Repairs needed on the inside

(Disclaimer: There are three posts in a row here where I am detailing the starting point of my new project.  I may get a little smart-alecky in some comments, but I want everyone to know that I do truly love this dollhouse and think it is beautiful.  And I especially love that it was put together by my Grandpa, and decorated by others in my family.  That said, there are a few things that I definitely want to change now that I can!)

On one hand there are less repairs needed on the inside, not so many broken things.  On the other hand, all the wiring is shot and that's going to be a MAJOR undertaking!  Also, I'm planning to remodel a few things, redo the few wall coverings that exist plus cover the rest of the walls, ceiling, and floors.  I'm dreading wall/ceiling/floor coverings.  *twitch*  And who knows where I'll go from there.  Either more dollhouse decorating, or the nut farm.  One of the two.

Let's see what I'm starting with.

Inside view:

You can probably kind of see all this, but I'll go ahead and elaborate anyway (I never claimed to be short-winded)  This is for the most part how I had the layout when I was a kid.  I have this nagging feeling a few things aren't quite the same, but I'm not too worried about it.  Upper left corner is the bathroom.  Behind the bathroom (hidden from view, access via that trap door I showed in the previous post) is the girl's bedroom.  Upper floor middle is the nursery.   Upper right is the boy's room.

Second floor, left side is momma and daddy's room.  The middle space has a pool table in it and the right side of the second floor is the kitchen.

Ground level, left side is mostly a music room.  And then the big room on the right was a weird combination of living room with the dining room table.  I have no idea why the dining room table is down a flight of stairs from the kitchen, that seems like a bad idea, but that's how Mom said the furniture was when she packed it up to move down here.  (Real Mom, not Doll Mom!  Doll Mom didn't pack anything up.  you'll see why shortly... I mean aside from the fact that SHE'S A DOLL!)

Let's zoom in, shall we?

Other than a little glue for the faucets and patching up chimney hole, not much repair work in the bathroom.  Well, that and all the wiring!  And for the record, the crazy old top-flush toilet and wringer washtub make me giggle like a 6-year-old!  I love them... but they're a little crazy and old!

Virtually no repairs in the girl's room except for the lighting and to sand down the French doors to make them close properly.

One repair is needed in this space, however:

but otherwise the baby's current room is still in good shape

Except that little detail.  I'm feeling a relocation coming on.

And I had to show the bedding... Mom (Real Mom) made all the bedding, and I think it was all made from fabric scraps from clothing she'd sewn for Joe and me.  However, she made the baby's bedding pink and in my decision to relocate the nursery during this project, I also decided to change the baby's gender... more on that later.

Once I rip out the pink teddy bear wallpaper, I'm envisioning this room being a sort of library in the future.  Lots of bookshelves.  Because I found a website that has loads and loads of dollhouse sized books!  I must have books.  Actually, I'm debating seeing if I can make books myself.  I don't want to completely break the bank on this project.  Anyway... future library.

On to the last room on the third floor:

Let's never speak of that fabric's origin again.

And here's what I'm thinking for the new layout:

See, that's why I had to change the baby's gender.  Baby just became a boy.  Girl's room doesn't have enough space for two to share the room, but this one has plenty.  And before you ask, Girl gets to keep the secret hidden trap-door room with the balcony.  Why am I so adamant about that?  Because I am a girl, and I would love to have a funky-cool room like that, so Girl Doll gets it.  

Do my dolls need names? 

Let's head downstairs.  (Wait, why didn't I start on the floor with the front door?  Eeh, I started at my eye level.  Deal with it)

Somehow the parents' bed broke.  A little glue and all will be right with the world again.  I don't like to speculate on how the bed might have broken.

When Boy was in his big bedroom all alone, he needed the big dresser to fill up that giant room.  But now that I'm making him share with Baby, I think the future parents' bedroom is going to have the big dresser.  Also, nightstands and lamps!  Plus yanno, that whole ceiling-fans-don't-belong-on-the-floor thing. 

One more thing - Real Mom cut out all those little holes and put up that wallpaper.  I'm not sure I want to have to redo that!  What's with all the little cutouts?  (no, seriously, why do the parents have "windows" into their room from the stairs?!  ever heard of privacy?)  And recently I was looking online at other people's dollhouses to get ideas for mine, and I found another dollhouse that was done in the last 5 years that had both this exact wallpaper and the same pink wallpaper from my girl's room!  Weird. 

