Old Miniature House of My Daughter's

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that my younger daughter had asked me to build, wig and dress her miniature figures for her Darling Family of Peter Pan fame dollhouse. The house was originally built by the 3 older brothers of the only girl of a family of 7 children;  a somewhat basic building with some scale problems, seriously bad baby s**t brown paintjob, unloved for half a lifetime and hidden in an attic for years. The paint description comes from the sister for whom the dollhouse was made.

Her own granddaughters didn't want the dollhouse, nor did their mother, so Great-Aunt Mary offered the dollhouse to my younger daughter when she was about 4 or 5 - not long after she lost her Grampy, one of Aunt Mary's 3 younger brothers.

That house has played such a major role in my children's play activities; at various times, it has housed My Little Ponies, the smaller members of the Barbie family, Lego people and Playmobil figures, as well as Star Wars action figures belonging to my son. The house sent the children's imaginations soaring. Then we left Canada for 3 years in Jamaica, and the house went into storage; the company changed hands while we were away, and our belongings were moved to another storage facility. At least one or two boxes got lost in this move, including parts of this dollhouse; the front veranda, back roof, and back porch.

These days, my daughters are all grown up, but this dollhouse is undergoing a transformation. New windows and doors are on their way from Earth & Tree in New Hampshire, and Grandpa's Dollhouse in Ontario. Years ago, it was painted white, the old stairs were removed, as were the solid stair railings on the second floor. The roof is partially shingled, and window and door openings have been added, altered, and in some cases, installed.

The new stairs are in place, with some auditioning of fireplaces and stoves going on. This is the street side of the house, and the stairs are in the front hallway. A stained glass window has been inserted into the wall above the stair. The interior walls of the house have been temporarily removed; there will be 3 bedrooms upstairs, a kitchen, parlour and living room downstairs. My daughter has been collecting and making things for this dollhouse for at least 20 years or more.

There used to be a small veranda on this side of the house, long lost unfortunately; however, as the house is supposed to be in Edwardian London, a veranda would not have been in period anyways!

The brown areas are where old windows have been removed and filled in, and new windows fitted. The kitchen door opening is also new, and may lead to a conservatory being re-made from a Wardian case my daughter picked up at a yard sale years ago. Placement for the twin chimneys, one on each short side of the house, have been marked on the carcase in pencil.

The other side of the house which used to have doorway and a back porch.  The wall for this side is in the workshop, and it is too cold to go out and find it to photograph!

This is the side of house that has the stained glass window. We had hoped for a tall one, just like the one in the stairwell of Great-Aunt Mary's house, the old family home, but when my daughter bought this window, she was still in middle school, and somewhat cash-poor. This wall will also have a chimney, to give the house a somewhat Georgian, symmetrical profile.

The plan is to brick the chimneys and the front of the house, and stucco the sides and the back. This would be in period for Edwardian London. There is to be an ornate window on the second floor, in which we will find Peter Pan.  As my daughter and my husband work on this, I will post photos of their progress; my part in this project is mainly to advise, make carpets, and make up the dolls to go into the setting.

It looks pretty rough right now, but keep watching; I am sure it will turn out to be quite the house when it is done.

Welcome to new followers Kamilla from Poland, and bienvenidos a Carmen. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog.