Reconnecting To The Storybook's Spirit

Whenever I go back to working on a dollhouse project that has been sidelined for any length of time, it takes a bit of sorting through my lists, furniture and accessories before I remember what my vision was or how I intended to finish things or decorate. It also helps to go back and read the previous blog posts. Blogs are an amazing recovery tool for people with bad memories like me! 🤣

While I marinate ideas, I can start with "no brainer" tasks. There were two window seat cushions and a mattress to make, plus a chair to recover. Those have a standard operating procedure, so it's a great warm up exercise! While I worked on cutting the 3/16" thick foam core to size, and while covering those pieces with quilt batting and then Thermolam Plus, I could ponder my fabric choices.

Foam core covered in quilt batting and then Thermolam Plus.

Living Room window seat test fit.

Upstairs reading nook test fit.

Rose's mattress test fit in her space saving daybed.

For the window seats, I decided on a fabric with bold stripes in a similar colorway to the rest of the elements in the cottage. I have so many different colors and patterns in my accessories that it seemed the stripes would unify everything. I have a combination of pillows from Mini Gio, Samantha's Minis, Ann Giling Miniatures, WHB Miniatures and Falcon Miniatures for this cottage.

Reading nook window seat.

Living room window seat.

For those who did not follow the beginning posts of the Storybook Cottage... The kit comes with several pieces of furniture which you can assemble. I used some of the bed parts and added/embellished to customize. You can see the original kit bed below and the changes I made farther down. Mainly a fancier back, a couple "drawers" and some Dresden trims. I love the cozy-ness and how it fits in the compact bedroom.

Furniture pieces included in the Storybook Dollhouse kit.

I went with a minty green Brodnax Prints cotton fabric for the sheets and pillowcase. It has a tiny basket weave pattern and would let the micro crochet afghan, created by Julie Warren, be the star. I did not feel like getting out the sewing machine, so all of the upholstery/bedding has been "sewn" with glue.

Because of the unique shape of Rose's bed, in order to make the afghan fit, I had to alter it by removing two of the crochet squares. I applied Aleen's Fabric Fusion to the stitches on both sides of the squares where I would need to cut and remove them. Once the adhesive was completely dry, I very carefully cut the squares away with fabric scissors. Once the squares were removed, I applied more Fabric Fusion to all of the cut edges. This way, I could be certain that the stitches would never come loose. Now, in addition to a custom fitted bed cover, I also have two gorgeous tea trivets! 😊 Julie's crochet is incredible, by the way! I don't know if she sells these afghans any longer, but if you ever come across one, GET IT!!!

A Perfect Custom Fit!

And with Rose's favorite doll and bears from childhood. She's very sentimental, you know! I am so excited to tell her that she can finally come live in her cottage and have a nice, comfortable place to lay her head each night! 🥳

Cozy and comfortable.

I was beginning to get into the spirit of the cottage at this point! I pulled out all of the furniture I had set aside for the project and thought about what my intentions for them were. I definitely didn't want to try to meld a bunch of wood finishes in with the pastel palette. That meant spray painting. And prep work...

I had a Bespaq chair that I loved, but because it had maroon fabric, I definitely needed to recover it in something more befitting the cottage. In fact, once I deconstructed the upholstery (the best way to make new patterns is from the old ones), I wanted to cut a replacement seat cushion out of foam core, too. These old, spongy, foam furniture cushions that we find in so many vintage dollhouse furniture pieces, tend to crumble with time.

TIP: To loosen all the old upholstery, I use my heat embossing tool. I just hold it onto a section of the furniture for several seconds and then test (by pulling with small plyers, not fingers!) to see if the adhesive is warm enough to remove the fabric/cushioning. Just be really cautious, start out with minimal time and test often. Burns are no fun! I like to take photos of every step as I deconstruct. It helps to remember how to put everything back together again once I've made my new patterns from the old.

You can see how crumbly it is already.

I also wanted to simplify the design. Instead of seat, back and arm cushions, I would just have the seat cushion. The back will stay open for a more casual, cottage look. The new cushion would need to be deeper and wider to fill the space.

