How a DIYer Is Preserving a 111-Year-Old Family Tradition, One Tiny Renovation at a Time
The 111-year-old dollhouse currently entrusted to Kia Hayes has been in her family for four generations and enjoyed by some 20 children along the way. But for the moment, it’s in her Seattle home for a little TLC. Old dollhouses, it turns out, are a lot like real old houses. Every now and again, they need a quality renovation to ensure they can continue to be passed on to the next generation.
Built by her great-great-grandfather in 1913 in Sacramento, California, the dollhouse comes with a ton of historic character, especially in the woodwork in the windows and interior doors.
Living Room, before
That old-house charm, though, brings with it challenges. Lead-based paint remediation, a front porch in disrepair (its original pieces stowed in the attic), and wallpaper layers that can take you back like a time machine—Kia documents it all on her Instagram account Windyhill Whimsy, which has quickly racked up 78.3K followers.
Her posts about the renovation progress come along with fascinating family stories and pictures, from antique photos of her great-great-grandfather to vintage ones from Christmas 1951 when her aunt inherited the dollhouse.
Then there are Kia’s own colorful childhood recollections. In one post about restoring a dollhouse table, which she is fairly certain her grandfather made, she writes, “Many too tall Barbies and too small little figurines had tea parties at this table.”
Suffice it to say, it’s an excellent Instagram rabbit hole to fall down, and after I discovered it, I had to learn more about the creator behind it.
An artist, crafter, and dollhouse restorer by night
Kia (right) and her sister Sienne with the dollhouse in the 1990s
Today, Kia lives and works in Seattle, Washington. “I am a whale researcher and toxicologist by day and an artist, crafter, and dollhouse restorer by night! I like to keep a healthy balance between the scientific and creative sides of my brain and life,” she tells Country Living.
She grew up in a small town nestled in the coastal redwoods of California where she and her sister were two of the children to inherit the dollhouse for a time.
“I have always cherished this dollhouse and knew I wanted one day to fix it up to help preserve it. Even as a kid, I clearly felt passionate about ideas for renovations and preservations.” She wrote a letter about those ideas to her grandfather, who was planning to make some renovations, when it came time for her child self to pass on the dollhouse. She rediscovered the letter when she took charge of the dollhouse again in 2024.
“I had outlined specific requests for him, including things like preserving the yellow color of the house, the chimney painted like bricks, and to keep these little glow-in-the-dark star stickers I had placed along the rim of the roof because ‘they sort of represent me.’ I have always been a bit of a sentimental fool,” she says. “My grandfather didn’t end up renovating the house that time, but 25 years later, it turns out I would be the one to work on it! So, in a way, it ended up being a letter to my future self.”
Kia (pictured) tells Country Living: “One of the things I love about this project is getting to work on a variety of sub-projects, from home improvements, furniture restorations, interior design, sewing, and making mini pottery. I get to stay creatively busy and learn new techniques!”
The dollhouse renovation is also an extension of another of Kia’s passions: “In recent years, I have also taken on somewhat of a role as our family historian. I have spent countless hours digitizing hundreds of my grandpa’s old photo slides and film reels, transcribing 50 years of my grandmother’s travel journals, and fleshing out family trees and records.”
Kia’s great-great-grandfather Rollin circa 1913, the year he built the dollhouse as a Christmas gift for his granddaughter.
“I am fascinated with learning more about my family and helping to preserve not only the artifacts they left behind but the memories of the full lives they led. I want to be able to share this history with the rest of my family and ensure it is not lost to the future.”
Even the name of her Instagram account for the project, Windyhill Whimsy, commemorates a piece of family history—the Californian home her grandparents built in 1950 atop a hill that was very windy indeed. The dollhouse resided there from the 1950s through the ’70s.
Before her dollhouse project could begin, the family heirloom first had to go on its longest journey ever, leaving the state of California for the first time in its 111-year history. She recalls: “It took a whole family affair to transfer the dollhouse to me. My brother brought it to my sister’s house, she drove it up North to my mom’s house, and finally, I took it on its last leg of the trip to Washington state! I love that it passed through all three of my dad’s children in this latest transfer, sort of symbolic of the many people who have loved the house.”
The stories those walls could tell
Layer upon layer of floral wallpaper in a bedroom
One of the most surprising parts of the renovations so far has been discovering all of the hidden layers of wallpaper, Kia says: “Each layer I peeled back felt like a reveal of a different moment in time and of all the joyous childhoods enjoyed with the dollhouse.”
Another fun find: “Around 20 different kids across four generations of my family have had the dollhouse at some point. All of the names of the kids are listed underneath the dollhouse.”
Her most challenging renovation task so far
“The biggest challenge so far has been figuring out how to deal with the areas of the house and furniture that were painted with lead-based paint. I have had to do a lot of work meticulously stripping, peeling, and sealing any remnants of lead paint so that it can be safer. Particularly given that the dollhouse is played with by kids, I wanted to pay extra attention to this step and do it right,” Kia says.
On Instagram, Kia has professed a ”minor obsession with tiny door knobs.” Can’t say I blame her.
How she’s leaving her mark on the dollhouse
Family members contributed to the dollhouse over the years, adding their own often-handmade touches. Many of those are additions are furnishings and decor. Some of them are a more subtle and even more endearing, like the glitter that remains in the green living room carpet even after a meticulous cleaning (she’s pretty sure the glitter came from her niece, the most recent owner).
Kia is continuing this aspect of the family tradition in her renovation as well. She’s a potter and recent posts reveal bowls and even perfectly-to-scale kitchen floor tiles among the dollhouse creations she’s working on.
Renovation plans include restoring and re-attaching the roof and front porch.
“A big goal of mine with renovating the dollhouse is to preserve and honor my family members who contributed to it. Restoring or adding various representations of my family,” she says. “For example, I plan to use my Scottish family’s tartan in the dollhouse. My grandfather had our family tartan woven in Scotland and before he passed away, and he gave one roll to each of his children. I have my father’s portion of the fabric and plan to use it to reupholster some of the furniture to honor my Scottish heritage.
“I also want to add a bit of my own creations into the dollhouse, like the miniature pottery I have been making. In the continuation of a family legacy of imaginative creators, builders, and homemakers, there will be little bits of us infused in the dollhouse.”
The fate of her stars
Her childhood letter specifically requested that the glow-in-the-dark stars she added to the rim of the roof stay. “I do want to fulfill my little self’s wish to keep the star stickers, but the roof is definitely in need of some TLC, so I think I will go for a classier update and paint back on the stars. But as a compromise with my younger self, I plan to add a touch of glow-in-the-dark paint!”
