Stripping wallpaper - look what's under!

Emptied out Wensleydale cottage in order to start refurbishing and get some better pictures of details. 

 

 

 

 

TA-DA!!!

It has a strip of tape wrapped round to frame it, and some of the green paint came off with the  wallpaper, but pretty and sweet eh? Now I have to figure out a way to restore it!

roof and electrical system:

 

I think you can click and they'll pop-out bigger...

 

On the second floor there's another layer to the wall, between which the wires come down. On the first floor they were just wallpapered over...

I just like this picture, so I threw it in...

No - I haven't been been just lying around...

I have been lying around on PILLOWS!!!

So far I have made 10, and I am just going to keep going for a while. You can never have enough pillows, and I am sure my small dwellers will appreciate them...


I really like the bright yellow cushions in the
blue Ikea chair - as the spouse pointed out,
it's Ikea/Swedish colors too...
I have been hand-stitching them, finishing about 1 a day. I like hand stitching - I can carry it easily and just work on it wherever I happen to be.  At work, for instance...

and the stripey ones are made from my daughter's favorite corduroys when she was 4 years old - now I have a good way to keep those around forever!















 This was my first one: 

Here's another dollhouse...

I picked this one up at a thrift shop about 4 years ago for the kid and right now we have a grouping of TOMY furniture in it.

Some of the furniture is from the '70s Smaller Homes and Gardens set, and I am very fond of it...
the rug in the far room is Ikea, the lamp and tray are Fisher Price, and the flowers stuck in the top of the lamp are from an Angelina Ballerina set.

Today I feel like a story...

This one is kind of beat up and torn, but still beautiful!

You remember Watty Piper do you not? He wrote The Little Engine That Could.

 

THE END

 

More pictures of Wensleydale Cottage...

I put on the panel so you could see what it looks like with both doors on.
The window in the top middle is completely yellowed and warped - you can see how it's sagging down in the middle. most of the windows are cut plastic and are glued over the framework and a strip of white paint around the edge created the illusion of window framing. Some have no plastic/glass at all, as willful Robin is demonstrating as she swings on a string in the second floor window.The caps of the windows have painted metal sheathing - something it took me years to discover - I assumed it was wood until I was scratching at it to see if there was another paint color under the black and saw shiny silver metal peeking through!

Here is the back and other side. Those little knobs on the roof are switches, because this house was electrified at one time (pics of the inside of the roof another time). Inside there were some terminals with old scraps of wires attached - the kind with cloth covering, if you are old enough to remember that. I think my grandmother had a few things like that that she still had in the '60s when I was little. Former and future electrification will be the subject of another post. You can't see it very clearly, but the square to the left of the the doorway is smooth, not stuccoed like the rest. I think maybe there used to be a greenhouse or porch or something there, maybe a garage?

Here's the back of the kitchen with a little closet under the stairs. The spouse gave me that trash can manymany years ago...

ancient tub, firmly glued in place

This is the view down the stairs and out the front door

OK - here's another thing to be crazy about:

Tiny shoes (and socks) When you look at them, don't think of them as being photographs of big items - think about making them little! I really like the 17th century croation ones on this page. When I make something, I will post a picture here...

Here's my little house...

I call it Wensleydale Cottage

This was taken in the middle of a move in 2008. I haven't done that much with this house,
because it is an antique, and I'm afraid to do anything that will damage its historical value.
It came with all that pencil scribbling and I haven't been successful at removing the
scribbles. Erasers don't work. Soap doesn't work. Fine sandpaper doesn't work. Coarse
sandpaper gouges the surface. The orange part is painted over, but the scribbles still show
through. Ultimately I guess it'll have to be wallpapered, like the rest of the house.

The story of this house is that I
wandered into an estate sale, and
this was sitting in the corner of the
garage, covered with dust. The
owner of it had passed away and
had purchased it in England, as an
antique in the '70's, and had paid
further bank to have it shipped over
here. The heirs were asking $250 for
it originally, but at the point I came
along they were so frazzled and worn
out, and just wanted to be done, so
they accepted the substantially
reduced amount of all the dollars
in my pocket.                                                          

The exterior is stucco, which I have washed, and it's a lot less dingy. Each side has 2 doors that
swing open. One has been removed because I need to putty the holes and re-attach the hinges.
I have to take some new pics of the architectural details, so that will be another post...

What I actually wanted to share, before the holidays are too far gone, was the  Yuletide interior. As far as collections go, the interior is a complete mishmosh. The food is ReMent, the chairs are Ikea, the table I made from a kit, the dog is Fisher-Price, the xmas cupboard was $1 at Michaels, an decorated by dd with Sharpies. The screen was the prize of the day at a yard sale (50 cents). I don't remember what we stole the antlers from... The carper was cut from some home-dec clearance.

Here's all the rooms. But I have to get up in six hours, so that's all for now. More fun stuff tomorrow!

I love rainy days!

Perfect for staying in and working on inside projects! and bonus - my kids love rainy weather, so it's easier to get them to go outside...course then they just come in and play video games.

btw Happy Holidays!

                                                                  I'm still working out how to move these pictures around. This little kitten is one we have not been able to find a home for...guess we'll have to keep him!

Well come to my world of fun stuff!

This may have been better named "Momo's frivolous materialist obsessions and side tracks." Topics of interest here are: Doll's houses; miniatures; dolls and dressing them; other art projects; illustrated children's books; yard sales; jigsaw puzzles; lapsed white space.
My New Years resolution is to post to my blogs at least once a week, and I have added this pleasant task to my Yahoo calendar, because I am easily side-tracked.