Dealing with Dilapidated Dollhouses
From dings and dents to woodworm and wonky bits, we'll try to cover as many aspects as we can in relation to restoring old, vintage or antique dollhouses.
I say 'we' because this (and the other dollhouse related lenses) is a collaboration between my daughter, Raven, and myself. She's the expert when it comes to these matters.
It will take us a while to build up a range of pictures of various restoration projects here so if you're interested please add us to your favourites and keep checking back.
If you are interested in dollhouses and / or miniatures you may also enjoy some of the other lenses such as Deb Jackson's beautiful handmade miniatures for which I have several lenses (see below) or this lens about collecting dollhouses, then there is our lens on furnishing your dollhouse as well.
We have only just begun :-)
Restoring your Dollhouse by Katherine Carington Smith and Raven is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 UK: Scotland License.
Based on a work at www.squidoo.com.
Restoring the Tri-ang Number 45
This is an unfortunate little Tri-Ang no 45. It had been painted over twice and has had a good 'ding' to the roof, resulting in the bowing inwards of both sides, plus the Apex curling over severely.
The previous owner had just started stripping the over-painting when I got it.
The following photos are to show how the house has been brought back to life. Although I will explain what I have & have not done, please note, others may treat rust with products I have not tried. This is only one way, but is tried & has worked for me in the past....So tested.
The first photograph shows the house as it arrived. You can see both red & white over-painting on the windows, the blue is the original.
Stripping off the old
This photo shows the layers of paint stripped off to reveal the original, underlying house front.
The whole front has been stripped back, so we can now see where the rust needs treated.
Nail varnish remover & cotton buds took off much of the added paint, other areas simply 'peeled' off. One very bad area, where the rust must have been bleeding into the paint, resulted in someone simply applying thicker layers of paint...not good, it needed scraped quite harshly to get it as even as possible again.
To stop the rust bleeding into any paint & secure the front surface for painting I have applied an all-over coating of P.V.A glue and left 24 hours for the application to dry. This works well but I'm certain others will have advice on products that would work just as well & if needed could be painted over.
Here I have started with the window frames, the rest of the house will follow.
Now we can start
What I don't do is to use a thick-quick layer of paint, all paint is Acrylic & watered down to do several washes. The result is much better & worth the time, as it looks more 'natural'.
As you will see in the following photos, it does allow the 'flaws' of age still to show without being so obvious. All mature ladies should be allowed their laughter lines!
This shows the main panel (with red tin door) done, with several thin washes. It also shows the remaining section still in stripped back state for contrast.
As you will see in the following photos, it does allow the 'flaws' of age still to show without being so obvious. All mature ladies should be allowed their laughter lines!
This shows the main panel (with red tin door) done, with several thin washes. It also shows the remaining section still in stripped back state for contrast.
At long last ...
Now we have the final photograph of the entire front of the house restored.
Remember, the Acrylic paint is thinly washed, until you have the desired effect (with out any thick painting). All of the washes do NOT add up to the thickness of one layer of 'neat' paint.
Granted, this takes more time, but the result is sympathetic to the house, and well worth the extra hours you spend.
The worst area
The final little pic shows the VERY WORST area of rusting (which had such heavy over painting). This is an extremely tight close up, and the area in fact does not look anywhere as bad to the eye. It also does show how thinly painted the house is now.
As I hinted, I don't mind imperfections, this house has scars and had seen bad times. I don't aim to make her look 'in perfect factory condition', just to give her back her 'smile' and a family again ... and a bit of respect.
Removing a Tri-ang roof
Both the plastic and the card roofs are normally attached to the house with a number of small panel pins.Over time, the wood into which the pins penetrate is likely to pick up some moisture which usually causes a degree of rust on the pins, frequently making them very difficult to remove. The larger the roof, the more pins there are to take out.
Some of the panel pin heads in this case had become well embedded in the card. Having removed most of them I found two pins simply would not move and I had no choice but to (very carefully) pull the card off over them.
This has left two tiny pinhead sized holes but, when finished, this will not be anything like as noticeable as the bent roof currently is.
I would NOT recommend removing a plastic roof as it is more likely to suffer noticeable damage or bruising to the plastic as a result of trying to take out the pins.
The roof to be mended
Here are a few 'before' pictures of the roof.
You can clearly see that the pieces of the roof were still held by the original tape applied by the manufacturer but by holding a straight edge against the slope of the roof the defect is all too apparent.
It is fortunate indeed that the roof is still in a restorable condition as this kind of damage could easily have resulted in the roof being badly split.
Tri-ang Stockbroker restoration
The above picture shows how the ply used to make the beams on the front of the Stockbroker can become very dry and brittle. Over the years, with successive damp and drying suffered by many old dollhouses, the glue holding the layers of ply together deteriorates and the result can be disastrous.
Note how the underlayer of the thin ply veneer has buckled with damp, forcing the upper layer outwards where it is very easily snagged on clothing or by a pet.
I have even seen one of these houses where the owner clearly decided that it was simpler to remove all the beamwork ... please don't do that.
If you can, gather up all the pieces which have flaked off and store them inside the house. Fortunately a great deal of what was missing from the front of this Stockbroker was stored inside.
