VERO Work

After addressing the bath in my VERO house -- the room in the worst shape by far -- I moved to the adjacent living area. I made some good progress, but then had to wait for some glue to dry. I turned my attention to the upstairs windowed room, where the floor is down to its original wood, the original papers mere scraps. The wall has no surviving papers either. This is a picture from when I first received the house -- you can see some sticky adhesive faux wood paper that used to be there.

After feeling a bit discouraged (again) by its broken down state, I decided to do something about it. I bought a brown place mat some time ago, thinking I could put it to use at some point, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Here's what $4.99 gets you...

After some sizing and trimming, I fit it in like a puzzle piece onto the floor, and I like the effect. It is very durable, has a nice texture, and I don't even mind the white inside that shows through on the sides.

Next came the wall, and I decided to use some nice paper I bought on UK eBay. I love the pattern, but it is extremely thin and was therefore challenging to cut and paste neatly. I think it fits the house, so I am happy.

The progress feels good!

What doesn't feel so good is the mess I made on the roof...

Credits: Barcelona chair by Reac; side table is vintage VERO; lucite bench is a drawer pull; Eames Hang It All and globe lamp are by minimodernistas; plants are vintage TOMY; moss pot is Manor House Miniatures with moss from Michaels; silver book holder is from Fridas Fancy. Accessories are AG Minis, Re-ment, beads from Pubdoll, Manor House Miniatures, and random dolls house store finds.

VERO Bath

When I got my VERO House from Germany last year, it was in pretty rough shape. Each room had its own affliction -- torn or damaged wallpaper, wood or window cracks, paint chipping -- likely courtesy of one or a few different owners. I have been trying to piece together its history, but as many of you know it can be so difficult to locate definitive information for vintage houses.

I do know the house was likely made by VERO in the late 1960s, perhaps early 70s. Since I bought my house on German eBay in fall 2009, I have seen a few others come to market that look very similar. One find helped me to see what the rooms originally looked like and how they were decorated. You can see more on that here.

One such room is on the lower left, and is most probably meant as a bath. Here is an example from a very similar house:

In my case, this room was the most damaged, covered in layers of thick, heavy blue paint and papers. It looked as if ancient frescoes had made their home there! Scraping to the original papers was not an option. This is what it looked like:

I scraped the papers and paint off as best as I could and then smoothed the craggy spots. After painting a molding piece along the back wall, I covered the ceiling in a remnant piece of grey-colored wood. I had painted the ceiling white, but that looked completely bizarre and out of place, given the creamy/aged pallor of the rest of the house.

I bought some papers and new paper paste at the Paper Source this weekend -- as part of a very fun mini meet-up with Dale of Dale's Dreams and Paula, who is getting back into minis and just got an amazing modern acquisition (thanks again for a great afternoon, ladies!) -- and tried them out. The results:

I was trying to be faithful to the 1960s/70s vibe of the house -- what do you think? I left the original blue papers on the floor and covered it in some of my favorite Chilewich placemat, hoping for a tile effect.

Next I might move to the main entrance/living area...

Credits: Sink is a UK eBay find; toilet is IKEA; rug is by Peppercorn Minis; planter is a craft store find and plant is an aquarium plant; wastebasket and light are AG Minis; Eames Hang-it-All is by minimodernistas; purse is handmade by Oese. Accessories are Re-ment and Barbie by Jonathan Adler.

Re-ment: The green soap and lotion bottle on the sink are from Cosmetics, Natural #4, and are good for 1:12.