Mount Vernon in Miniature - The Dollhouse

The pillared side of the real mansion faces the Potomac River

The un-pillared side faces the bowling green

As a patriotic Canadian I decided to spend Canada Day weekend with friends in the USA.

They live in the Washington DC area so we went to visit George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, while I was there.

To my delight there was a 1/12th scale version of the mansion in the Orientation Centre.

The small dining room

Most of the bedrooms were for guests, but this is the Nelly Custis bedchamber for Martha's grandaughter

Each room in the dollhouse is a scale model of the corresponding room in the real house. The bed spreads, upholstery and furniture are miniatures of the real thing.

Also see the video here.

Of course the full size mansion was gorgeous. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

West parlour

Blue Bedchamber

Central passage and upper hall

The green chairs represent the chairs on the veranda facing the river.
The room behind is the New Room (Or Large Dining Room)

Little parlour

Lafayette Bedchamber

Downstairs bed chamber

This room is a model of Washington's Library

A model of the bedroom George and Martha shared

I really enjoyed the tour of the estate. It is very interesting to see how they lived in those days.

And, of course, once our tour was over, I scoured the gift shop for miniatures to add to my own mini houses. I was successful as you can see. I bought miniature paintings, and a blue and white porcelain platter.

My friend bought me this lovely pewter tea set as a gift. It is a perfect dollhouse scale. I am still trying to decide which of my dollhouses will be honoured with its presence.

I had a lovely Canada Day weekend visiting the historic sites of our neighbours to the south.

I would highly recommend visiting Mount Vernon to see the wonderful dollhouse as well as the beautiful estate.

Give-away Time! 400 followers means a draw for the prize

June 21, 2014
Susan's Mini Homes has 388 followers. 12 more and I hit the 400 mark, so ... It's time for a GIVE-AWAY!!!

I have this lovely cabinet and the two lamps to mail to someone once I am above 400 followers.

Please share this with your followers and I ask both them and you to let me know in the comments of this post that you want to participate in the draw. I will choose a winner on July 21st. I think this should go for a month so that everyone who wants to will have a chance to participate.

The cabinet is unfinished so that you can paint it or stain it to match your decor. Both lamps have cords but no plugs.

The teddy bear lamp will look adorable in your nursery

The cabinet has plexiglass windows and all the doors work

As you can see by the ruler this piece is an impressive size. Perfect for a 1:12 scale house or shop

The ship lamp will look great in a boy's room or the study.

Both lamps are 1:12 scale

Both lamps have their cords and are ready to light up your dollhouse.
If you have wall outlets you would need to add plugs.

A weekend with an Antique Dollhouse.

My sister was lucky enough to acquire this beautiful antique dollhouse that once belonged to Flora Gill Jacobs. Mary asked me to help her choose furniture and accessories from her extensive collection of antique and vintage dollhouse items. I was only too happy to comply!

As soon as we opened the door Sesil took up residence in the kitchen. It was hard to get him to leave. You may think, when seeing this picture, that this is a small room. But no, it's a big cat. Each room measures 17.25" wide. x 19.5" deep. and 14" tall. The house is 44" tall.

The house has four rooms, but no staircase. That leaves room for lots of furniture. Flora added the wallpaper after she got the house in the 1970s. The interior had been painted white when it came to her. Flora dated the house to the middle of the 19th century, because of it's materials and design.

The first furniture we tried was this wonderful handmade dining room suite from Germany. It has elaborate filigree cut outs on each piece. It looked great in the room, but it is a large scale and as we didn't have other pieces this size we couldn't furnish the entire house in this scale, so we decided to try a large 1/12th scale instead.

I fell in love with these two chairs. The detail is wonderful. They are about 5" high, so they are quite large, but they work very well in this house.

Here is the living room fully furnished right down to the antique Christmas tree. Mary made the chandelier.

Once we got Sesil out of the kitchen we had great fun choosing the furniture and accessories. The large tin stove is really too big for this house, but we couldn't resist putting it in. The room has many different scales in the furniture and accesories. I kept asking to Mary how that little china doll managed to pour boiling water from that huge kettle on the stove. I think the kitchen has the charm one often sees in very old dollhouses where the scale of the contents is not an issue. Mary also made the chandelier in this room.

The children's room has German furniture for the main pieces. The wing chair is American and may be a Goldilocks piece. The chandelier and other accessories are antique.

The second bedroom is furnished in white. The chairs are marked on the bottom "Pupsi Wordtmann Hamburg". I am not sure, but I think this was a toy shop in that city. The vintage furniture is newer than the house, but the scale is perfect for it. We have put a miniature Sesil on the chair. He is drawing attention from a curious dog that seems to be made of glass or perhaps lava.

The pretty china doll is about to enjoy some coffee before she tackles the tasks of the day.

Another look at the children's room.

I love the metal hot water bottle and the ribbon tied towels on the little cart. We think that most of the furniture we have put in the house is German. The chandelier in this room is antique as are the pictures on the wall and most of the accessories.

Memories of Italy in miniature

I have just returned from Italy and I confess that I forgot to take Daphne along. She was very upset with me until she saw what I brought back for her. 

She is tickled pink with her new Vespa and immediately stuck the souvenir gladiator helmet on her head, picked up the Roman forum cat and went for a ride. I can't get her off it

Italy is a beautiful country with so many different things to see. At one point in my travels I found myself on the Via San Gregorio Armeno, Street of Nativity Workshops in Naples, Italy.

It is a narrow pedestrian street crammed with artisan workshops selling nativity scenes (presepi in Italian), accessories, and terra cotta figures. It is a miniaturists dream.

It was frustrating to have only 10 minutes to shop and also to calculate the size of my suitcase and estimate what would fit in it for my return home. I could have spent hours there choosing handmade meats and other food for the kitchen of my antique dollhouses. I have never seen anything like it. 

In the end I selected the few items in the picture here for my FAO Mystery House kitchen. I could have rebelled and stayed longer, but I was following a tour leader and I was worried that if I lost him I would have to live in the street of the presepi forever. Actually that might have been okay, now that I think if it. Daphne has zoomed into the picture on her Vespa to show the scale of the items

Here is a close up of one of the meat baskets

And here is the other.

In Rome I found these wonderful magnets. I realize some of them are slightly out of scale for a dollhouse, but I couldn't resist. It's going to take the dollhouse family a long time to eat all that cheese. Daphne watch out for those cans!!

Down in Amalfi I found these wonderful hand-painted pictures and the sliver nativity scene in the velvet box. It is just the right size for a dollhouse. Amalfi has been a paper making town since Roman times and I found the two handmade miniature books at the paper mill museum. The venetian masks are lapel pins, and the two little jars contain gold and sliver, although I am not sure why they are tourist items. They are a good size for dollhouses though.

Here is  a closer look at the paintings

The little brass pieces are from museum gift shops and represent items from Ancient Rome. The black cat I bought on top of mount Vesuvius and is supposed to be carved of lava, although I have a feeling it is plaster. 

Sorrento is know for its ceramics and I found these lovely little bowls there. Now my dollhouse people have family sized spaghetti bowls. Daphne, watch out! These are breakable. 

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Oh no! There she goes again. I hope she realizes that her helmet isn't approved for the road. Well, at least she's not mad at me any more.