Ceilings are redone

Here is a photo that is representative of all the ceilings in the dollhouse. All the old holes for the old electrical system have been filled in and smoothed out. Then, I applied a fresh coat of paint. The ceilings are now ready to receive their new lights.

I will be placing the order for the electrical system, lights, wallpaper, etc. early this week and should be able to move forward with the "fun part" shortly thereafter. I'm really excited to see this gem come back to life.

Priming...A new beginning for the dollhouse

I've now started to give the dollhouse a nice coat of primer/sealer. This gives the dollhouse a fresh start and a nice base for paint and/or wallpaper. The sealer will protect the wood from climatic damages as well as extend the overall life of the dollhouse.






We're almost ready to start wiring the dollhouse for electricity to power the light fixtures. Once Virginia sends me the "okay" on the lighting proposal I sent her, we'll be able to move forward with this very exciting aspect of the restoration.

Stripping the Rooms

The rooms are being stripped of all their old layers and being prepped for sanding.





Here's the exterior front with the balcony gently removed for refinishing. The exterior had some sort of grainy, sandpaper type finish on it so I scraped it all away.

The top floor rooms

I've found that it's easier to start at the top and work my way down. Further exploration into this area of the house led me to discover that the two partition walls were broken and one of them was even warped. So, I carefully removed them and will buy some 1/4" material to recreate them from. They'll be brand new and exactly like the original walls.




I've scraped up about 80% of the wall painted and old flooring. There is still about two hours worth of work on this section at least. It's amazing how many layers of love I've found in this house!

One room almost ready

This is the second floor rear room. It's just about ready for the final sanding and then it will be ready to be sealed and primed. I can picture a beautiful Victorian canopy bed in the center of this room. The ceiling heights are perfect for larger pieces of furniture.

Rehabilitation Begins

I've decided to make this second floor room my first priority. The floor is cracked and this is a concern of mine when it comes to restoring this room. I feel the major contributor to the cracking is the several nails used to secure the support beam underneath the floor as, after further investigation, there was a hairline crack where each nail was. This is a result of not pre-drilling the holes before the nails are inserted. Thus, to remedy this situation, I've replaced the support beam with one of solid oak. This will add the much needed support strength the second floor is in need of and once painted white again, it will look just like the original. The vertical beams are in place to support the post until the glue dries and will be replaced with something much smaller and built-in so that they are not very visible to the eye. The second floor will receive a thin sub-floor to reinforce it and it will also serve as a 'mend' for any cracks I have discovered. I feel this is the safest way to remedy the problem without doing further damage to the structure.