tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40070517502150358252024-03-14T16:25:45.384+00:00The House My Father BuiltDocumenting the refurbishment of a hand-made dolls' houseGordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-53943444078269201602014-06-21T18:15:00.004+01:002014-06-21T18:15:56.355+01:00All Lit Up!<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here we come to the more complicated part of the blog...</span></b> Not because the <i>work </i>was any more complicated - most of the <i>really </i>tricky stuff was either <i>done </i>or <i>planned out</i>. It's complicated for a slightly <i>embarrassing </i>reason.<br />
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At this point in the proceedings, <i>my </i>involvement with the refurbishment had basically <i>dropped off entirely</i> so, while I have <i>photos </i>- taken by my mother - I have no <i>personal </i>notes to make on the work. From here on, it's likely that most of my remaining posts will be of the "<i>and here are a few photos of <b>this </b>part of the job</i>" variety, with any comments that may occur to me <i>or </i>things that my parents told me about the work.<br />
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I'm <i>hoping </i>things will get a bit more interesting when my sister starts posting...<br />
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But, <i>for the moment</i>, here's <i>another </i>bit about the wiring... which was basically <i>complete </i>by the time I next visited. As you will see in the first photograph, the wiring was all neatly bound together in the loft an all the sockets were occupied... <br />
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...but, <i>hang on</i>, eleven lights and <i>twelve </i>occupied sockets? How does <i>that </i>happen? Especially when, <i>in theory</i>, the two ground floor hall lights should have been <i>wired together</i>... Well, it turns out that, at some point, the decision was made to add a <i>
second </i>'extension lead' into the lounge, <i>giving three additional sockets
on either side of the room</i>, demonstrated here by the appearance of a
floor lamp <i>and </i>a smaller table lamp in the lounge.<br />
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While <i>some </i>of the lights don't seem to give off a great deal of illumination (<i>most notably the dome light visible in the top right room in the lower pair of photos which, I believe, became the bathroom</i>), having all these lights <i>does </i>make the house look all the more 'cosy'. The chandeliers in the lounge hang down a bit too far (the floor lamp would probably bump into them), but they do suit the room pretty well.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-14768590942018159102014-06-01T16:32:00.000+01:002014-06-01T16:32:15.252+01:00Glazing Over<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After trying out several of the more <i>ornate </i>options,</span></b> my mother settled on the <i>simplest </i>form of window frame for the dolls' house. <i>Part </i>of the issue was that we needed a total of <i>eighteen</i> windows - <i>four </i>each side, with <i>five </i>front and back - and,<i> by this point</i>, we didn't have <i>time </i>to fuss over finding matching sets in several sizes... <i>or the funds, for that matter</i>. We <i>did </i>discuss the idea of <i>blocking up</i> the side windows, both to simplify the eventual task of adding brickwork to the outer surfaces <i>and </i>to reduce the number of windows we'd need to prepare and install. <i>My </i>feeling was that the side windows added <i>immeasurably </i>to the overall look of the house, <i>and </i>to the natural light that could get in for daytime play. <br />
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The <i>most </i>basic form of window frame available came in two thin MDF halves, each featuring space for <i>two</i> panes. Since our <i>test </i>fittings had already installed (<i>more ornate</i>) central windows above the front and back doors, we only needed sixteen more frames, <i>a total of 32 pieces</i>. Each one was given a coat of white gloss paint to make them look as close to proper (<i>albeit simple and toy-like</i>) window frames...<br />
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<i>But that's not all</i>... The dolls' house's <i>original </i>windows were <i>glazed</i>... albeit with plastic barely thicker or more rigid than cling-film (<i>slight </i>exaggeration... but <i>most </i>of them had warped to some degree, several had broken 'hinges', and the 'frames' were largely <i>painted </i>on) and we did want to have <i>properly glazed</i> windows, even though we weren't installing windows that would <i>open </i>this time round.<br />
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Glazing was achieved simply by gluing the frame to a sheet of clear acetate, ensuring the parts were clamped together securely to allow them to bond adequately. Once the glue had set, the excess acetate was cut away from the outer edges of the frame.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDw8MybKn6_g0FEFyKfO2P5nYgxgFBsugDPD3BRujXHg0fU0awTvbuyZP1djIr1GC3sY_-IoMw-H2FBaiE3__pQDheZk9B7gv5xebJIjmyXlyGVNMf7MqYEzIDBJssAtLq0ZbtSqzP1YY/s1600/DSC00007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDw8MybKn6_g0FEFyKfO2P5nYgxgFBsugDPD3BRujXHg0fU0awTvbuyZP1djIr1GC3sY_-IoMw-H2FBaiE3__pQDheZk9B7gv5xebJIjmyXlyGVNMf7MqYEzIDBJssAtLq0ZbtSqzP1YY/s320/DSC00007.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fully tooled up: that's a total of <i>five </i>clamps being used</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEHaLexiWc4WOPequYxM5Kf3mhyb824C8jb2ABt_xQgUdho_aH9ImKDqc9UgIQO6FNJGG41GNOa2o4H106-HveXXMlwRrrWc1yD6vGYe3v8kdgkGVp4fY8gVjcWjNvwKIlqVp_fFRwns/s1600/DSC00008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEHaLexiWc4WOPequYxM5Kf3mhyb824C8jb2ABt_xQgUdho_aH9ImKDqc9UgIQO6FNJGG41GNOa2o4H106-HveXXMlwRrrWc1yD6vGYe3v8kdgkGVp4fY8gVjcWjNvwKIlqVp_fFRwns/s320/DSC00008.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end result - glazed dolls' house windows</td></tr>
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<i>At first</i>, it seemed like a shame to have <i>all </i>the windows the same size. I had <i>hoped </i>we'd make it look more like a <i>real </i>house by having different sizes of windows -<i> larger ones for the through lounge in particular</i> - but this project had a <i>budget</i>, in terms of both<i> time available to work on it</i> and <i>money available to pay for the parts</i>, so these cheap-and-cheerful window frames made sense. They <i>also </i>look just right as <i>dolls' house </i>windows because, when you think about it, when children first start <i>drawing </i>houses, they tend to have square windows with four panes...Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-8312673269287859152014-05-18T18:45:00.004+01:002014-05-18T18:48:33.251+01:00Wiring!<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the coolest aspects</span></b> of the dolls' house my father built was that, <i>like a proper house</i>, it was fully wired for electricity. I don't just mean that it had <i>lights</i>, I mean it had <i>individually switchable</i> room lights as well as a set of wall sockets in the lounge, enabling my sister to plug in <i>extra </i>features, including a miniature TV and a free-standing lamp.<br />
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<i>Originally</i>, this was accomplished by running wires from the lights, via a switch embedded in the back wall of each room (<i>in the ceilings for the hallways</i>) up to a junction block in the loft. The extra sockets in the lounge were on an entirely separate spur, <i>without </i>a switch, which also connected into the junction block. From this block, a single power cable was fed back down through the <i>bottom </i>of the house and out to a mains transformer, <i>kept safe from prying fingers</i> in a large metal box affixed to the base, outside the house.<br />
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<i>For its time</i>, it was a pretty good solution but, <i>to a perfectionist like my father</i>, sprucing up the rest of the house was an opportunity to re-do and <i>improve </i>all the wiring. All of the light fittings were being replaced, and the new fittings came with surprisingly <i>long </i>wires ending in their own individual plugs. Rather than wire them in fully, as originally, it seemed most logical to take advantage of this more modular approach and have all the lights plugged in to a fused socket strip (such as <a href="http://www.dollshouse.com/product/186637/twelve-light-socket-strip-test-bulb" target="_blank">this one</a>) in the loft, which would then connect to the mains via a new, <i>smaller </i>transformer.<br />
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This raised some very important questions, though. If the lights were going to be '<i>plug and play</i>', would they still need <i>switches</i>? Was there really any necessity to have light switches <i>at all</i>, considering it was "<i>just a dolls' house</i>"? Would it not be <i>acceptable </i>for all the lights to be either on or off, dependent only on whether or not <i>the house itself</i> was plugged in and switched on <i>at the wall</i>?<br />
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Well, if my father tends towards <i>perfectionism</i>, I have a tendency to insist on <i>the most impressive and complicated option available</i>, if only because <i>making it happen</i> is more satisfying. Besides, that's how it was <i>originally</i>, and I saw no reason to <i>downgrade </i>that feature. Wiring in the lights would be <i>easy</i>... adding the switches <i>into </i>the wiring supplied with the lighting set would be <i>fiddly</i>... but the end result would be all the better for it.<br />
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<b>Step 1: Making Ready</b><br />
With all the <i>technical </i>decisions made, the first thing that had to be dealt with was <i>the rather excessive lengths of chain</i> attached to some of the light fittings. Since the house is two-storey, the ceilings aren't especially <i>high </i>and, straight from the packaging, the light fittings dangled <i>pretty much half way to the floor</i>. The solution was easy enough: yank the wire <i>through </i>the part that attaches it to the ceiling until the lamp hung at a more <i>sensible </i>height... <i>then shorten the chain</i>. This was accomplished with fine-tipped pliers, and the discarded links stashed in a handy plastic pot in case they came in handy for something. Some of the light fittings ended up having the <i>entire </i>chain removed, leaving only the two larger rings from either end.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see clearly that there was a <i>huge </i>excess of chain</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As far as I know, we never <i>did </i>find a use for the chain</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Most </i>of the light fittings gained about 3-4cm of wire <br />
once they reached a more suitable size for this house</td></tr>
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Some of the additional light fittings we bought later, <i>such as the chandeliers for the lounge</i>, were fitted with rigid metal tubes rather than chain, so they <i>weren't</i> shortened.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Step 2:Exploratory Work</b><br />
