Remodeling a Duracraft Heritage Dollhouse - part 4 The Attic

 When I built the Duracraft Heritage years ago for my then young daughter, I wallpapered the attic. In this remodel, I looked at the attic and said to myself, just how low is the ceiling in there? I forget exactly, but if you're more than 5" tall, expect to bang your head in there. So I decided to turn the space into the attic it should be.

In the picture below, you can see the small attic alcove which I had originally painted white, because there was no way I could get my hands in there to wallpaper it way back when.  I drew black lines across the space to remind myself that walling it off would be a good idea.

When we built our present real life home some 25 years ago, there were rules or covenants concerning how the homes in the neighborhood were to look. One of them was that they should all have wooden shingled roofs. Our contractor was a carpenter who liked to use tried and true traditional building methods. He advised us to put our shingles on strapping instead of plywood sheathing, because wooden shingles tend to rot more readily when nailed to plywood. When nailed to strips of wood called strapping, they can dry out after being drenched in rain or snowstorms, and be less likely to rot.

I learned that roofs that had shingles nailed to strapping have been known to last over 200 years. Unfortunately, in our century, shingles, like many other things, just ain't what they used to be, and we'd probably have to replace them after 20 years or so.

Here's an example of the underside of a roof made up of wooden shingles on strapping.  You're learning so much history, aren't you?

The vertical beams are the rafters. The horizontal boards are the strapping. The wood behind the strapping are the shingles. The strapping in my real life attic wasn't as wide as the boards shown here, and there were more of them. I can't show you a photo of my attic, because several years ago we put on a new asphalt shingled roof which was laid on plywood sheathing.

Here's a picture of the first stage of the Heritage's redone attic.

First I had to make some rafters. On corners, if I can, I prefer to use L molding instead of butting 2 pieces of stripwood together. It makes a neater, more secure look. The bottom cut can be a little tricky when on an angle like this, but after a few false cuts using leftover bits of molding I finally got a cut that worked ok.

I simulated the wooden shingles using random dabs of 2 or 3 shades of brown all over the walls.

Also, I cut a triangular piece of scrap plywood to fit in and cover the entrance to the small alcove.

I must confess, I got carried away dabbing my shingles and dabbed right across the triangular false wall, so I ended up painting that piece brown. My story is that after the plasterer finished the wall, the homeowner didn't like the glaring white and requested it be painted brown to blend in. 

Next I needed to do something about the floor.

During the original building process, here and there I used some kind of glue that would not come off. It was a real battle to wrench some things out, using a hair dryer on the glue just would not soften it enough to remove a wall, shelves, or whatever. I was left with bits of glue here and there on the floor that would not come off or sand down, so I needed to install flooring.

I decided to cut pieces of basswood and score lines to simulate the floorboards, then piece them in as best I could. The main problem was that the space was small, my hands were too big, and the lighting was lousy. So much of this attic was completed by feel, because I simply couldn't see what I was doing in there.

Once the stained floor panels were in place, I glued in the rafters. 

There were some random looking strips of wood at the edges of the floor in some places. They were there to help strengthen the connection between the sloped attic walls and the floor, but over the years, some of them pulled away from the walls. Unfortunately, they remained firmly stuck to the floor and I felt if I tried to pry them out all sorts of things might start falling apart.

In old attics, however, one may sometimes find old pieces of wood nailed to places, and you have no idea why they're there. In those conditions, it's best to leave them alone. 

I wound up adding a few more random pieces of wood to the Heritage attic because it developed a few gaps over the years, and the wood helped fill them.

Here's the completed attic. I stained Skinny Sticks to make the strapping. It reminds me of how my real life attic used to look.

The next photo shows more of the floor.

I needed to somehow work in the areas where 2 sections of basswood butted together, so they wouldn't look so glaringly obvious.

Our modern eyes are used to floorboards looking a certain way, in nice neat lines, but I've seen illustrations of cottages and even photos of original centuries old floors where the boards sometimes went everywhich way. In an attic, the builders certainly wouldn't have been very picky. "Hey, Homer, I'm runnin' outta boards here!" "Use some of them short leftovers from the pile, then."

