Danish house, part 5

 Read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 of this story. 

Once again, I am renovating this house for a specific purpose, and a true collector would probably be horrified, because many authentic details will be lost. I bought this house extremely cheap, and I won't ever sell it as a vintage item so I can do whatever I want with it. 

And I want a roof that looks like a house roof, not like a dollhouse roof. It's fine when the house is a toy for a child to play with, but a single-sheet roof does not look natural. So it's not just that the roof was damaged - it needed a new look. 

I carefully studied period-correct roofs (there was a very interesting discussion thread, in Swedish, about various options), and I considered using corrugated cardboard for tiles, but finally decided on plain black slates. 

I have done this before, and this time I didn't use cereal boxes, but rather recycled binders from my old students' theses that I had been saving for this purpose. They have just the right colour and texture. 

I marked the tiles with a bone folder - an indispensable tool that I originally acquired for book binding, but that proved extremely versatile. Then cut the sheet into horisontal strips and glued directly onto the roof, shifting every other strip. 

I think this picture very clearly illustrates the difference - and I almost forgot to take it. I turned some of the tiles upward a bit, to make them look more realistic. I may also sand them slightly to age them. 

It took the time it took, but I am very pleased with the result. I will probably paint the ridge black, but will keep the wooden beams. I don't like the look of the chimney but haven't yet decided what to do with it. 

Next, and as a little side project before embarking on floors, I made curtains for the living room. I wanted something unusual, and I remembered that my mother-in-law, who was very much into modern design, had curtains matching wallpaper, and this felt exactly the kind of thing a functionalist designer would do. 

It took some thinking and a few trials-and-errors, but finally I figured out how to do it. 

First, I printed out the Jacobsen wallpaper in very thin, 45-gram paper. Then I cut two bits of corrugated cardboard (the one I had discarded for roof tiles) and glued on the wallpaper to emulate folds. For rod I used a skewer, hung the curtains into jewellery jump rings and attached with eye screws. 

Of course you cannot fully draw these curtains, but they look much more realistic than most dollhouse courtains I have seen, including those in museums. 

Well, now I have no further pretexts to avoid dealing with floors and the ground-floor wallpaper, but it is a serious decision, and I need to think it through. Meanwhile, I will focus in some details, like period-correct ceiling lights. I can also make some kitchen items. Come back soon! 

Danish house, part 4

 Read part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this story. 

As I have mentioned before, the original Hanse houses had a small front gable that the previous owner had removed in favour of the middle partition. The gable has two purposes. It supports the roof when there is no partition. And it will conceal display lights when I come that far. First, I made a template from cardboard. 

For the real thing, I used foam board. 

When it dried, it looked like this: 

I think this is a lovely feature of this old house that makes it so distinct from later models and from Lundby houses. 

My next step was making windows. The original Hanse houses didn't have window frames, and maybe it was fine for children to play with, but it doesn't look natural. I wanted windows in appropriate functionalist style ("funkis"), and they are relatively easy to make from coffee stirrers and recycled folder covers. 

This is what they look like on the outside and inside: 

The ground floor window is ready, but not inserted yet because I haven't decided what I want to do with wallpaper. 

After this hard work I rewarded myself by arranging furniture including the old Brio kitchen which still needs to be designed properly. I don't know what the middle room will be so at the moment there are two "bat" chairs there. Under the stairs I have temporarily arranged a bathroom; the equipment is Renwall rather than Brio, but for the time being it will do. 

 

Next steps include floors and roof. Come back soon. 

Danish house, part 3

 Read the first and second part of this story. 

I was of course eager to go on with the interior, but I knew I would be irritated by the glue blobs so I took a deep breath and started working on them. As already mentioned, a hair dryer didn't help - who knows what kind of glue it was. The only way was to scrape off the glue carefully with a scalpel, moistering and rubbing slightly - my fingertips proved the most useful tool. You can still see that something happened there, but then it can happen in full-size houses too, and I didn't want to damage the surface. 

