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Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Peach & Green Rich Dollhouse

 If you'll remember, I recently showed you this picture of my latest project.  A sweet Rich dollhouse that had seen better days, but had potential! 
 
When I purchased the house, I was encouraged by the fact that the previous owner had removed some of the green paint from the roof, and hoped I'd be able to do the same.  I emailed her and asked what she had used to remove it.   She told me she'd used acetone fingernail polish remover.  I promptly went and bought some, and was horrified when this was the result:
 
 No matter how little or how much I used, it completely ate away all the paint, including the original paint!  I felt awful!  I had completely ruined the roof pieces, and it just made me sick, thinking that if I had used the correct paint-remover, I would have had the original finish to show. 
 
I was determined to make things right by this house, because the cream-colored roof is part of its charm, I think.  So I decided to make a new roof!
 
 I made a stencil with acetate, and used spraypaint to stencil the new brickwork onto masonite (the original roof was made from masonite as well).
 
 I took a picture of the roof in process, but my computer has decided to eat that photo for some reason, so here you can see the new roof completed!  While it's definitely not perfect, I think it feels enough like the original roof to pass.
 
Glennda was kind enough to send me a photo of her (immaculate) house of the same design.  From here, I was able to work on the rest of the house. 
 
 And here is the completed product!  I still need to create a door, but everything else is done- new windows, repainted trim, and repainted chimneys and front step. 
 
Here's a closer shot of the front step- it had been painted over brown, so I handpainted the stones to look like the original.
 
 I didn't take a picture of what the inside looked like before, but it was completely painted with the dark green like on the floor here.  I repainted it to the minty green like the outside of the house.
 
 The floors were also painted over by the previous owner, but I decided to leave them, because the colors are pretty, and match with the house.
 
And here she is again!  I really love this house- although it may not be in mint condition, it is so pretty, and has such character!