House restoration: facade

Suddenly I realised that I get upset every time I see my dollhouse with its broken front, and inevitably I see it constantly because it is in my living room. So I decided it was time to interrupt my interior repairs and deal with the facade. I have carefully avoided it, but when I have done it, I know I will feel much, much better.

The front has been rather badly damaged.

The pillars and their supports are broken, as are the pediment, mouldings and roof rack. The doors are broken too. Fortunately, no pieces have been lost - at least not that I have discovered so far. 

I cannot do anything before I mend the broken wall.

This must be the worst damage, and once again I cannot believe they transported the house without any protecting packaging. Would they transport a glass cabinet without wrapping it?? Well, no use lamenting. What can I do?

The material is MDF which is pressed sawdust. Each piece is made of many layers. It should be impossible to break. (No use lamenting, didn't I just say).

There is no way I can press the broken layers back together. After lengthy consideration I decided that the only way I can do anything at all, short of cutting and replacing the whole broken bit (which I know I have no skills to do), was to carefully chisel away as much of the internal layers as possible without damaging the external layers. I could hopefully then glue the remaining layers together and if needed fills the gaps with filler. Then sand and paint over.

It took me a couple of hours because it is of course an awkward place to work on. I considered unhinging the front and working on flat surface, and I may still need to do it. But so far I worked standing on a chair at uncomfortable angles. I realised far too late that I should have used a mask because inhaling MDF particles is not good for your health. I made sure I vacuumed properly afterwards.

Eventually I started noticing that I probably did more damage with my scratching and decided to give it a go. Plenty of glue and strong clamps.

I believe I need to leave this overnight so I cannot do any more on the house today. My major concern is how to keep my cats away. They try to get inside the moment I look another way.

I will of course report whether this effort was successful.

Triang house: further exterior details

First of all, apologies to those of you, my dear readers, who left comments on my previous post. For some reason, I haven't been able to reply, and you must think I am terribly rude. If I manage to figure our what's wrong, I will reply properly. Meanwhile, thank you for your support. This is the first time I am dealing with a valuable vintage item, and I want to be careful and respectful, but still restore as much as possible. There seem to be strong feelings against doing anything at all to vintage objects, but so far I haven't done anything irreversible.

There are still several exterior details in need of attention. One of the supports on a bay window is missing.

Beams around the newly installed window are missing, and in the same picture you can see that one of the garage door knobs is missing.

One problem is that most of my supplies are in storage, including a vast collection of old rusty nails. I don't think I have a nail exactly matching the existing one, but I may have two suitable nails. However, this will have to wait.

The front step is missing. Interestingly enough, I have found pictures on the web with and without the step. But you see clearly that something had been glued there. Also the little window left of the front door is broken.

I discovered a mysterious hole in the recess above the front door. You can clearly see traces of a washer.

I was puzzled, because you cannot see any such detail in frontal images, until I found a picture taken from this angle, and it was a hook. There is a hook inside the house to fasten the left-hand front. This hook would fasten the right-hand front. Now I understand why the right-hand front won't stay properly closed. I swear that I have recently seen a picture of a Triang hook for sale on the web and happily told myself that I didn't need it. Now I do, and I cannot find it. However, I have a hook like this in my stored-away supplies, so some time in the future I will put it in.

I am sure I will continue discovering small faults and finding ways to mend them. This even before I venture inside.

I started with the support (I am sure there is a more appropriate word for this architectural feature). Again, I don't have adequate materials at hand, so it may be a temporary solution. It is also next to impossible to match the colour. I had to repaint several times before it was somewhat similar. Luckily, it's not a hugely conspicuous feature. There must be a colour-matching software, but I have not achieved that level of sophistication yet. Maybe when I am renovating my fifteenth Triang I can try it. I have also read some advice on renovations, and one suggestion was using pastel chalk. I have my chalks in storage, like so many other stuff, and it feels unnecessary to buy more. But I might.

