Triang house: let's step inside!

There was some furniture that came with the Triang, and in my first picture, I simply put it upright so it didn't look like an aftermath of an earthquake.

I recognise some of the furniture, most of which is Barton - not my favourite; I find it rather crude, but then it reflects the time when it was manufactured, and if it is true, as the antique dealer claimed, that the house has only had one owner, that's what this little girl in the '50s - I'd like to imagine her name was Lily - would be getting for Christmas and her birthdays. There are a couple of other brands, and I will return to furniture in due time. Some is in need of repair.

But first, let's inspect the walls and floors.

When I first opened it and before looking carefully, I was disappointed: how unimaginative, same floors and wallpaper in every room. Then of course I noticed that it wasn't the same wallpaper, even though similar, but floors were indeed the same.

Shall we start in the bottom left room - this is where the front door leads (how very English: no entrance hall). The floor, which is a nice herringbone parquet, has been damaged by a young barbarian who scribbled on it with a purple crayon.

 

This will be very hard to clean. I have tried very, VERY carefully with nail polish remover, and it does get slightly better and will probably take me weeks. (On the other hand, as I always say, I am not in a hurry).

I have several other options. I can cover it with a rug. I can try to mend it by scanning the pattern, printing it out and very, very carefully patching the damaged parts. Or even copy and paste and make one whole new sheet (I have found several amazing people on the web who do this). I can also replace it. Logically, and from what I have seen on the web, this room should be a kitchen. Would a 1950s kitchen have wooden parquet floor? I doubt it. It would have lino. Or tiles. Either will be easy to reproduce.

The wallpaper is totally damaged. I can put some furniture against the wall to conceal the damage. I can probably get a sheet of replicated wallpaper from a site I have discovered. But again, would a kitchen have wallpaper rather than paint? I need to do more research and also consult people who remember the 1950s. The right-hand wall, with a door, has no wallpaper. I can see why - it's a h-ll of a job to cut and hang wallpaper on a wall with a door and a staircase. But it doesn't look neat. And there is wallpaper on the other side of the wall, although admittedly there is no staircase there.

Let us climb the stairs - very typical British stairs, steep and narrow. Painted in the same pale yellow as the exterior walls. How plausible is it? If the railing is solid at least it would have a wooden top rail. And maybe a carpet? Or actually proper wooden steps... oh no, that's sacrilege. Ruining a cultural artifact.

The top left room's floor is damaged, but here I can definitely conceal it by a piece of furniture and/or a rug.

The wallpaper is torn, water-damaged and faded in some places, but again, I can put some furniture in front of it. Logically, this will be a living room. The right-hand wall has no wallpaper. Just as in web pictures. Why? Were manufacturers lazy? Such a minor detail makes a huge difference. So in this case I will probably try to scan the wallpaper and make a sheet. This will be a challenge. It took me five attempts just to take a decent picture. I wonder how people scan inside a dollhouse. Maybe they take it apart first, but I am not doing it.

The two rooms on the right had a 1:1 scale carpet.

Now, if anything is barbarian in miniature-making, this is the worst, and I have seen it before. It doesn't look natural, and the doors don't open! So these hideous things went straight to the garbage bin. They didn't even conceal the damaged floors.

In the bottom right room, the wallpaper is damaged to the left of the door, and the floor is torn and water-damaged.

Logically, and in the houses I have seen on the web, this should be a bathroom. Why on earth would a bathroom have parquet floors? Not to mention wallpaper. And it's far too large for a bathroom. A '50s family would not have a huge bathroom like this. I am considering not having a bathroom at all, instead using this room as a dining room - naturally, off the kitchen. But it will depend on how I arrange the other rooms. If I decide to keep the parquet I may try to mend it by scanning the pattern. I may try to patch the wallpaper in the same way. It feels unnecessary to buy an A3 sheet of wallpaper for three square centimeters of wall.

Top right room is an interesting one because it has an alcove which is largely invisible. If I put a light in there, it will create a fantastic effect through the window.

The floor - the same parquet I am by now really fed up with -  is torn in several strategic places and also water-damaged. The wallpaper is whole and very pretty. This will be a bedroom, with the bed in the alcove.

The door between the two upstairs rooms had no knobs. The knobs in the door downstairs are lovely, rusty nails, and I am sure I will be able to find something suitable.

The insides of the fronts are bare, painted with the same paint as the exterior. I could so far not find any images showing the front insides, but I know that most people just leave them bare, which is a shame. There are also these lovely bay windows where interesting things can be done. Flowerpots, ornaments, a bird cage, a few cats.

So here we are. Some serious decisions to make, and after that, a lot of exciting work.

But before that, I will also have an inspection of the current furniture, so come back soon.

By the way, I did find the site that had the spare hook. You can see that the hook is sold. That's because I bought it.