Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Dollhouse Demo 101

The other day I decided I would “gut” the kitchen in my dollhouse, and well, I got a little carried away!

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I have decided that since I am doing this as an old farmhouse, I am going to make what Dana’s Dad had as the kitchen the new parlor and the old living room the kitchen. In most farmhouses I was in as a kid the kitchen seems to be one of the largest rooms….

Most of the wallpaper was glued down to heavy cardboard and then tacked on the dollhouse walls with another kind of glue. Same with the flooring, so you can get to the wiring. Thank you Mr. Moore! This made taking 90% of it out really easy…and I kept the pieces to help with measurements.

IMG_2094 This is the wallpaper from the entry hall stairway. It was cute and the right color, but he never finished the room.

IMG_2102 This is some of the bedrooms.

IMG_2085 IMG_2086 Kitchen walls.

IMG_2088 Old kitchen floor.

I am going to have to do a lot of scrapping in certain areas, and i want to paint all of the ceilings and dormers, and then I need to take this to a dollhouse expert and see if the lightning works…then I want to put in wood floors that look like old pine planking, I have been told they sell this in pieces made of like balsa wood with the indents to look like planks. But I guess I have to stain it…then I will see about walls. I know I want beadboard half way up in the kitchen at least. And I am thinking of making the whole upstairs the master retreat. ( Thanks for the idea Meri!)

IMG_2092 As you can see, some of the wallpaper did not want to come off, so this will be time consuming.

IMG_2093 and some of it, came down really easy….so it wasn’t a bad remodel day.

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Where the blue wallpaper is, I am going to just paint the color of the ceilings….I will worry about finishing this last.

I cannot even imagine having to do this with a full size house….what a nightmare that would be! But boy, I would love to have a farmhouse to try it in!



16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, my instincts tell me to ask what you are in need of so I can stitch something up for you project. I've never had a doll house so this fun for me to watch. A tablecloth? bench pillows? Curtains? I'd love to offer something to go in if you want any add on's from around the globe. Hugs to you and your venture. Tammy

Donna said...

Hi, Sandy,
Can't wait to see the finished project. I just bought a doll house, myself. I can't wait to decorate it.
Donna

Cindy said...

At Goodwill today there was a 4 story Victorian House still in the box..for 40.00.I was tempted..but I didn't. Food is more important..lol..Unless you are majorly dieting..then I could..lol
Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Cindy from Rick-Rack and Gingham

Betty said...

I want a dollhouse too!! That looks like so much fun!!

Charlotte said...

My goodness. That is quite a makeover you're doing. My daughter started making a dollhouse many years ago but never finished it. She gave it to me. It is in my doll room. It has been there for 20 years and I still have not gotten around to finishing it. I have a feeling I may never finish it. lol
Charlotte

Into Vintage said...

Isn't that the way it always goes with renovations? One little project always seems to go whole-house pretty fast. This one will be fun to watch as you progress.

Anonymous said...

Lucky you that most of the wallpaper came off easily. Recently I stripped off the old wallpaper of a dollhouse and what a chore! Then I decided to "wallpaper" with thick scrapbook paper and it is turning out very well. I don't want to spend a lot of money on it and so I am making what I can. I made a beadboard wall out of balsa or bass wood by just drawing even lines with a sharpie and then painting over it with white so it looks like grooves. I probably should've just glued coffee stir sticks onto a base and that would have looked more realistic. But, I put baseboards in using painted thin basswood sticks.
I bought inexpensive placemats that resemble carpet/rugs and one looks like sisal (I'm going for a beachy cottage look) and will use old compact mirrors to hang on the walls. It's a lot of fun to see common things in a new way as miniature items.

Anonymous said...

p.s. This is a great miniature blog with how-to - check out the mini curtains:
http://libertybiberty.blogspot.com/search/label/Mini%20Curtains

Unknown said...

oh I would love to live in an old restored farmhouse! I cant wait to see your restored dollhouse-how exciting

Sherry from Alabama said...

What fun! Wish remodeling my real kitchen could be that much fun. I've enjoyed my first visit to your lovely blog.

Sherry @ A Happy Valentine

Susan Freeman said...

What fun you are having. Can't wait to see more!!

Love,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo

Brenda Pruitt said...

Just thank your lucky stars that this is is "small scale." I can only imagine how fun this would be!
Brenda

Unknown said...

This is just wonderful. My husband and I used to build dollhouses together, but haven't done one in years. I actually have a kit that we bought years ago and never got around to putting it together. I should break it out and work on it this winter. Thanks for the inspiration!

Short and Sweet said...

Oh, Sandy, I'm so glad that you are doing this and posting the progress on your blog. So far so good and I'm glad that this is a dollhouse instead of a real one! Unfortunately I would have just scraped off the wallpaper in shreds instead of keeping it in shapes like you did! Genius

barncat (Lisa) said...

This looks like such a fun project, please do post photos as you go along. :) Wish you could have been in my town with me at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, there were two older ladies getting out of the quilting and dollhouse business. I bought up all the quilting items, but the dollhouse stuff facsinated me! Floors, walls, nice furniture still in the packages, and I think every book ever written on the subject. Too fun!

SueLovesCherries said...

Sandy, i just love your dollhouse - I can see how you could get "lost" in redecorating it! It will be fun to watch your progress!

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