Since I was young, I've always loved houses. I loved playing "house" as a little girl. As a lover of all things "Barbie" growing up, I was ecstatic when I got the Dream Cottage for Christmas one year.
I used to pretend that our big old farm-style house had secret passages -- and even had dreams about it!
Having inherited from my mom a love of miniatures, I was delighted to be given a wooden dollhouse handcrafted by one of Daddy's friends. Countless hours were spent in my little make-believe world of high-class living (or as high-class as I could imagine in my small-town world).
Having had much exposure to 1980s day and nighttime soap operas, most of my dolls had names like "Sue Ellen", "Pam", "John Ross", "Alexis", and "Sammy Jo". I imagined that my doll houses were grand estates filled with elegance and plenty of drama.
For my entire marriage, I've moved my old dollhouse from place to place and stored it in attics and garages from California to Georgia, all along intending to eventually restore it.
Although I've meant for it to go to Caelyn for her future daughter(s), it was Gabriela who recently convinced my dad to begin work to refinish my dollhouse.
Sadly, he's had great difficulty locating supplies. Apparently, building and playing with doll houses has gone the way of many other "old-fashioned" practices. I guess there just aren't enough little girls being taught to appreciate domestic pursuits, so hobby shops focus more on RC planes and comic books than on classic toys and supplies.
On Saturday, we spent the day with my parents, and Daddy invited me out to his workshop to show me his progress.
He's been stripping the dollhouse in preparation for the wonderful plans he has in store for renewing it.
I can't wait to see how it looks when he's all finished with it.
In the meantime, my mom has promised to give this to Gabriela,
which Daddy bought for Mom several years ago, just for fun. Our girls have loved playing with it in the past when we would visit from out-of-state. Now Gabriela will have the privilege of keeping it.
"Blue" is normally rather anti-social, but was kind enough to give me a little attention, and even posed for a few photos.
We have an "AC Moore" in this area that carries a fair amount of doll house furnishings and such. I hope that you are able to find what you are looking for.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jessica! I wonder if they have a web site. I'll have to check it out. My dad would love to know that there's a good source of supplies out there, even if they have to be ordered.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been rehabing the old dollhouse my grandfather made me in the 1950's. There seems to be alot of stuff online and a lot of tutorials on how to make things too. But maybe yours is all done by now.
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