Playing with the dollhouse - reno time

I found this dollhouse at a thrift store a few years ago for only $5.00. It was the second dollhouse I bought and it started my dollhouse fever and this blog. At that time I went to the local dollhouse store and spent more than $145 on wallpaper and supplies. I had fun working on the inside and I blogged about the house here back in 2009.

This spring I felt like doing something creative so I brought the house in from the garage and repaired one corner of the roof. I painted the outside of the house and the roof.  I had three windows and a door that I had made from House of Miniature  kits.  I had a few pleasant evenings painting those and installing them in the house. They improved it immensely.

I found some fake flowers at the dollar store and discovered that I could unravel them from their wire stems to make perfect mini flowers. I filled the flower boxes and even made little floral trees for each side of the front door.

I added a decorative fence and, viola, and old beat-up dollhouse had new life.

I hand-painted the shutters and was quite pleased with the effect.

I had wallpapered the four main rooms of the house back in 2009, but the attic was bare. I put in a small dividing wall and made the attic into a nursery and a bathroom with new wallpaper.

The maid just took a pie out of the oven.

I added 1950s tin pieces (stove, sink, fridge and Hoosier cupboard) to the kitchen. The red table and chairs are also Strombecker.

I used the same Strombecker furniture in the living room, bedroom and dining room that I had in the house six years ago. I love the way this vintage furniture looks in the house and the scale is perfect.

The Schoenhut shower is so cute.

The wooden furniture in the nursery and bathroom was made by Schoenhut in the 1920s, but the chaise lounge is Wisconsin furniture.

 I made the leafy plants out of masking tape over floral wire and then painted the leaves. That was fun. I plan to make more.

I am very pleased with my upgraded house. I think it looks great now and I had such fun doing it!

1940 Dining Room for Dolls for 7" to 8" dolls

This beautifully made dining room set was hand crafted around 1940. The detail of the set is amazing. It is a large scale  - probably for 8" dolls. 

The set is too big for a 1:12 scale dollhouse. I will have to make a room box for it. This setting is a temporary box made from artist canvases. The paintings are held up by magnets. I didn't want to damage the canvases with pins or tape.

I think it was built before Ginny was popular and decades before Barbie arrived on the market, so I would be curious to know what doll originally went with the set.

The table extends to include one board. The table legs are very detailed.

Each chair has a hand-carved back and hand carved legs. 

The server, like the other pieces, has hand carved legs.

The buffet is beautifully made.

The china cabinet has cellophane in the door to mimic glass. The design in the door is hand cut.

This is a little flapper type doll made in Germany in the 1920s

This doll is too early for the set as her 1920's frock shows, but she is the right size for it.

The set included a 1940 "The Great Allentown Fair Exhibitor" form.  This Pennsylvania Fair has been held in early Fall since 1852.