Dollhouse Renovations

Years have gone by since any little girls have played with this dollhouse.  It has made multiple moves with us and was a bit worse for wear from all those trips in a moving van and being stored in dusty garages.

 Still, with the twin granddaughters rapidly approaching another birthday, my sister, Rosalind, suggested we restore it to a functioning home for the littlest of dolls.

Column missing, major cracks in siding, floor coming loose from structure.

 
This house was purchased for my oldest daughters by their Great Grandmother, Minerva and their grandmother, Rose Lee.  It was originally painted yellow, which is Rose Lee's favorite color.  (Remind me to tell you a story about a yellow car!)  When my third daughter was born, my sister, repainted, and decorated it in the country style of the 80's.  Now that we have entered a new century, we are replacing some of the more fussy details with a modern take on a country cottage.  

Wall paper coming out, repainting the kitchen white with black trim, adding flooring.

Because the twins are not quite four, the more fragile furniture is going into storage and Rosalind is building sturdy furnishings.  She has stitched the bedspread onto the mattress at the foot, so the covers don't get misplaced!
This little armoire makes the cut and will be re-painted.

I am in charge of painting, flooring, and repairing the structure.  However, I could not help making an iconic little mid-century modern sunburst mirror that has been showing up in all the best decorating magazines.  A bit tongue in cheek, as I actually think the sunburst mirror (which is a classic decorating element) has been a bit over done recently. Toothpicks and a bottle cap turned into a touch of bling for the foyer.  In this photo, it just has a base coat of blue.  When I find my gold paint which is in one of those twenty boxes brought home from Harry Potter camp, it will be sprayed gold.

My daughter Camille, who writes the design blog, The Vintique Object loved a kitchen in a former house that had a black and white tile floor, so the kitchen in this little house which is being renovated for her daughters will reprise that one.

The foyer walls are beyond patching and painting and will be recovered with a more contemporary fabric "Wallpaper"

Check back in a couple of days to see how much progress is being made.  Cannot procrastinate much longer as the twins arrive at my house on Monday!

Still a lot to do!

Actually, I guess procrastination is the wrong word as I have been busy yesterday planning memorial services for my dear mother-in-law, Dorothy, painting the deck rails so that Norm can install the stainless steel cables (which are replacing the tacky not-so-temporary  sheep fencing... put up to pass our house's certificate of occumpancy inspections and still there four years later!) so there will be no tumbling off the decks by granddaughters, and sorting and packing Dorothy's apartment with her children and grandchildren.  My high school English teacher, Mrs. Winter, would cringe at that last sentence and mark it in in red "run on sentence!"

Hope you are all managing to stay cool in this horrendous heat and that you are safe from wildfires.  Have a wonderful Fourth of July.  No fireworks in dry New Mexico...way too dangerous unless we get some rain.