Dolls House Makeover

It's finished at last!  Well, it's as finished as it's going to be.  
This dolls house has been taking up too much room in my house for the last few months and as school starts back next week, this is where is will be heading, so I HAD to get it finished.

I'm fairly pleased with it and have to admit it does look much more modern, clean and inviting but having spent literally no money on the makeover, it is somewhat lacking in detail such as accessories, lighting etc for the rooms.  However, it does have the basic furniture - I guess you could call it minimalist!

If you want to see the house in detail before I started click here 

I'm sure you will agree, it was quite depressing.

Bedroom with paper bunting

As I explained in that post I pulled out the broken windows, scraped up the carpets, ripped off the wallpaper and coated everything in white paint.  

Second bedroom with printed rug and wall art

Then I printed some pretty paper and glued it to the walls (this was the only cost involved).

Simple kitchen with large printed clock

I painted the furniture and made colourful covers from scraps and then finished the rooms with some paper rugs and art which were also glued down.  

Most of these I printed from the Ikea website!

Colourful lounge is so much brighter!

I'm glad it's done.  I wondered about curtains, window boxes and so on but I've spent enough time on it for now - it needs to go back!

I painted the front a beige/cream colour
with white trim and grey roof

Have to admit though, I saw a dolls house on Gumtree a while back complete with loads of furniture and had to have it....

....it's currently in the loft waiting for a makeover for my little one, possibly for this Christmas or next?  

We will see. 

Left side of the house

 

Right side of the house

Dolls House Makeover

This sorry sight for a dolls house has been languishing in my classroom for a while now.  

At the beginning of the year it was sitting on a table top looking a bit sad but for the past few weeks it's been downgraded to the floor where it has been pretty much ignored.





















I've looked at it and wondered about it a couple of times these past few months but yesterday I actually lifted it and loaded it into my car with the intention of giving it a makeover!

It's actually quite a nice size and shape with decent rooms but the inside is a bit depressing and the windows are all smashed.











It's not going to be a mega restoration with loads of dosh lavished on it though unfortunately.  

It will have to be a quick fix with some fresh paint and maybe a few soft furnishings? 

I'm not sure yet but watch this space....the filthy dolls are currently in the washing machine with some heavy duty stain remover to see if they can be salvaged!

It's a week on and so far I've managed to spray paint the roof grey and paint the outdoor walls a creamy white.

The roof has been spray painted 

 Both colours were leftover paint I had from my playhouse makeover last summer - remember this is a makeover for my classroom so I am trying to do it for next to nothing!

You will also notice that I pulled out the window panels, they were yellowed from the sun and also very brittle which made them sharp and difficult to remove.  The house looks so much better without them!

The living room carpet came out without a problem but the red one on the upper floor was absolutely stuck down and wasn't going to budge.  I discovered on a forum that if I used a hairdryer on it, the glue would melt and peel away, but this didn't work so I pondered for a while and then wondered if nail polish remover might work. 

Bingo!!  


As you can see I've had to scrape but it's come away really easily. I've still to see if I'll be able to paint on top of it, but if not I can stick down paper flooring.

The only other thing I did this week was peel the brown felt covering off the chairs - better already?!

That's the update for now!

Play House Makeover

The play house is complete!!....Well, phase one is anyway, if you can call it that! 

Here's the before shot in the previous owner's garden (we bought it second-hand on Gumtree).

...and here's the after shot...

The outside has been painted blue and white and spruced up with some bunting, curtains, cushions and some tinkly wind chimes.  

I'm rather pleased with it and little one just loves it too.

I spray painted the plastic roof tiles grey and painted the rest with Ronseal wood paint.  The interior was painted white to lighten and freshen it up.

I added some comfy cushions for sitting under the pergola on the little seat, and some bunting around the window.

The little sink has some carrots in it that I made a while back.

Here is the front door with a
little curtain at the window.

Bunting at the window.

His favourite wind chimes - I think these cost about £1 in Asda!

The other bunting is strung across the window panel that can be used as a puppet theatre or a shop in time to come - he's still too young at the moment, but the curtains are all ready for a puppet show when he is.

Phase two will be the interior of the play house but I'm going to do that a little bit at a time as Monty grows up and we'll add utensils, a washing line and groceries for a shop or puppets for the puppet theatre and other things like that.

At the moment he loves playing at the little water tray and taking the sink in and out of its space.  He also likes to sit in the seat at the front of the house under the pergola.

It's been hard work but I was determined to get it finished so it could be used as much as possible in this good weather we're having and it's been worth it as he absolutely loves it!