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!

Bleuette Art Deco bedroom

This wonderful bedroom set appears to have been handmade for some lucky little girl many decades ago.

I have been meaning to blog about this bedroom set for a while now.

The problem was that I had it packed away. I am trying to organize my doll collection, so I am pulling bins and boxes out of various closets and storage spaces. What an overwhelming mess! I have to sort everything and categorize it before I can put things away again. Yikes!

This set is a perfect size for the famous French Bleuette

I bought this sweet doll thinking she was a Bleuette, but I cannot match her markings to that elusive girl. She is one number off, so she may be a sister. She was made by the SFBJ organization in Paris circa 1920s.

I feel that the set was made in the 1920s or 1930s. The craftsmanship is beautiful. The dolls are about 10 inches high, so I suppose the scale is just under 1/6th.

Bleuette's friend is also from Paris. I got her there when I went in 2012 to stay with CM. She was a less inexpensive doll than the fully jointed Bleuette. I blogged about Bleuettes in the Musee de la Poupee in Paris here.

Bleuette seems happy with her room. She has real eyelashes and cute little teeth.

Nap time.

All the doors and drawers work. The set is beautifully constructed

Room for the chamber pot. I guess each girl has their own

I love the little design extras like the cut-outs in these pieces.

All ready to add clothes.

The mirror still reflects after 80+ years