Now, about that "pool hall". 

It's not really that long of a story.  I wanted to play pool in the dollhouse (even though there was a real people-sized pool table in the very same basement as the dollhouse) so I snapped off the cues and the cue ball.  Everything had been glued down when it was new.  Unfortunately it seems that some parts are lost forever.  I never did manage to pry off the rack and the 6 (6?  SIX???  only a few short) balls inside it, of course the upside is that they also never got lost.  Also I kinda think Joe might have been involved in the wish to play dollhouse pool too, but I can't prove that so I guess we'll allow him to maintain his innocence... for now!  

Also, the floors and staircase are really properly straight.  My camera somehow went a little fish-eye on me even though I don't have a fisheye lens.  Weird.  

On to the kitchen.  

And a closer look:

Bwahahahaha nice typo Trish!  That was supposed to say dangling, not danging, wire.  Oops!  Oh well, I'm not going back into Photoshop to fix it now. 

That wall isn't broken, the wallpaper is just sagging strangely.  Also, the kitchen appliances/cabinets were perfect for me in 1983....  but... and I hope whoever bought the set for me is not offended..... I really want to replace the set now!

My vision for the future of the second story involves shifting the removable wall to turn the "pool hall" into just a hallway, and moving the dining room up into the kitchen.  It may not be readily apparent in the picture below, but the wall is moved probably halfway towards the staircase, so the hallway is much narrower but there is more room in the kitchen.  I'll probably hang some miniature photos or paintings on the hall wall to make it less boring.  And seriously, I want a whole new kitchen set!  I've found a couple online I kinda like.  More on that later.  Much later... like after I get a job and can afford it.  But here's a visual of what I want the layout to kinda look like.

Allow me to explain the stove laying on its back... I want a kitchen set that fits in a corner, so there would be a piece where the stove is laying.  But it definitely needs to not have upper cabinets, because otherwise you can't see into the room. 

And finally, the floor that should have been first if this was a logical tour.  On the left side is the music room.  Oh boy, this is going to be a fun set of pictures!

But wait... what's that on the right side?

I forgot to note this on the picture, but the fireplace has a couple little reddish lights in it that light up (when the electricity is working) I think that is pretty cool.

Two things bother me about this room.  First of all, the instruments are completely blocking both beautiful bay windows.  Second.....

I mean I'll suspend reality long enough to not be bothered by the fact that the walls are about 1/8" thick and there's no room for any kind of chimney to go from the fireplace to the roof... but why are they not even on the same 1/8" thick wall?  Well... since the chimney got ripped off accidentally during transport a couple weeks ago, and the fireplace isn't really attached at all... how about a music room with no fireplace.  Although I'd like to point out that I've seen the building schematics of this house and the company said to put the chimney there even though there is no room on that wall for a fireplace!  So, totally not Grandpa's fault.  Design flaw.

(of course a pot-belly stove would warrant a chimney on that side of the house, no?) But anyway...

And that leads us to the last room.  The old version looked like this:

(sorry, I apparently didn't take a zoom-out picture.  that armrest in the lower right corner of this pic is the couch, and there's a matching loveseat which is sitting with its back towards me)  Anyway, I moved the dining room table upstairs and the pool table downstairs and shifted the fireplace and came up with this layout

The loveseat hasn't moved.  Pretty much everything else has!  Speaking of the loveseat...

1. it's covered in strawberries, not Mickey Mouses (wait, is it Mice?  But "Mouse" is his proper name.  Oh my head hurts) so why is it from Walt Disney World?  I didn't think they ever made anything that wasn't readily recognizable as Disney.  and 2. Gosh I hope that's supposed to be $3.50... because $350 seems like an awful lot to spend on a strawberry-covered couch!

And last but not least, in addition to all the random points throughout the house where I pointed out wiring issues, here's one final wiring shot.  I definitely have my hands full.

I just got a new wiring kit from my friendly neighborhood FedEx delivery guy today!  I guess it's time to step away from the computer and do something. Oh, and once again I feel compelled to point that Grandpa did a wonderful job wiring the house 28 years ago, but the copper tapewire has corroded and fallen off in places and I want some wiring in new places so that's why I'm starting from scratch. 

I promise that one of these days I will start actually doing something.  I think.  Maybe.