heather on ""

heather — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:19:23 +0000

While visiting a friend a couple of months ago, my four year old son decided to bash in my friend's daughter's dollhouse. He broke the windows, doors, shutters--you name it, he broke it. I was completely mortified, embarrased and in shock when my son did this. I thought, you have to be kidding me. Well, when I asked him why he did it, he said, "It was a girl toy and I didn't like it." I was even more mortified by his response. Anyway, I told my friend that I would personally fix the dollhouse myself or I would replace the dollhouse completely. Well, when I found out how much it cost to replace it, I decided that I would try and fix it the best I could to avoid the high cost in replacing it.

I contacted Gary Root at Real Good Toys to help me repair the dollhouse. I sent Gary some closeup pictures of the house so he could see just how badly damaged the house was. He sent me a very helpful e-mail back reassuring me that everything would be okay and that the dollhouse was going to look good as new when I was finished with it. It was hard for me to believe him because of how bad the house looked, but he assured me that it would be fine. Gary sent me all the supplies I needed (new door, frames, windows, shutters, touch up paint). He sent me e-mails on what steps I needed to take, so I got started right away.

I began by melting the shutters and window frames off of the house. This was actually really simple. All I had to do was place some aluminum foil over the surrounding areas of the house (around the window), so that paint wouldn't scorch and then take a hairdryer to the shutters and frames. I conststantly moved the hairdryer, paying close attention to how hot the house was getting, not to damage it anymore. I carefully lifted the frames and shutters from the house by using a screwdriver to gently lift the parts away from the house. This is the easiest part of the whole process. It just takes a little bit of time and patience, which I had at this point since it was still in the early stages of repairs. The next step in the process was to test the paint that was sent to me. This was incredibly frustrating due to the type of paint that was used on this particular dollhouse. It is lacquer, which is very thick and chalky. You must mix a lacquer thinner in with the lacquer in order to get the right consistency for placing it on the house. I did what Gary instructed me to; I tested the paint under one of the shutters (where a new shutter would be placed). The paint seemed to match fine. So, I went ahead and began touching up the dings where my son had taken the plastic horse to. The paint didn't seem to cover, so I ended up using wood filler on the spots and then I sanded. Well, this process seemed to go pretty smoothly and the sanding did as well. Except, my husband helped with that part and he sanded to much over the existing ding and made the area where we needed to paint too big (I failed to mention to him that we needed to keep the sanding to a minimum). So, when we were all done touching up the dings, we began painting over the spots that needed touching up. The paint ended up being darker than the rest of the house because we didn't follow Gary's instructions exactly. I think we tried to hurry the job too much. We did end up painting the entire house over again. However, that would have been avoidable had we taken our time like Gary instructed and if we didn't allow ourselves to get frustrated in the process.

Once we were done painting. we heated up the old glue under the shutters and frames and added a little more on our new shutters and frames and glued everything back on. We attached the new door and boom, we were done. The hardest part about the entire process was the fact that the paint needed to be applied very delicately and minimal. We tried to rush this process, thus the reason for painting the whole house. Gary was so incredibly helpful and full of knowledge. If it wasn't for him, I would have really damaged this house further and had to purchase a new dollhouse. However, I didn't and it turned out just fine. I will try and attach some pictures later. I would encourage anyone who is repairing a dollhouse to take their time, don't rush and don't get too upset with your child for damaging the dollhouse. I actually made my son sit with me to see just how much time and money was invested in repairing this dollhouse. I don't think that is a bad thing. Thank you Gary for all your help!! I appreciate it so much!!

Heather Wilson
740-549-1902
wilsonheather@gmail.com

jilmac on "I love DollHouses and little dolls"

jilmac — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:51:01 +0000

I do have to get you my pictures...
It's on my todo list!!

You're site is looking very good!

JilMac

gr123 on "Welcome"

gr123 — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:48:42 +0000

Hi folks
This forum is for Dollhouse Builders who are looking for help from fellow builders, and for builders with experience to share. Registration is quick and the automatic email that is generated with your starter password comes very quickly (for me, it was as quickly as I could get to my email). Then you can log in, ask questions, and give answers. Your email will only be used to send you this password... it will not be used or shared for anything else.

gr123 on "Gluing techniques"

gr123 — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:28:50 +0000

I am helping a builder who has glued togetheer a gazebo after painting all of the parts thoroughly. My recommendation is to sand the surfaces to be glued aalmost to the wood, at least 'till wood is showing, and to glue the parts together, then finish painting. Any comments?

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heather on ""

jilmac on "I love DollHouses and little dolls"

gr123 on "Welcome"

gr123 on "Gluing techniques"