World War II is Done! (Part 2)

This house is just too cute!

BEFORE: Beaten up and showing her age.

AFTER: Cleaned up and restored to original colors.

When we sanded the red and some of the white off that the customer had painted on as a child we discovered the original colors underneath!  When we mentioned it to the customer she did recall the green trims and light green steps so she opted to have them repainted back to whatever we found under the white and red.

The interior was straightforward.  Clean up, touch up, remove faux wood contact paper floors and replace with real wood floors, remove wallpapers from top back room and from under stairs on bottom floor and wallpaper those areas with new papers.  Once work started customer decided the Living room would look better with all the walls papered and the dining room (and living room) would benefit from some trim to make it look more finished.  And I think the trims did make it look fresh and crisp!  I'm glad the customer added those little extra work orders at the end: I love how it turned out!

The faux wood contact paper floors were to be

BEFORE: Needs some TLC.

removed and replaced with real wood floors.
The bottom checkered floor was to be cleaned. But even after cleaning, the red/cream flooring was still looking dingy and old.  So we discussed options with the customer and she opted for wood flooring in that lower left room too.

The lower right room (dining room) was only getting a floor replacement at first.  But then customer decided she wanted that room to look more elegant so per her request we added white trims to that room.  I think it really added a fresh and crisp look to that room.  Such a simple fix completely changed the look of the room!


AFTER: All cleaned up!

Matching the paint colors was the hardest part of this renovation.  Several trial and error mixes were tried, but in the end I think we did a decent job of matching the 65+ year old paint colors:

BEFORE: White paint drips on the foundation.

 

AFTER: Matched the back ground paint color to blend the spot.

 

Some more before/after photos are in our "2014 Repairs & Construction" photo album on our facebook page:  Happily Ever After's Facebook Page!

I hope you enjoyed the World War II British P.O.W. dollhouse as much as I did!



World War II is Done! (Part 1)

The WWII POW dollhouse is finished!  What a difference!

More photos will be added in a post tomorrow but wanted to post a quick note saying that it is finished (Both excited and saddened by that -- it was so much fun to work on and I'll miss it! Yet I'm excited by how cute it turned out!)

I have to admit I went a bit overboard.  Customer wanted to focus on fixing up the house and since the roof was passable she did not want us to fuss with it too much.  We were only hired to repair a corner or two and maybe finish off the trim.  But I went ahead and did some extra on the roof to help it blend in better with the overall "fix up" of the house.  I matched the paint color and painted over the bare spots on all the roof edges at the top. I think it looks a bit fresher this way . . . .



BEFORE: Corner where roof peak met.

AFTER: Rough spots still there, but all is painted.

BEFORE: Raw wood exposed all down the peak of the roof.

AFTER: Painted along the ridge cap to match.

Overall I think the roof blends nicely with the upgrades/work that was done for the entire house!

AFTER: Still shows her age, but a little "facelift"
put the roof on par with the sprucing up the house got.

An added touch: Customer recalled that the lower back two rooms were next to impossible to access as a child (probably how the mullions in the windows became broken was from hands trying to shove pieces in those rooms).  The one is accessible by the side door (a narrow opening, but still feasible for getting small bits of furniture or accessories into the room).  And the black/white checkered floor room (designated a kitchen) was only accessible thru the dining room archway from the front of the dollhouse.  When repairing/replacing mullions, I purposely created the kitchen mullions to be removable so that the customer can more easily arrange furniture and items in this back room now.  Yet the mullions fit snuggly enough that it is not noticeable when viewing the house that they can be removed.

With mullions securely in place.
Bet you can't tell which window it is! :)

With mullions removed.

Check back tomorrow for more details and pictures of the finished project!