More history.

Before the latter half of the 1800's, floorboards used to be wider than they are now. Up to one foot wide was pretty common in the 1700's and earlier. Also, wooden floors were not varnished. They were left bare, or if you wanted a fancy floor you might paint it a nice color. People also covered their floors with strips of carpeting that were laid or stitched edge to edge to form a wall to wall carpet.

It wasn't till the 20th century that varnished, polished hardwood floors started becoming more common. Even then, many floors were still being painted, then covered with a rectangular rug they called an "Art Square". In the 1920's magazines advertised that anyone could now afford the luxury of oak floors.

If you're interested in the way people decorated their homes in the Victorian era, visit my other blog, Victorian Interiors and More.

But I digress......

I used a plaster product to fill in the small gaps where the basswood pieces butted together. Next I started brushing some brown acrylic paint over the white plaster brushing away in each direction to spread the paint out over the wood, after which I'd swoop over the area with a small piece of slightly damp paper towel. I had to do that several times in each section, then I thinned the brown paint a little more, and using a slightly larger brush, I swooped some paint in other sections of the floor, finished with a couple swoops with the dampened paper towel. In the end, I would up with what looked like a dirty old wooden attic floor.

 

What to tackle next?

I confess, when I look at the main gutted section of the building it scares me. I had never built a dollhouse kit before, and the going was much slower than I expected, and Christmas was looming fast. I don't know how much of the damage in the house was due to my ineptness, trying to get it done too quickly, or the warpage of age, probably just a combination of all those things. I still have to remove the windows out of one bay, plus the door.

Maybe I'll do the bathroom in the second story of the wing addition next. I had found the addition much easier to build than the kit. I am the daughter of a carpenter, after all, and my grandfather built his own home with his own two hands. Blood will tell. My siblings and I all laugh at how all four of us felt compelled to plant gardens when we bought out own homes, even though none of us had previously had any interest in gardening at all. Mama was always a devoted gardener.

Remodeling a Duracraft Heritage Dollhouse - part 3

 I bet some of you are wishing I'd get to the main part of the house, aren't you? That will come, however, I got so involved in the staircase planning, that once I figured out what I wanted to do (which was not to build a staircase at all), I really wanted to finish off the addition I had built.

Today I managed to finish the room that will be the kitchen.

Well, yeah, the windows aren't redone yet. The stuff I was planning on using for the "glass" turned out to be a problem. I'm going to see if I can find something else. It may be easier to do all the windows in the house at once anyway. Once you figure out the first few you get into the groove, and the rest are easier.

The pantry shelves, however, were a real pain in the $^#&^%8# !

Well, not so much the shelves, but the panel they're glued to.

I swear, I must have measured the space and the 3 different panels I made at LEAST 15 times. The first panel was turned out to be too big, so I trimmed it, still too big, shaved off some more, then it was too small, so I decided to start over. All the other plywood scraps I had left were all warped to some degree, so I looked for something else to use.

Do you have any old hard vinyl covered binders? I had to throw away a couple a while back, and wondered if that thick, stiff, hard cardboard would be good for anything useful, so I slit the vinyl open and saved them. I cut a new back panel for the pantry out of one, and it didn't matter if I messed up, because I had more, and it was FREE! 

I don't like to spend a lot of money on my dollhouses. If my hobby becomes too expensive I cease to enjoy it.

I digress...

Anyway, that panel turned out pretty good, so then I used some 1/16" basswood to make the front of the panel.  My worries weren't quite over, though, because with every remeasurement and recut, they kept turning out just a little bit off. 

Finally, all was perfect, the panel fit, the sides of the shelves were glued on, the 2 bottom shelves were in place, I slowly slid the unit back into place, ...... and it wouldn't fit........

Want to know what I did?

I began to laugh hysterically, that's what I did.

Once I stopped laughing I retried the unit, shaved off a little more from the top, and replaced it.