Next we had to ensure we had a suitable length of wire - each of the fittings seemed to have a heck of a length, but if we needed to order <i>more</i>, we ideally needed to know <i>before </i>we made a start on things, as the availability of wire <i>might </i>determine how some aspects of the wiring were accomplished. The socket strip, <i>being the hub for the rest of the electricals</i>, was installed first, up in the loft. I place it on the framework of the roof simply because <i>that was the smoothest surface available</i>... but then it struck me that the socket strip would be in the way if we wanted to add <i>another</i> floor in the loft. My father reckoned it'd be possible to work <i>around </i>it, though, and we all agreed that this was about the <i>only </i>sensible location for the sockets.<br />
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<br />
Next, it's trailing cable was fed <i>down </i>through the house - seen below in what <i>would </i>be the cavity between walls at the front and back of the house...<br />
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<br />
At this point, the existing connectors at the end of the wires - <i>a pair of forked connectors, intended for screwing down to something</i> - had be to <i>removed</i>. First and foremost, they weren't <i>needed </i>for what we were doing. Even if they <i>were</i>, though, the wires had to be fed through a small metal pipe embedded in a slot cut out of the base - one of the many improvements my father made to the model.<br />
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<br />
Originally, there was only <i>a very shallow groove</i> cut out, and the trailing wire tended <i>not </i>to stay there. Since the intended recipient of this refurbished dolls' house is <i>far younger</i> than the original owner was, safety is a greater concern. This pipe keeps the wire in place and <i>reduces </i>the likelihood that it would be pulled just through moving the model around.<br />
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<br />
The trailing end of the wire was attached to a <i>new </i>socket, into which the power feed from a newer, smaller transformer can be plugged. The transformer then plugs straight into the mains.<br />
<br />
<b>Step 3: Choices, Choices...</b><br />
All of the lights then had to be assigned a room. This turned out to be <i>quite tricky</i> since most of them came from a <i>multipack </i>containing a variety of styles... some of them <i>didn't really fit anywhere</i> (being a bit too 'traditional' or old fashioned) and there wasn't a single <i>matching pair</i> among them, so we had to be both pretty creative <i>and </i>open to compromise. Once their locations were decided, their plugs were stripped off and their wires fed through into the roof. Removing the plugs was incredibly easy as their construction is very <i>simple </i>- pluck out the pins and the wires are <i>loose</i>, they can be pulled out without effort.<br />
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<br />
<i>At this point</i>, there was more than enough slack on all the wires for them to <i>reach </i>the roof area, but we were still in some doubt as to whether they'd all stretch <i>to the sockets</i>... Some of them almost certainly <i>wouldn't</i> but, for the time being, all the wires were taped in place, with <i>some </i>slack, just to keep them in the loft.<br />
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<br />
The socket strip has twelve sockets, sufficient to cover the light fittings <i>and </i>the additional sockets for the lounge. It <i>also </i>features a power switch of its own, a fuse and a small light that goes on when the fuse blows. This would make diagnosing any future lighting failures a bit easier, since if only a couple of lights won't work, we'll know that the <i>bulbs </i>need replacing, but if <i>nothing </i>works, it's more likely to be the <i>fuse</i>.<br />
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<br />
In the original house, both the ground floor <i>and </i>the landing each had a single ceiling-mounted light fitting. This led to the area <i>behind </i>the staircase being in shadows and, since we had a spare <i>wall-mounting</i> lamp, I figured it'd be cool to use that to light the area behind the stairs.<br />
<br />
By this point, however, carpet had already been fitted to the staircase, and my father was concerned that the wire would have to trail <i>over </i>the carpet to get to the point where all the wires feed up into the loft. <i>Undaunted</i>, I gave it a go. It was simple enough to feed the wire through the gap between the wall and the staircase, while the carpet was able to cover over and keep the wire in place for the short distance between the top of that gap and the top of the staircase. Not a <i>perfect </i>solution, maybe, but it <i>should </i>keep the wire from being played with by <i>a certain precocious youngster</i>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsvAAGH4mjj9vqRHTEY4yDKpdL-jPYtqK-TqkjBlVfX8PieDPxPocdtsBiKk88IrTtHnxdzXPhIv4IntxuFhu8siXaUezTZHJHRl23lDpwQLcjF17BMqYP_vT_MnqF7Gaae0OQIE72lA/s1600/DSC00022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsvAAGH4mjj9vqRHTEY4yDKpdL-jPYtqK-TqkjBlVfX8PieDPxPocdtsBiKk88IrTtHnxdzXPhIv4IntxuFhu8siXaUezTZHJHRl23lDpwQLcjF17BMqYP_vT_MnqF7Gaae0OQIE72lA/s320/DSC00022.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you look closely, you can <i>just about</i> make<br />
out the wire hugging the wall on the left at<br />
the top of the stairs...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEkOXkSTZfcmavAbGST-ruOTz2PA2a_6kmkdBFhPpW2EsYBpyowbHRs-Ecal3oDWzM9thk8A4N2L30i2RQhqVB3fnhjB-z_d98y4_YoaVqSh9OrqVJ_vXlkIGndtP61vZQ-Oivm-AAzs/s1600/DSC00021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEkOXkSTZfcmavAbGST-ruOTz2PA2a_6kmkdBFhPpW2EsYBpyowbHRs-Ecal3oDWzM9thk8A4N2L30i2RQhqVB3fnhjB-z_d98y4_YoaVqSh9OrqVJ_vXlkIGndtP61vZQ-Oivm-AAzs/s320/DSC00021.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obviously the lamp will be <i>the right way up</i><br />
when it's mounted on the wall...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The extra socket block would replace of the original, <i>roughly </i>halfway through the lounge, at the bottom of the outer wall. Considering the route it would have to take, <i>up to the first floor then through into the room where all the wires come together to access the loft</i>, it was pretty obvious that there wasn't going to be enough wire to fit it <i>immediately</i>. Attaching it to the <i>inner </i>wall might have improved matters, but additional wire would, <i>eventually</i>, become necessary to complete the project in any event.<br />
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<br />
<b>Step 4: Soldering In</b><br />
Since we were keeping the individual switches for each light fitting, we needed to insert them <i>into the existing wires</i>. This meant cutting <i>one </i>of the two wires feeding each light, stripping back some of the insulation, soldering in the switches we'd taken <i>out </i>of the <i>original </i>wiring, then fitting the switches back into the <i>walls</i>. It <i>sounds </i>pretty simple, but working within the constraints of <i>a house that was already built</i> and could not be easily disassembled <i>beyond a certain point</i>, the <i>practical </i>side of things was tricky. First and foremost, we knew that <i>some </i>part of the original system was <i>faulty </i>because some of the lights didn't work when the house was first brought out of storage. Blown bulbs were the <i>obvious </i>culprit, but some time spent testing the switches with a multimeter suggested that some of <i>them </i>were also faulty. <i>If a two-position switch doesn't have a position where its resistance reads as something other than 'infinite', that means there's no longer an 'on' position</i>.<br />
<br />
Next up, due to the <i>positioning </i>of the light switches - <i>on the rear wall of each room</i> - the wires from each room had to loop <i>down </i>from the ceiling to the switch <i>before </i>heading up into the loft. This reduced the length of wire available to reach to the sockets. The wires had to be cut <i>reasonably </i>precisely to patch in the switch with enough <i>slack </i>that the switches could then be easily attached to the walls. The switches we used are a fairly basic type which come with a threaded area at the base of the switch and a nut to hold it in place. The drawback we had was that, with the walls made out of <i>hardboard</i>, the holes had to be <i>widened at the back </i>to allow enough of the threaded section to pass through for the nut to even <i>attach</i>, let alone attach <i>securely</i>.<br />
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<br />
The switches had initially only been <i>roughly clipped out of the original circuits</i> so, before they could be soldered in to the <i>new </i>system, the remnants of the <i>old </i>wiring had to be removed. Here's where things get <i>tricky</i>, because excessive use of a soldering iron can easily <i>damage </i>small components like these switches. I volunteered to <i>start </i>the soldering, just to see how fiddly it was. To begin, I wound the wires <i>through and around</i> the contacts so they'd at least <i>stay connected</i> while I <i>attempted </i>to solder them together. Trying to work around the walls was difficult - the wire had to be held <i>away </i>from the rear walls so I could reach them - and, at one point, I even tried sticking the soldering iron in <i>through the side window</i> to get a good angle for working. The trouble was, I need two hands free for soldering - one to hold the <i>iron</i>, one to hold the <i>coil of solder</i> - meaning <i>I had no hands free for holding the switch and wires away from the wall</i>. Since there wasn't enough space to have <i>someone else</i> hold the switch while I was working, and attempting to make the joint while <i>someone else</i> held the coil proved next to <i>impossible</i>, I ended up balancing a kind of lever (a screwdriver or similar tool) on one of the window frames. Very delicate, but it just about worked... <i>eventually</i>.<br />
<br />
It took a lot longer than it <i>should </i>have done, but I'm not exactly <i>experienced </i>with soldering under <i>good</i> conditions, let alone inside a tiny room in a dolls house. <i>Eventually</i>, though, I got there... <i>One </i>switch down, <i>eight </i>more to go!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One light switch, soldered into place!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Before proceeding with any <i>others</i>, however, I just <i>had </i>to fix the switch into the wall and give it a try. Would it <i>blow the fuse</i> immediately? Would the switch turn out to have been too badly damaged by my <i>fumbling attempts</i> with a soldering iron? Would there be <i>smoke</i>? <i>Fire</i>?<br />
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<br />
<i>It worked!</i> It was pretty cool to see the room lit up but, in spite
of all the <i>strife </i>I'd had with the soldering, <i>I'd been dealing with one of the easier
fittings, onto one of the fixed walls</i>. Adding switches to the walls