It is difficult to get the exact dimensions right off the bat when furniture is wavy, narrows, or has supports in the way. Sometimes the old cushion will make a good template for the new one. I start with the overall dimensions across the front, the back and the depth, Then I trim/cut down areas and keep test fitting until the fit is just right, It is all trial and error. It is also a bit of a guessing game how much tolerance to allow for the cushioning and fabric. With patience, things seem to come together and work out nicely.

I cut the rough shape, then used the old cushion to trace the wave from the front of the cushion onto the foam core. I also cut and fit the slots for the back braces until I had a good fit. Then I covered in quilt batting and Thermolam Plus just like the window seats and mattress.

The dresser and side table for the bedroom were also Bespaq pieces in Walnut. To prep them for cottage-y paint I removed the drawer pulls and covered the bottom labels with masking tape. Whoever gets this cottage one day might like to know who made the furniture and accessories. Best to preserve the brand and model from paint. I also like to number the drawers because they often fit most perfectly in the original openings.

I have found that if you use a good chalk paint, there is no need to sand or rough up the surface of finished furniture. Likewise, the wee chipboard side table made from a Melissa's Miniwerld kit did not need primer. I applied four light coats of paint, letting each one dry completely in between.

The Bespaq coffee table felt very Mission-y, so I added metal fretwork pieces on top of the stiles on the sides to give it a more cottage feel. 

Then I made a couple fabric baskets using chipwood boxes covered in hemp string to slot in under the table on the shelf.

I covered the chair's cushion in the same striped fabric so that there would not be even more competing colors and textures in the living room. I love how it came out!

I'd say it was a productive week with a lot of progress! It also feels as if I have reconnected with the spirit and character of the cottage. I guess maybe absence can be a good thing. 😊

Next up, I'll go through all of the wee décor treasures to see what should be displayed where in the living room and bedroom. I'll also need to make some flowers for the many vases that need them. After all, if your flower garden is as bountiful as Rose's, you should be surrounded inside with fresh flowers, too!

xo xo,

Jodi

Not Yet Done, But Dusted!

I honestly can't remember how long it has been since I brought the Storybook Cottage dollhouse down from the shelf for dusting and repairs. My memory being what it is, if I didn't blog about it, I'll never really know for sure! It is obvious from the state of things that it has been a good, long while. My! How time flies...

Entombed in dust, the palette looks much more pastel.

The first task in getting this poor dollhouse finished was to assess the state of things. The gutters and a few of the "metal" roof's standing seams had completely given up and were lying across the garden path! I'm so glad Rose has been staying with Kairi and Roxanne! I'm sure she would have had a heart attack at the sound of this thing coming down!

The dust depth test was a shameful moment! At least I can partially blame the real life renovations for creating an excess amount of dust throughout the entire house. Seems like I am constantly dusting and vacuuming something! I just hadn't made it around to the dollhouses in a while.

I was really afraid of what I'd find when I turned the dollhouse around to look inside. Luckily, it wasn't too bad, considering...

But how do things become so wrecked when the house has been sitting on a shelf and no one has been home??? Do I have partying elf squatters that I don't know about? I better go check on the treehouse! Wayne has been known to keep questionable company every now and then. 

At first glance, the kitchen appeared to be in chaos! On closer inspection, thankfully, it was in pretty good shape! I was actually surprised that I didn't find empty red Solo cups, ping pong balls or Cheetos strewn on the floor! 

Wouldn't it be great, though, to discover evidence of the good kind of elves? You know, the kind that sneak in at night and help shoemakers and such. Ones that like to dust and straighten things up! 😊

The bathroom looked dilapidated, at first, with the medicine cabinet and sconce lying on the floor. But otherwise, things remained where I'd left them.

The only thing in the bedroom was a lot of dust and my abandoned To-Do list. Hey - I bet that's going to come in handy!

The assessment was pretty darn good, but before any repairs could get started, I wanted to empty the inside and outside of every loose item. This way, as I spun and jiggled to fix things, I wouldn't make anything worse! After a bit of reminiscing and admiring, I tucked it all away in a tote for safe keeping. It will all have to be cleaned and reaffixed with fresh museum wax before going back inside.

The only things I left inside were the things that were permanently affixed or that were super hard to put back into place. As long as the museum wax is still holding tight, I can dust/clean them in situ.

