Triang Number 24, previously known as number 41

 

This is the latest house we've saved from the tip and this one was in poor shape so I didn't expect it to turn out very well. Picked up for around £15, it was very dirty and dilapidated, but as you know by now, there's nothing I like more than a challenge.

It was stuffed full of plastic furniture with a few bits of Lundby and some rather grubby dolls from the 1960-70s.

The first task was to clean it and I was able to remove a layer of wallpaper in the top left bedroom to reveal original Triang wallpaper. Unfortunately, at some point in the house's history, a child  daubed blue paint all over the downstairs which I was unable to remove. I repapered these rooms but left the old paper underneath. I painted the kitchen a nice near contemporary green and repapered the damage floor with Triang blue tiled paper.

The stairs opened directly onto the landing with nowhere to put a bathroom and I had this lovely old wooden bathroom I was dying to use. I really didnt want the bathroom and loo on the landing, that would have been too odd so to get around it I made a removeable cardboard partition wall. People have pointed out there is no bathroom door but, do you know what, it's a dolls house, they aren't as shy as we are.

The roof was in reasonable condition so I just re-taped a bit of that and cleaned off decades of dirt before touching up a few scuffs. The front opening doors were badly warped so we tried soaking and flattening them. This worked for a time but as they dried out, they pinged back to their distorted shape. I just keep it very securely fastened to avoid further distortion and it hardly notices at all.

We made new windows out of  extra long cooks matchsticks until replacements can be found and new wooden shutters to replace the bits of orange card the previous tenants had put up. 

When we received the house there were no beams on the gable but researched showed that this model did have them at one point. We made wooden replacements although I think the original may have been painted on.

It is a pretty little house now and will fit nicely into my growing collection. I've furnished it with bits and pieces I already had and moved in a family of infants, which is odd. I need to find some grown ups. 

The fireplace in the sitting room needs changing and I will probably make a Triang style one to replace the rather huge Georgian style plaster one currently roasting the poor family.

If you have an antique, vintage or just an old dolls house that you'd like to rehome or have restored to its former glory, do let me know and I will see what I can do for you.