that had been <i>removed </i>was going to be far more difficult... However, <i>in between this visit and the next</i>, my father completed the rest of the wiring.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-5604567824381039292014-05-05T10:48:00.002+01:002014-05-05T11:02:50.556+01:00Alternative Roofing Materials<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even <i>before </i>trying the faux-brickwork paste on the <i>walls</i>,</span></b> my mother had some misgivings about attempting a similar trick for the <i>roof</i>. <i>In theory</i>, it wouldn't be that complicated - <i>possibly </i>simpler than the walls, even, because the roof is made up of large, flat, even surfaces, broken up <i>only </i>by the chimney stack on <i>one </i>side. Frankly, it seemed like a bit of a <i>faff </i>because the roof was a much larger area to be covered, <i>larger than the tile template and so requiring and awful lot of matching-up</i>, whereas each <i>wall </i>section was smaller in <i>width</i>, at least.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, <i>other </i>options were available. The roof was originally just <i>papered </i>but, as the photo in <a href="http://thehousemyfatherbuilt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/inaugural-post.html" target="_blank">the very first post</a> shows, <i>paper didn't really pass the test of time</i>, and much of it was peeling <i>back in the 80s</i>. Sticking on <i>individual </i>tiles would have become <i>even more of a chore</i> than using the tile paste, and <i>strips </i>of tile would still need to be carefully <i>aligned</i>. The <i>most </i>practical solution available came in the form of large sections of embossed MDF, such as these from <a href="http://www.dollshouse.com/" target="_blank">The Dolls House Emporium</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3e6h_WBnnWCVUo6AtlYfSWud4ScItZh4EF2Z1zHsR2xax-_PQ4Ev0LBgRtYlloNxc87kb1QK0d9tMZuA0Eq-nZpJOeXwrPDNcPz_c7hfC6qcKDrIDtRZpJqwzZLs5n3snvFJoMY_K8DI/s1600/P1010863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3e6h_WBnnWCVUo6AtlYfSWud4ScItZh4EF2Z1zHsR2xax-_PQ4Ev0LBgRtYlloNxc87kb1QK0d9tMZuA0Eq-nZpJOeXwrPDNcPz_c7hfC6qcKDrIDtRZpJqwzZLs5n3snvFJoMY_K8DI/s400/P1010863.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
At 206x618mm, they were certainly large enough to cover the front and
rear faces of the roof, though until they were cut to requirement, we
had no way to be <i>sure </i>they would be sufficient to cover the <i>sides </i>as
well.<br />
<br />
There was the <i>additional </i>complication that a
solution like this would require the <i>corner seams</i> to be covered, lest
they clash or appear <i>uneven</i>, but there were solutions for <i>that</i>, too. Rather than
filling the gaps with Polyfilla or glue, there were L-shaped wood strips available which
could be cut to the required length to simulate a row of ridge tiles. The only problem <i>then </i>would be
accessibility to the wires and sockets in the 'attic'. We had <i>also </i>started
to discuss a full 'loft conversion' for the house, adding another floor
to cover the trailing wires. Affixing 'ridge tiles' might <i>complicate </i>that sort of
thing and, if we were planning on <i>hinging </i>the roof, we wouldn't be able
to add it to the <i>summit </i>of the house as it would block the hinge...<br />
<br />
...Still,
<i>however you look at it</i>, it was going to be far simpler than mixing up
the roofing paste and larking about with the template, and <i>certainly
</i>better than working with individual tiles or even <i>strips </i>of tiles... Plus,
these are embossed to look like <i>overlapping</i> tiles, whereas the <i>paste-and-template</i> option would still <i>look</i> more like brickwork.<br />
<br />
Since these parts were ordered during the run-up to Christmas, we got a free gift along with the order - a rather cool-looking <i>miniature Christmas sack filled with individually-wrapped gifts</i>. Quite a nice and unexpected gift with the order, and something to add a seasonal touch to the dolls' house in years to come...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMndUoJ0_As6ZLd5BkTDH_4rrACCh6KopGMZzD_iKv8L2pmYwHXu0orQqz1cFCDkD1LGDd6k-NL8m6vztWwp4ZLBT8kzg3Jtiaii-GZrarKoqBNsM-0-kuPDCFlfNZsK0ScHt4LVumjiA/s1600/P1010852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMndUoJ0_As6ZLd5BkTDH_4rrACCh6KopGMZzD_iKv8L2pmYwHXu0orQqz1cFCDkD1LGDd6k-NL8m6vztWwp4ZLBT8kzg3Jtiaii-GZrarKoqBNsM-0-kuPDCFlfNZsK0ScHt4LVumjiA/s320/P1010852.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-58656928918908417982014-04-21T18:48:00.000+01:002014-04-21T18:48:50.854+01:00Experiments in Brickwork<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In earlier posts,</span></b> I mentioned that my mother had bought materials for adding a brickwork effect to the exterior of the dolls' house. It's basically a <i>powder </i>that is mixed with <i>water </i>to create a <i>grout-like paste</i> which is then applied over a thin plastic template and allowed to dry, then fixed in place with a spray.<br />
<br />
<i>There are two obvious problems with this, looking at our dolls' house</i>:<br />
<ul>
<li>Sections of wall are <i>inset </i>versus the house's framework, making it difficult to <i>fit </i>the template and get an <i>even </i>application of the paste</li>
<li>How were we supposed to represent the mortar <i>between </i>the bricks?</li>
</ul>
There were <i>several </i>solutions to the first, not least my idea of adding Polyfilla to the outside wall to give us a nice, <i>even </i>surface. At this stage, I'm not sure that's likely to happen, but my mother had a go at painting the outside wall panels with a <i>mortar-ish yellow</i> before trying out the brick texture mix for the first time...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq6fJKeSxQ3fI4Cx0QAIf1ayNnXlAqYnEoeXxlCfMywIhuECJ5pBj7LtYXc-brW-v14XHlCvzbb-CCCe5mxv0Nhr-2tREZSoIDkt_WEEaKFqi05eX3HvGXEp90modiWtcItTidEF83Zkc/s1600/P1010832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq6fJKeSxQ3fI4Cx0QAIf1ayNnXlAqYnEoeXxlCfMywIhuECJ5pBj7LtYXc-brW-v14XHlCvzbb-CCCe5mxv0Nhr-2tREZSoIDkt_WEEaKFqi05eX3HvGXEp90modiWtcItTidEF83Zkc/s200/P1010832.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyfk9NzQNzNtGI1xt5lRQ3FRD4quSBxuo4vMu5VxNMNydvOTbeZKIJujLLRI8IIKICcQLpkcckUkfDvvsTf4SxjTB0Idr_wGeA5dpDIW7OhEaHGiKfRpm7N4IEvCq3Dxy5rqrMWD0YEA/s1600/P1010833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyfk9NzQNzNtGI1xt5lRQ3FRD4quSBxuo4vMu5VxNMNydvOTbeZKIJujLLRI8IIKICcQLpkcckUkfDvvsTf4SxjTB0Idr_wGeA5dpDIW7OhEaHGiKfRpm7N4IEvCq3Dxy5rqrMWD0YEA/s200/P1010833.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>
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<br />
The template is a bit of an awkward size and shape, <i>not to mention rather flimsy</i> - it is nothing more than a very thin sheet of plastic with lots of holes in it, after all. We knew it would have to be cut down, one way or another, but for a first attempt,<i> the less cutting, the better</i> - we didn't want to have to order a <i>new </i>one if it went <i>wrong</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-MBzrtVz5yK_h1xOSDmP7gtVjtZPEBazHnrP1exvpX_UWQYpJl5W2w8pKf9kSDBQeS1PimsrNXCzcM59OwuIjEIw4pcUwwM7k7RysBSdZoZt7byAXjk_AOMsQD6FrpagWrja7KF4u7U/s1600/P1010837.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-MBzrtVz5yK_h1xOSDmP7gtVjtZPEBazHnrP1exvpX_UWQYpJl5W2w8pKf9kSDBQeS1PimsrNXCzcM59OwuIjEIw4pcUwwM7k7RysBSdZoZt7byAXjk_AOMsQD6FrpagWrja7KF4u7U/s200/P1010837.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJPBphcWXAJj9wmH27-58YNPbCkH-IyPXu1xLIL25pcIB7Smpb1lD096eNTTN9o-QR-O8gpStfThd_HFn_tYJaPS2a6IxbXahDXimrI7w3GJm0mK8Rhar5dtlyKDB-DLmTXzZy5ki5WY/s1600/P1010838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJPBphcWXAJj9wmH27-58YNPbCkH-IyPXu1xLIL25pcIB7Smpb1lD096eNTTN9o-QR-O8gpStfThd_HFn_tYJaPS2a6IxbXahDXimrI7w3GJm0mK8Rhar5dtlyKDB-DLmTXzZy5ki5WY/s200/P1010838.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Gnpnsecp5ZqRMmSoVukrMxLi02B6pYe-0ZR4ReG_8JIiRAdbUb9_JXf-uqP8bX94M9HiFJveQrOYt4uMPzlNQr4op5-2Hu8xp-Is8UlIWXAptPPPnuu5AMZGr9oEnqnblSD7QCIS9QA/s1600/P1010842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Gnpnsecp5ZqRMmSoVukrMxLi02B6pYe-0ZR4ReG_8JIiRAdbUb9_JXf-uqP8bX94M9HiFJveQrOYt4uMPzlNQr4op5-2Hu8xp-Is8UlIWXAptPPPnuu5AMZGr9oEnqnblSD7QCIS9QA/s200/P1010842.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
As the photos above show, <i>applying </i>the paste to the inset wall panels wasn't easy - around the edges, where the paste had to meet the raised framework, it became incredibly difficult to keep the paste <i>even </i>and <i>accurate </i>and, as the template was pulled away, <i>the excess invariably pulled away with it</i>, leaving the surface very rough and slightly <i>concave</i>.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, it all washes off easily enough <i>without </i>the fixer spray applied...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6X9HftmclteCDvpd2vph2aO6cTdH-FXjGZpcacLWBelvgp-UsMOl2P4YK3ImYoUrHyCaZa3U3EwSjpQ2IfpknBWW8a8Z6OLW1UfNshp_1wsIub-UKtzMEBIw00t9i1Pp4CnTo5MUJM74/s1600/P1010844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6X9HftmclteCDvpd2vph2aO6cTdH-FXjGZpcacLWBelvgp-UsMOl2P4YK3ImYoUrHyCaZa3U3EwSjpQ2IfpknBWW8a8Z6OLW1UfNshp_1wsIub-UKtzMEBIw00t9i1Pp4CnTo5MUJM74/s320/P1010844.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
As a first experiment, it was <i>instructive </i>and suggested that, if it was done with a smaller quantity and with the template cut <i>precisely </i>to fit (tricky in this case, because the <i>wall panels</i> are not precisely the same size), the end result <i>should </i>look great.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-45030142309451079062014-04-21T17:33:00.005+01:002014-04-21T18:25:14.469+01:00Apologies... and back to work!<i><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apologies for the rather long and unannounced hiatus on this project</span></b></i>. Just about <i>all </i>of my blogging got went through a <i>slump</i>, for no real reason, between last November and this March, with a couple of them <i>grinding to a complete halt</i> between December and February. It's not that I was too <i>busy</i>, just that I wasn't in the <i>mood </i>for any kind of writing,<i> least of all</i> the kind I have to do for any of my blogs. What can I say? <i>I'm a bit of a blogging diva</i>.<br />
<br />
For <i>this </i>blog, specifically, there <i>was </i>an <i>almost</i>-reason for the slump. The idea behind this blog was that, <i>while not permanently employed</i>, I'd be <i>assisting </i>my folks in the refurbishment of the dolls' house. It didn't really turn out that way, and <i>many </i>updates - <i>certainly the few more to come</i> - are largely me putting together some kind of <i>commentary </i>to photos my folks took <i>while I wasn't around</i>.<br />
<br />
<i>I am very grateful for these photos, and deeply regret not being more involved in the work that went into it</i>. The dolls' house was <i>more-or-less</i> completed around Christmas/New Year, and has been with my niece since then... so I feel that I didn't <i>do enough</i> with the opportunity to get involved and thereby let my family down. There's really no <i>excuse </i>- I was 'between jobs' and frequently <i>at home, idle</i>, while the bulk of the work was done and only got back into <i>permanent </i>employment about three weeks ago.<br />
<br />
<i>Still, the dolls' house is done</i>, bar the inevitable additions, improvements and (<i>dare I say?</i>) repairs which will be spread out over the next few <i>years</i>, while my niece enjoys <i>playing with it</i>. My <i>original </i>plan was to have had the <i>whole </i>refurbishment written up by this point in the process, and do a semi-formal <i>handing over of the blog</i> to my sister, so she can write in whatever thoughts and observations she has, and maybe add in some stories of her own, from all those years ago.<br />