How exactly does a giant person clean a tiny cottage? I don't know how everyone does it, but I have a few tricks I've learned over the years. First, I like to vacuum as much dust away from the inside and outside as I can before I begin the hand cleaning. My philosophy is to let the HEPA filter in the vacuum encapsulate/capture what it can to save my lungs a little!

Wand with small attachment. There is also an extension I can add for hard to reach recesses.

My Shark vacuum has specialty attachment accessories available that you can buy. Your vacuum may have them, too. This one is small enough that it fits into a lot of tight places inside and out of a dollhouse. Be careful, though! It is a very powerful suction!

Rest assured that if anything should happen to come loose and be accidentally sucked up, the canister contents can be easily rummaged through before disposal.

For size comparison. Very small but powerful attachment.

Just look at how much dust gets sucked up in the first pass! It's so much better than spreading the dust particles around while you're trying to capture them!

The vacuum takes care of about 80% of the dust battle, but what about the tight spaces and tiny crevices?

For those, I like to use a variety of soft makeup brushes. I gently sweep out/off the corners and items while holding the vacuum attachment close by to capture the dust. They are great for clearing out tiny, hard to reach crevices in corners and on delicate mini décor.

To remove residual museum wax, I love my metal Cricket spatula/scraper tool. It is thin and removes almost all of the wax by gently scraping it from the surface. It can be collected and reused if it is still clean. A glasses cleaning cloth is great for polishing the last bit of waxy residue away and can be tossed in the washer with kitchen towels.

When it comes to dollhouse flowers and garden landscapes, I vacuum off as much as safely possible. Then, I like to give everything a good blast of air! This really gets to the fine particles of dust in hard to reach places. Because canned air is so expensive and is really bad for our ozone, I have invested in an Electric Air Duster. The benefits are many, including being rechargeable. It has turned out to be the perfect tool for cleaning real life electronics, computer keyboards, speakers, video game consoles, power tools, window tracks and any place you need a forceful blast of air to loosen dirt and grime (like car dashboards). I find new uses for it all of the time!

CAUTION! It is remarkably powerful, so start slow and work your way up to full blast!

There is also a cheaper version that still gets great reviews!

Comes in a nice sturdy box for storage.

Many attachments to choose from.

Now that the dust was out of the way, I came up with a plan to repair things. The only issues with the exterior of the Storybook were the fallen gutters, the roof's standing seams coming unbonded and the mail box's lifting door had fallen off because the glue on the hinges had failed. It seems that the adhesive I used did not create a very good bond with the Krylon Metallic Copper Paint pen. It is oil paint, though, so I should have known the bond would not be strong with water based adhesive. I'll take note of that and be sure to leave bare wood to wood in the future so it bonds better.

It was tricky to attach the gutters back onto the house because there are teacup rain chains attached to them on both ends. The ends of those rain chains are attached to rain barrels. It was like working with hand shackles on, I imagine!  I sanded the paint off the areas where I was going to put the glue (a combination of Tacky Glue and Gorilla Super Glue Gel) and then supported them overnight with several pieces of masking tape. It seems to have bonded well now.

The front metal roof section above the door and bay window had four of the ribs come loose. I could only find two of them in the garden so I had to cut, paint and adhere a couple more. I applied a moss wash in several areas to blend them in.

I found that many of the flower petals and leaves, in spite of having been sprayed with sealer, had faded over time. I had dyed them with alcohol ink when I made them back in 2018/2019 and had no experience with how well that would hold up to time. Some petals and leaves were still as fresh looking as the first day and some were in varying degrees of fading. For the most obvious fading, I reapplied alcohol ink using a small paint brush. I resealed them with Mod Podge for paper in hopes of getting a thicker coating of protection. We'll see how that holds up, compared to the spray sealer, over time.

I also repaired the tiny cottage mailbox by re-gluing the opening flap and the wee flag.

I was very happy that, under all the dust, things had held up amazingly well since I stopped working on the Storybook in 2019! Now, as I turn my attention to working on completing the interior projects, I am hopeful that I'll find things are still safe and in great condition, too!

xo xo,

Jodi