Several months ago I inherited my Grandmother's antique (circa 1920) dollhouse. It was made from scratch by her two brothers as a Christmas gift for her and her sisters.
Here is an excerpt of a journal entry by my Grandmother's sister Margaret: "...the next recollection I have of George is when he and Bill built a wonderful dollhouse for us 'four little girls'. For several weeks before Christmas we were not allowed to go to the Northwest corner of the basement where our brothers had their workbench. We were so thrilled and excited on Christmas morning to see this beautiful dollhouse with furniture made to scale and modeled after the furniture in our own home. For the next couple of years they 'added to' the dollhouse. The first year afterwards, George and Bill designed a folding front that lifted up so we could play, but closed so we could put our dolls on the front porch, or have visitors come knock on the beautiful stained wood door that had a crescent shaped real glass window. The next year our brothers added real electric lights to our dollhouse. Without a doubt, ours was the most wonderful dollhouse in the neighborhood!"
By the time it came to me the house was in pretty rough shape after years and years of use by little hands. I myself spent many happy hours playing with this dollhouse in my grandmother's basement. Well, I worked for many months refurbishing this treasure; scrubbing the floors, new paint, new carpet, new wallpaper, and updated (safer) electrical. And now it is getting daily use at the hands of my two lovely daughters. This dollhouse is definitely a treasure in our home.
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| My Grandmother (middle top) with her mother, brothers and sisters. |
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| The brothers: George and Bill |
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| The house was a bit of a mess there in the middle. |
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| Here it is all stripped down... |
And here are some of the before and after photos of the dollhouse...
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| Before... |
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| ...After. |
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| The completed project. |
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| My mom and the girls enjoying the new house. |
6 comments:
Wow, there is so much I love about this. I love that her brothers made it for her, that you have the journal entry about it, and that you still are passing it down in the family. You are probably the perfect person to restore it to. Good job.
Dear Kimi....What a wonderful way to share the way you restored the doll house! It is truly a work of love. Thank you for caring enough to do it. You need to add a picture of our darling Sarah and Claudia playing with it. I'm sure if Grandma and her sisters are looking down, they are as thrill as I am! Love, Mom
Dear Kimi....What a wonderful way to share the way you restored the doll house! It is truly a work of love. Thank you for caring enough to do it. You need to add a picture of our darling Sarah and Claudia playing with it. I'm sure if Grandma and her sisters are looking down, they are as thrill as I am! Love, Mom
Wow Kim... that is an awesome restoration. I am so glad you recognized that dollhouse for the treasure it is.
Wow Kim... that is an awesome restoration. I am so glad you recognized that dollhouse for the treasure it is.
Holy Cow--add this accomplishment to your list of awesomeness!! That is so cool. I love the story behind it and the before/after pictures. What a great treasure for your girls. Our dollhouse is the most loved toy in our home and it is just a plastic fisher price kind!
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