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!

Hall's Lifetime Toys Dollhouse - 1970s Colonial Mansion

I recently found a Hall's Colonial dollhouse circa 1970.
I love the front of the house with the impressive pillars,
the deep windows and the wide veranda.

As I don't have any of the Hall's furniture I had fun furnishing it from
my collection of German furniture from the 60s and 70s.

Hall's Lifetime Toys offered this wonderful Colonial dollhouse in the late 60s or early 70s.

Hall's was in business, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1942 to the late 1970's.

They made many kinds of dollhouses and doll furniture for 8-12" dolls, 3/4" scale miniature furniture and 1/12 scale furniture. The furniture was made of wood and sold in upper scale department stores.

Hall's even offered a dollhouse version of Mount Vernon, which I am sure would be much smaller than the Mount Vernon dollhouse shown in my last post.

The appliances from "Little Mother's Kitchen" are not German. They are pink tin and
were made in Japan in the late 1950s or early 1960s. They originally came in a
boxed set which also included a table, 2 chairs and a washing machine.

The dining room set is plastic and was made in Germany.

The living room furniture, excluding the sofa and TV is German
made by Crailsheim circa 1963.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall are going out. Mrs. Hall's brother is going to
babysit Ursula and Gudrun and the sleeping baby upstairs.
The girls are oblivious to everything except the TV.
Mrs. Hall's brother is starting to look oblivious too. 

The blue bathroom fixtures were made by Vero, a German firm, circa 1970.
The cabinet is plastic and goes with the living room chairs. It is by Crailsheim.
There wasn't room for it in the living room, so now it holds towels and toiletries.

The bedroom set is also German, possibly Bodo Hennig, and from the 50s or 60s. It is made of wood.

The wicker baby bed has a  Caco baby in it and is from that company.

The house has 4 rooms and an attic. The attic is very low ceilinged, but good for storage.

The TV set is a novelty salt and pepper shaker holder. When one turns
the knob the salt and pepper shakers are pushed up so one can grasp them.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall appear to be re-thinking the wisdom of leaving her brother
With their children and the liqueur bottles on the credenza
- not to mention the tray of cocktails on the coffee table.
Maybe they don't need to go out after all.