Cleaning a tattered old house

 We recently purchased another old house.

 Today was cleaning day.

I had quite a job in front of me. The neglected old house had not been lived in for many years..

It was in a derelict state of disrepair.

Poor old house, the paint was chipping, porch railings were missing and window frames were cracked.

Many  of the window pane wood was lying on the ground in pieces, and you could see where they had once been attached to the window glass.

   But the house had many wonderful qualities. A wraparound porch, a little French door, corbels all around the roofs and over 26 windows!

 The windows were just filthy  but most were intact with no cracked glass.

 The interior of the house had been stripped clean..no wallpaper or plaster or floor molding, floorboards; even the staircase was gone and the interior walls!

   Nevertheless, the house had great possibilities, like a blank canvas.

  The porch has an old slat gray paint,  and steps that need a good scrubbing.
James gathered all the cleaning supplies together.
 Okay, time to get to work!
I started on top of the roof..it was quite a steep roof, but I wasn't afraid of the heights.
The roof cleaned up nicely...it was green underneath all the dirt and all the corbels were intact.
 
It only took 5 minutes to sweep the entire floor.

It cleaned up nicely with a dry paintbrush.

 I got a good start on replacing all the window panes...

  After thoroughly cleaning all the 20 windows..which only took an hour.

THIS is why....

Our new "old house" is only 18 inches tall!
.Next month I turn 62 years old, and this olde house is my birthday present.
Isn't it just marvelous??!

 I never had a dollhouse as a child, maybe I am making up for lost time. I have resisted the urge to purchase one because I know that once you start with a dollhouse, you never stop.After all, a house needs wallpaper, rugs, furnishings, stenciling, curtains, pots and pans, dishes, a kitty, brooms and dustpans, bedspreads, quilts, samplers, a Hoosier, a  pie-safe, and on and on; need I say more?
 
 This one is completely empty. It will take very small furnishings, 1:24 is the scale. What fun it will be to fill it up in time.
 Another reason I never had a dollhouse is that I wanted just the right one. It had to be very old. My guess is that this dolly-house is turn of the century. As an antiques "detective", I have deduced this from the crackled paint, building material, wavy window glass and the style of the house. It was painstakingly built by hand, long BEFORE dollhouse kits were available. I like to think it was a replica of the builder's own house, but it is remarkable how similar it is to OUR  house with it's wraparound porch, long windows and steeped hipped roof...and corbels... And a dormer too!

This little house came from Pennsylvania. It included a small box full of tiny parts that had fallen off, such as mini corbels...

   window frames and broken window pane pieces which I am able to replicate with balsa wood.

After a good house cleaning it was ready to be put in a place of honor.

 in the parlor

  I think it is a real treasure.
Wow, can't wait to decorate!

 But that will have to be put on hold because I am on a time schedule to finish a lot of critters for the next 3 shows..

Foxes, Squirrels, Badgers, mice, rats, buns a skunk and  a possum.
So, I am back to the wool and finished with house work and interior decorating for the time being.
Fondly from the Hollow! Jeri