With my daughters...a special renovation project

This is something that is pretty sentimental to me as far as "material things" are concerned.  It is a dollhouse that my Grandpa McWhorter had made for me when I was born so it is now thirty years old.  I really didn't know this particular grandpa very well and now as an adult I have been working on his temple work and his father's line of work and it is neat how close to him I have grown to feel.    

There really are not that many wood dollhouses out there these days as common as they used to be.  This house holds millions of precious memories to me of my sisters and I and days of filling it with furniture, rearranging the rooms, playing with the families and having "mysteries" happen inside the house.  It has been well loved through four little girls already and the wear and tear is showing.

It is now missing its front doors on both levels, the balconies are both cracking, the windows are broken and the wallpaper is faded and torn.  However the "bones" of the house are in tact and its roof is still in awesome condition.  When I got married and I took it with me I always hoped to one day get to have a daughter to renovate it with.  Now to my joy I have been blessed with two.

I have let it sit out in the garage and waited wanting to not start this project until Avery was big enough to be a part of it and really understand what we were doing.  A couple of months ago we were cleaning out the garage and the girls saw it up there and started asking to get it down to play with it.  Deke pulled it down and both of them sat there oooooing and ahhhhhing at it and talking about it.  I realized it was time.

At five and two and a half they are ready to have this down where they can use it and pretend with it and make their own memories and I can't wait to watch them.  So down it came permanently and Ave and I started researching plans for its renovation.  We decided to start working on it this summer with the goal to have it finished (not furnished) but renovated by January when we move Emma to a big girl bed and update the girls room.

So good ole #4372 will be a getting a total makeover.  New exterior paint, brand new windows, trim and shutters, a completely new balcony that will have an upper and lower deck and span the front width of the house.  A new upper balcony, new front doors and french balcony doors.  

New flooring and totally new wallpaper, the only thing staying original will be the roof and chimneys.  Then slowly we will have fun going room to room and decorating it.  I seriously can't wait.  I had to take a lot of pictures of its original state to always remember it this way.  I feel so happy that the girls are going to get such a special house to play with.  I feel like not a lot of little girls these days get a chance to do something like this with their mom.  There is only two dollhouse shops here in the valley, one is in downtown Glendale.  We went there two weeks ago and started eyeing stuff that we are wanting to use.  Some of the dollhouses in there were incredible.

We start demolition in two days on Deke's day off and I am excited/nervous about it.  It is crazy to think that by the time we have grandkids old enough to play with this dollhouse it will be heading towards 50 years old.  To me that is really special.  Deke and I plan on always having it for our kids and then grandkids to play with.  I hope it will be something that my daughters and granddaughters grow to cherish as I do.  The cherry on top of this is that a week after we brought it down and decided to get going on it, they announced in RS that in August we are having a special Mother and Daughter night.  The theme is projects with your mom and they are having a dinner and then asking the moms and daughters to do a special project together to bring to display and talk about that night.  I couldn't believe it.

Well we have our project.  There is no way it will all be done by then, but the goal is to have the exterior painted and the new windows and exterior doors in.  Possibly a couple of rooms wallpapered and a few furniture pieces so that people can get and idea.  It is going to be awesome.  I am going to take pictures in all the stage so Ave and I can make a posterboard showing the progress.  It is going to be sweet.  Emma and Avery are thrilled and I am getting busy let the demo begin......