Then I painted the back wall. It wasn't absolutely necessary, but I don't want to have someone else's graffitti on my house. I painted with white. At some point I may paint in a matching colour. For now, it simply looks fresh. 

Next, I painted ceilings on the ground floor. In the existing pictures of Hanse houses, it is not clear what original ceilings look like, but I would paint them white anyway, in keeping with Jacobsen style. Anyone who has painted inside small rooms knows what a job it is. You need a whole set of brushes to get into all corners. I also painted the upper halves of walls in the middle and right-hand rooms. I am not sure yet whether I will keep the blue tiles, but unpainted walls don't look good. 

Now came the part that I had been looking forward to: putting up the wallpaper. I had this Jacobsen wallpaper, printed from the web, as a backdrop in the shelf with Jacobsen furniture. I think it's stunning. Jacobsen designed many papers, floors and curtains, but this is my favourite (although I am not sure I would have it in my full-size home). 

The job was both easy and hard. Easy because it is a geometrical pattern, matching neatly. Difficult because of the sloping roof and because I had to cut out openings for windows. I made templates from plain paper before I cut the fancy ones. I am very pleased with the result. I have temporarily put in a carpet from an earlier project. I have studied pictures of Jacobsen-style rooms, and they have either wall-to-wall carpets, plank or parquet. I hate wall-to-wall carpets and would never have one in my home (revomed immediately when we bought a house in England), but I feel it will be period-appropriate. I will go to an upholstery shop and beg or buy a sample for the upper floor. I haven't yet decided about the ground floor. 

As usual, I want to test the project with furniture even if it isn't finished. Suddenly the red staircase rail that looked conspicuous in the empty room goes nicely with the red sofa and chairs. I might still paint it later. 

I feel I have come a long way. But there is a lot to be done yet. Come back soon. 

Danish house

 

Last month I went to a miniature fair in Denmark, as an exhibitor. The fair wasn't very successful in terms of sales, not just for me but for everyone - nobody could explain why. I hadn't plan to buy anything, but I kept looking at a house because it looked old and interesting. I don't typically work in 1:18 scale, and I already have one house that needs renovation. However, for the past couple of years I have been collecting Danish dollhouse furniture by Arne Jacobsen that I display in a bookshelf. I have been telling myself that one day I would buy an old 1:18 house exclusively to display my Jacobsen collection. And here was this old house, and ten minutes before the fair closed I bought it at a ridiculously low price. I am still surprised that no one had bought it earlier - maybe because it was in such poor condition. I wonder whether the seller was aware what they was selling. Later I checked the current prices for this type of house so I know it was a bargain. My daughter who was there with me thought I was crazy, but it wasn't big news to her. 

Now, I don't know enough about vintage dollhouses but fortunately there are communities with expertise. I thought it was an early Lundby, but my facebook group immediately recognised it as a Danish Hanse house which certainly makes sense as I found it in Denmark. As I researched it back home, it became apparent. Symmetrical roof - and evebody knows that Lundby houses are not symmetrical. Also several features were conspicuous, such as the stairs. 

I have been busy with all kinds of things recently so it's not until now I have some time to take a closer look. 

To begin with, the partition on the upper floor is a late addition - original Hanse houses didn't have it. At closer look, the partition had a very odd sized door, just 8 cm high. The walls on the ground floor have no doors, but they don't go all the way to the front, so a kind of pretence doors. Another typical Hanse feature. 

The wallpaper on the ground floor seems authentic, but on the upper floor the walls have been painted, and not very carefully. Floors in one room were badly damaged. 

From the pictures I have found on the web, floors are original. I have also been told that the house didn't have window frames and glazing. 

Somebody repaired the wall in a most horrendous manner - just look at the glue!

The bottom was water damaged. Not much I can do about it, maybe just give it a protective coat of paint.

I am not sure what the round things in the corners are. Maybe the house stood on legs. 

I took a deep breath and started. 

The first thing was to remove the partition which was easy because it had also been fixed quite carelessly. With the partition removed, you can see original wallpaper. 

