearance even though I don't think it's that attractive? I don't want to sell it but maybe I'd be ruining any chance at value by tweaking it? Then again, what's the money worth anyways if I'd rather just play with it? Haha, classic historic restoration dilemma. What do you guys think?

[KathieB]

12 minutes ago, stlouism said:

What do you guys think?

It appears that much of the warped bits will have to be replaced, missing trim reproduced, layers of paint removed -- in short, a major rehab. Unless you are restoring it to museum or collector quality, I don't see much point in keeping aspects that don't appeal to you, like the color. If you have in your mind's eye what it will look like when you are finished, I'd encourage you to go for it. Just because it is an historic design doesn't mean it is located in a historic preservation district and can't be modernized.  

[havanaholly]

Agreed.  Its original beauty and market value has been, shall we say, considerably lessened, and I'm so glad it's yours, now.  Make careful repairs and finish it to your own tastes, and play with it joyfully.

[Shareb]

That is gorgeous!  What an amazing opportunity you have!  It's a huge job but by the sounds of it you realise that and you've realistically set yourself a couple of years to do the work.  I have found that as I've gone on, my tastes have changed and evolved.  I'd suggest do it with your original goal in mind - for your daughter's to play with.  Remember, that's why they were created in the first place! 

[Sable]

My grandmother had a dollhouse which I had completely forgotten about until you brought this up. So, I contacted my cousin and she has it. She has a blue roof one  and will be sending me photos in a few days. She is a curator at a museum in Deerfield, MA. She said hers needs a good restoration, too. I’ll bet she knows the right people to restore it.

[stlouism]

Thanks again for your super helpful comments, and thanks Sable for reaching out to your cousin. I'd love to be in contact with her if you think she'd be helpful. So here's my UPDATE:

- I really want to do the rehabbing myself, but I hope this community and other professionals can help guide me. I also want to honor the original history but fill it with new memories for my family. 

-I removed my friend's target wallpaper to reveal the old wallpaper in sad shape, but so cool!

-I dismantled the old electrical elements. It freaked me out that they could be a fire hazard or something and I know I'll want to replace.

-I carefully unscrewed the front edifice so I can see what I'm working with.

-I removed one side of the house to sort of investigate what's going on. Here's my big question: That piece of particle board that I took off is what probably has lead paint on it. It's warped and the paint is cracked. Ideally, should I remove all the yellowy particle board that is glued on all around the house and replace by cutting perfect pieces? I'm worried that new pieces wouldn't even fit on my warped plywood since the whole house is sagging as a unit, maybe I should just leave the settling alone? But then how would I deal with the lead paint? That's really my biggest concern. Can I paint over the yellow stuff or would the cracking show through?

Thanks!!

[havanaholly]

There are some fantastic elements there.  I'd be sorely tempted to use the old walls to cut new ones and basically rebuild the house; it's in rough shape and I wouldn't risk my health fooling with lead-based paint.

[KathieB]

Before I did anything, I'd check to see if that yellow paint really has a lead base. There are inexpensive lead paint test kits available. Here is one from Walmart. Google "lead paint test kit" or "how to test for lead paint" for other options. If it's not lead based, you might be able to eliminate the cracks with a good sanding.

I would be tempted to replace all of the warped bits with new ones. I wouldn't try to fit new pieces to warped originals. The new will be hidden beneath paint and paper, so the replaced bits won't be noticeable in the end.

[Emerald]

WELCOME AND A HUGE WOW!!!  WHAT AN UNDERTAKING.  You will get lots of help and encouragement here.