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Antique Clock House and doll

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 I've had an antique ice box drawer lying around for years, waiting for the right project, so when my trusty  helper gave me a lovely antique doll for Easter I immediately knew where she belonged. She is 11 inches tall so too big for any of my dolls houses and I wanted to be able to see her. Her dress is original and so very very delicate, already beginning to fray. There was very little work required to make her home. The box was full of old cd's which have now been moved to another box and stored in the loft - it's hard to get rid of things that used to mean so much, even if we will never play them again. But I digress, I cleaned out the inside which is lined with lead paper (there is probably a correct term for it) which offers a very beautiful aged effect. I waxed the exterior and removed a rusty nail that was sticking from the bottom. Instead of papering the interior, I simply hung a curtain I made from vintage fabric and lace from my stash and upgraded some larger sca...
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Lines DH11

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DH/11 1921-1923. Dimensions: 35.5 inches [89 cm] wide, 17 inches [43 cm] deep and 35 inches [88 cm] high. There's nothing I like more than a challenge, and this DH11 was a big one! A poor specimen with no back, stripped out inside and a very tatty exterior. It had a certain charm but I still couldn't wait to begin bringing it back to its former grandeur.  The first job as always is to clean them thoroughly and check for worm and rot. This one had no worm but I treated it anyway. When I turned it over to check the bottom for marks or damage I found the base completely rotten in one corner so the first job (or the second if you count the cleaning) was to get the Trusty Assistant to make a new one. While he was doing that I stripped the roof paper and tidied up inside. This is a big house, not as big as the DH12 but it has a pleasing number of rooms but a narrow annoying to decorate stair way. To make things easier, I got TA to remove the wall to the right of the stairs in the pic...
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Lines Triang DHD

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  DH/D, 1924-1932. Dimensions: 20 inches [50 cm] wide, 11 inches [27.5 cm] deep and 26.5 inches [66.5 cm] high. The DHD is a lovely little house, easily fitted into any collection. I've had this one sitting in the craft room for a while now and I thought it only needed a few repairs. Closer inspection threw up a few exterior things that I wasn't happy with. The roof paper was not original and was torn and had been badly applied. The front door knocker and letter box had been painted glossy black to match the window frames and gables. I dislike glossy paint, its just a personal thing.  The windows were plastic so we replaced with glass. It didn't take much to bring the knocker and letter box back with a bit of wire wool and dull down the gables. I also replaced the roof paper with reproduction Triang - I still need to black wax that to age it a bit. But I am getting ahead of myself. The photograph above and the one below is how it was when it arrived; the first thing I did w...
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1980s Honeychurch dolls house to Victorian Villa.

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 I was given this lovely house! All very splendidly done out in 1990 pastel decor. I needed to give it the Arnopp touch. It is a gorgeous house. I think, along with Sid Cooke, these are antiques of the future so I was excited to start work on it. The paper was easily removed, revealing a clean smooth surface so unlike the rough, aged wood I am accustomed to on the Triang houses. When I am doing up an antique house I like to restore it to the original but with a newer house I have a free hand, to do as I please. I love old houses, I love old times so it is unlikely I am ever going to do a modern home. I wanted it to look old so I painted it in two halves. The upper in red brick, the lower half in bath stone bricks. As before, I did the colour mixing and painting while trusty sidekick drew the bricks - freehand. I don't seem to have taken photographs of the process, I must have been too busy enjoying it. Inside I used three ply paper napkins for wall paper. I mod podged it to heavier...
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Hobbies 793 Regency Dolls house to Longbourn - home of the Bennets in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

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 I've had this house for some time. When I got it the previous owners had decorated it as a 1980s house complete with fitted homemade kitchen and bathroom and modern style wall paper. For some reason, it stopped me from seeing the house's potential straight away. But then I read an article in one of the dolls house magazines about a lady who had created LongBourne, the home of the Bennets from Pride and Prejudice and I knew right away I wanted to copy her. This involved a lot of  internet searching for the house they used in filming the Colin Firth Version and close examination of pictures of the house I saw in the dolls house magazine. I am sorry, I have searched everywhere for the name of the lady who created the original but I can't find it. As you can see, it took a huge leap of imagination. The Hobbies 793 is a lovely house, very solidly made with windows all round - lots of plastic windows that were yellowed with age, and nasty plastic doors. Inside, it was tidy and i...
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