<br />
At this stage, I have four more posts at the Draft stage. Aside from those, I need to <i>start </i>a post on the finished lighting and the final touches to/reassembly of the house before it was declared 'finished' and transported to its new home. At that point, unless something else turns up, <i>my </i>part in this blog is theoretically <i>over</i>.<br />
<br />
My aim <i>today </i>is to do at least one 'proper' post here (after all, I've added posts to most of my <i>other </i>blogs by this point), and fill in some details on the remaining drafts, so I can get on with <i>completing </i>it more easily soon.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-52772185086046436562013-12-05T23:16:00.001+00:002013-12-05T23:16:24.035+00:00Painting Up<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With walls and floors removed and all the wiring out of the way</span></b>, it was time to start painting up the interior. While we'd <i>started </i>with the idea of individual décor in each room - the way a <i>real </i>house would be - a few words of caution from my sister gave us pause for thought, and the <i>current </i>plan is to paint all the rooms white for the time being.<br />
<br />
That certainly cut down the time it took to get all the rooms painted, since we didn't have to channel our <i>inner four-year-old</i> to pick colours for the rooms. The first coat in <i>most </i>rooms was a joint effort between my mother and me, but the second coat - <i>after a round of sanding to smooth out some of the blobby bits</i> - was all my mother's work.<br />
<br />
Something that became apparent during the painting was that much of the hardboard must have been <i>recycled </i>because it's riddled with nail holes which needed filling. What was interesting about the painting was that, while the paint liked to fill the holes that had been drilled for the ceiling light fittings, <i>it never did quite such a good job with the nail holes</i> - they ended up with some Polyfilla spread over them.<br />
<br />
It's quite amazing what a coat of simple white paint does for the interior... Not only does it look <i>brand new</i>, but it's brighter (<i>even compared to when it was papered inside</i>) and possibly looks <i>larger</i>. This effect should be <i>enhanced </i>when the window holes are enlarged for the new window frames...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc4uRrM_VmyfC2jIRYiW1lA-pKHu45r0kbMAe1278XIqpnpWSxcqm2W3alM85S1gShwZwhV0Pk6NuEMF_z7a22Uke-_KwvyEbWQH1upmlwuIvBWaxb6HmsmTWfuDLQFePB_i_7aNt6T4/s1600/DSC01360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc4uRrM_VmyfC2jIRYiW1lA-pKHu45r0kbMAe1278XIqpnpWSxcqm2W3alM85S1gShwZwhV0Pk6NuEMF_z7a22Uke-_KwvyEbWQH1upmlwuIvBWaxb6HmsmTWfuDLQFePB_i_7aNt6T4/s320/DSC01360.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front of house - rear walls removed (so the top right room<br />
needn't have had the rear wall painted)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhyphenhyphen61ARitQsj22trk_AQDc8giSmSTts_lqBBWVsfJgT5wt0RWV1WInQinBP9FliAhQZowcihFDRAerMyFRLH05x9ZULDRsXXRNVPEK4JRP6LoD9vLJJVGDrE8wte87T3mU6HoybbC16s/s1600/DSC01359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhyphenhyphen61ARitQsj22trk_AQDc8giSmSTts_lqBBWVsfJgT5wt0RWV1WInQinBP9FliAhQZowcihFDRAerMyFRLH05x9ZULDRsXXRNVPEK4JRP6LoD9vLJJVGDrE8wte87T3mU6HoybbC16s/s320/DSC01359.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of house. The top right room is currently planned<br />
to be the bathroom, and the bottom right room as the kitchen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUdQafxVcdET1Z-sHFz5XDIxTT00b_3OR5liaUfHjPUDJMkfOfliOP1Gy821q7F8MrA3A3QVkHSqdESp0c3voUVwiVrM5usW1sQzJ_BKouYTk2VzzskzrhGOD5ZxuvgqKFRaHmshs990/s1600/DSC01246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUdQafxVcdET1Z-sHFz5XDIxTT00b_3OR5liaUfHjPUDJMkfOfliOP1Gy821q7F8MrA3A3QVkHSqdESp0c3voUVwiVrM5usW1sQzJ_BKouYTk2VzzskzrhGOD5ZxuvgqKFRaHmshs990/s320/DSC01246.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The landing and the handrail around the top of the staircase</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the <i>original </i>dolls' house, all the carpeting was made using dressmaking fabric, <i>but none of it was ever fastened down</i>. These days, there are many more options available for floor (<i>and wall</i>) coverings, and my mother ordered a small sampling, including molded and painted plastic 'tile' effects for the bathroom/kitchen and several different colours of sticky-backed foamy 'carpet'<br />
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Since it's difficult to know how these sorts of things will look <i>in situ</i>, I took the above photos of all of the samples in order to do a quick, rough Photoshop job on the front of the house. This isn't an example of how the finished house is going to look <i>(for one thing, the bathroom will be at the back of the house, not the front</i>), but it <i>was </i>enough to convince my mother that she wanted the <i>whole </i>bathroom 'tiled', not just the floor. The kitchen will likely only have a tiled floor, but that remains to be decided.<br />
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Along with the carpet samples, my mother ordered a strip of the yellow carpet for the stairs. This was the first piece of carpet to be installed, though it needs a bit of trimming to fit it around the handrail posts at the top and bottom of the stairs.<br />
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I've been saying<i> all along</i> that the dolls' house is going to look fantastic once it's finished but,<i> even at this early stage</i>, one can begin to see its potential. The <i>only </i>worry we have about the décor stems from my sister's concerns that her daughter may be at the stage where she'll <i>scribble </i>on anything (<i>because that's apparently what one of her schoolfriends does</i>)... but based on <i>my </i>experience of the precocious young 'un, she tends to scribble on <i>paper </i>more than <i>objects</i> (and it <i>tends </i>to be only paper she's been <i>given </i>for the purpose rather than <i>random scraps</i>), though I have to admit I don't see her <i>often enough</i> to be certain that my experience counts for much.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-26463364006873969642013-12-04T17:08:00.000+00:002014-05-05T10:42:12.950+01:00One Door Installed, But...<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After much discussion</span></b> on the relative merits of <i>cutting down the wooden doors my mother bought months ago</i>, versus <i>building new doors to the required size, based on the design of those doors</i>, my father eventually - somewhat reluctantly - cut down the existing doors, removing the shorter, <i>topmost </i>sections and refitting them within a truncated frame.<br />
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Some of the cutting wasn't <i>perfectly even</i>, leaving a subtle gap in the frame on one side, but a touch of Polyfilla and coat of paint will cover that up well enough.<br />
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Just for fun, though, the front door - <i>pictured above</i> - has been fitted to the larger of the two <i>rear </i>panels of the dolls' house <i>and, because the rooms are not consistently sized, these panels cannot be simply switched from front to back</i>. In the photo, the panel is about <i>1.5" inset</i> from the left hand side of the house in order to give the impression of where the front door <i>would </i>be, had it been fitted to the correct panel.<br />
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When last I checked, we still weren't entirely decided on what would be done about the '<i>true</i>' front door, since the only <i>ornate </i>door frame we purchased is glued firmly in as the back door... <i>but at least we can begin to see how good the finished house will look</i>.<br />
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Also, that window above the door looks <i>awesome</i>, and demonstrates the height <i>all </i>the other window frames will be, once all the alterations are done. The remaining frames aren't going to be as detailed, since we needed <i>eighteen </i>in total(!) but all of them will have thin plastic sheeting glued on as the 'windows'.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-82656276279407079792013-12-04T16:58:00.001+00:002013-12-04T17:08:33.921+00:00Stripped & Bared<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've been a bit <i>lax </i>with this blog</span></b> (<i>and all the others, frankly</i>), so this is the first part of a big catch up which <i>should </i>bring us as up-to-date as possible, until I next visit my folks...<br />
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<i>One</i> important part of this update is the news from my sister that she was hoping to give this to her daughter as a Christmas present. <i>This year</i>. That's a bit of a blow, as the rest of us were <i>hoping </i>for a little longer so the work (<i>and cost</i>) could be spread out more <i>gradually</i>. It also means this blog could end up being substantially <i>shorter</i> unless, once the dolls' house is complete, my sister picks it up and writes about her memories of playing with it 30-odd years ago and/or how her daughter gets on with it. <i>That</i> could go on for another few years but, unless we <i>miss </i>the deadline, the refurb has only a couple more <i>weeks </i>to go.</div>
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Still... <i>Plenty</i> to add for the moment, starting with the last of the stripping and making ready and the first bits of painting and decorating.</div>
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With the exterior fully stripped, it was time to move onto the interior... <i>where it all gets a bit fiddly</i>. The papered parts of the walls are slightly <i>inset </i>versus the framework so, while the paper was peeling in some places, getting it all off <i>evenly </i>was quite tricky. On the upside, the back walls of the rooms on the <i>front </i>of the house were <i>screwed </i>in place so they could be removed to access wiring, making the stripping of <i>those </i>surfaces far easier. The back walls of the rooms at the <i>rear </i>of the house were <i>glued </i>in place, like the ground floor's <i>ceilings</i>, leaving cavities of a few millimetres through which all the wiring could run. The switches sit in small indentations in the hardboard, allowing them to be pushed through far enough that they can be fixed in place by the nuts they were supplied with.<br />
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The rooms aren't perfectly <i>consistent </i>in their construction, though it was still considered wise to <i>label</i> the removable floors and walls, as well as the front and back of the house, to ensure everything goes back in its correct place.<br />
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Of course, things don't always work out that way... but more on <i>that </i>in a later post...<br />
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Removing the back wall panels from the <i>front </i>rooms allowed us to see the wiring for the first time in about thirty years, giving us a better idea of how it all came together in the first place. Chances are, <i>like the fresh batch of ceiling lights we bought</i>, the originals came with little 2-pin plugs for their power, but they ended up fully wired in, via the individual switches in the back walls of most rooms, and the ceilings of the hall, landing and through lounge.<br />