Effectively, this type of damage is only cosmetic and quite easily repaired - though it may be time consuming.
My Tri-ang Stockbroker
... written by Raven
A DAUNTING ARRIVAL....
I'd done it ... won my coveted Stockbroker. I was so pleased and more than a little anxious, from the auction pics it needed a bit of work!
The 'parcel' arrived %u2026 so large it belonged in a movie, being delivered to a museum with frightening consequences. Fortunately my mother was visiting, there was no hope of unpacking this myself.
We revealed the house, only to find the 'right way up', stated on the box, was base up, sitting on it's roof ... heart failure time! However, we righted it and all was well.
The previous owner's husband had replaced the base perfectly, so well you'd never know, but the house looked 'dead', unloved. I sat wondering what on earth I'd taken on? It looked so dark and formidable, so unloved and empty. I had to have a glass of wine, and (sounds silly?) talk to the house at night! ... I felt better anyway.
The damaged beam work sitting inside, was some jigsaw puzzle. Sun faded areas helped, still, it took time and patience to glue back in place. After simple cleaning of the front, the beam work was treated with Almond oil, several applications over the weeks brought the rich colour back. I then used pencil, and paint to match the colour in the few places where beam work is still missing. It fools the eye and presents no obstacle once I have veneer to complete a full repair.
A most daunting, huge, lifeless house is alive again and loving it. I now wonder what I was so afraid of? She's a beautiful old lady, who just needed a little time & care. Now she simply glows!
Woodworm
... needs to be dealt with promptly.
Woodworm is not uncommon in older dollhouses and wooden furniture. It is not really a serious problem, as long as you treat it with a proprietary woodworm killer.
Even if the previous owner of the item tells you the woodworm has been treated, it is still a very good idea to re-treat the area.
... A word of caution ... ... if you have pet arachnids DO NOT treat the woodworm anywhere near your spiders/scorpions, they (and some other small pets) are very sensitive to such poisons and it will kill them.
To test whether woodworm is still live in your item, leave it sitting undisturbed for a week, preferrably on a smooth surface (glass topped table would be perfect) then at the end of the week, gently tap the item.
If any sawdust falls out of the holes then you more than likely have live woodworm grubs.
Treat according to the instructions on the little tin of Rentokill you just bought - the one with that handy little pointed spout designed to fit the woodworm hole ... time for a bath wormy ... *insert manic laugh here.
You really must treat and then keep checking the item periodically, just in case.
It isn't always easy to spot woodworm holes on larger pieces.
Woodworm is not uncommon in older dollhouses and wooden furniture. It is not really a serious problem, as long as you treat it with a proprietary woodworm killer.
Even if the previous owner of the item tells you the woodworm has been treated, it is still a very good idea to re-treat the area.
... A word of caution ... ... if you have pet arachnids DO NOT treat the woodworm anywhere near your spiders/scorpions, they (and some other small pets) are very sensitive to such poisons and it will kill them.
To test whether woodworm is still live in your item, leave it sitting undisturbed for a week, preferrably on a smooth surface (glass topped table would be perfect) then at the end of the week, gently tap the item.
If any sawdust falls out of the holes then you more than likely have live woodworm grubs.
Treat according to the instructions on the little tin of Rentokill you just bought - the one with that handy little pointed spout designed to fit the woodworm hole ... time for a bath wormy ... *insert manic laugh here.
You really must treat and then keep checking the item periodically, just in case.
It isn't always easy to spot woodworm holes on larger pieces.
Woodworm part two
The number of flight holes can be a guide to how much woodworm is present in the item. This particular piece is completely infested and will require careful treatment.
You know I said before that you should leave the item for a week then tap it to see if there is fresh sawdust? Not much need to tap the structure here, plenty of fresh sawdust is visible.
On inspection we found that the bulk of the woodworm is at one end of this house. It would appear from the barely worn floorpapers and considering the year of make (1934/35) that this house has been stored away for almost all of its life, probably in a shed or similar where one end has been up against something else wooden.
Nomatter, apart from the woodworm, this house is in spectacular original condition and will be restored to its former glory once the woodworm has been evicted.
There is a product which is apparently safe for use around small pets as it only affects wood boring insects - Boron 7. We will be obtaining some of this product to test and will report back later on the efficacy etc.
Handy sites about woodworm
This lens belongs to ...
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Dollhouses and Dollhouse Miniatures
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Collections of any kind can be a very satisfying hobby and dollhouse collections can provide an opportunity for the collector to specialise. Not only can you specialise in one type or make of dollhouse, within the dollhouses themselves you can equip...
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- Kanga Kanga Mar 1, 2009 @ 11:24 pm
- This is a fantastic lens! I wish I still had my old dollhouse!
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- sarah-boirin sarah-boirin Oct 12, 2008 @ 8:17 am
- hello - thank you for the nail varnish remover tip, worked a treat getting the stains off the front of my Tri-ang No 50 !
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- Jan Woodhead Jan Woodhead Aug 15, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
- I am so pleased this little house has had so muh love and painstaking care to bring it back to life ! I was the previous owner who bought it intending to restore myself , but like many house collectors I have taken on too many projects andwas really pleased that it went to another restorer who could do it proud.Well done !!
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