Next, I made a front step, which was easy. This time I didn't even try to match colour. I don't like the colour of the large step anyway, so may repaint both or make flagstones. From the images on the web, it's impossible to say what the "original" is. I will have to do more research. In some pictures I have so far found, the little window is to the right of the door, and in others, on the left, like mine. How come?

I then started to make the beams around the right-hand window, in the same technique I made the missing timbre-frame gable beams, but when I looked to check how exactly the beams were mitred, I discovered that they weren't. The whole surround was cut from a single piece of card!

Now, this both made things simpler and more complicated. To begin with, I cut a paper template, just like I did with the window.

Next, I cut a frame from card - as usual, recycling an old notebook. It was not as hard and time-consuming as cutting out the twelve lights in the window.

I then painted the frame, trying to match the colour as close as possible, which is close to impossible - no pun intended. However, this frame will not connect to any other detail of the same colour so unless you know, you won't notice. I put the frame under a pile of heavy books to dry flat.

As I removed the remnants of the original frame, I was not surprised to find that is was attached to the wall with nails, because the other frames were made in the same way. Beautiful, old rusty nails.

You can also see in this picture the original colour of the wall which suggests a) that the frame has been damaged for a long time, and b) that the whole house is dirty as compared to the original. Next question: shall I try to clean it carefully? Maybe not. These cleaner bits will be covered by the frame anyway.

I wonder whether there are courses for dollhouse conservation. There must be. Maybe I should go and speak to someone at the Museum of Childhood in London. So far I have found tons of good advice on the web. 

Anyway, here is the result:

 

What I should be able to do when I have my proper tools (you must be tired of me saying this!) is bend back the upper part of the green window surround. I believe it was damaged when the window was broken. But for the moment it will have to stay as it is.

Here is the outcome of exterior work so far. There is not much more I can do right now. Unless you know what I have done, you may not notice any difference, but I am extremely proud of my work.

Repairing and rethinking

We have two new, young cats who have no respect for dollhouses. None of our old cats showed any interest so I could never share any of those hilarious "cat invades dollhouse" pictures. This time I put away anything that young, curious cats could tear down, and I glazed all my room boxes. It was a right thing to do, because one of the cats immediately chose the room-box shelf as his favourite place.

 

The space happened to be empty because I was working on that room box, but now I cannot deprive the cat of his preferred sleeping spot. He hasn't so far done any damage.

But you cannot think of everything. I was amused when I finally took a cat-and-dollhouse picture:

He had also been inside, although I didn't manage to capture it, and he was very careful, as cats actually are. Still the inevitable happened.

 

There is a fault in this kit design, as I pointed out to the manufacturer when I bought it. The front stairs are not attached to anything, and you cannot open the main or basement fronts without removing the stairs. In other models, front stairs are usually attached to one of the fronts. Well, not much I can do about it. And it's too late to think of what I may have done, as some people in my Facebook groups have suggested: don't allow the cats into your hobby room, and so on. I don't have a dedicated hobby room; I have all my dollhouses in my home office, and that's where I work on my miniatures. I also work on everything else there, and I like cats being by my side. So I will just need to accept inevitable damage every now and then.

Right now it's a matter of repairing. I have postponed it for a while, but sooner or later it has to be done, so let's make it sooner.

I had issues when I built those front stairs two years ago. Returning to it now, I cannot see what the problem was. Fortunately, I have kept the back panel, "just in case", and here is the case. It fit nicely, just as it should have in the first place. Was it jinxed then? Was I stupid? Was I impatient?

All right, I won't deny that it took several attempts, and patience was the key. Every glued piece must dry properly before the next step. If the cats decided to cuddle on the table right then I would have... well, I would have had to do it all over again. 

So I wish I could say that it was now absolutely fine and painless, but that's not true. I mention it because it is a very complicated project, and I don't want to create an impression that it was an easy task. But in the end it was much neater and more stable.