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<i>Like the back walls panels from the front of the house</i>, the upstairs floors were screwed<i> </i>down, and came out easily enough. This revealed how most wires from all over the house were fed through to the loft on one side, via a hole drilled in one of the pieces of framework. The wiring was kept loose and fairly slack, rather than trying to fit it precisely to the walls. Each wire from a ceiling light looped down the back wall to its switch, then back up to the loft where they were connected into a screw terminal block, which then led down to the bottom of the house, out under the base to a transformer and, from there, to the mains.<br />
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I asked my father if he had any <i>circuit diagrams</i> for the wiring of the dolls house, or if it was done on-the-fly. After answering <i>very emphatically</i> that it was done on-the-fly, he muttered "<i>diagrams...</i>" in a somewhat <i>incredulous </i>tone. With my father, it seems, proper preparation does not necessitate painstakingly logging <i>every </i>step of the process...<br />
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<br />
There's one internal wall surface in the <i>third </i>photo, above, which <i>seems </i>to show signs of <i>burning </i>at one of the wire joints. While this has been painted over now, it wasn't noticeable after the original wiring was removed, and the wiring itself shows no sign of having burnt, so I guess it was just a trick of the flash. One light <i>had </i>stopped working, but no-one can quite remember which room it had been in.<br />
<br />
<i>After </i>these photos were taken, all the wiring was removed and set aside, and work began on <i>painting </i>the interior...</div>
Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-18858928603734255952013-10-07T20:33:00.003+01:002013-11-29T13:55:49.472+00:00Stripping Down<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Not much to report <i>right now</i></b></span>, but the remaining paper is <i>gradually </i>being stripped from the outside of the house, so I'd imagine the interior won't be <i>far </i>behind.<br />
<br />
One interesting thing to note in these photos is that my father's markings for the doors and windows - <i>made in pencil about 30 years ago</i> - are still very much visible. I guess, <i>in part</i>, that'd be because the paper was glued on in such a <i>strange </i>way - <i>curls </i>and <i>whirls </i>of glue, rather than a thin, <i>consistent </i>coat.<br />
<br />
I'm not entirely sure <i>why </i>the windows are so much <i>higher </i>than the doors (and, <i>stupidly</i>, neglected to ask... so expect an update <i>when I remember to do so</i>!) but, assuming we're using the ready-made bits we've picked up, or making something to a <i>vaguely similar</i> scale, they <i>may </i>line up better once the refurb is complete.<br />
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<br />
The obvious <i>advantage </i>to the shop-bought windows is that, being <i>larger</i>, they'll let far more <i>ambient </i>light into the house, so the electric lights won't be quite so necessary when the house is closed up during daylight hours.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-55804056081105209292013-09-21T11:47:00.000+01:002013-10-07T20:29:35.329+01:00Random Furnishings<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>During my last visit to my folks</b></span>, we'd discussed an expedition into the <i>Dark Unknown</i> of the loft, in search of the furniture that had once occupied the rooms of the dolls house. When next I spoke to them on the phone, my mother had <i>already</i> been up in the loft and had <i>retrieved </i>the majority of the furniture in a couple of old ice cream tubs.<br />
<br />
Aside from some of it being a bit dusty and dirty due to long storage in what <i>seems </i>to have been <i>open container</i>s, most of the stuff is in pretty good condition... but it's not exactly <i>consistent</i>. We have plastic items bought in shops, wooden items bought in <i>other </i>shops, some decent-looking 'upholstered' furniture, some lovingly hand-made stuff from one of the grandmothers, and some seriously cheap-looking plastic crap...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgjBEUOAl_D7cAoZAX7Y-o_5DAuK8vvmhyO9xH4PkT7nOtbjNdWyJ9HJ9m6EQjRWavo4AwM97cQvWf1DNF5VWy5pVIWN7_R_TogvRBl8fLqPPkQ2mKXrvbykKeeI_6hdqRnmjrXthsHc/s1600/DSC01061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgjBEUOAl_D7cAoZAX7Y-o_5DAuK8vvmhyO9xH4PkT7nOtbjNdWyJ9HJ9m6EQjRWavo4AwM97cQvWf1DNF5VWy5pVIWN7_R_TogvRBl8fLqPPkQ2mKXrvbykKeeI_6hdqRnmjrXthsHc/s400/DSC01061.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bathroom suite, a strange 'chocolate and caramel' colourscheme, just <i>had</i><br />
to be seen 'in situ' <i>to fully reveal its true horror</i>. There was even a toilet roll <br />
holder and little plastic cylinder wrapped in paper masquerading as the bog roll.<br />
This is decent quality stuff... though the toilet lid and seat are a bit floppy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkUD6tzQ8aOcPud1vXmnH1sLb0yFK85l6hwHz0YotZcEeCMiTyQGIO7opAymcL3FBVemFeDpRviu7tzgOvnEYwfZxIHxa4Rz0gpok_frxKT9qTU1xVUAxgcGxavoL0_EAUi1bL56giDQ/s1600/DSC01065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkUD6tzQ8aOcPud1vXmnH1sLb0yFK85l6hwHz0YotZcEeCMiTyQGIO7opAymcL3FBVemFeDpRviu7tzgOvnEYwfZxIHxa4Rz0gpok_frxKT9qTU1xVUAxgcGxavoL0_EAUi1bL56giDQ/s400/DSC01065.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interesting features of this kitchen furniture: the tap on the sink is made of<br />
metal and joins the worktop with a ball joint, so it can be very freely moved.<br />
The washing machine has a geared drum - rotate the wheel on the side<br />
(just about visible on the far left of the photo) and the drum will turn.<br />
The oven... opens..? Not much of interest in there, to be honest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTatPsUo8_wF6zN9dgCltAm_SX_JV0yd_OThFR9ba_rNXgoAgxFGMyvgx39uP5MkzRjHaoVgWsNehhwmHI1MSvTbwvEBf3DBCvl20Dfz_rs_9luk4KTc0AvsQtf_5P-8keF4AyEtkEkI/s1600/DSC01073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTatPsUo8_wF6zN9dgCltAm_SX_JV0yd_OThFR9ba_rNXgoAgxFGMyvgx39uP5MkzRjHaoVgWsNehhwmHI1MSvTbwvEBf3DBCvl20Dfz_rs_9luk4KTc0AvsQtf_5P-8keF4AyEtkEkI/s400/DSC01073.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The TV is an interesting bit of kit... The bulk of it is a hollowed out block of<br />
wood, with the front, back and stand made of plastic. The picture is a print<br />
on paper which was lit by a tiny bulb passed through the back. Unfortunately<br />
it was only held in place by sellotape, which had dried up and fallen off.<br />
We did find the cable, plug and bulb, though, so we're going to 'upgrade' it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqE0tgiBzle4a-2MPgVsLZ3rXH27fpCy1NXpDYsadCWlSnV_aTQcUrP89ZWxWbD0MKa72xqYGLjX7QVK-duKelmCq8ES4v7m_H5YJygX8P-wYZbv_qroTDrorVBFqcZepykUNmL5MfIo/s1600/DSC01067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqE0tgiBzle4a-2MPgVsLZ3rXH27fpCy1NXpDYsadCWlSnV_aTQcUrP89ZWxWbD0MKa72xqYGLjX7QVK-duKelmCq8ES4v7m_H5YJygX8P-wYZbv_qroTDrorVBFqcZepykUNmL5MfIo/s200/DSC01067.JPG" width="200" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzSvaFu_XdzaKOx6gZpbw5YFawZElOLJEQEGhS0te59cRHxpCK_t3Hsk4Makem1kaF9MnMn046WgGW9kswqNm1SfLiXPGxPXJEXumGWVpc7hZsIy3hz0eAgQM8u-v5e2L0B7AQKMWZRM/s1600/DSC01068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzSvaFu_XdzaKOx6gZpbw5YFawZElOLJEQEGhS0te59cRHxpCK_t3Hsk4Makem1kaF9MnMn046WgGW9kswqNm1SfLiXPGxPXJEXumGWVpc7hZsIy3hz0eAgQM8u-v5e2L0B7AQKMWZRM/s200/DSC01068.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we have the terribly crappy, cheap plastic furniture that really doesn't fit the<br />
rest if the stuff we have... I mean, the wardrobe has drawers, certainly (one is missing!)<br />
but the doors are solid, and it's hollow at the back! The bunk beds don't exactly<br />
leave much headroom for the lower bunk, either...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu874cgNJ_iWToG_SoUptowfAq0ONWeS6oonByQartRKy36AkbcDm67fmvNZlsJbRUSTf1v2GGEUGqVa0pV0hvTJEzzqkXgR26rXCj25yerWmkUNxy0WlT6nzApil2fqT1dokyBGofeh4/s1600/DSC01064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu874cgNJ_iWToG_SoUptowfAq0ONWeS6oonByQartRKy36AkbcDm67fmvNZlsJbRUSTf1v2GGEUGqVa0pV0hvTJEzzqkXgR26rXCj25yerWmkUNxy0WlT6nzApil2fqT1dokyBGofeh4/s400/DSC01064.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mixture of the wooden furniture, some of it more impressive than the rest.<br />
Some of the drawers open, while others are fixed. The sideboard, for example<br />
is all glued together. Interestingly, the book rack on top of it is filled with<br />
tiny books which one can flick through. There's no print, obviously, but<br />
it's a cool feature for a dolls' house nonetheless.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsptG4q7-lvmCvSAkvNM_g_yIU-UFJ-bXlX2MLviQmyqNrXq1s3WT43iX4l1xYIG2MLrPp7l9GEqEdKQdT1gQ-neObCMhUO-g96O0VhkjPGmw60aUbhfdXEeX46UGDd9rrV8WztBOei5g/s1600/DSC01066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsptG4q7-lvmCvSAkvNM_g_yIU-UFJ-bXlX2MLviQmyqNrXq1s3WT43iX4l1xYIG2MLrPp7l9GEqEdKQdT1gQ-neObCMhUO-g96O0VhkjPGmw60aUbhfdXEeX46UGDd9rrV8WztBOei5g/s400/DSC01066.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'upholstered' lounge suite has seen better days - compression in storage<br />
means the cushions are at odd angles.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhQbuM-OawXm2tvCswTQGCRkAEmmK5NOnTV3g086FMEKuR-0fuHsoQb8N6fTd7hXj0uHFJr-DCxUzjGjNecB1Hlh8OoluRO_1dvS8XCRmzLdZ0rA8TO0X8z8A9wEjKv5Q3si7fDL2nPA/s1600/DSC01070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhQbuM-OawXm2tvCswTQGCRkAEmmK5NOnTV3g086FMEKuR-0fuHsoQb8N6fTd7hXj0uHFJr-DCxUzjGjNecB1Hlh8OoluRO_1dvS8XCRmzLdZ0rA8TO0X8z8A9wEjKv5Q3si7fDL2nPA/s400/DSC01070.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And, good grief, there was even a piano! The lid was once attached by a<br />
rubber band, but that has long since perished and crumbled away. Might<br />
be difficult to replace, too, since it was glued into place underneath a<br />
of bits of wood on the interior. It's also lost its pedals but, in all other<br />
respects, its in fairly good condition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-pdyLYnlzu7diKdZDlusVJ0DSTyBUtehARYnS3v61iP6CUU4D5oKOo-XJYW50HKS1PTGE7Y0nHAlhuMxDzTHJtigXn8y_uWXRFmHVt_BT9YjwLMNLh7mWBsmUtVMrI9ZhiPml1hGlec/s1600/DSC01072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-pdyLYnlzu7diKdZDlusVJ0DSTyBUtehARYnS3v61iP6CUU4D5oKOo-XJYW50HKS1PTGE7Y0nHAlhuMxDzTHJtigXn8y_uWXRFmHVt_BT9YjwLMNLh7mWBsmUtVMrI9ZhiPml1hGlec/s400/DSC01072.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And in this cute little cot rests a little plastic baby, wrapped in (and glued into)<br />
a little night dress. The face has become squashed and distorted (or maybe<br />
it was always like that?) so it looks particularly ugly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgELljNpXHSe09Xiq0mqGm3u7AlFqf6_QcR5ogJ0hkpGDG171REa-XXHQKJn4WhYukGzx7_Hx6nExOcvfp1o5ocMJ2lr7cB32W6D2Ae6r_DltFDhMRNZRoUmhyphenhyphengcnpeQ9nv4S2bkva3eA8/s1600/DSC01063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgELljNpXHSe09Xiq0mqGm3u7AlFqf6_QcR5ogJ0hkpGDG171REa-XXHQKJn4WhYukGzx7_Hx6nExOcvfp1o5ocMJ2lr7cB32W6D2Ae6r_DltFDhMRNZRoUmhyphenhyphengcnpeQ9nv4S2bkva3eA8/s400/DSC01063.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bed and the duvet were hand-made by one of the grandmothers.<br />