I won't restore the original wallpaper because I intend, as already mentioned, to use the house to display Jacobsen furniture. I will have Jacobsen wallpaper, and I will research what kind of floors and ceilings would go with Jacobsen design. 

Just to cheer myself up, after realising the scope of necessary work, I put some Jacobsen items into the upper-floor room. With the partition, it wouldn't look half as nice. 

I am not sure where to start, but probably I need to make all the major repairs before I can go on. Mend the hole in the floor. Remove the glue. Sand away old paint. I am sure I will discover more faults as I go. I believe this will take me the whole summer, particularly if it rains. I will report regularly so please come back. 

To be continued.  

Funkis drawing room

The drawing room, which is the middle room in the funkis house, was easy to decorate since it has no complicated surfaces or corners. It took me a long time to choose wallpaper because I wanted something bright, but not too conspicuous. It is interesting that in a miniature environment conspicuous background can kill the details. Here is the before and after:

The furniture in this room is eclectic. Last summer, IKEA launched a set of miniatures that all dollhouse people eagerly bought, just to discover that it was a bizarre scale, not 1:12, not 1:10, not 1:6 either, but something in between, impossible to intergrate in any existing project.

But it is nice furniture, although not quite funkis. At least the shelf and the rug went well with my room:

The red sofa and armchair are the famous Arne Jacobsen miniatures. I have written about how I acquired the Egg chair, and soon afterwards I bought the Swan sofa from Swedish ebay for a third of the price, postage to the UK included. Never mind.

I made the tables wholly from imagination, but inspired by the pictures of funkis furniture.

I don't remember where the blue lid comes from, but the yellow and orange lids are from playdough jars.

The red lamp is a cracker. Perhaps some pictures on the walls, and it's all done.

Collecting

I have repeatedly stated that I am a maker, not a collector, but I have recently succumbed to a number of purchases that have taken me off my maker's trajectory. The interesting thing about buying an unusual piece, such as the Marx clock, is that, if you are curious like me, you learn a lot. Sometimes it is something every miniaturist knows, or should know, but I am, as noted, not a collector, and I really don't know much about dollhouse and toy companies.

Last week in Stockholm, a friend took me on an antique shop round, which we usually do when we meet. I was tempted, and I fell. I could have fallen for more, but I showed character. This is what I bought:

I didn't have any particular project in mind, but I couldn't resist it. I think that by now I recognise an interesting piece when I see it.

In fact, the only piece I recognised was the Arne Jacobsen chair, The Egg.

 

I learned about Jacobsen when I was in Copenhagen some years ago, staying in a hotel that had Jacobsen furniture and folders explaining it. They also sold models in 1:6 scale, which I refrained from buying. I had since then been scouting for the Lundby-scale Egg on ebay, and it turns up every now and then, fetching fancy prices. I paid a fancy price for this one, but somehow it is different when you hold it in your hand. It feels authentic in a way you cannot be certain about a picture on ebay. Of course I know that sellers "age" their merchandise, but I am pretty sure that this chair is a genuine Jacobsen from the late '50s. (And if it isn't, I don't care).

Another piece that needed some research was this sofa:

The piece of paper says "Dollhouse furniture, architect J Udd". The person in the shop could not provide any further information. Web search yielded meagre results. "Architect J Udd produced models of dollhouse furniture of good quality in a nice, period-correct '50s design. Produced in the Gothenburg area". Hmmm... helpful. More search. Picture! Just like mine. "Fantastic sofa by architect J Udd. He produced his furniture during the '40s and 50s outside Leksand". Right, slightly contradictory information, but someone in my miniature group confirmed that John Udd made dollhouse furniture and lived in Dalecarlia, not far from Leksand. My miniature-collecting cousin said she had some furniture by Udd, and yet another virtual friend displayed a whole dollhouse of Udd furniture. So now I know that I have a rare piece, but so far I haven't been able to find any further information about the mysterious architect, not on the web, not in the National Encyclopedia or Who Is Who. Investigation continues.