Customer's Non-Colonial Colonial

This dollhouse originally came in to be converted into a true Colonial (centered front door with symmetrical single windows on either side).  However, the siding is individual strips glued onto compressed wood so removing, cutting and replacing the different components would involve a great deal more labor (and cost) than the customer wished to spend.  So she opted to have us do minor architectural repairs and changes.  Customer will then remove the interior wallpapers and re-wallpaper the dollhouse for her granddaughter.

BEFORE: Double window needed repair and
the rooftop porch needed railings.

AFTER: Minor repairs made.

 At first the customer wanted the entire window replaced, but the only window that fit in this space was this same exact window (another window fit the opening, but did not have as large of a pediment resulting in repairs and paint needed above the window if we replaced it).  Customer then opted to have us replace the missing mullion:

BEFORE: Mullion is broken in lower left hand of the window.

AFTER: Quick and easy fix!

Biggest change and hardest work to complete was cutting the archway from the kitchen to the living room.  I love the I-drill and it usually is a quick cut to create windows, doorways, and other holes where needed in a wall.  However, the I-drill handle wouldn't fit in the room properly and the I-drill would not cut along the curve of the archway.  Plus, the wall is a compressed wood product that splinters and shatters when cutting.  This turned into a slow process of cutting out chunks and filing away the excess wood and then sanding the splinters and jagged bits away.  Luckily the customer is putting Unique Miniature's arch trim on the walls so we did not have to make a perfect cut (which greatly reduced the labor time) . . . .

BEFORE: Kitchen in need of an arch doorway on the right wall.

AFTER: Archway is cut in wall. Customer still has to remove
old wallpapers; then she will install the arch trim (see photo below).

AFTER: Arch trim (loosely in place) will help finish off the opening
once customer removes the old paper and gives the walls a fresh finish.

We replaced and repaired a few shingles on the back roof and installed railings on the rooftop porch area on the addition:

AFTER: Shingles replaced in various spots and along the edges of the roof.

BEFORE: This rooftop porch is not to code.

AFTER: Another quick and easy fix that really completed the house.

AFTER

Now on to the Harborside Mansion decorating job, the Contemporary Ranch (very excited about a glass block half-wall this house is getting), and a Dutch-style dollhouse we worked on in 2009 that has been returned for wallpapers and electrical work!