The duvet is perhaps a little large, but it was hand-knitted with some very<br />
nice wool, and is in excellent condition. The bed is slightly warped, but still<br />
looks pretty good... and, as you can see, it fits the existing figures well.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Along with this rather <i>random </i>treasure trove of <i>proper </i>furniture, there were all kinds of odd little plastic bits from the kitchen, a small miscellany of china and metal pots, kettles, vases, etc... and a truly <i>bizarre </i>selection of 'pets' - two china dogs, some (plastic?) cats made in varying degrees of realism, a couple of <i>wooden </i>mice, and even a plastic squirrel that had once been a <i>pencil top</i>.<br />
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We also found the whole family who had once 'lived' there, but I shall <i>spare </i>you photos of those, gentle reader... Naturally they're a little worse for age and wear, but they're also just plain <i>weird</i>. The 'parents' have gangly, barely humanoid bodies with large heads and tiny, chubby hands. The 'kids' don't scale very well, <i>possibly </i>because they came from different lines of dolls' house people, <i>and </i>they're painted in a rather disturbing way.<br />
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I'm not sure how much of this existing furniture - <i>if any</i> - will survive this refurbishment. I know we're going to try to fix up the TV and give it a new picture, and some of the stuff <i>is </i>in a good enough condition... but it might be more interesting to minimise the furniture and see how the niece wants to fill the place up.Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-24145171272600619592013-09-13T20:34:00.002+01:002013-12-10T18:19:41.469+00:00And so, the work begins...<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Having heard that my folks had brought the dolls' house downstairs</span></b> to a more useful and <i>accessible</i> location, <i>and </i>got their hands on some wooden windows for the dolls' house, I decided to pop over yesterday to snap a few photos and ask some questions. <i>Upon arrival</i>, however, I discovered my father was <i>already hard at work</i>, stripping the paper from the roof...<br />
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We spoke briefly about the decorating options, and how best to make use of the material and templates for creating brick and roof tile effects. The supplied templates remind me strangely of the keyboard overlays we had for our rubber-keyed ZX Spectrum, are of a size that they don't actually fit <i>any </i>of the papered 'wall' areas of the house - they're too <i>long </i>for the side quarters and too <i>short </i>for the longer front door - so we'll have to trim them down <i>and do lots of matching</i>. The <i>idea </i>is that you stick them in place with a temporary spray glue (<i>which cannot be sold online as it can't be put in the post!</i>), plaster on the brick/roof tile compound mixed with water, wait for it to dry, then peel it off and do the next section. It's likely to be a rather <i>laborious </i>process... and,<i> just to make it even more laborious (while hopefully improving the end result)</i>, I suggested that we might fill out the exterior walls with the 'sandstone' compound so that they're flush with the black-painted frame, giving us a <i>background </i>for the brick pattern which would look like <i>cement</i>... though we <i>may </i>end up just using a matte paint to fill in the lines. A larger template is favoured for the roof, to <i>minimise </i>all the fiddling and matching, so we <i>may </i>have to keep looking...<br />
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The general consensus seems to be that <i>painting </i>the interior is preferable to repapering. One room <i>seemed </i>to be in a fit state to leave <i>as-is</i>, until a closer inspection revealed that the four screws holding the wall in place were visible through <i>holes </i>in the paper.<br />
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<i>This </i>revelation led to the <i>further </i>revelation that, where there are electrical fittings, <i>such as the switches</i>, the floors and walls are <i>screwed </i>in place. This is both <i>exciting </i>and <i>useful</i>, and it also showed that my father was more sensible than even <i>he'd </i>expected during the original construction project, 30-ish years ago. He'd also forgotten about the larger rods of wood he'd used to separate the floors and ceilings, and into which they're <i>screwed</i>. Many of his <i>darker predictions</i> about the difficulty of this refurbishment came from the belief that everything was <i>glued </i>together, so taking it apart would result in some breakage. The use of screws <i>almost everywhere</i> is very good news.<br />
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While talking about painting, we discussed the specifics of the <i>staircase</i>, which is actually a pretty brilliant piece of construction. The stairs themselves are cut from a single piece of wood, and there's <i>a full bannister</i> running up all the way to the landing, where it meets <i>a safety rail</i> - because you don't want your dolls falling down the stairs, <i>do you?</i> After joking about <i>carpeting </i>the staircase and adding little brass bits to keep the carpet in place, my father asked if <i>I </i>fancied the prospect of painting the staircase - the impression I got was that <i>he wasn't especially keen to do it himself</i>. After a closer examination, I accepted the challenge, adding only that it <i>might </i>be a bit easier if the ceiling/floor could come out... But I reckon it's perfectly doable even if the house remains <i>intact </i>throughout the painting phase.<br />
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My mother suggested that the gaps between the ceilings/floors should be covered over, as a certain four-year-old has a habit of 'inserting things into other things', <i>her nose being the currently-favoured recipient of things</i>. Kids, eh?<br />
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But I mentioned <i>windows</i>, didn't I?<br />
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Whereas there was a special offer on doors when my mother ordered <i>four </i>earlier in the month, there was no such offer on windows, so more caution has been exercised in this case. We currently have a pair of 'single' windows and a single 'double' window, just to see how they might fit, and to ascertain the potential usefulness of any <i>properly-scaled</i> items we might buy in the future. The windows aren't precisely the same type and, while I suspect the 'single' type would be <i>sufficient </i>for all the side windows, <i>the existing holes are too wide</i>... so either we'd need to fill them in, or go with larger windows.<br />
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The fact that the 'double' windows are 9-pane, versus the 4-pane 'single' means they don't <i>quite </i>work together, but other options <i>are </i>available or, failing that, we <i>may </i>be able to custom-make something suitable. Even if it's just a case of knocking out parts of the frame to make the 'doubles' into 2-pane windows (<i>one from 6 panes, the other from the remaining 3, either horizontally or vertically</i>), it shouldn't be too problematic.<br />
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By the time I left, all but one end of the roof had been stripped of paper... though whether this means we get to work on 'tiling' as soon as it's all stripped, or wait until the project is nearing completion, <i>only time will tell</i>...<br />
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For the most part, I think we're all feeling quite <i>positive </i>about this project still, though the <i>expense </i>of all the parts - <i>eighteen windows, just for starters</i> - is cause for some concern, and it's <i>entirely possible</i> that we'll end up <i>filling in</i> the eight side windows. They are something of an <i>extravagance</i>, but I reckon they really add to the place...<br />
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The viability - <i>and wisdom</i> - of allowing the roof to open was also discussed briefly... <i>On the one hand</i>, it gives us the option of another <i>room/storage area</i>... <i>on the other hand</i>, it's going to have a moody four year old playing with it (possibly <i>five </i>year old, before we're finished!), which <i>could </i>lead to slamming the roof, or slamming her fingers <i>in the roof</i>, or yanking the roof off its hinges, or God knows what other <i>shenanigans</i>. The same could be said for the hinged front and back walls of the house, so watch this space... There's not much more <i>planning </i>going into this refurbishment project than there was for <i>the original build!</i>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-52862556197298446422013-09-11T15:05:00.002+01:002013-12-10T18:19:55.226+00:00Adding Texture...<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>The <i>outside </i>of the dolls' house comes up for discussion just as often as the inside</b></span>. Right at the start, I suggested that we replace the 'roof tile'-patterned <i>paper </i>on the roof with some kind of <i>proper tiling</i> (most likely plastic sheets of ready-molded tiles). <i>By and large</i>, the preference has been simply stripping the <i>current </i>(peeling) paper, <i>inside and out</i>, and replacing it with more of the same, though I've often wondered if <i>painting </i>(at least for the interior) might be the better option.<br />
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More recently, however, my mother has found materials available on the interwebs which are mixed with water and applied to exterior walls via a stencil to give a realistic brick effect. How something like this will work with the 'framed' exterior walls of <i>this </i>dolls' house remains to be seen... but it certainly has <i>potential</i>. We may need to give it an <i>undercoat </i>of some kind to represent the cement <i>between </i>the bricks. A similar kind of thing is available for stencilling <i>roof tiles</i>, too... and that certainly beats<i> faffing around with blocks, strips or individual tiles</i>.<br />
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Plus, <i>on the whole</i>, they <i>all </i>look like better options than gluing <i>anything </i>to the external walls, since even the <i>best </i>glue isn't foolproof <i>or </i>everlasting... and, <i>in the hands of a four-year-old</i>, things <i>glued-on</i> have an amazing knack for <i>coming loose</i>...<br />
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Not sure if this is the particular website my mother was looking at, but here are <a href="http://www.craft-products.com/dolls-house-brick-stone-tiles.asp" target="_blank">examples of the exterior finishes</a>...Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-53875187001545484142013-09-05T18:19:00.002+01:002013-09-05T20:41:09.208+01:00Considering Doors<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Not <i>much </i>of an update, but news all the same:</b></span> in between domestic disasters <i>of a slightly larger scale</i>, my folks have been looking into <i>doors </i>for the dolls' house.<br />
