Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 10. Hodge-Podge Room

Unfortunately, I didn't have any extra 1950's furniture from my childhood to place in this room, nor did I have a goal for decorating this empty area, so it became a catch-all space or a hodge-podge room. "Hodge-podge" is used to describe a jumbled collection of things. That word certainly applies to this final room on our tour!

-There's a deacon's bench because this particular piece wouldn't fit in the kitchen and I couldn't part with it.
-There's a small world map cut from a travel magazine on the ceiling because I considered making this room an office.
-There are some toys because I thought it would be fun to collect charming miniature toys to create a playroom for the dollhouse kids. (There WAS a cute wooden rocking horse in here... the story below...)
-There is a wonderful find:  a small handmade cedar trunk I picked up at a craft fair years ago. (The bear on top? I bought him last month!)

-There's a little sewing nook in the far corner because I purchased the plastic kits (sewing machine and dressmaker's form) and assembled the pieces some time ago.

-There's a plastic rocking chair and a plastic phone sitting on another rug grandmother made; I love them all!

-There's a brass bed simply because I wanted one in my real house!

There you have it! The hodge-podge room! Perhaps, it should be called the "guest room," but what can I say? Speaking of "guests," some old friends have arrived for a visit. The lovely lady and her son and daughter are posing here for quick pictures. (As you have probably guessed:  the mother's and daughter's dresses were knit by my grandmother when the original clothing gave out.)

But who actually lives here? Let's find the current residents. Yes, here they are, busy with their children downstairs... 

Finally! The twins have been put down for their naps. Will they ever settle down?

Okay, now I must tell you the story about the rocking horse:

During our last visit, she found out grandma had a rocking horse in her dollhouse and oh, please, could she have it? (The "Little Miss" loves horses and has a small collection of them.) She disappeared for a little bit; I could hear her running up the stairs to her room. She returned with several small items in the palm of her hand including a tiny teapot. Didn't I need something for my dollhouse? She would like so very much to have the rocking horse. Please? How on earth could I refuse? I took the little teapot and of course, when I returned home, I sent her the rocking horse from the hodge-podge room. The teapot? Well, if you missed it, look in the kitchen!

Thank you for dropping by on this tour. I have enjoyed showing you this little house which holds a scrapbook of memories for me of two very talented women who shaped my life. I'm very grateful they hinted to Santa years ago to bring me this wonderful keepsake when I was a little girl. I wonder if they would be surprised it is still with me and how many hours of enjoyment it has given me over the years!

My mission has been accomplished:  to create a little story to introduce my "grown-up" dollhouse to my granddaughter. Nevertheless, I plan to continue writing entries in the sidebar section (called Pages) as I find information to share with you on my dollhouse and furniture.

Keep in touch!

Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 9. Girl's Room

I want to take a moment to remind you that a section of the roof was cut and a board inserted to create a third floor for the dollhouse. Although I had initially planned to make a staircase from the boy's room to access the floor above, I changed my mind. The residents will just have to levitate to the top floor, won't they?

Adding the third floor allowed for two more rooms to decorate. This picture shows part of the cut section and part of the red chimney.

Just an interesting note here:  the first floor of the dollhouse is 8" high, the second floor is 7" high, and the top floor is a mere 6" high, and that's at the peak! So furniture placement is a challenge on this floor, to say the least!

The blurry-beige-curvy-things you see sticking out in the foreground are craft sticks. They are glued on to keep the removed section of the roof from falling through when it's put back on for storage. Also, when the dollhouse is in storage, there is a piece of plexiglas to fit the play side (open side) of the dollhouse further protecting it during the months the dollhouse is in the closet.

Prior to renovation, the girl's room was located on the second floor in the middle (current boy's room) and shared space with all the nursery furniture. Now, located all by itself, the girl's room presents nicely, showing off all original 1950's furniture. The bedspreads were handmade by my mother from material left over from one of my childhood dresses. Ever creative, mother used pink nail polish to paint the two lamp bases and the old radio to match the color theme of the girl's room.

The "Hodge-Podge" room is next... 

Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 8. Nursery & Necessary Room

The delightful nursery is located above the kitchen next to the boy's room. Oh, I see the twins are in trouble already! They were supposed to be down for their naps... 

The endearing, adorable nursery continues to be my favorite room in the house. I love the charming furniture & accessories and smile every time I look at this tiny space! No, we didn't have that many babies in our real family, but who can resist pink & cute & cuddly?

Here's a closer look at some of the nursery pieces:

Comfy blanket, mattress & pillows mother made

The children's chifforobe and nightstand:

Note another rug made by my grandmother!

And the toy box with the twins wearing grandmother's hand knit diapers!

I know I have way too many pictures of this little space, but I LOVE THIS ROOM!!!

Since you have had a peek at the bathroom, let's go in and look around... 

This diminutive bathroom holds all the essentials:  sink, toilet and tub. There's a bit of room left for a blue hamper and a tall, narrow shelving unit for towels and whatnot.

Grandmother made the toilet seat cover and rug

This section of the house where both nursery and bathroom are now located was formerly just one large bathroom. During the renovation, I carved out a prominent place in front of the large bathroom for my favorite room and squished the bathroom furniture way back. In general, I find the bathroom to be a plain, utilitarian necessary room and not much fun. So, I spruced it up a bit with a pretty upscale cosmetic mirror above the sink... 

