This Old House - Antique and Vintage Dolls House Rescue

 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...

  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...

DH/12, 1924-1940. Dimensions: 46.5 inches [116.5 cm] wide, 18 inches [45 cm] deep and 42 inches [105 cm] high (until 1927) OR 48 inches [120 cm] wide, 19 inches [48 cm] deep and 41 inches [122.5 cm] high (from 1928). from Dolls houses past and present website  This is how it was when I got it. Huge, abused and very much in need of some love and attention. I bought it from Kevin Taylor who has numerous beautiful houses - it was such fun to be shown around his collection. To say I was green with envy is no understatement. I had so much fun that I returned a while later to collect a DH3 and a DH11. I've added a short video of when I first opened it up, excuse my voice, I sound much more silly than I really am ... I hope. It needed a lot of attention, the roof had been painted a nasty red, the interior was just a shell but the bones were there and the bits that were missing were easily rebuilt. the first job was to treat it for woodworm, they were no longer active but I always do it as...

  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 th...

  This is a house that I yearn for but it is massively out of the reach of my tiny budget. I am not sure of the maker but it is an early one and absolutely gorgeous. So, knowing I can never own one, when I saw a little white house of a similar shape come up for sale on Ebay I had the idea of making a near replica or at least something resembling it. The house I bought was made sometime in the 80s or 90s, I'd guess. It is simple, box-backed house with four small rooms and immense charm but you can see the obvious similarities. The first job was to paint it. The camera has made the colours a bit garish but in reality they are quite muted. I used chalk paint and with some careful mixing I came close as possible to the hue on the original. Then I aged it a black wax and instructed my husband to make some window surrounds similar to the old house. I was really pleased with the result. The interior was easy. I copied a technique of wall papering with napkins and  modge podge from Do...

  I didn't have to do much to the exterior of this lovely Hobbies Special 186 as I love it just the way it is. It was a  bit a grubby and has obviously been played with  but it was unspoiled. All I had to do was clean it up a bit and disguise some discolouration on the roof and brick work. Inside was another matter but still didn't require a great deal of refurbishment. The paper in the upper rooms was fine but downstairs seemed to be papered with wrapping paper from the 1990s. The floor is also quite stained but the paper intact so I decided to keep that and hide the worst of it with strategically placed rugs. I didnt like the open plan so decided to divide it into two rooms and add stairs. I played around for  quite a while and eventually opted to created stairs in a cupboard like my nan had in her house and not bother with an opening in the upstairs floor, the inhabitants will have to imagine that. The house came with all the lovely 1940s furniture so I thought I'...