The Fairfield Rehab Blog

August 22, 2013

A BIG thank you to Emily (FOV) for entering the Greenleaf mechanism and erasing the extra two blogs the forum created when I tried to post. Thanks Fov.

Today I will be starting the rehab process on my first dollhouse, the ½ inch scale Fairfield. This completed dollhouse has been sitting on a cabinet in my living room since it was made, and for several months now it has been calling out to me to pay attention to it. As this was my first house I knew very little at that time about finishes, and used some products that I have since come to regret. For instance, I used printed paper for my floors, and I sealed them with Marine spar varnish. When they were first done they were beautiful.

They dried to a clear shiny finish that was almost like glass in its clarity and hardness. Great right? Well…not so much. After about a year the varnish, for some reason, began to leach up onto the baseboard and then onto the wallpaper. Further examination found that any place where the varnish met bare wood was now beginning to stain. Since then my poor little beauty has been languishing, batting sad eyes at me almost begging for a makeover. So I’ve decided that whenever I’m idle, waiting for supplies, or just taking a break from the Bronte House I’ll be giving the old girl a much-needed facelift. So with that in mind here are the pre-makeover pictures.

After long deliberation and wonderful advice from the forum, I finally remembered that I had just a bit of paint thinner left. So I tried it and waddaya know, it worked! It loosened and softened the varnished paper floors just enough to let me get a blade in there to pry them up. Here’s what they look like before sanding. I still have a few little bits to pull up in the attic section, but it’s nowhere near as daunting as before.

My next step was to find myself a Dremel Multi Max Oscillating hand tool. I figure that’s the best way to get these walls separated with the least amount of damage, so I went on eBay and found one with all the attachments for only $49.95, not a bad day’s work. So just as soon as that’s delivered, which should be by Wednesday of next week I’ll be able to get in there and take these walls apart.