KittyKatt's Dolls House Project

  The pink bathroom suite is made by Barton from plastic, and dates to the 1960s (possibly 1964?). I wanted a reasonably authentic bathroom that was in good condition, and still reasonably priced.  The set still has all its original taps,  the toilet still has its seat and lid intact, and the handle of the flush mechanism still works.  This was the era when coloured bathrooms were becoming popular.  The dolls house bathroom suites of the 1950s and earlier were often made from plaster (which often broke when dropped, so not many remain in good condition,) wood or metal. These are also hard to find in good condition  at a reasonable price. I suspect this could be because many small owners wanted to make things more "authentic" by filling everything with water!  The laundry bin is probably also made by Barton, around 1970. The pale pink towel rail is by Dol Toi, dating to around 1960, and is made from metal with wooden "feet". The little blue and pink to...

  Bedroom #1 This collection is mostly early Barton, the dressing table and chest of drawers have the typical larger knobs of the earlier ranges, and the chest of drawers  has a rather attractive slightly bow front. The beds are made by Barton, although the bedding is new! ( But the bedding has utilised fabrics such as vintage lace for the trim of the pillowcases and sheets for a more authentic look). The wardrobe is almost certainly early DolToi. (It's made of solid wood and has the wooden back. Not everything got stamped with the company stamp, and labels have a tendency to fall off / be picked off over the years!) The clock dates to the late 1940s/ early 1950s and I think is probably Dol Toi, although there's no stamp or label (not surprising on something that tiny!). Interestingly, when I visited P and C,  I noticed C had the "real size" clock this model clock was obviously  based on, on her sideboard, which when I admired it, she said was a wedding present back ...

 I've installed the lights in my dolls house. They're LED, and battery operated, so no wiring needed! :D  (Just as well, as the ply wood that forms the outside walls of the house is very thick, and would take a lot of drilling with my miniature hand drill.)

 Today I put the flooring down - black and white tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, traditional lino in the bedrooms and parquet in the sitting room. It's all on sheets that can be trimmed to size and then stuck down. I haven't stuck anything yet, just laid it all in place, to check I've trimmed everything correctly as it "settles".

 I've decided to keep the outside paintwork on the house mostly "as is", to preserve the vintage charm, ( I'm not looking to make it look as if it's just come from the showroom) and I don't want to be rubbing down lots of paint that almost certainly has lead in it! Also, the paints from 70 years ago were very different in their consistency and make up, so it would be difficult to replicate the more gentle sheen of the gloss paint from that time.  However, the fascia board at the top of the house was nagging me, as the paint there was badly marked and also flaking for some reason, and flaking lead paint, as well as not looking good, isn't particularly safe either. So, I rubbed that bit down to get rid of the flaky bits, wiped it with a damp cloth, let it dry and then painted on a primer, to stabilise the surface.  Then I had fun matching  the paint. In the end I used Tanglewood Park by Valspar in a silk formulation to give a very gentle sheen. I think the h...

This is how it looked in the advert: BTW the little red trapdoor in the top RH corner really does open, so you could just walk out up the stairs and onto the roof (no safety rails!). The indented cream wooden part in the centre looks as if there's a piece missing, and there should be a chimney of some sort. From my time in town yesterday photographing parts of various 1950s buildings, (you can get a good view of several roofs from the top floor I'm of the library!) I think it may have been supposed to represent some kind of ventilation cover looking a bit like this (taken from the top floor of the local library!): However, the only similar looking pieces I've been able to find are the wrong size / shape. (Dolls houses come in various scales, and I think mine is a 1:16. But, sizing wasn't always accurate, and a few mm either way can make a difference. True story, in the Dol-Toi factory that made a lot of dolls furniture from offcuts of the owners' caravan building bu...

 I've been looking for a new project to work on while the weather is too cold/ wet to do much outside in my garden. I remembered how much I'd enjoyed sorting out my childhood dollshouse nearly 20 years ago, so decided to find one that was completely different and in need of renovation, and see what I could do.  I've found a 1950's dollshouse, built in the modernist style, so it's completely different from mine, which is a sweet late 1960s traditional cottage type. It was decidedly unattractive, in need of a lot of TLC, and extremely dirty, but I felt it had potential.