Tuesday, July 21, 2009

This is the house that Jack built.

Well, I don't know if the person who made it was named Jack, but that kept running through my mind as I cleaned it. ;) It's definitely the house that dale is going to decorate. :)

It came out pretty good. Someone gave me the tip of using Tilex Mold and Mildew Cleaner, since it was so covered in mold. :(

For some reason, I always forget to include one side of the dollhouse. Oh, well! lol

Look at the difference between the clean top floor and the dirty first floor! When I say it was filthy, trust me, it was.

Hubby had to remove the bathroom wall so I could properly clean the upstairs hallway. With a little glue, sanding and paint, it will be good to go. :)

The first bedroom. This color is starting to grow on me. Not a color I would normally pick, but, I can appreciate it.

The bathroom and upstairs hall.

The second bedroom. It's a shame some rotten kid colored on this wall. I'm liking this green, but, it would have to be painted over anyway since it is so marred on the inside.

The kitchen and dining room combination. I removed the upper kitchen cabinets.

The hallway, what the stairs are beige and not gray? Who'd have guessed that! lol

The living room. I removed the fireplace as well.

One of the best discoveries was these hardwood floors. I think they can be sanded and refinished. I love the honey color of wood floors. :)


I started cleaning it with the cleaner and rags and then I had to get out a tooth brush to give it a good scrubbing and get in the little nooks and cranies. I used hubby's toothbrush. (Just kidding!) ;) Then, I used q-tips, to get in the even smaller places, especially around the stairs.

The dollhouse at night. Well, I had to say goodnight to her! I wouldn't be a good mom if I didn't tuck her in for the night. Tee hee. ;)


Next time, I blog about the dollhouse I'll show you it with furniture placed in it. Yes, I had to play with it! lol ;)

14 comments:

  1. Well, whether Jack built it or not, it cleaned up really well, Dale. It's beautiful under all of that mold and dirt. You're gonna have so much fun!

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  2. De, I really am! :) Silly how something so seemingly insignificant, can arise so much hope and dreams. :)

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  3. It looks great! I think the cool thing is that you rescued it from a slow mold death, and it is now a loved and treasured house again. I would have put the furniture in right away too- in fact I can't wait to see the pictures!

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  4. HI Dale; This looks like the same house I have. I got mine from Craigslist, but the seller could give me no history except that it had been her mom's.

    Check out my posts that show my house. The links are below. It looks so much like mine even down to the fireplace.

    There is a picture of my house in this post:
    http://susanshouses.blogspot.com/2009/04/family-issprawledstiffly-in-living-room.html
    See the picture at the bottom of this post

    And in this one:
    http://susanshouses.blogspot.com/2009/04/mary-commented-on-stockbroker-tudor.html
    Look at the pictures that are second and third from the bottom.

    Does yours have walls that slide in and out?

    Can I blog about the similarity of our houses on my blog and use a couple of your pictures?

    If they are the same house we might be able to track down the source of the builder, or at least the pattern. This is exciting.

    Susan

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  5. So glad you've rescued this one. I drove past my late grandparents' house recently--they have both been gone for over 20 years now--and the old neighborhood is finally being revitalized. There on the front porch was a two-story dollhouse painted a hideous navy blue but in fairly good overall shape from what I could see. I had this urge to park, sneak up the steps and 'rescue' it but I suppose some little girls may enjoy it. I'll have to content myself with building Joanna's house--and hoping someone doesn't think to themselves, "Poor dollhouse--if only I could rescue it!" LOL!

    Jody
    http://minileapsandbounds.blogspot.com/

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  6. Kim, lol! I myself was chafing at the bit to throw in some furniture and see how she looked. She looked good. ;) Good thing I didn't try accessorising it, or it would have been dark by then. ;) Accessories, I have. :)

    Susan, that is just too wild and very exciting! I've been through your blog, and I must say I love the top pic on your blog and the post you had about that. :)

    The outside of the house definitley looks the same, your's in better condition. :)

    Ah, I just looked at your second link. Ding, ding, ding! I think we have a winner!