Then of course I had to re-attach banisters and mouldings. No way everything would fit neatly so it was once again cheating a bit with filler and air-drying clay.

While I was at it, I added a detail that I had been considering for a while. Chess can be used for so many things!

So you thought you were finished, eh?

I have been so busy making Chippendale  kit miniatures - cupboard,  chest, kitchen cabinet - that I have neglected the large project.  I knew there were some small things that needed attention. For instance, there was a tiny piece of moulding missing on the outside:

I am sure I had some thought when I left this bit out, but it had to be done, and it took me ages to find the right moulding.

I also finally glued on the "plaster" ornaments, cut from embossed 1:1 wallpaper. It only took me a couple of months to get down to it.

However, I got a real shock when I started on something that I believed would be straightforward. The balcony door that you see in the picture above needed door knobs on the inside. When I tried on some, the door feel off! It had been almost a year since I put in this door, and apparently I didn't glue it then. So suddenly my neat facade had a gaping hole.

Moreover, as I looked at the door, it still had the protective film! I couldn't believe my eyes. And yet there it was.

I am almost glad this happened because it would have been very difficult to remove the film and clean the panes when the door was in place. But now it's back, properly attached, and with the pair of knobs.

I have also started putting up wall lights. They are all fake. Some are just broken regular lights, some battery lights that mostly don't work, while some do. The problem with wall lights is that they typically have a self-adhesive pad that holds for a couple of weeks and then gives up.  Gluing them onto the wall even with the strongest glue doesn't work either. Not for me anyway. My solution is to glue a pushpin to the base of the light, with the strongest glue in the world: 

 

Then you make a hole with an awl, dip the pin and the base in your strong glue and glue it on. Now it will stay there.

I see a painting has fallen down. Another thing to take care of. There are still dozens of paintings and other ornaments I haven't put into the house. I am still making hooks for kitchen utensils. I still have the insides of the fronts to play with.

And you thought I was finished, eh?

Window boxes

Now that I have roses on a trellis and ivy up the pillars, I also want window boxes. I would very much like to have iron-wrought boxes, but I haven't yet figured out how to make them. Preferably, I find some rubbish I can use.

While I am waiting for this particular rubbish to come my way, I have unearthed another piece of rubbish, or rather two. I have no idea what they are. Someone gave them to me a few years ago, and I have saved them to use as planters.

 

So first of all I put some air-drying clay into each. White tack would work too. Then I put a drop of glue into each planter and covered with coffee-grounds, for compost. It was just as messy as real planting.

 

Then I planted the flowers. I don't remember where these come from, most likely a job lot because I wouldn't have bought them for their own sake. I am not good at flowers, so maybe they are wrong for window boxes. Maybe they are climbers or whatever. But it's too late.

 

Now to the box itself. I considered various models (until I have wrought-iron ones), and I found some bits of angle moulding. Putting two bits together made a perfect window box. I glued on craft sticks on the sides, and for consoles I used bits of fancy coving.

 

I am not absolutely sure yet which windows will have these boxes. I only have two sets of planters, but then all boxes don't have to be exactly the same, do they? Tentatively, they are on the ground floor.

Ivy

I want some ivy on the front of my house. I have a bunch of plastic ivy for Christmas decoration that I have inherited and used occasionally.

Many years ago I tried to make a plant out of it by cutting leaves into smaller shapes. It wasn't very convincing, but I was less demanding then. What I have now noticed with my trained eye was that the leaves were assembled individually and very easy to take apart.

I cut off a branch and stripped it of all large leaves. Then I took all small leaves from other branches and stuck them onto my branch. There are tiny pegs, and each pair of leaves has a hole.

I now had four branches with small leaves. Commercial dollhouse ivy you can get from ebay has leaves 1cm broad. So I am not too far off the mark. I also had to twist the leaves to make them all face in the same direction (which I guess is the opposite of the original).

