This Old House - Antique and Vintage Dolls House Rescue

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...

  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...

  Triang No. 62 1930-58. Dimensions: 27 inches [68 cm] wide, 11 inches [28 cm] deep and 17 inches [43 cm] high. I was excited to find this one for sale locally. It is the  version I've long been looking for, with the garden walls and the curved gable beams. It was in a sorry old state when I got it, filthy dirty and very rusty after years in someone's attic. There were signs of historic woodworm on the sides and upper floor and the roof had caved in at one end and there were two missing windows. Inside was dirty but the wallpaper wasn't too bad. I was able to keep quite a lot of it and the ones that couldn't be saved were decorated with repro Triang paper (from DollsHouseMan on Ebay). But, undeterred, we cracked on with it. First job was to give it a good hoover - there was even a mummified wasp in one of the gardens.   Once clean, I carefully removed all the windows and got started treating the woodworm (just in case) and filling all the holes - this took a while! Once...

  DH/3, 1924-1933. Dimensions: 31.25 inches [79.5 cm] wide, 18 inches [46 cm] deep and 32.5 inches [83 cm] high. This is another house I had from Kevin Taylor, and I hope it isn't the last. I loved it straight away, instantly seeing its potential. It had no back and the rear part of the roof was missing. Again it had been painted horribly and the roof was papered with horrible stuff from the 1970s. I soon stripped that off and ordered some replica papers from The Dolls House Man on Ebay. Then I painted the ceilings, eaves and interior wood with a antique white paint, The new roof paper looked a bit bright so I darkened it down with black wax - you can see the bit i have treated beside the untreated part in the photo below. Then the fiddly bit with the windows and balustrade which took several weeks with both of us working on it. The railing was daubed with thick paint, it was quite easy to scrape off and then when he repainted it John put them on the end of his drill, slowly turnin...