This Home is Where My Heart Is

Christmas morning, 1989.

There was surprise and joy when I dashed from my bedroom to our living room and saw it: a brand new dollhouse. Dad had assembled it from a kit, painted the outside, and even installed a few pieces of wallpaper. I also received a few pieces of miniature furniture and some accessories that morning, along with two dolls (a lady of the house and a maid).

Over the years, I acquired more items, including a child doll, books, food, a chair, and a Christmas wreath.

After I stopped playing with the house, it remained at home with my parents, carefully stored along with everything that went with it. This year, I decided to bring it into my own home and finish what Dad started. And that's how my big project began. Many hours and numerous visits to fabric and craft stores later, the house was complete. I'm proud and thrilled to share the story of how I lovingly restored it, with Dad in mind every step of the way.

Before... ... and after!

The workspace. It was a challenge keeping the cat away from everything!

The left upstairs attic room received a coat of paint on the ceiling, wallpaper, and flooring.

The child's bedroom received paint on the ceiling and window frame along with wallpaper, flooring, a new rug from Etsy, and new bedding (more on that later!).

The bathroom needed a lot of love. I re-glued and repaired the original wallpaper and flooring, and gave the back wall and window frame some paint.

I purchased a new mirror and picture frame from the craft store. The Francois Boucher print came from an old art catalog. Everything else is original. For some reason my childhood self just had to have a canister of tongue depressors.

The main bedroom already had a mirror and a valance over the window, as well as a removable carpet.

I washed the rug, added wallpaper and flooring, made new bedding, put in a mirror from the craft store, and turned the original mirror into an art piece with a Fragonard print from an art catalog (I wrote my college thesis on that painting!). And would a dollhouse of mine really be complete without Anne Boleyn on the wall?

I forgot to take a before photo of the kitchen, but the after picture speaks for itself! I painted the window frame, re-glued the original flooring, and added wallpaper. I bought the cup of coffee at the craft store because I'm an adult now and recognize that the maid needs coffee. Apparently, cake, pizza, and a box of Cheerios (tipped over in this photo) was everything that 8-year-old Catherine needed.

The living room already had a bit of wallpaper and a removable carpet (La Croix for scale, I guess?).

I re-glued the wallpaper, added new paper on the other walls, washed and attached the carpet, painted the door and window frames, and added Queen Catherine Parr.

Now for some in-progress photos!

Attaching wallpaper to the kitchen. Painting the stairs.

I tried to do math to measure the attic wallpaper, failed miserably, and ended up eyeballing it. Dad would have laughed.

As I mentioned earlier, the beds needed new bedding! I picked out a couple of patterns at the fabric store, along with some lace, and created new bedspreads and pillows for each bedroom.

Painting the child's room. Selecting some new art for the walls.

When I pulled back some original wallpaper, I discovered that a bit of Christmas tinsel from 1989 was stuck there.

Finally, I give you the cat, who seemed to sense the happiness emanating from the house and the love that went into it, then and now.

Or perhaps she just needed a place to rub.