    Yes, I do believe we have the same house. :) How cool is that?

    The walls don't slide in and out, they've been nailed in. Hence, hubby's trouble removing the bathroom wall. :(

    You absolutely can blog about our houses and feel free to link back to my blog, this is so cool!

    So, you think 50's, 60's? I was starting to think seventies as the wood does not appear that old.

    I'm thinking this was from a plan rather than from a kit.

    How cool is this?

    Originally, I was loathing the thought of blogging, but, now I am totally grooving on it and wonder why didn't I start sooner.

    What, will I ever write about, lol!

    This has been the most fun, connecting and sharing, I get it now, lol. ;)

    Jody, I so hear you! Middle daughter had a boyfriend and there was a dollhouse on the bottom of his block on the porch that I was so tempted to steal. lol ;) It didn't look like anyone was playing with it... I should drive by again and maybe knock on the door. ;)

    Jody, note to self, don't leave your dollhouse on front porch. ;)

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  7. I think you are right. The dollhouses are from the same plan. It's exciting to find your dollhouse twin. I will do a blog between now and Monday and post pictures of my house.

    I looked at your first blog about your dollhouse and I can't believe how dirty it was. I sure cleaned up well.

    I haven't started to restore mine yet. I have a few other projects to work on, and I am unsure whether I should restore it to look like it did originally or just do what I want with it.

    I can't wait to do the blog though. I just need few hours to myself - hard to find.

    Thanks,
    Susan

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  8. Can't wait to see it, Susan! :)

    I hear you on the time thing. ;)

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  9. As the owners of "The House that Jack Built®, I can say, Jack did not build that house.

    I do not know who did, but it is not one of our houses.

    We use only 9mm 7-layer Baltic Birch plywood and a 1 inch = 1 foot scale.

    It is clear that who ever built this house, used standard pine plywood and did not stick to any standard scale for size. It appears to be a house built by a hobbist and possible for a loved one.

    We see these many times over. Grandpa, dad or Uncle builds a house for a loved one, and after many years pass time it's sold in hopes that someone else will buy restore and enjoy it's delights.

    While I'm thrilled that you feel this house a treasure, we feel that any house built out of love is a treasure.

    The House that Jack Built® Custom Dollhouses are of a higher quality construction and offer many more professional construction difference, such as milled in siding rather than glued on siding. Windows made to fit scale and made for our houses. And many more.

    We hope you enjoy restoring and decorating your great find.

    Any House that Jack Built® can be seen on www.hjbdollhouses.com

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  10. HI Dale;

    I have posted my blog about our twin dollhouse. See this link:'http://susanshouses.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-dollhouse-has-twin.html

    It would be fun if someone else has a similar one.

    Susan

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  11. Well, thank you A'lan. I have never even heard of Jack Built Houses, until I was online searching for dollhouse building materials. I was thinking of the nusery rhyme, this is the house that Jack built.

    Thanks for all of that information there.

    The research on the history of the house goes on! :)

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  12. Wow - who would know the beauty that was underneath all that filth. What a great job you did of rescuing that house. It looks good now. It looks the same as my dollhouse only I do not have side windows and I got dormiers added in the roof. That bathroom wall is identical to my bathroom wall (which I never used because I changed the layout when I built it.)

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  13. Doreen, shale also has a similar house, see the comments above.

    Did you make your house from a kit or plans?

    I'm assuming you mean the green and white house in your blog banner?

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  14. I bought mine through a dollhouse store, but it is from Real Good Toys and it is the farmhouse base with the addition on the side and the gazebo and porch added. It is called the Hillcrest. I also requested the dormiers to be added. I never see the Hillcrest anywhere amd I dont know why because it is a very nice house.

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I love to hear what you have to say! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. :)