Renovation: Box

1993 Playmobil Castle

Notice the left side of the box versus the right side. I bought a nice set of markers from the Dollar Tree and it had almost a perfect match for 'playmobil blue'. You can do this with any toy box and I use white elmers style glue for tatty ends and corners. On some shinier boxes you can even spritz a rag with an armor all or black magic type product and make it glossy again. 

Customs: Repaints: Black and White

Ive seen similarly painted homes, what do you all think? Its on ebay this week.  Its well done, just a little cold for me. 

Matching rear, nice attention to detail. 

Black floors, far out. 

Listing ended $250, reserve not met... I put as much work into my complete rehabs of this house, but I would never expect $1000 for it. I know without the box it kind of levels off at $150-$250 depending on the week and if it has patio triangles or furniture with it. Plus OOAK is not everyone's cup of tea, so like the 'timber lodge', 'bachelors pad' and 'Chinese restaurant', not sure how people are arriving at $800-$1800 prices.


1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Real Life Examples: Diagonal Wall Slats on Hoarders

Real life diagonal walls. And so shiny, Madge, I pledged them! As seen on last the last episode. Her hoard was not in the common areas, but a 9,000 commercial space downtown. Mmmhhmmm....

Other Houses: January 2012 Edition: Selling Spelling Manor

Spelling Manor. Que angel choir or the theme from Dynasty.  The largest house in LA, and the most expensive 'house' in the world, it was originally complained that due to its size (60,000 sq ft) it is an apartment complex and is a code violation due to local area zoning laws. 

Infamous doll museum with world renowned Madame Alexander collection.  They gave Tori the creeps, (and was even in a movie where they attacked her) so she stopped sleeping in there around 11. Complete with air and humidity controlled shelving and heatless lighting. As they would not fit into her new 10,000 square foot penthouse suite, they sold individually at auction for undisclosed prices. I can relate as that happened to me once. 

Tori's very own custom built, solid wood, lighted tudor style home. 

Gramma Candi gave this to Tori's daughter. Who hasn't given a $10,000, 300 pound dollhouse as a Christening gift? Oh, wait, their Jewish. Oy vey! 

Another go-normous house 

Having done a wood doll house kit before I can tell you it takes ENDLESS time, supplies and precision to get it done and look good. 

Renovation: Post Covers: Part Une

Step One: Arrival of said shattered, battered, rusty, crusty, musty, dusty, faded and otherwise estranged and not speaking posts (that ALOT of ebay sellers throw away in the trash because they think that no one will want them. =-( Make sure they are clean. 

 For step 2 tape all the cracks, rough edges and shards  together using preferably matte finish scotch tape. Go end to end whenever possible for greater continuity. 

Step 3: you can prime but since you are going from light beige to white its technically optional.  Take your time and do as many coats as necessary. 

Finished product, when done they are as white and complete as humanly possible.  Definitely a value adder. You can also make whats missing from white poster board from the dollar store. 

This is what the bottom of the box that arrives from 'ebay land' looks like. 

Ah, a match. there is hope! 

Laid out like a paleontologist's table of dinosaur bones. 

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Miscellaneous: Funnies

Sometimes the box really is more interesting then what came in it! Do you not love the PJ print, chair print and brown carpet decor? Those were the days....

This one speaks for itself. 

Kitty is deciding wether or not he approves.  Or he has just sprayed all over it. 

Furniture: Appliances: Focus on Harvest Gold Apps and Custom Dishwasher

I used a 1990 Arco sink/counter and worked my magic on it. It was pink, cost about $5 and I think was worth the effort to transform. 

I am not done fixing the faucet yet, but the dishwasher door was completely made from heavy paperboard and yellow poster board from the dollar store.  Almost a perfect match. 

Here you can see my yellow kitchen fetish and scale obession in the same photo. 

My customized, light up oven with translucent pots and pans. 

Another shot of it, it looks better in real life. 

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Other Topics: My Other Projects

2009 Playmobil Unicorn Princess Castle (small version).  Redone below. 

Grrrrrr!!!!! Merman's tub now! 

Old, dirty lot of pink tubs (before shot).

After mucho primer and Rustoleum products. Ah, thats better! 

No, I am not Gargemel cooking Smurf soup for lunch. I am selling my 30 year old Smurf houses (aint January a great time for spring cleaning?) and they were so grubby, bent and discolored I had to do something with them before expecting someone else to pay for and love them. This is also step one for any used toys you get that you want as minty as possible again. Hot water makes them soft and pliable as well as sanitizes them and loosens dirt. 

The during, primer is a must or else you are spraying 1000 coats of drippy color that you can still see the nasty old color looking back at you. You can see I really went to town with a sharpie marker back in 1983. 

I purposefully left the undersides original to show that the renovation was indeed necessary. 

The after village. The orange is remeniscent of the 1970's German Smurf house,with no white dots. 

The real life renovator in me couldnt resist upgrading to hardwood floors in Papa Smurf's house. virtually free and completely removable. See, the primed chimney is lighter and a flat finish, actually I like that better then the darker, shiny window frames. 

Ta daaahhhh.......

I had no idea it would take me 3 hours to assemble this 70's yellow 'house'. 

Finally done. I always did love a nice Lego set for my birthday (still do!).  Substituting lost parts is what took half my time, so I am not a total mental midget. What a crazy Saturday night that was! ;-)

Cutting apart the magenta wall (thank goodness for my black and decker dremel tool, that was the best $30 I ever spent)  is essentially necessary as the factory original castle is basically a stationary cookoo clock. one sided with funny little doors that open to a scene inside. Kind of pedestrian if you ask me. Naturally the hot pink had to go. 

The all important priming step. I should buy this stuff by the case.  PS Auto paint is the highest quality paint I have ever used. the blue for the turrets is auto spray, and you'll notice its the same blue as the inside of the 1984 hot tub. its so nice to work with. Its not nice to not ever get carded by the store clerk since spray paint is an over 18 product now. 

The rest of the parts once disassembled. The stickers come off in one nice piece, I think they are vinyl. One left behind a glue shmeer, but I keep acetone under the sink for things like that and it came right off.  This set is kind of a baby toy, but I knew I would love the end result, and the $11 for this was better then the $150 for the Playmobil large grey castle I am saving up for. 

Getting ready to contact paper the doors. The big decision was wether to paint them brown first, or leave a gold trim. I opted for the gold trim because you'll see these doors have a gold 'lock' on the bottom and I didnt want that brown. This way it looks like a metal. I had 4 shades of wood grain (fetish much?) and this was in the middle. I think the medium tone blends well with the white body of the castle and other lighter colors used in the diorama. 

Finished product. The handle between the turrets turned into a  front stoop. Its just primed grey, so one step easy.  I added a duck pond from blue paperboard from you guessed it, the Dollar Tree. I also rearranged the vineage so now there is a rose bush. 

The cut off wall is reversible, I applied the interior wall sticker back on in so you can stand it up and have a wall as an option, the chair is 1/4 or 1/2 inch scale (the real small kind, bought in a grocery store, late 70's a perfect match for a castle this size). 

The turrets are now attic space with hardwood floors, same tone as the doors. 

The floor is a square cut off from plywood in the wood aisle of Lowes. A rectangle that yielded 8 of these squares cost about $6. one side is nicer than the other. I had 6 mini cans of stain in the garage and chose this shade, glad they are getting used for something, just make sure you sand first. I also put little rubber cabinet bumpers as feet on it so its toaly done. If I do this project again (scored the castle for $11 total) will do a cream colored body with red turrets. 

2002 Barbie Rapunzel Castle Tower redone as Spanish Mediterranean Villa with hardwood floor.