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30+ years old DollHouse


~morningstar~

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So, I was nosing around on Market Place and I saw a pretty dollhouse that someone wanted $150 for. I didn't think the dollhouse was worth that, so I kept looking. I came back every day looking and then I saw this new one listed. The seller was asking $189 for it, and I thought it was worth a lot more. I contacted her and asked if it was still available. She indicated it was and said she had to get rid of it by Tuesday. Perfect, I said. I will come get it. THEN I had to figure out how we were going to bring this dollhouse home. We wound up renting a uHaul van and loading it up into the van and carefully driving it home. Once home, a furniture dolly helped to bring it inside the apartment and now, it sits in the middle of my living room. GO Team! we did it!

The house needs some restorative work, but is otherwise in good condition.  The things that need to be done: repair the front porch rail, the stairway from second floor to attic needs to be repaired and reattached. Some of the rooms need to be finished wallpapering and the flooring needs to be done. Some of the windows need to be repaired. The trim around the turret needs some parts replaced. Some of the doors need to be reattached.  Some of the shingles need to be replaced. Aside from that, the dollhouse looks awesome for being as old as it is.

I am going to try to upload some pics if I can.  You all can tell me what you think. :)

 

~morningstar~

 

 

 

 

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I promised the nice lady I bought it from that I would only restore it to it's original state, and finish what her father started. A couple rooms weren't finished, and the attic needs finishing. When that is done, I will furnish it and take more pictures. :)  In the mean time, I have to start on the repairs first. Shingles need replacing, and the stairway to the attic is damaged and needs to be put back together, then reattached. Some of the windows need replacing. Some just need repair.  A few others odds and ends.

 

~morningstar~

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Thank you. All of you. :) I may ask for some input, if I get stuck.

 

I want to replace the paper brick that is around the foundation of the house. I was considering using actual miniature brick. I know it's not going to be an easy task but it will look more authentic, yes?

Something else I hope to do is add newspaper print to the attic. I've been having difficulty locating it. Any ideas? I don't own a printer, so I can't print it myself.

I also want to try to keep it as much to the victorian style as possible. I have a few books about miniatures that I need to locate. Somewhere in this apartment, LOL. I think their father was doing just that. Building it to be victorian. So, I want to try to keep it that way. I'm going to look this week to see if I can find any of my books, and the furniture and other odds and ends I have stashed away. I'll see what I can find and I will keep you all posted. :)

 

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I like to use sandpaper for brickwork.  Tedious, but looks good.  If you can find a ruler that measures in picas (1/6") I found that 1:12 bricks are roughly 1 pica X 3 picas (1/6" X 1/2").  I look for the little freebie shopper newspapers or the classified ads, especially the legal notices in local newspapers, to line attics with.

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23 hours ago, havanaholly said:

I like to use sandpaper for brickwork.  Tedious, but looks good.  If you can find a ruler that measures in picas (1/6") I found that 1:12 bricks are roughly 1 pica X 3 picas (1/6" X 1/2").  I look for the little freebie shopper newspapers or the classified ads, especially the legal notices in local newspapers, to line attics with.

holly,

That is an awesome idea. I never thought of using that, but you are right. That would be perfect. The legal notices are just the right size and some of the classifieds, the type print is small enough that I can put them in and they will look like they belong. Oh wow! 

Sand paper for brickwork. Ok, so how do I make it the color of brick? Is there sandpaper that is red? It would be far easier for me to do it that way than to order a bunch of bricks and try to figure out how to put them under the house, LOL. I will look to see if I can find something that will make the sandpaper look like bricks. Another great idea. Thank you, holly!!

I will update with pics when I've completed the brickwork around the base of the house!

 

~morningstar~

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6 hours ago, ~morningstar~ said:

Is there sandpaper that is red?

Garnet paper is a type of sandpaper. It is brick red in color. You can also work in a bit of chalk or chalk dust to  vary the color a bit, as real bricks are not always the same shade. Google garnet sandpaper. Look at the various sizes of grit to find the one that looks most like brick to you. Mark the back of the paper into brick sizes and cut using a metal ruler and a utility knife with a new blade. Change the blades frequently.

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I used garnet sandpaper for the foundation brickwork on my farmhouse:

farmhouse front yard.JPG

For the brickwork for my pub I lightly rubbed two colors of chalk pastels over the beige sandpaper I used (different colors for each sheet of sandpaper):

The sun changed the roof's color

The sandpaper bricks was from Beryl Armstrong's How to Make Your Dolls' House Special.

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17 hours ago, havanaholly said:

I used garnet sandpaper for the foundation brickwork on my farmhouse:

farmhouse front yard.JPG

For the brickwork for my pub I lightly rubbed two colors of chalk pastels over the beige sandpaper I used (different colors for each sheet of sandpaper):

The sun changed the roof's color

The sandpaper bricks was from Beryl Armstrong's How to Make Your Dolls' House Special.

holly,

That pub is gorgeous!  I love how authentic the brickwork looks.  That is what I am looking for. *THAT* look. That must have taken some time to do. I purchased the book you mentioned, by Beryl Armstrong, so when it arrives, I will read and learn how to do this, I am very excited about making this work for my own dollhouse. OOOh, I just can't wait. In the mean time, I'll be watching for those freebie paper ad things you were talking about, so I can get started on the attic. I was thinking about the floor of the attic. Most houses don't finish them, do they? I can't even remember the last time I saw a finished one. I was thinking of converting the attic into the living quarters for the housing staff. (it has two maids so far, I want to add a butler, if I can find one I like). Anyway, That is where I am right now with things.