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With some web-searching, they found <a href="http://www.minimumworld.com/" target="_blank">Minimum World</a>, '<i>The Online Dolls House Superstore</i>', who had some kind of special offer on doors, so they ordered a set of 1:12 scale Streets Ahead "Collector's Item" wooden dolls' house doors.<br />
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The dolls' house wasn't built to any particular scale - <i>and certainly isn't 1:12, as it turns out</i>. Straight out of the packaging, the doors go right up to the ceiling on the ground floor (<i>18.1cm/7.1" room height</i>), and are about an inch too tall on the upper floor (<i>16.1cm/6.3" room height</i>) - but the more elaborate 'front door' <i>could</i> be made to work if cut down slightly. Such trimming would be tricky, but by no means impossible, due to the way the door is pinned into the frame.<br />
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Alternatively, <i>now we've seen how they work</i>, my father might end up <i>making </i>something at a more suitable size, and attaching them with miniature hinges. There was some discussion about the relative <i>scale </i>of hinges, with my father of the opinion that the smallest available hinges would be too large for the dolls' house, and me of the opinion that <i>it's a dolls' house, and should be viewed as if through the eyes of a child, who wouldn't notice or care about such points of accuracy and authenticity as long as the doors open and close</i>. I think this is one of those times we're going to agree to disagree until we have time to experiment...<br />
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Also, the question of <i>interior </i>doors was posed. Sure, having them would make the house even more realistic... but they'd be a bit of an extravagance and could actually have a <i>negative </i>impact on play, since a fairly large area of each room would need to be kept clear to allow the doors to swing, and an open door would obscure a good chunk of each room.<br />
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Whatever happens, the new doors (and windows) need to be larger than the tiny plastic things that were originally installed!Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-1966587034843074012013-08-08T21:00:00.000+01:002013-08-08T21:00:03.421+01:00Humble Beginnings<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>OK, obviously, <i>this isn't a project being started from scratch</i></b></span>. The structure itself is still sound and would only require relatively <i>minor </i>alterations <i>if</i> we end up converting the loft. Still, it's as well to record as much as possible of the state it's in <i>before </i>any of the refurbishment begins...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgTiMRefHwitpIljmMu-Y32aFJuKFpptHmZ1jeLBsE7_h1D3TpaXTQBF-x4-ANHjEF7aK6dVamqSuRgbMGMa52ckd1M96fz_JyBRwY44bMP-NXCAh-uKBCchzgnAd3TQa_k06tNpGT2Y/s1600/DSC01624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgTiMRefHwitpIljmMu-Y32aFJuKFpptHmZ1jeLBsE7_h1D3TpaXTQBF-x4-ANHjEF7aK6dVamqSuRgbMGMa52ckd1M96fz_JyBRwY44bMP-NXCAh-uKBCchzgnAd3TQa_k06tNpGT2Y/s200/DSC01624.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkVG4HHtW6lhRxENWFmn4YdeJUriUJMpmKWCkZ_IvDx6vWNRMVJl-uR48HBxw2-aunDyqKbvxEAhztsb3FD6CUvMyWMMrLdVK9JEH0gOg83hIgm229oBUTEFFuh3amiLf0nWscggPbRU/s1600/DSC01625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkVG4HHtW6lhRxENWFmn4YdeJUriUJMpmKWCkZ_IvDx6vWNRMVJl-uR48HBxw2-aunDyqKbvxEAhztsb3FD6CUvMyWMMrLdVK9JEH0gOg83hIgm229oBUTEFFuh3amiLf0nWscggPbRU/s200/DSC01625.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dkC71dV6YfUe11cjfCGoM74QBtkeSWJRcks4QP1KjObZ6y3JoQjUVX6CENjtVPygujWnXFU25OXn2mohf1uhwDrkGL0DzZPhECPuXKxoik5MpKqrGPBC5jOwyPLqrtJ0IiLq87_LKjc/s1600/DSC01627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dkC71dV6YfUe11cjfCGoM74QBtkeSWJRcks4QP1KjObZ6y3JoQjUVX6CENjtVPygujWnXFU25OXn2mohf1uhwDrkGL0DzZPhECPuXKxoik5MpKqrGPBC5jOwyPLqrtJ0IiLq87_LKjc/s200/DSC01627.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9UTpLD01XYDA_Kcyep5870qj9Vh3rwb4-UVhZzBzYjDcj8ze_vMQs_EbNsB7uUFvqRHhgTigGKha-HvF3mJE3qcLOqwW8eDRFHRgDsCuZCmowcps8fxnxLI14h81zHDsBGiil3caZ0A/s1600/DSC01628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9UTpLD01XYDA_Kcyep5870qj9Vh3rwb4-UVhZzBzYjDcj8ze_vMQs_EbNsB7uUFvqRHhgTigGKha-HvF3mJE3qcLOqwW8eDRFHRgDsCuZCmowcps8fxnxLI14h81zHDsBGiil3caZ0A/s200/DSC01628.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtauGWcdWrsYrziRmaTAj78hPTVCgFS04fkUhB3VfOJi77NFMp8I7AMkhCqdlKdrwU0r3ngemuMepqRRyZK8veekEmGvTxSa0rLNdFnb5dtO5Zod3d3MtddPvwWKoFnGlWUHlz6IWiOhg/s1600/DSC01629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtauGWcdWrsYrziRmaTAj78hPTVCgFS04fkUhB3VfOJi77NFMp8I7AMkhCqdlKdrwU0r3ngemuMepqRRyZK8veekEmGvTxSa0rLNdFnb5dtO5Zod3d3MtddPvwWKoFnGlWUHlz6IWiOhg/s320/DSC01629.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The windows were only glued in place, on the outside...<br />
some of them didn't stick very well, but only one<br />
has fallen off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDAWbAFfg4WyYYGEYsr7Xi7-mhtTcL_qNtPhLdzfzMsmlUCdwZX5my4DZXuIQr1cRDeipR9gBv28JZk2Mm4PhLBYisGLTDO7VXT5SmeTW88sAWDpb9wbPZ4IybzaH7wFeBYEHfhl4pks/s1600/DSC01630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDAWbAFfg4WyYYGEYsr7Xi7-mhtTcL_qNtPhLdzfzMsmlUCdwZX5my4DZXuIQr1cRDeipR9gBv28JZk2Mm4PhLBYisGLTDO7VXT5SmeTW88sAWDpb9wbPZ4IybzaH7wFeBYEHfhl4pks/s200/DSC01630.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4NClkjtP-Onsg3h5qykAnlSHyoDPzPYRO5POXKIW0QOtlYyhu_EaPh3Vaz9iWWWVe1snERhXgihz5Dc2zzwEuCNbrBq32ppq6e70qxpHsT9siGBLe-hP_0UJ-n9MYdHsG803efL57F4/s1600/DSC01631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4NClkjtP-Onsg3h5qykAnlSHyoDPzPYRO5POXKIW0QOtlYyhu_EaPh3Vaz9iWWWVe1snERhXgihz5Dc2zzwEuCNbrBq32ppq6e70qxpHsT9siGBLe-hP_0UJ-n9MYdHsG803efL57F4/s200/DSC01631.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIJSuPQzmlU_x1IO7Ea3eHfY00oukhf3snT6spJUaXbTtLI8H-twjiS6-vJqC7WFp62LmA_DegUn2k6dObTYUz12LxLPWYR8F-HFpramTNBgazFIPdjgp7P_F91mD4MX2Q5LaDbyAMFU/s1600/DSC01632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIJSuPQzmlU_x1IO7Ea3eHfY00oukhf3snT6spJUaXbTtLI8H-twjiS6-vJqC7WFp62LmA_DegUn2k6dObTYUz12LxLPWYR8F-HFpramTNBgazFIPdjgp7P_F91mD4MX2Q5LaDbyAMFU/s200/DSC01632.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMhYVtSU41V8iZWyxCtaz7fulxoVx34dXfy3EGMxnN5jUjg-_qOyn10Cb1T5XMPrIx73ydRcGPPfr7-4Rh3GfWjeRRMAocyERtPdCMCgCKHI8RGlHxYkXeBb0Px0TmCNJNXS97z7Y4X0/s1600/DSC01633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMhYVtSU41V8iZWyxCtaz7fulxoVx34dXfy3EGMxnN5jUjg-_qOyn10Cb1T5XMPrIx73ydRcGPPfr7-4Rh3GfWjeRRMAocyERtPdCMCgCKHI8RGlHxYkXeBb0Px0TmCNJNXS97z7Y4X0/s200/DSC01633.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhELjBjjk6x85DnLVB8yDRzqZgJ0TX1TIlGrTDgKLZyr1OhhsPofSrehSa58xhMZng8VOAeOwYC1oTkDgfSJjlksjCOr90LNvJylowZFLvagRtReOlCJlXfWvc330cmzSWrTRS-C29FeOQ/s1600/DSC01634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhELjBjjk6x85DnLVB8yDRzqZgJ0TX1TIlGrTDgKLZyr1OhhsPofSrehSa58xhMZng8VOAeOwYC1oTkDgfSJjlksjCOr90LNvJylowZFLvagRtReOlCJlXfWvc330cmzSWrTRS-C29FeOQ/s320/DSC01634.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The switches are embedded in either the ceilings or<br />
the walls, with the wiring tucked away</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86t7aXMgvuPvrXeVx7OjYIvuOosCiiJ1ZMlewt_tW_xrrOCqJDHp-b6NNhyuIJUKwgqAwTp4497Xz-KHkTgFZvs3uXrihKWi1xM6xWne64uibfOo3a7NbFkADJE8Eg6WntpYnYhqDRKw/s1600/DSC01637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86t7aXMgvuPvrXeVx7OjYIvuOosCiiJ1ZMlewt_tW_xrrOCqJDHp-b6NNhyuIJUKwgqAwTp4497Xz-KHkTgFZvs3uXrihKWi1xM6xWne64uibfOo3a7NbFkADJE8Eg6WntpYnYhqDRKw/s200/DSC01637.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB_oHfi600FRcftld1LyknYlkk8fuAl5NCxX0_124kmCdgGOAFPZ7XpMueUnxhB1UmfRptcatmsc9aEgfJM1krY3w0Wj7MDbrgSdm9uH3GWL-WPKt5hLTMCZ89FWkLBhv2KbKkXooIjU/s1600/DSC01638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB_oHfi600FRcftld1LyknYlkk8fuAl5NCxX0_124kmCdgGOAFPZ7XpMueUnxhB1UmfRptcatmsc9aEgfJM1krY3w0Wj7MDbrgSdm9uH3GWL-WPKt5hLTMCZ89FWkLBhv2KbKkXooIjU/s200/DSC01638.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbF-8HFcYtz5zve5YVt4DN1wYKn0w01Bdaqf5RuK-GiZ6aKew1E9Hex55XDSAC6dJ2tV29kGEjmpeRS3LN_6-UuodYEdUCrgwyaXvgS6WD4cWD3bp1-FaIGrBUK7J0vB8hsvd3uFgF9wY/s1600/DSC01639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbF-8HFcYtz5zve5YVt4DN1wYKn0w01Bdaqf5RuK-GiZ6aKew1E9Hex55XDSAC6dJ2tV29kGEjmpeRS3LN_6-UuodYEdUCrgwyaXvgS6WD4cWD3bp1-FaIGrBUK7J0vB8hsvd3uFgF9wY/s200/DSC01639.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3e__5A_xG0R3Ylx4JECSgdkFjtwvKh6OcghqkwEotCtnA_k16BketyWxg-T9gLRHyjwTPiexFqrWnxTyOtYVXxmWvlltT7UAs5S3-COSWDlmMwLlCCl1wVTrmha_Vm6mfhw5VrYBrwK8/s1600/DSC01640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3e__5A_xG0R3Ylx4JECSgdkFjtwvKh6OcghqkwEotCtnA_k16BketyWxg-T9gLRHyjwTPiexFqrWnxTyOtYVXxmWvlltT7UAs5S3-COSWDlmMwLlCCl1wVTrmha_Vm6mfhw5VrYBrwK8/s200/DSC01640.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYJwELHgIsTO75H6xG7Lao1GyenChr5tO3tKOOQO60XsZ1rvZHwl4Q6zaiU3TdsCA1J0QNq9VMu5gooAYKiLg4ab8Fkr7bTROtzXw1Cz2dqQZ40_ePjotIQKxRpNlJ03Co-fAEwwrcHGE/s1600/DSC01641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYJwELHgIsTO75H6xG7Lao1GyenChr5tO3tKOOQO60XsZ1rvZHwl4Q6zaiU3TdsCA1J0QNq9VMu5gooAYKiLg4ab8Fkr7bTROtzXw1Cz2dqQZ40_ePjotIQKxRpNlJ03Co-fAEwwrcHGE/s200/DSC01641.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGAUbKc2vEntV5MaWYHbHxFcdwUx5IXaobXwGr_AO64d9cne5DYad1wrBIAcAsTx5qhvE5HCDwif27lYfDSHV9d8eCV8TBxxUOq8QhBSlLZvoFBUGb2MqeCewenJ7IIR3yBYcOOFE77Ec/s1600/DSC01642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGAUbKc2vEntV5MaWYHbHxFcdwUx5IXaobXwGr_AO64d9cne5DYad1wrBIAcAsTx5qhvE5HCDwif27lYfDSHV9d8eCV8TBxxUOq8QhBSlLZvoFBUGb2MqeCewenJ7IIR3yBYcOOFE77Ec/s200/DSC01642.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFq-MLKWdWAd-YWkUARSPK9RqLajmcHaOW1k88WvEdFSLNp5BoELXnLDP4fiukJ3tU0QwZ81EreF1KgJZvakkL5wR9muFIa5JnorFkybpARq1bLyYwwM3WzSkzniPYveMk06BWZoGSeBo/s1600/DSC01643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFq-MLKWdWAd-YWkUARSPK9RqLajmcHaOW1k88WvEdFSLNp5BoELXnLDP4fiukJ3tU0QwZ81EreF1KgJZvakkL5wR9muFIa5JnorFkybpARq1bLyYwwM3WzSkzniPYveMk06BWZoGSeBo/s200/DSC01643.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTH46Qk-Ut0UkZXcjLjUR1Rhcvo-riqmylO-xVU7EaQi1ygT4jhM9sdXKnEGibxAh6WLtSMs7SqHNu8VC57Mpg1xGOkgRDX3l4PNwn_v4-De4efjyRZjtdlYGT4oZRz79wB0_xv5NpeM/s1600/DSC01644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTH46Qk-Ut0UkZXcjLjUR1Rhcvo-riqmylO-xVU7EaQi1ygT4jhM9sdXKnEGibxAh6WLtSMs7SqHNu8VC57Mpg1xGOkgRDX3l4PNwn_v4-De4efjyRZjtdlYGT4oZRz79wB0_xv5NpeM/s200/DSC01644.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn3hTZg5hWRZ4PtUmdu2j6NVuC_e8zOJgJ9TcecK4GkXKkZpCzxCxLOHf9KVPTyFedqY8kzzEfKmcZk_FMesra9WJYOLup8VQgZw4yjOnCyNzbgiuhby5U9Gx6hiSFxjfwweuzHl2HlA/s1600/DSC01645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn3hTZg5hWRZ4PtUmdu2j6NVuC_e8zOJgJ9TcecK4GkXKkZpCzxCxLOHf9KVPTyFedqY8kzzEfKmcZk_FMesra9WJYOLup8VQgZw4yjOnCyNzbgiuhby5U9Gx6hiSFxjfwweuzHl2HlA/s200/DSC01645.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDcc5hojrYJDdq03U2KjR69tROkG1MWIpmEeOf05Gd38eOx66Me7qb_JIZHG7d6YBInizQBlu-rscDDlKZlj2AKftPxMW1ILgNXhtjpIUHXymbMxouotNwdsNjWWKEbA8oZmjbEiAUkI/s1600/DSC01647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDcc5hojrYJDdq03U2KjR69tROkG1MWIpmEeOf05Gd38eOx66Me7qb_JIZHG7d6YBInizQBlu-rscDDlKZlj2AKftPxMW1ILgNXhtjpIUHXymbMxouotNwdsNjWWKEbA8oZmjbEiAUkI/s200/DSC01647.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOQrscTbWv1l7NKT-YxUe5rlYHXlHyAnyiwu6-jbpXOR-MXntxVxzKlEenoz2HfcCPeEIyXAVYvOoqAKZVpgFS2C5HJsSiMNNEIszbGAvrUBPnFzXKOxuzqMa0Wk-ZL1x3ZZuw_bfq8HU/s1600/DSC01648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOQrscTbWv1l7NKT-YxUe5rlYHXlHyAnyiwu6-jbpXOR-MXntxVxzKlEenoz2HfcCPeEIyXAVYvOoqAKZVpgFS2C5HJsSiMNNEIszbGAvrUBPnFzXKOxuzqMa0Wk-ZL1x3ZZuw_bfq8HU/s200/DSC01648.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JeA9R3VT5_1l-kVpU1H3eXSR813kJcS5sbYKAjyrdTU1Jhk5b4zwEG8e4DH9j8lYOZUEg56VSkGD4JM0fUtzpy-HURO2Mk8N-VE0KUBVB35DQ7gzl1TVoudsUyLRmMMNQ1mga8_hBnU/s1600/DSC01651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JeA9R3VT5_1l-kVpU1H3eXSR813kJcS5sbYKAjyrdTU1Jhk5b4zwEG8e4DH9j8lYOZUEg56VSkGD4JM0fUtzpy-HURO2Mk8N-VE0KUBVB35DQ7gzl1TVoudsUyLRmMMNQ1mga8_hBnU/s320/DSC01651.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three additional power points in the lounge, for a TV,<br />
