I’ve decided I want a dollhouse. I know. It’s a little weird. Hear me out:
My best friend Veronica had a dollhouse when we were growing up. It was a Lundby, and she probably got it in the late 70′s. Her dad was in charge of buying all the furniture and accoutrements so mostly it was full of antique-y looking stuff that Veronica hated. She wanted modern looking chairs, toilets with a flipper to flush, not a chain to pull. Her dollhouse people were hilarious, the infamous FB, so named because he was a Fat Boy. Her dog ate half his head and we still played with him. Yoda also spent time in her dollhouse.
Ideally, somehow-magically-Veronica’s original dollhouse will appear on my doorstep. Considering I haven’t seen her in 16 years and that we don’t have a doorbell, that’s unlikely. There’s a version of the same house on sale on Ebay, but it’s in America and the shipping is crazy.
That’s what it looks like in all it’s glory. The bottom 2 layers are add-ons. I just want to decorate and furnish it MY way. And maybe share it eventually.
I don’t think it’s odd you want a dollhouse. I want one too! It’s amazing being an adult and able to buy all the items you wanted as a child and did not have. Like my Snoopy Ice Maker, Operation Board Game and all my Hello Kitty items…
My grandmother made this seriously elaborate dollhouse before I was born and gave it to me when she moved into a retirement home. It’s about that size in height and levels but twice as wide. She painted it and built it and everything. If I had some way to ship this massive dollhouse to you I genuinely would – it’s in my parents’ house being pretty unappreciated, taking up a ton of space. I know, that sounds a little mean, but it’s seriously gigantic.
Can you send me pictures of it? I’d love to see it in all it’s glory-especially if it shows just how big. Maybe it’s worth my while to make a road trip to PA. Although, you might have kids one day and feel like passing it on to them. Or donating it to a library or hospital or…
i had one too that my uncle made for us and it’s huge and wooden and i think like *rach* said.. in my parents’ house in nashville, tn taking up a ton of attic space… but that dollhouse on ebay looks awesome! i wish you luck in getting one! they are a lot of fun.. i remember spending hours buying things for it and rearranging all the rooms! so fun.. and a fun way to escape..haha! even if you’re not a little girl anymore!
I think the problem with a really nice dollhouse that your grandpa/grandma/uncle/whoever made for you was that you were told about how much effort, time, work went into it and were told to be extremely careful and not to break anything. This makes that type of dollhouse not fun at all. Another friend of mine growing up had a beautiful dollhouse her grandpa made her and I couldn’t wrap my head around having a toy you weren’t allowed to play with. We weren’t even allowed to rearrange the furniture. Not even remotely fun.
I think, for me, adopting a dollhouse like this would be good, no guilt whatsoever. My plan is to modernize the whole thing (again, ideally I get my paws on Veronica’s)-new wallpaper, floors, furniture, everything.
The bad news? I have terrible insomnia. The good news? I fill it by thinking about this.
You’re right, Molly, being an adult certainly has it’s advantages. However, the only toy I seriously deeply coveted when I was a kid was a Sit’n'Spin and now I am too big for one.
My tattooer has a Snoopy Sno Cone Maker, he freezes coffee in an ice cube tray and makes coffee slushies in it-yum yum!
I should have thought to take pictures today, I was at my parents’ house, but I’ll definitely make sure to do so the next time I’m there. I was allowed to play with mine, and later my grandmother made a (much smaller) apartment that was above it which was more practical to play with. The big one has this very strange style to it, it seems sort of ’50s/’60s in that it has a “rec room” in the “basement” with a sunken seating area and a soda shoppe kind of bar and a pool table, but then a lot of the furniture is brown square seating that seems very ’70s. Part of the reason it takes up so much space is that it is on (I think built onto, even) top of this gigantic white rolling cart. The dollhouse combined with the cart means that it’s almost as tall as I am.
Holy shit, that sounds crazy.
Now I am super dying to see pictures.
I think it’s hilarious that you “deeply coveted” your sit n spin.
C- this is craziness, I love dollhouses. I really wanted to make one for my Blythe doll, from scratch and then hang wall paper, buy a super modern kitchen for etc… I even bought a whack load of designer furniture for it and real “artwork” to hang on the walls. hahaha!
I got Anika a 4.5 foot dollhouse for her baptism and ended up giving her all my goodies. I get to play with it when I visit tho, so Im not entirely struck with remorse. Not entirely.. ;)
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!! I found a dollhouse on kijiji for sale that was a best offer, so I offered $100 and they accepted!
YAY!
It’s not ideal, but it’s a good starter-despite the fact that the top doesn’t match the bottom parts. That’s ok-I can replace the top. Holy, how excited am I???
I’ll be getting my mother’s old doll house for the kids soon. My grandfather made it for my mom & her sister. It’s wired, little Xmas lights placed strategically. Closed it looks like a proper house, a replica of the house they lived in at the time. Big columns out front, the whole 9. It’s hinged and opens down the middle. I can’t wait to remodel it and watch the kids play with it.
You gotta post pics of your new find, Caitlin!
My siblings and I had a Snoopy Sno Cone maker when we were little, too. Was it very coveted? We were kinda on the poor end of things, living in state housing. I miss that little squeezy syrup snowman. :\