When I was a little girl, I had a dollhouse in my room which I loved very much. It was a hand-me-down from my sister, Heather, who had it and loved it before me. It wasn't one of your modern kit-built, super-realistic, dollhouses. It was simple, boxy, not true to scale, but what did we care? It was awesome :)
A month ago I was at my sister's house picking up some boxes from her garage. There in the back was our dollhouse. I exclaimed and pointed it out, Heather said her daughter was too young to use it yet and frankly, it was in pretty rough shape. She asked if I would take it since I have a big storage room. I said sure. Then she made a suggestion, "Why don't you refurbish it?" So I decided I would do just that.
But what was the story behind the house? It looked like it had seen more years than just those it had spent with my sister and I. I called my grandmother to get the background story.
When my grandmother was a little girl in Finley, Ohio around 1925, she and her little sister used to play with a box, pretending it was a dollhouse. Then one day, it disappeared. They looked everywhere for their box-dollhouse but nobody could tell where it had gone. Months went by and Christmas rolled around. What should the two little girls find under the tree but their box-dollhouse. Only now, it actually looked like a dollhouse!!
Their father, who was a quiet man who loved to read, wasn't one to build random things. However, on a number of occasions he did surprise his girls with handmade treasures. Once it was a small table-bench set where they could sit and work on their own projects. Another time is was a doll's bed. This time, however, it was a beautiful new dollhouse. It wasn't a refined job, but it was perfect for two little girls with big imaginations. For example, the roof sat on top of the box and wasn't closed in on either end and the windows were just holes. The rest of the dollhouse was decorated and furnished by my grandmother's mother.
When grandma and her sister were done playing with dollhouses, it stayed at my great grandmother's house for a while. Eventually, when grandma had two little girls of her own (besides my father), she retrieved the dollhouse and she and my grandfather fixed it up for my aunts. My grandfather made the roof look nicer, closed in on the end and fitted to the house. He also fixed up the windows. My grandmother redecorated the house and it was given to my aunts. They played with it during their girlhood and, when they were done with it, it moved back to my great grandmother's house. It stayed there until my great grandmother moved into my grandmother's house. Then the dollhouse returned.
In 1979, my sister was about to be 5, the perfect age to receive a dollhouse. Aunt Lynne and grandma pulled out the house and re-decorated the interior. The dollhouse lived with my sister for many years and was eventually passed to me. I eventually outgrew it and the dollhouse and it went to my younger cousin for another 5 years. When she outgrew it, it was stored away in various locations and moved a number of times until it ended up in my sister's garage. Now it is back with me and the refurbishing process has begun. I am refinishing this house for my two 3-year-old nieces and later, hopefully, my own children.
My grandmother and great aunt played with it.
My 2 aunts played with it.
My sister, cousin and I played with it.
Soon, my nieces will play with it.
This means the dollhouse, which is now 87 years old, will be played with by a fourth generation of my family. It is a 4th generation dollhouse.
I don't have any pictures of it from when I was a girl, however, I believe my sister may have some. I do have some pictures of the process so far though. I started by removing the furnishings and curtains and fixtures. Much of the wallpaper was falling off so I removed that as well. These are photos of the interior furnishings.
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| Bathroom furniture |
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| Bedroom furniture - made by my grandfather and grandmother. |
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| dining room furniture |
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| Doll family |
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| dressers and cupboards |
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| Kitchen furniture - this may need to be updated. |
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| Living room furniture |
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| Other miscellaneous items |
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| Nursery furniture |
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| Wall hangings |
Removing the carpet was difficult but I found that directing a blow-dryer onto each section as i was removing it allowed the process to go more smoothly.
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| The interior of the dollhouse with the rooms labeled. |
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| The exterior of the dollhouse, you can see where the roof fits onto the original house box. |
The next step will be sanding the entire house down to prepare it for primer and paint. This will be done in the near future (I hope!).