 

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20 hours ago, havanaholly said:
15 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

The top floors of my Fairfields is servants' living quarters and nursery:

right side out interior 1.JPG

 

Wow, Look at how beautiful that turned out. Did you make the bedding and matching curtains and chair fabric for the room with the brass bed? I thought about doing something like that for one of the bedrooms.  How difficult is it to do? I have so many floor coverings to use, and many different other things I can use to cover the beds. The attic space is large enough to be divided up into rooms. One can be a nursery, one can be a kitchen/dining room, one can be a small bath, another can be a living room and there is still room for a small bed room. The attic goes the whole length and width of the house. One side of it opens for access, and I was thinking. I could add some sort of a permanent prop to keep it open while it's being set up, thereby using the extra space for room. I think what I will do, to mark off or section off the rooms in the attic is create some of those folding screens.  This will give some privacy and I don't have to do a lot of structural change to the house. I could even use bookshelves, or similar. :) Thank you for sharing your work. You've given me a few ideas. :)

 

 

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2 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Except for the brass bed, the coffee mill and the chimneybreasts I made everything in that photo.

Wow,  that must have taken some serious time. I've been thinking about the folding screens that I mentioned in an earlier post. If I use either bamboo skewers cut down to size, and glued together, in the shape of a rectangle, I could make an 8panel screen for each section that I want to divide off. Or, I could get some  Foam core board and cut it down to size, throw some contact paper on it, and make shelves out of it, and use that as the dividers. I'm sure I have some lace around here some place that would be perfect for the edge of the shelves. :)

If I have to make the shelves from wood, what do you recommend?

 

Thanks again for your help! :)

 

~morningstar~

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3 hours ago, ~morningstar~ said:

...If I have to make the shelves from wood, what do you recommend?...

Depending on how deep you want them, tongue-blade size craft sticks cut to length are my weapon of choice:

ready to move in.jpg

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4 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

Depending on how deep you want them, tongue-blade size craft sticks cut to length are my weapon of choice:

ready to move in.jpg

Is there anything you can't do with miniatures? LOL wow. I love the way you did the shelves near the front doors. That is awesome.  I'm guessing this is a shop? It kinda looks like one. I like the store room off to the side too. Very nice.

 

I might just borrow your idea for the shelves.  Yay trip to the Hobby Lobby or Joanns!!!

 

Thank you again!

~morningstar~

 

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15 minutes ago, ~morningstar~ said:

Is there anything you can't do with miniatures?...I love the way you did the shelves near the front doors...I'm guessing this is a shop? It kinda looks like one...

I've been doing this for nearly 30 years.  Look for books by Helen Ruthberg and Patricia King; Andrea Barham is another good source of things to do with found items.  I seem to remember that fixture by the door is one I found in a thrift store.  The set of drawer bins to the left of that fixture I made from 1/4" strip wood and empty single-serving jelly packets.  I wish that the Boopmini site was still up; it had the best grocery printies.  That was the wood Orchid I built for the Team Orchid building blog and it was a general store owned by a naturalized Indian family.  Here's my album:  http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=gallery&module=gallery&controller=browse&album=7574

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25 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

I've been doing this for nearly 30 years.  Look for books by Helen Ruthberg and Patricia King; Andrea Barham is another good source of things to do with found items.  I seem to remember that fixture by the door is one I found in a thrift store.  The set of drawer bins to the left of that fixture I made from 1/4" strip wood and empty single-serving jelly packets.  I wish that the Boopmini site was still up; it had the best grocery printies.  That was the wood Orchid I built for the Team Orchid building blog and it was a general store owned by a naturalized Indian family.  Here's my album:  http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=gallery&module=gallery&controller=browse&album=7574

holly,

I checked out the pics in your gallery. Wow! That is some serious work there.  I started putting together a doll house, a long time ago, it was a.... Garfield. Then about 1/4 the way into the project, we moved into a smaller place. Half of the pieces are missing. I suspect they are packed in a box that hasn't been unpacked yet. We only intended to stay in this apartment long enough to find a house we could afford, and then we were going to move out. Needless to say, we are still here, and the Garfield, sadly is abandoned.. (for now).

Anyway, I really  like what you did with the doll house. Very fancy.  I decided to look on line for the craft sticks.  I don't feel like going anywhere. I have to meet a friend for tea in a few hours. I'm so tired. But I said I would go, so... you know how that goes.

 

Once I'm done with that, I'll come back home and wait for my DCC to call.. (Diabetes Care Coordinator)... Doing a phone check in...

Do you remember what colors of chalk you used to create the brick look for your pub?

I really like how realistic that looks.

 

~morningstar~

 

 

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