an additional lamp... and something else...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen8KlYdt1ZzL_OudJacmffjwFguYp-klMAlv9XJdHWJ8ViKCch5dO8Fv3ZdPzRJusOCFLoFLdEsL4r7Kb4ekBbZna0Tg9u3e8F6TLEK343tkLyIDHj3I0Esl9LhZuRCPZKwuNAquqre8/s1600/DSC01655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen8KlYdt1ZzL_OudJacmffjwFguYp-klMAlv9XJdHWJ8ViKCch5dO8Fv3ZdPzRJusOCFLoFLdEsL4r7Kb4ekBbZna0Tg9u3e8F6TLEK343tkLyIDHj3I0Esl9LhZuRCPZKwuNAquqre8/s320/DSC01655.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rare bit of exposed wiring...<br />
Chances are, this will be covered over<br />
before the refurbishment is finished</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqz6q_oo9zHTwQsaZcr5WCmkVnVPSWbYBt1NAbo1RQWukt8UYoI1npKF-bDnRDc0oZHAqlXuSRutXErDOAmpNGIotGJQU7u73C8aVaIk0Nqnsg3N8rbg5ob27vabtlPyXO3SuNkn1oOc/s1600/DSC01653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqz6q_oo9zHTwQsaZcr5WCmkVnVPSWbYBt1NAbo1RQWukt8UYoI1npKF-bDnRDc0oZHAqlXuSRutXErDOAmpNGIotGJQU7u73C8aVaIk0Nqnsg3N8rbg5ob27vabtlPyXO3SuNkn1oOc/s200/DSC01653.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezJ2jwoMWj3iFVwmc7-4XNoNhCL0rVlOonZPiS0TR5H_qIv8UuBhjP5pXpaKTgQHA_kC3TQF-7-5XagiHRvioJb3-kaDsfYxbmJac9floyLc697ECIZ9hiuYScxdZ3Lfc824Qy6wOwRs/s1600/DSC01654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezJ2jwoMWj3iFVwmc7-4XNoNhCL0rVlOonZPiS0TR5H_qIv8UuBhjP5pXpaKTgQHA_kC3TQF-7-5XagiHRvioJb3-kaDsfYxbmJac9floyLc697ECIZ9hiuYScxdZ3Lfc824Qy6wOwRs/s200/DSC01654.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz6C6dJ4h7AjrWdD1d8cD_Tq6oTICWwEdqP24syKRdIuAE2KICFN3MjauJOcDS1NKGf885bq-xuHiJtIB5dgdWxiKKtkZQcQgXOv9Qip3cNp2SGLQpVewb-wRoVztoBF-A7739BUnwwQ/s1600/DSC01657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz6C6dJ4h7AjrWdD1d8cD_Tq6oTICWwEdqP24syKRdIuAE2KICFN3MjauJOcDS1NKGf885bq-xuHiJtIB5dgdWxiKKtkZQcQgXOv9Qip3cNp2SGLQpVewb-wRoVztoBF-A7739BUnwwQ/s200/DSC01657.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSqYyYXRuGdQNYKj-ivKrlz5LxRB5IBa4vZFi_zxgE-Q_s_r8xZADxwPq08anH90J1tnWE3BlvS8IL8yLuxG7ObZAEwLqq0V36O9Ip4FW5kqsy_ruqoNQ8f5sOWkvXBwJ3UV8tLJyGL0/s1600/DSC01659.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSqYyYXRuGdQNYKj-ivKrlz5LxRB5IBa4vZFi_zxgE-Q_s_r8xZADxwPq08anH90J1tnWE3BlvS8IL8yLuxG7ObZAEwLqq0V36O9Ip4FW5kqsy_ruqoNQ8f5sOWkvXBwJ3UV8tLJyGL0/s320/DSC01659.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course, after 30 years in storage,<br />
there had to be at least one cobweb</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-zAJUtShMD3gnHb_Wg8SfnLCi18JLAKFXA5t0BjUmDzEdWupVHij9JWnmBjzUklkF7LEv7O3WjWosbKQfUHwam_hav5GzIOtd_U315er3VvWoN7jBCXC2pfk6awbuLhs9zzGucf2lSs/s1600/DSC01661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-zAJUtShMD3gnHb_Wg8SfnLCi18JLAKFXA5t0BjUmDzEdWupVHij9JWnmBjzUklkF7LEv7O3WjWosbKQfUHwam_hav5GzIOtd_U315er3VvWoN7jBCXC2pfk6awbuLhs9zzGucf2lSs/s200/DSC01661.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfFoHRpOqU7uxdiqUmVKuQcPXL0A8X7i3r8L4wqOkxH-qAx8jx69Ww8gxEK8KtcsSzfBEmVwCJyUeMrG1EE6NWcz7LetM4GSxv7kWjteM5f3J-i5gUUkrNQsLSbDtL4fUBsOQnQuF7NM/s1600/DSC01649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfFoHRpOqU7uxdiqUmVKuQcPXL0A8X7i3r8L4wqOkxH-qAx8jx69Ww8gxEK8KtcsSzfBEmVwCJyUeMrG1EE6NWcz7LetM4GSxv7kWjteM5f3J-i5gUUkrNQsLSbDtL4fUBsOQnQuF7NM/s320/DSC01649.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The transformer sits in a box screwed to the base here</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKl75jnuuc40YWLW1L1v5q39v0JZKO2D6zwB0OGxGvlogwBeHUjLD1oFIHIgYr8TkwisXnB_THhu1lMex2MkIciM7U4dbGVG1e8tz69dPwM-7wVkxGRNRPAb7Kkv9vk6D9zHGOjaH8Fa4/s1600/DSC01662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKl75jnuuc40YWLW1L1v5q39v0JZKO2D6zwB0OGxGvlogwBeHUjLD1oFIHIgYr8TkwisXnB_THhu1lMex2MkIciM7U4dbGVG1e8tz69dPwM-7wVkxGRNRPAb7Kkv9vk6D9zHGOjaH8Fa4/s320/DSC01662.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wiring from the loft gets fed down to the base,<br />
into this convenient groove...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAMS9rh8LF1IrVpui2A2DOggKyE1PkGlLCF8zcDtQwsqOZnATjl7Zuk1P7pfzWdVPo5Y25kF2hhTAJIqhv1fxcXj8LAvtHA3hu1MUnUVIhX-QBIcVqKKHcFR9gH6-z8UtFI_mk823H0oc/s1600/DSC01636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAMS9rh8LF1IrVpui2A2DOggKyE1PkGlLCF8zcDtQwsqOZnATjl7Zuk1P7pfzWdVPo5Y25kF2hhTAJIqhv1fxcXj8LAvtHA3hu1MUnUVIhX-QBIcVqKKHcFR9gH6-z8UtFI_mk823H0oc/s320/DSC01636.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and this plugs into the transformer,<br />
which is then plugged into the mains</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007051750215035825.post-41742681514509659792013-08-08T19:53:00.000+01:002013-08-10T11:38:20.884+01:00Inaugural Post<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><i>About thirty years ago, my father built my sister a dolls' house.</i></b></span> It was, in many ways, just a follow-up project to a wooden fort my grandfather built for me (and into which I piled everything from <i>Lego </i>to <i>TransFormers</i>), <i>itself </i>made in response to a family friend building a model <i>castle </i>based on plans from a magazine the likes of which you no longer see (<i>in print</i>, at least).
<br />
<br />
To follow the <i>fort </i>tangent briefly, it was <i>entirely </i>custom-made and far <i>larger </i>than my parents had expected. Also, when they suggested to my grandfather than he build "a fort", <i>they </i>were thinking of the <i>mediaeval British</i> kind... But my grandfather was really into <i>Westerns</i>, so what we got was the kind of fort you'd see in <i>that </i>kind of movie. Not that I <i>complained </i>- it was <i>awesome</i>, and my imagination was <i>easily </i>up to the challenge of fitting almost <i>any </i>toy into its context.<br />
<br />
<i>But back to the dolls' house</i>.<br />
<br />
It was made using hardboard panels for the walls and roof, with the frame and some internal details (<i>such as the staircase</i>) made from wood. <i>All </i>the furniture, windows and doors were <i>shop-bought</i> plastic pieces (there are only two kinds of windows on the house - singles and doubles - and some of them look too small for the house). There was wiring throughout for electric lighting <i>in every room</i> and three additional power points in the lounge. The first floor and the ceiling of the ground floor were separate pieces to keep the wiring concealed. All the wiring came together in a hub in the loft, which then led out to an <i>external </i>transformer which plugged into the mains (because my safety-conscious father "<i>didn't want mains electricity going into the dolls' house</i>").<br />
<br />
Since some of his woodworking and metalworking projects were preceded by sketched out plans, I asked my father if his plans for the dolls' house were still around somewhere. He replied - with a small measure of mock indignance - "<i>What plans?</i>" This is actually fairly typical of my father... what he had for the dolls' house was a set of measurements and a rough idea of what it should look like. It came about because, by his account, "<i>there just happened to be materials available, so... Let's make a dolls' house!</i>"<br />
<br />
One of <i>many </i>notable features of this dolls' house is that it's <i>double-sided</i>. Whereas most are effectively two-dimensional, opening on <i>one </i>side to reveal <i>all </i>rooms, <i>and not necessarily organised in a realistic fashion</i>, my father's model is built <i>like a real house</i>. It has a front door <i>and </i>a back door. Its front and rear faces <i>both </i>open up, <i>each </i>revealing four rooms (although it's a through lounge, so there are only <i>seven </i>rooms, the hall and the landing). The staircase isn't merely cosmetic, it's a genuine means of accessing each floor from within the dolls' house - <i>there's even a complete handrail</i>. I'm told it was built that way "<i>because it was more like a proper house and the shop built ones with front opening seemed too small</i>". No-one is sure whether my sister had any design input or if the whole thing was my father's creation, but there were <i>ideas </i>about adding a garden with a washing line and plants - things we'd seen in an Ealing toy shop.<br />
<br />
When it was first decorated, the walls were covered with wrapping paper (which explains the <i>crazy 70s</i> look of some rooms), the brickwork and roofing tiles were hobby shop paper and the carpets were made with dress weight materials (as well as some spare <i>fleece </i>for the more <i>luxurious </i>carpet). My mother remembers <i>reading </i>about curtains (apparently ladies handkerchiefs were <i>ideal</i>) and <i>planning </i>for a more <i>ornate </i>front door... but my sister lost interest in the dolls' house before it was entirely complete to our parents' satisfaction, so it basically got mothballed.<br />
<br />
And so, <i>about thirty years later</i>, with a four year old granddaughter constantly <i>raiding display cases</i> and moving things around whenever she visits, my parents have decided to pull the dolls' house out of retirement and finish it off, perhaps making <i>improvements </i>along the way.<br />
<br />
Things we've discussed <i>so far</i>:<br />
<ul>
<li>Replacing all the doors and windows</li>
<li>Fitting the roof with plastic tiles rather than repapering it</li>
<li>Replacing the carpets and wallpaper (not least because <i>some </i>rooms have never had any!)</li>
<li>Performing a <i>loft conversion</i> to add another room or two to the house (this will require the addition of a floor - and possibly <i>walls </i>- and the roof will have to be <i>hinged </i>to allow easy access, where it's currently screwed shut)</li>
<li><i>Rewiring everything</i>, because the lights currently don't work and my father can't understand <i>why</i>... but he <i>suspects </i>he set up the transformer incorrectly.</li>
<li>Replacing the filament bulb lights with white LEDs (my father is <i>very dubious</i> about the merits of this idea, as he believes LEDs won't be bright enough, <i>or </i>cast their light wide enough)</li>
</ul>
This 'ere blog will <i>hopefully </i>cover <i>all </i>the work that goes into making this house ready for my niece... and, <i>with any luck</i>, I'll be helping out once in a while, rather than just taking photos, asking questions, and writing stuff down.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwYBR3n_0v79fUlFAI85vMDdos9cQWOL8gDjHgWA6aBlETXP_Lj5cGCqg0FWA9r9xiM6n8qF9Ij2fyjT0zXT6P5t0gQcsvlQNYHoIhzEHglPb7EGWxIpQzrcxJYgzsz75j1T7cwxK4JQ/s1600/DSC01624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwYBR3n_0v79fUlFAI85vMDdos9cQWOL8gDjHgWA6aBlETXP_Lj5cGCqg0FWA9r9xiM6n8qF9Ij2fyjT0zXT6P5t0gQcsvlQNYHoIhzEHglPb7EGWxIpQzrcxJYgzsz75j1T7cwxK4JQ/s400/DSC01624.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of the house, showing wear and tear on the roof, very basic windows,<br />
and a singular lack of front door...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06528405483770868212noreply@blogger.com0