This dollhouse belonged to my Aunt Bee; it was given to her when she was a little girl. When we went down to Portland in August (not only to see the Wa-Fol family's new house, but also to see Mount Hood and the Enchanted Forest), Aunt Bee gave us this dollhouse to take home, so it could be enjoyed by Lucy but still stay within the family as an heirloom. Grandpa Theron made this dollhouse for my aunt when she was a little girl; he build the dollhouse in my great-aunt Vera's garage. It was painted bright yellow when my aunt was a little girl, and then later in the 1990s it was painted brown when my C cousins played with it.
I didn't take a picture of the exterior when we got it, but the exterior walls and trim were painted different shades of brown, and the shingles were unpainted. The interior walls had a few pieces of contact paper for wallpaper, and there were a few old pieces of felt for carpet.
Lucy wanted to change the color of the dollhouse, and I obliged. I tried to get her to choose the original yellow color, but she was fixated on a bubble-gum pink color. I was, at the very least, able to convince her to choose something that was more terracotta and have some blue and white accents for contrast. Lucy helped paint some of the exterior, too, which she enjoyed.
Some of the brown trim is visible in this picture, as well as some of the missing trim and broken veranda railing. The doors leading out to this porch also were missing. Aunt Bee still had the railing on hand, and J and I were able to carve new trim pieces.
Almost done! It is still missing part of the the gable trim and screen doors
We worked simultaneously on the exterior and the interior. I carved out a new piece for the gable trim that was missing on the left side, new trim for the Mansart roof circular window and the arched window in the tower. J made a new door with an oval-shaped window to match the front door. We found screen doors with oval-shaped designs for the veranda, and cut them to fit. I even found replacement "glass" for the windows by using the plastic container of a stationery box. Here is the completed exterior:
J helped me cut some of the wallpaper for the trickiest rooms (the downstairs dining area with the staircase, as well as the bathroom with the angled ceiling), but I did a lot of it on my own. Sam and Lucy were content to spend a lot of time playing together, and when they were distracted I would run down to the basement to cut more wallpaper. I got the wallpaper from the scrapbook paper sections of Joann's and Michaels, and even the floors are made with scrapbook paper.
The floor and mirror are the two things which came with the dollhouse, at least when Aunt Bee gave it to us.
Look at the tiny radiator! We got this in a $5 grab bag from the Miniatures and More store in Edmonds. We also bought the bathroom fixtures there too.
This is a tiny miniature painting of one of Degas' ballerina scenes
This is the art room - the dolls have a tiny easel for painting
These two paintings are of a Cezanne still life and Monet's "Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son"
The main entry with a peek-a-boo Lucy!
This wallpaper is as close to a William Morris design as I could find!
Lucy has all of her special stones and "gems" in this treasure box. Lucy once imagined that the dolls used it for collateral to make some kind of bargain with their neighbors. The little roundel on the wall is cut from the packaging of one of the dolls of the Strawberry Shortcake series. I had a Strawberry Shortcake in this same design when I was a little girl, and it has been so fun for Lucy to get to play with these same dolls. I'm sure they were re-released recently so that mothers like me (who played with these dolls as a child) could buy them for their own kids.
The attic! I left this room unpainted, which seemed fitting for an attic. We got the little presents for free from Miniatures and More, and the tiny crocheted rug was a gift to me from Lee Peterson, the pianist of my old choir. The only thing that I haven't been able to find is a ladder in the right dimensions to reach up to the attic. I may need to make one. Ant Bee said that she used to pretend like her dolls were orphans when they were up in the attic.
Lucy and I have been fun playing with this dollhouse together. I hope she gets to enjoy it for many years to come. Maybe we will be able to share it with another cousin so that this dollhouse continues to stay in the family. Or maybe Lucy will want to keep it, in case one day she has a child of her own.
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