Next on the agenda... upstairs to see the third floor addition... 

Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 7. Boy's Room

Until now, all the rooms we have toured contain furniture dating back to the 1950's: the dining room, kitchen, living room, and master bedroom. However, this next room (the boy's room) has newer furniture. Why? Here's the story... 

I would like to give myself credit for safeguarding this dollhouse for over 60 years, but that would not be quite accurate. Mother, many years ago when I was a teenager, had an opportunity to sell the dollhouse and its contents to a good friend with a young daughter. I told her to go ahead and sell, I wasn't interested anymore. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she tucked the dollhouse away for safekeeping until I was married with two children of my own. She then told me she still had the dollhouse and did I want it now? Yes! Oh my, yes! I couldn't believe it!

That's when the renovation of the dollhouse began: painting, wallpapering, and carpeting. Also, we needed a boy's room in the dollhouse (we had a son) and a third floor addition (to move the girl's room upstairs where the old original pieces would fit easily). So, for the boy's room, since there was no "hand me down furniture dating from the 1950's," I went shopping. The selections were all craft store/hobby store miniatures readily available where we lived at the time. These "new" pieces were fun to collect. In fact, I've seen similar pieces on Pinterest that have been painted with chalk paint and used for a "shabby-chic" look in more current, trendy dollhouses.

Have a look around... the boy's room reflects some of my son's interests and activities growing up. He loved little cars and actually had a large Micky Mouse on his bedroom wall. No, he didn't have that much furniture in his room or a rolltop desk, but this is a dollhouse, right?

Remember the grooves in the ceiling when we were viewing the master bedroom? Back in the 1970's after mother returned the dollhouse to me, I asked my husband to cut a small piece of spare paneling to put a third floor in my dollhouse. He cut a piece and fit it with the flat side up and the grooved side down which became the ceiling of the floor below. Then he carefully cut the roof (gasp!) to accommodate the furniture that would be in two more rooms upstairs. During this renovation, the dollhouse went from being my mother's and grandmother's house into being all mine -- and probably ruined her "collectible" status forever!

Did you notice the little train under the Christmas Tree and the one in the boy's room? When the children were small, my husband made an HO scale model train layout on a 4' x 8' table which he later sold to a friend before one of our moves. The cute little trains remind me of fun times playing with the small HO trains when the children were little.

Before we leave the boy's room and head to the nursery, look at the small cross-stitch rug I made (since I couldn't crochet). I made it to go in the original nursery, but after the renovation when the rooms were shuffled around, it didn't fit in the tiny nursery and ended up as part of the boy's room along with the shoofly.

The tiny nursery is next... 

Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 6. Master Bedroom

Twin beds in a master bedroom? Remember the old movies had twin beds for the mom & dad? When did movies and TV programs begin showing a single large bed for the married couple? Yes, times have changed, haven't they? When my dollhouse was new, I don't think double/queen/king beds were even in existence... especially not for dollhouses!

Several pieces of furniture in this room date back to the 1950's:  the twin beds, the dresser with the mirror, and the high chest of drawers. The green chair was added at a later date. The baby with the bassinet were gifts from my grandmother to my daughter when she was young and playing with the dollhouse.

Interesting note -- the back of the mirror on the dresser has $1.50 marked in pencil!

The way the story goes, mother made the bedspreads when I was a little girl. The ruffled drops were made from left over fabric from mother's own draperies and the white tops from a soft terry cloth towel. I don't know if she made the sheets and pillowcases or if they came with the beds.

In this picture you can see grooves in the ceiling. I'll tell you the story behind them when we tour the next room...

Rich Toys Vintage Dollhouse Tour: 5. Comfortable Living Room

As we enter the living room, notice that there's no flatscreen TV here. The old chunky RCA works just fine. Look, there's a basketball game on! Mother and daddy were huge basketball fans. Mother found a tiny picture years ago and "put the game on," so to speak. Another special memory frozen in time...

With strong encouragement, our son took piano lessons for a short while. The lessons are long forgotten, the piano remains...

The fireplace is original to the home although, if memory serves me correctly, it was painted the red pattern of the porch. During a frenzy of activity during the 1970's, I was "antiquing" everything I could get my hands on. (You remember: apply a coat of paint, then rub a glaze over the paint to highlight the brushstrokes.) Thus, the fireplace became another victim of my short-term interest...

I believe the green sofa and easy chair date back to Christmas of 1952, too. Grandmother made all the cute crocheted rugs in the house; neither mother nor I had the talent for such things.

Traces of the 1950's "formal living room" remain while the room slowly transitions into more of a "family room" -- thereby, reflecting my own family's more casual home style preference by the 1980's.

A bright day, a makeshift photography studio, a trusty camera, and a steady hand all work together to preserve these vignettes for you and for a very special "Little Miss" who's just six. She has never seen grandma's dollhouse; but it's waiting patiently for her while her little fingers develop, shall we say, a more delicate touch. My mission in writing these entries is twofold: first, to introduce my "grown-up" dollhouse to my adorable granddaughter in story form; second, to research the dollhouse itself as well as all the furniture (for possible value). Meanwhile, I hope you are enjoying the tour!

Let's see, where were we? Oh, yes, please continue up the stairs to see the second floor.

The master bedroom is next...