Take Two

Blog Anniversary and Just LOOK What I Found!

It was just one year ago, Dear Readers, (give or take a day or two!) that I began this blog, and NEVER in my Wildest Dreams would I have imagined One Hundred and Fifty Six followers, nor could I have guessed the number of delightful mini-lovers I would "meet" here in blogland! It has been an adventure that FAR surpasses anything I imagined when I began. I am planning on making something for an Anniversary Giveaway..... but I have been so consumed by the Little Cottage project that I just completed, that I can't quite think WHAT I will make! So you will have to be patient with me while I get it figured out. I will be sure to let you know when I do!

Meanwhile, I have something I MUST show you!
Do you see the top picture? (I am sorry it is a bit too dark..... I was impatient and didn't take it with the lights on!) Doesn't this house Look FAMILIAR? No, it is NOT the Lovely Old Dollhouse with a new paint job! But doesn't it look ALMOST just like it? I really could not believe my eyes when I saw it at that Very Dangerous To The Pocketbook Miniatures Store that I go to...... It was just SO similar to The Lovely Old Dollhouse in SO many ways!
The very same day that I had shipped the Little Cottage to my Sister, I stopped by the Miniatures Store because I was feeling a little blue and needed to cheer myself up. I had NO intention of buying a Dollhouse. I ALREADY have Plenty of dollhouses I am building.... NONE of them finished..... But then I saw this house, and well, it was like a SISTER house to the Lovely Old Dollhouse!!!! And when the Old Gentleman said it would cost only $25.00, I was hooked! I HAD to have it.... no matter that I don't have room in my Little House for another sort of Large Dollhouse! So it came home with me. Yes, it is a fixer-upper.... but it has "good bones" like the Lovely Old Dollhouse........ They have almost exactly the same dimensions.... this new one being just an inch or two shorter and narrower.
Here is a picture of the Lovely Old Dollhouse before I had fixed the door or built the windows....

And here you can see the New Old Dollhouse for comparison .......

(I will have to figure out what to call it!)

You can see that the facade is charmingly irregular.... but I have seen houses with this sort of non symmetrical window and door arrangement in this part of the world. Sometimes in the Colonial Era it meant that the original house was smaller with the door in the center and then an addition was built on one end.... I really think it adds a lot of character! And this house also has dormer windows in the attic..... Do you even know how many times I have pondered adding dormers to the Lovely Old Dollhouse??? They are a slightly later style addition in the evolution of the Colonial Home design and were uncommon in the oldest houses.... at least in this part of New England!
Here you can see the inside of the house...... it is made from MDF rather than plywood..... but it is all in relatively good shape. The wall partitions are not inset with a dado, so they have all come loose and can be re-positioned as I see fit.....

Here is a closer view of the attic with the dormer windows (with acetate window panes) and the floors have a self adhesive wood grained shelf paper which badly needs to be removed.......
And the attic floor does not span the full width of the house and will need a section added.... but that should be very easy to do!

Here you can see inside the rooms in the downstairs.... old paper and acetate windows (some of which have fallen off).... this room is probably the kitchen....

This is the entry hall....... there are no stairs..... hmmmm, does this sound familiar???? And the only inner connecting door leads off this room to the front parlor.......

Which is already the SAME green that the Lovely Old Dollhouse parlor is painted!!!!

And upstairs is a blue room..... very similar blue to the hallway in the Lovely Old Dollhouse.... I think this room is currently supposed to be the bathroom.... the wall doesn't stay up properly....

And this room is probably the Master Bedroom.... the wall is positioned directly over the downstairs wall.... but I think a former owner had it moved over to create a much larger room.... the wallpaper extending into the hallway next door gives it away........ So, you can see, there is a great deal of POTENTIAL.... as well as a great deal of work ahead!.... But I just could NOT resist!

Oh, look..... someone is coming to look the house over.......

Did I tell you that Sally May's husband Chip is a building contractor and he renovates old houses for a living? He thinks this is one that Sally May should have a look at.......

Okay, so it is VERY dark and gloomy inside at night with no electricity....!!!!

But he really wants her to see this house.... he just has a feeling that it could be special..... with the right amount of work...... he has just the fixtures for the bathroom already in storage.......

He can imagine just how they would look.......

And the bedroom with the wall moved over.... would make a great room.......

He wants to make sure Sally May can see what he sees in the old place..........

She can imagine their furniture fitting very nicely......... it would be so nice to get their stuff out of storage and have their own house........

And the kitchen..... with TWO lovely big windows

And the pink wallpaper is okay for now.....
until they can get it all fixed up that is.......

Pink is Sally May's FAVORITE color........!!!
She can see the kitchen sink under the sunny window.....

"I think you're right, honey..... we should buy this house.....

if you don't think it'll be too much work....?"

"Too much work?" he scoffs.....

"Nah.... it'll be a piece of cake, Sweetheart.... You'll See!"

New blog year..... new old dollhouse to fix up.........

This Must be Take Two!