Remodeling a remodeled dollhouse

My favorite Rich Toys doll houses are the yellow and brown Tudor houses from the 1930s. They range in colors from bright, medium, and pale yellow to pale green trimmed with  brown "timbering".  I knew this was a Rich Toys house when I first saw it, but I didn't remember seeing this model with an extension with the ranch style window.  I loved the curved opening on the exterior rear wall....and even though it was missing the door and windows, I thought it would be a fairly easy fix.

 

 

 This is how it looked when I found it on ebay....

 

 

 

...and the interior.

 

Luckily I won it, and the seller took the house apart for shipping.  When it arrived and I was reassembling it, I realized the wall with the curved opening was  similar to a garage opening in a  Rich Toys house in a Zillner doll house book. I looked, and there it was on page 151 of Zillner's Antique and Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings.

 

 

 A former owner had remodeled the garage, making it an additional room.  The floor of the garage was raised to make it level with the other rooms on the bottom floor and cut a door into the new room that had formerly been a garage.   A ranch style window was created in the solid back wall of the garage and placed on the front of the house.  The wall with the curved opening (that at one time had garage doors attached) was used as the back wall. 

 

I liked the additional room they created, but I also liked the look of the garage doors on the front. So I decided to keep the additional room but also try to reclaim the original look....and here is how it looks now.

 

 

I made....

• a new front door and garage doors,
• new windows,
• replaced the dark shutters,
• added original flowers to the window box,
• cut a small roof for over the front door and added a similar light fixture,
• cut a porch from an old Rich Toys chimney I bought on Ebay for $5,
• and painted a flagstone driveway on the board that a previous owner had attached as a base. 

 

I loved the vintage wallpaper in this house and was able to salvage two rooms.  Because the window frames were glued in place, I had to make new frames to hold the plastic windows. I left the wood-toned contact paper on the floor and added a period linoleum paper flooring to the kitchen area.  I took the liberty of creating two rooms on the second floor and a small attic at the peak of the house.

 

 

 

My house is now furnished....mostly with Kage furniture  produced between 1938-48. Kage is known for its adorable upholstered pieces. The wood pieces are non-functioning....and  a bath set was produced but very hard to find.

 

 

All the furniture in the kitchen is Kage; and, when the lady of the house is washing dishes at her little Kage sink, she can look out her window and see the lovely house across the street.

 

 

 

With the exception of the red table lamp, all the living area is furnished with Kage. Several models of chairs and sofas were produced by Kage.

 

 

 

The chest-on-chest, the bed, and the vanity and chair are the Kage pieces in the bedroom. Kage dressed their beds with a snug fabric over the "mattress" and matching pillow. I have other beds that include a matching coverlet but I'm not sure if they are original. The vanity and chair also came with matching skirts. This fabric is not original....all the pieces were bare when I purchased them, but the fabric is vintage 1953 found in my mom's scrap bag!  The lamps are not Kage products, nor are the chaise, the bedside table and the beds in the boy's room. They came with my latest doll house and I am unaware of the brand name.

When I removed the soiled fabric from the chaise, I found it had been padded with folded newspaper from The Enquirer of Cincinnati, Ohio, March 8, 1942. 

 

 

 

I think the toilet is part of the Nancy Forbes 3/4-1" scale furniture, the sink and shower look like the smaller scale Schoenhut. A reader  identified the tub as being made by Kage....it has a lovely curved end which is not totally visible. The shower was missing a side...I installed  a "glass" wall.  These pieces were either off white or natural wood....I gave them a uniform color.

 

 

 

The little Caco boys share a room next to the bath. The beds, toy chest and chair are an unknown brand. The dressers are Kage....with added wooden knobs for deco.

 

Here is a closer look at the Kage furniture found in this remodeled Rich Tudor...

 

 

 The floor lamp is Schoenhut.  A piano bench is being used as a table 

in front of the sofa...Kage did make a coffee table.

  

 

 

 ....and a pretty blue motor car now lives in the garage!