This time it was a little short......

.......which is why I installed a piece of crown molding on top of it.

I thought the hooks on the side wall were a good idea. A kitchen should have someplace to hang a mop, broom, dustpan, etc.

I took a few of my daughter's old kitchen pieces to give an idea of the layout.

I could make my own better versions of that sort of range and sink. Maybe someday I will.

I had planned on building the bathroom on the floor above next, but now I'm thinking maybe I want to do a simpler challenge, the attic.

Remodeling a Duracraft Heritage Dollhouse - part 2

 So far I've removed most of the windows. One set of bay windows and the door still to be taken out. The bay windows are very stubborn and hold on for dear life.

I've also removed the wallpaper in the attic. Since the ceiling in there is only about 5" high, I decided to make the space over as an attic, showing the underside of roof shingles, strapping and rafters. There's a poky little alcove up there that's painted white. Rather than trying to deal with getting a brush in there and painting it to match the rest of the attic, I think I may just close it off. I drew lines across the space to try and illustrate the concept.

Work is progressing a bit in the kitchen. Behind the blocked in area is where the staircase is..... or would be if I were building an actual staircase.

You can see the 2 steps heading down onto the kitchen from the hidden landing. I haven't made up my mind if I want an enclosed handrail, a spindled handrail, or no handrail at all.

I had a sheet of classic blue tile which I decided to use for the kitchen floor. I gave the ceiling a fresh coat of white paint, but I'll need to get out a hand mirror to see if I completely covered it or not. I can't turn the house sideways or anything, and must manage as best as I can. 

Where you see the plywood wall facing front is where the pantry shelves will go. These walls are just popped into place for now, as I hadn't noticed that one panel was slightly warped till after I'd cut it. That means I need to recut the other panel too. Drat.....

I've been thinking about the kitchen walls, and maybe doing tile at least half way up. I'm leaning towards the tile sheet in the foreground. I's a sort of sand color. I'm not wild about how it looks in this photo, in real life they go pretty nicely together. My other tile options are 2 sets of white subway tiles, one with white grout, the other with dark. On the other hand, I might change my mind if something else pops to mind.

I've also pulled up most of the floorboards. They're made of very thin wood, like veneer, and the instructions said to glue them down, then build the exterior walls on top of them. I recall I was dubious of the sense of this, but I did as instructed. Sometimes I was able to pull the parts out from under the walls, but  other times it was a struggle, and I felt the walls move. Yikes!

BTW, I used a hot iron to soften the glue, then inserted a thin palette knife, followed by a stronger putty knife to yank those suckers up off the subfloor.

Remodeling a Duracraft Heritage Dollhouse - part 1

 I built this dollhouse 30 years ago, it's the first dollhouse I ever built, and it's been sitting in my basement or attic for the past 20 years since my daughter moved out. It's over 40" long and almost covers my old dining room table. The outside still looks pretty good, only one piece of trim, a few shingles and a narrow bit of roof at the back have fallen off.

The inside, however, doesn't looks so great. Wallpaper is peeling, and since I didn't know what I was doing some of the interior detailing was pretty rough and not up to my now standards.

So....I decided to remodel. The angled stairs came loose fairly easily, but getting them out was a challenge. Amazingly I finally managed to get them out in one piece. ...Later I pulled off all the railings because I never liked them anyway. ....Later I decided I wasn't going to reuse the staircase after all.

When I pulled off the wallpaper in the addition I was surprised to find some duct tape. Once I yanked out the knee wall I could see why it was there. I didn't have a piece of plywood big enough to make the addition's roof, so I butted 2 pieces of plywood together and reinforced the seam with duct tape.

 

That evening I kept thinking about changing the staircase, so I went up to my workroom, and an hour and a half later I had this. 

 I saw that the second floor board was in two pieces, and since the windows looked terrible and needed replacement, I decided to remove the front section of the floor. Then, heart in my mouth, I started to try and remove the french door window. It wasn't easy. Amazing how some things will pop off without too much trouble and other things have to be chiseled off. I keep wishing I had a miniature Sawzall (reciprocating saw) which will cut through walls in a zip. We have a big one down in out basement workshop. We've done all sorts of remodeling on our homes over the years.