To make it look natural, I attached every second or third leaf to the surface with sticky dots. In real life it is of course the stem that sticks, but it was easier so. I used two branches on top of each other. They are of course deliberately asymmetrical.

I think the house exterior is getting more interesting with each step. I will now try to make some hanging plants to put on the upper balcony. Come back soon. 

PS I have conscientiously put all large leaves back on the remaining branches so that I can still use them for their initial purpose.

Trellis

I want a trellis for my climbing roses. I made it from coffee stirrers and two balsa strips. The balsa bits will be attached to the wall.

In the last picture, I aged the wood with light oak stain.

I have made roses from Fimo before, it's easy:

But I had a bunch of roses that came in some job lot, and I could just as well use them, only they had white stems. Why would anyone make roses with white stems? However, these roses had white stems which I had to paint - which felt a bit Alice in Wonderland.

By the way, I always use dry oasis when I paint small things.

I am pleased with the result:

Of course you can ask: where does this rose actually grow from. The answer is: I don't know. Yet.

Plumbing

Today I finished plumbing.

 

Let me remind you that the drain pipes - which are of course drinking straws - conceal electric wires connecting the floors into a single LED strip. I am very proud of this solution. The alternative would be simply to have wires held by cable clips. Not very realistic. Here the pipes are probably not hugely decorative, but at least they look plausible. Just a couple are held by cable clips - these proved to be clumsy, hard to get into the walls, and when they did get through there would be a couple of millimetres of nail on the inside. Instead I used duct tape, almost deliberately cutting it uneven. Some places are where the wires go in and out, others just hold the pipe in place.

With this, I believe that the major exterior features of the house are complete!

As a contrast, look where I was a year ago.

Roof holders

A simple project, which is a temporary solution until I make something more permanent.

I took two lengths of dowel and added furniture protection pads on both sides.

When not in use, the holders can be hidden behind the railing.

Major corrections

If you have followed my building of the front stairs you may have noticed that the right front has been open on all pictures. The reason is it won't close, and I know why.

As I wrote in a post, when you have completed a PhD you can be passed without corrections (which almost never happens), or with minor corrections that won't take more than a couple of months and frequently just a couple of days. Or you can get major corrections which means that you have really messed it up, but your examiners believe that if you work hard enough you can still get it right.

"The time has come" to do some major corrections so that the right front closes properly. The reason it doesn't close properly is that almost a year ago, when I glued the shell, I was lazy, sloppy - and quite desperate. I dismissed a couple of millimeters of horizontal panels. This was because after hours of sanding I had managed to almost fit in the panels, and at the moment a couple of millimeters didn't seem significant. I did test to hinge the fronts and close them, and it worked. I have pictures to prove it. Actually, as I look at those pictures the fronts do not close properly, but there were so many other details that weren't finished that it didn't bother me. More important, even if I had wished to take out the panels, I wouldn't have been able to do so. In hindsight, I should have asked for assistance.

When P and I made the lights, we noticed that some floors/ceilings were skewed, and we aligned the angle bars with the side walls, with the understanding that some time in the future the horizontal panels would have to be fixed. The future is here.

I won't bore you with details, but the amount of work I have put into this ungrateful task has made me consider investing in a set of more powerful tools, such as a dremel. It would have made it much easier and maybe even pleasurable. As it is, I used what I had, and I am not quite pleased with the result, but the front can be closed now.

While I was at it, I covered some holes and seams with filler and painted edges. As I progress, I notice that some edges that I once very carefully painted gray must be repainted white, and the other way round. I have even discovered two completely unpainted edges that I haven't seen before.

None of these tiny details will be perfect, and the question is whether anyone will ever notice and whether I should be upset.

The closer I come to completion - if there ever is such a thing with a dollhouse - the less satisfied I am with untidiness, however small; with tiny flaws, regardless of whether they are my fault (mostly they are); with things too late to change.

Maybe I shouldn't worry too much. After all, I am doing it for fun.