Dollhouse

I worked on this project in the summer and fall of last year and then completely forgot to share it. I know I keep saying that the move fried my brain but it's true.

So let's go wayyy back to 1988. My Dad got me a dollhouse. It was a big kit and we built it together. Or really, he built it and I handed him glue and pieces asking when it would be done. I think at 8 I was a little old for it but (and this might be a big surprise to you) I loved decorating it.

Ok, I'm going to show you a picture of me at that time and before you judge, I want you to think back to the 80's and remember what YOU looked like...

Maybe you'll understand now why as an adult I refuse to ever have bangs.

The dollhouse went through a few phases, as a teenager I painted it dark gray and the trim bright orange, purple, blue and yellow. I stored my cds in it.

It sat in my mom's garage for a decade or so. Last year when I moved back to Seattle I decided to bring it out of it's abandoned state and give it to my five year old niece as a Christmas present. It was in pretty bad shape. Parts of the roof were missing, all of the porches and the lattice work on the eaves was gone. It was filthy and full of spider webs.

Pretty sad right? At 22 years old it's ready to be condemned, definitely uninhabitable.

Once I got it in the basement I set to work. Here's what I did:

• Cleaned all the spiderwebs, leaves and guck out
• Glued all the loose spots
• Glue large chunk of roof back on
• Bought some shingles off of ebay and replaced all the missing ones
• Replaced a piece of the missing roof with balsa wood
• Rearrange the Corbels so none were missing in the front
• Fill in holes and gaps with wood putty
• Sanded it all over
• Prime inside and outside
• Paint inside and outside
• Paint trim

It was a big undertaking but relatively easy. The motivation of seeing a five year old open it on Christmas morning is pretty powerful. I did my best and here's how it turned out:

I'm very proud of the turn out. I wrote both my name and my niece's name in a hidden spot with the year we were each given it.

It was THE thing she was focused on Christmas morning (I mean, it was a huge wrapped present in the corner, how could you not be?) After every gift; "When can I open the big one?", "Can I open it NOW?". After she opened it she said to me "It's not really in good condition"...We all explained to her that it's an antique but I mean she's five, she calls it how she sees it.