BEFORE I FORGET:

When remodeling your miniature home, use a blow dryer to help remove those glued on carpets, moldings and window parts, etc. My blow dryer got a workout in this demo. I just pointed the blower at what I wanted to unglue and pushed the button, then let the hot air do it's thing of softening the glue. Sometimes the things popped right off, sometimes I still had to fight to get them off. I did a really good job at gluing the shelves and steps in the addition's ground floor. It was a real battle. I had to use the blow dryer, a putty knife, an artist's palette knife, a Stanley knife and 2 old butter knives before I managed to get those suckers loose. Obviously I build to last. 

Oh yes, I found myself a new tool for zipping through cardboard with ease. I tried it on a bit of 1/16" basswood too.  Fiskars Power Cut Scissors. They're equipped with sharp little teeth.

Stairs

For many of us, the staircase can be a dilemma. For one thing, they do take up quite a bit of room that could otherwise be used for displaying assorted mini goodies like sofas, cabinets and whatnot.

The question often arises; is it ok if I leave the stairs out? Well, as ever, it's up to you. 

I've found myself building sometimes complicated staircases that I knew would barely be seen, or even never seen. I just get caught up in the moment of creativity, and later ask myself why am I doing this? Usually the thing is over half built before I ask myself that question, so I carry on and finish them.

This time, however, I'm doing something different. The stairs will be there, on the other hand, they won't.

This is the addition I built for the house. It used to hold a big kitchen and an oversized bathroom. There used to be a few steps down to the kitchen from the dining room, and a short flight up from the landing of the main staircase in the dining room to the bathroom

I spent quite a bit of time with pen and paper desiging a new set of stairs that would start on a landing just outside the dining room, that would lead to the bathroom floor and the 2nd floor of the main house. I would have needed to remove the floor between the kitchen and bathroom and cut a bigger hole for the stairs, which I did not want to do. Then I realized there would be just enough space for pantry shelves in the kitchen if I walled up the end of the new staircase. No one would ever see the dang thing! Wonderful! I don't even have to build it! I'll just add a door in the right spot in the bathroom, and 2 or 3 steps down to the kitchen and it's done? See how I drew in the future pantry shelves?

I'll just need to extend the roof by about 3 to 4 inches. I may have just enough leftover shingles to do it.

Now it'll have a regular sized kitchen and bath. 

The only visible part of the staircase will be where it emerges through the wall and up to the second floor. I propped up the old attic stairs and a piece of plywood to give you an idea of how it'll work.

Next I'll be getting back to the original part of the house. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to remove all the windows and make new ones. Sigh.........

I guess I'll have to do a new door too. I took a quick look at doors I could buy, and none of them look like they'd fit.

My other big pain in the neck are the veneer floorboards. Quite a few have curled up along the edge leaving me with a lumpy floor. The thing is, I'm pretty sure the instructions said to glue down the floor before building the walls, and so my floorboards run under the exterior walls, and they are REALLY glued down well. But....stanley, putty and palette knives in hand, I shall venture forth and rip out those suckers somehow.  My husband always calls them Stashie knives. Stanislaus - Stanley - Stashie, I guess.

Turning Wood into Ceramics AND a new Miniature Accessory Stickum

 

                                    Looks like a nice assortment of dollhouse crockery, but it's not.

These are all wooden pieces. The water crock with dispenser is a wooden barrel. The items on the far left started out as wooden beads, and the others are all wood turnings.

I started out by sanding each item with a piece of foam backed fine sandpaper. Next I coated them with sandable hard gesso. There's gesso and there's gesso. People used to tell me that I should use gesso on my painted furniture for a smoother finish, but it didn't look better to me after I did it. This stuff, however, makes a big difference, and it's now the only gesso I use.  

                                                Once the gesso is dry, I sand again. Then I paint.

Next comes the final finish, quick drying glossy polyurethane varnish. If the item is small, and I can grip it with a pair of needlenose pliers, I'll just dip it, then hold it above the can to drip off the excess varnish, and let dry. On other items, I'll brush it on, just swooping the brush in one direction. Years ago when refinishing kitchen cabinets I learned that if you brush back and forth, the varnish will collect air bubbles and you get a lumpy finish.

I've found that the right button can make a dandy lid. For a couple of them I just drilled a hole through them with my dremel and glued in a tiny wooden drawer pull.  For the acorn crock, I used a wooden bead and the top of an acorn which I varnished.

While I'm on the subject of using buttons for lids, here's an example of an unpainted ceramic vase that I turned into a piece of Southwest pottery. I used the button in the foreground as a handled lid. I thought it was pretty neat, if I do say so.

A New Stickum

After trying every known way of attaching small accessories to furniture, I wasn't happy with any of them. Glueing worked best, but what if I changed my mind and wanted to remove a piece? Sometimes it's not a big problem, but sometimes it's a real annoyance.

For fiddly bits like these on the hutch, Glue Dots are too big, and various puttys and waxes are too lumpy. Don't you just hate it when your glassware is leaning over? Some swear by Museum Gel, and I broke down and ordered some to try, but when I tried to make a tiny ball to hold down a little pitcher, the stuff kept sticking to my finger and not the pitcher. Besides, it's meant to be used on smooth glass or glassy surfaces. I'm now making most of my mini furniture, and none of it has shiny varnish.

I did get an idea, though, when I noticed I had a bottle of Aleene's Tack it Over and Over Glue.

It was originally meant for tacking appliques and trims in place before sewing them down. People have been using the stuff for other things too. I originally bought it  to make post it notes from the scraps of paper I'm always scrawling on in my workroom.

Anyway, I decided to try it on the fiddly little bits I wanted to attach to this hutch. I painted a thin coat on the bottom of each item and let them dry. When dry, I stuck them in place. I wanted to rearrange a couple of things, so I picked them up, moved them and restuck them.

Since two of the blue and white plates are angled to fit into the space, I had to use Glue Dots on them. 

I can't guarantee how long the stuff will stay sticky. The stickyness may wear off over time, but it was worth trying and I'm really happy with the look. So far so good.

UPDATE: After 6 months I picked up the cabinet and everything stayed stuck in place.

Deep in the Forest Room Box

How do you like the decorative oak leaf border? I love it, myself. The reason for it is that I wanted to hide a remote controlled LED light, and I felt the room was too high for the general ambiance of the room. 

You can see the opening I made in the ceiling so the light can flood the room when it's turned on. Also, when the batteries die, I can stick my hand up in there, turn the lamp off it's base and change the batteries. I'm still looking for smaller remote controlled LEDs, though. Mine is about 2.4 inches wide.

                                           Here's a picture of the room taken with a flash.

                                  And here's a photo of the empty room, with the LED on. 

The corner fireplace is made of egg carton stones glued to a styrofoam base. You may notice there's no "mortar". People have been building with dry stone since, well, the stone age, and since I like the look of dry stone walls, I rarely use grout to simulate mortar.

By the way, when you use color washes on egg carton stones, the paper gets hard and starts to look like actual miniature stone. When I was trying to decide on a color palette for this fireplace I picked up a stone walkway I'd made 4 or 5 years ago and for a moment wondered what I'd made it with. Egg carton stones, you knucklehead, as I mentally slapped myself on the forehead. That walkway just looked so good to me, like real stones. Do you ever amaze yourself too, thinking, I can't believe I made that, it looks so good?

I knew I wanted a window. A nice old timey window, with a sliding wooden shutter to hold back the chilly autumn and winter nightime air. Obviously, it's midsummer now, all that nice deep greenery. I had a just big enough piece from a clear acrylic tile sheet to make one leaded glass window. I wish I could find more of that 1/2" squares sheeting. All I've seen over the past few years was 1/4" tiles.

I used balsa for the log walls and floorboards. I've always used basswood, but upon seeing someone's balsawood floors, I liked the more textured look of them. 

I used a scriber pen to give the walls and floor more texture.

After staining the logs with a cherry stain, I decided they didn't look quite right, so I went over them with a color wash, mixing a shade of brown acrylic paint with water, then brushing over the stained wood, dabbing away any excess wash. I decided to add a bit more accent with dabs of another darker  wash in a different shade of brown. It gave the walls more character, I felt.

I wanted a lighter stain on the floorboards. I'd used a Minwax Pecan on the little chest, so that's what I used on the floor. Once again, I topped the stain with the same kind of color wash I used on the walls.

The inspiration for this room was the hutch below. I painted the flowers on it years ago, and it's always been one of my favorite pieces on miniature furniture, but I never seemed to find the perfect place for it. The chairs are resin, by Reine, and prepainted and I fell in love with them too, so I made a table to go with them, and built a setting for them.

I'd like to mention that the 2 silver cups on the table are beads, as are the items on the hutch's top shelf. I've used beads and buttons in quite a few of my room settings. 

The ceramic water crock isn't ceramic, it's made from a wooden barrel, but I'll write a post about that later. I also painted the wooden chest next to it.

                                         Here's a better view of the other side of the room.

Almost all the crockery you see are made from wooden beads and turnings. The blue and white jug is a purchased ceramic item. By the way, the wooden clogs are plastic, painted to look more like wood.

                                            I also made the bench and the shelf above it.

The decorative back and the design on the legs were made from some laser cut shapes I purchased years ago from Michael's craft stores. I stocked up on them and have been using pieces cut from them for various pieces of furniture. 

An early 19th century room box

 When I decided to sell my 18th century Pennsylvania stone house, I kept all the furnishings so I could put them in a new room box, and here it is.

                                                             I love mood shots, don't you?

Here's the room fully lit.

Actually, as I post this, the exterior of the box is not fully complete. I need to add some trim molding to the exterior, and get a piece of glass for the front, but I really wanted to see finished interior, because I finally found a small enough LED tap light with a remote to fit between the beams.

And here's the light.

It's 1" high, but by taking off the plastic lens I was able to make it short enough to tuck into place.

I'm still looking for something smaller.

By the way, The ceiling timbers are cut from a piece of builders foam. Previously I've used either wood or styrofoam, but builders foam came out looking best, I think.

I wanted to build the room out of 1/4" Baltic birch plywood, but all I could find was 3/16", which I don't like as well. I bought 2 panels, so I'll be building myself another room box in the future.

I used styrofoam to built up the back wall with the window  and the fireplace. 

I also used miniature clay bricks, which I then tinted with color wash to give them a little more character.

The candle box on the wall is annoying me. It looked just right till I saw it in the photo, now it looks too big. I can't remember if I glued it to the wall or just tacked it with glue dots. Maybe I'll make a smaller one.

TIP

When you're not sure if your miniature room looks quite right, take a photo, or look at it in a mirror. If something's wrong, you'll usually spot it. For instance, I didn't notice the dust on the work table in the foreground till I saw it in the photo.

My Windsor bench was missing a slat on the back, so I used a scrap of fabric that looked like a colorful quilt to cover it up.

To make a cloth drape over the side of a table, soak it in a mixture of glue and water, put it into place and let it dry. I let mine dry over a piece of foil so as to not damage the tabletop.

The items in the laundry basket were also shaped using a glue and water mixture. I soaked them, shaped them in place and let dry.

The hanging cauldron is actually the wooden cap from a bottle of Cholula hot sauce. I drilled 2 holes through the cap, ran a piece of steel wire for the handle, then painted it black. After spraying it with Krylon Matte Finish, I rubbed a little chalk dust on it.

The twig broom leaning against the bricks is made from a toothpick and some rusted wire I had left from an old decorating project. I dabbed some gray paint on the bottoms of the wires to simulate ash.