Monday, July 20, 2009

The Swans visit Tim's Secondhand Furniture Shop

The Swans have come to see what they can find in Tim's shop.
"Good morning, can I help you?"
"Oh, good morning. We don't have any kitchen appliances - do you have any in stock?"
"Certainly, if you'll just come through to the other room."

"Oh, Mummy, look at these gold cups! They must be for giants! Have you met a giant, Mr Tim?"

"Just through here you'll find stoves, washing machines - even a kitchen sink!"
"Terrific - we don't have a sink either."

"Come on, darling, we can ask about giants later."

"Hmm, an old twin-tub, even one with a wringer - don't fancy washing the baby's nappies in those. But this stove looks alright."


"This washing machine looks better - much more modern. Can we have it down to have a look at it?"
"Certainly, madam."


"Oh yes, that looks fine, don't you think darling? What about a fridge, do you have any?"

"I'm sorry, madam, we don't get them in very often, and unfortunately I've just sold one."

"Oh, OK, we'll have to try the Trading Post then. So what else - could we have a look at that kitchen sink you mentioned?"


"Just back in here, madam - here we are. I can get this down for you too if you'd like to have a look?"

"Oh yes, please, that would be good.
Oh, this wall unit is great! And it's got a built-in stereo system. We'll take this too, thanks."


Tim gets his assistant Johnno in to help him move the sink.

Johnno's a young bloke who looks a bit rough - shaves his head, and doesn't look too clean. But he's a good worker, and is a real help to Tim with moving the stock in and out.


The sink and matching kitchen cupboard are rather out-of-date, but they'll do for now.

"What else do we need, darling? Oh yes, kitchen chairs. We have an old table, but nothing to sit on, just the good dining chairs."
Johnno sets out several kitchen chairs for the Swans to try.



"Oh, this red plastic one is much too low. How's yours, darling?"
"It's fine - do you have any to match it, mate?"
"This other red one is really too small, I can't get comfortable on it."
"We have one chair to match the wooden one, sir - and there's a single chair that's very nice - we'll just get that out for you to try, madam."



"Oh yes, very comfortable. I suppose it won't matter to have odd chairs in the kitchen for a while. We'll take the white one and this wooden one - not that other one, it's too old-fashioned."

"I noticed a few things in the first room you might like to have a look at, darling."
"And so did I, Mummy! Come and see what I found!"
"What do you think of this cabinet for the dining room?"


"And I want the ballerina lamp, Mummy - ple -ee- ease!"
"Yes, we do need some lights, so you can have it, darling, especially as you remembered the magic word. The blue one would be good for the family room, too."
"Oh thank you, Mummy! And look at this little desk! It's just the right size for me. Wouldn't it be good when I start big school?"

"There's some more things over here too, darling - come and have a look."
"If we could just have a look at this bookcase, please, it might do for the kids' books and toys."
"Oh, and look, here's another lamp in the corner, it would look good in our bedroom."



"OK, that's pretty much it. Oh, but do you have any occasional tables?"
"Just this one, madam, I'll get it out for you."
"Mm, the top's loose, but I'm sure I could fix that. It'll do for now."



"Thank you, that's all for now. Can you deliver everything, please?"
"Certainly, madam. There's a $20 fee for delivery. Could I have your address, please?"
"Swan House, Caroline St, Barton."
"No problem, we can deliver it first thing tomorrow."
"Oh great, thank you, that will be wonderful, then we can unpack and move in."
"Thanks, mate, we'll see you tomorrow morning, then."
"Thank you, sir. Goodbye, madam, and thank you."

(Time for Tim to re-stock, I think!
The furniture the Swans bought includes a washing machine and stove by Marx; sink and kitchen cupboard by Twigg; wall unit by Lisa; cabinet and white chair by Lundby; ballerina lamp (and others?) by Sufa; desk by Dol-toi; wooden chairs by Barton; and side table and small green and white bookcase by unknown.)

(Sorry, I cannot get the small pictures to line up across the page. They do it in the preview, and stubbornly go one above the other when I publish!)

18 comments:

  1. lovely story :) i´m a real fan of tim´s secondhand furniture shop!!

    it reminds me that i have to take the pictures of the lundbys going shopping. i´m still waiting for better weather, because i have to take the things outside on our little terrasse, to get better pics and we still have a rainy summer :(

    where do you take your pics - do you have such a good flash? they look so light and realy good!

    *nicola

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  2. Oh rebecca, this shop is so much like "mine" near by my flat, where I often purchased rummage. Unfortunately I saw "Clearance sale" at the window. It's not the right location fur such a shop, I think.
    But yours is wonderful. I love most the ballerina-lamp, so cute. I'm looking forward to see how all this things look in the swan-house.
    So it's a pity that it doesn't work so well with "line up across the page". I guess the pics are still too big. I had the same problem and then changed my whole layout of the side and now I can put even three pics side by side.
    But in one case it works on your blog and this pics are very small, hum?
    Thank you for this wonderfull story.

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  3. Oh, I had such a nice time reading this!
    I love all the conversation going on between Tim and his customers when they're rumming around (can I say that?)the shop. You seem to write so effortlessly, but I find writing dialogue quite difficult and therefore haven't so far on my blog.
    I also find your second hand shop to be a lot more like the second hand shops I've been to than mine does! I loved the photos too! They make the shop seem even more stuffed and large than it really is!

    And I loved of course their address, too ;-)

    (Do you have the pictures small enough? Mine must be very small when I line them up. And I also have no left, right or middle for them when I ad new pictures.)

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  4. What a lovely sart to my morning. Thank you!

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  5. Thank you, Nicola! I do use flash - the room most of my dolls houses are in has very little natural light. Sometimes I get too much flash, but I just try again. I don't know much about photography, but my Canon camera does a pretty good job! I just put it on Indoor and Close-up settings, and I can press once to focus and it chooses an object - if I don't want that object in focus, I do it again until I get what I want. I'm sure the camera is capable of more, but I'm not!

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  6. Thank you, Oese! What a pity the shop near you is closing.
    I think I need to try different layouts too. There is a lot of white space on both sides, and a very narrow space for the text and pictures. So I'll try out some other layouts next!

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  7. Thank you, Helene. I was actually a bit worried about Mrs Swan rummaging around and walking between the stacks of furniture with the baby - it is very crowded!
    Somehow, when I have the pictures of the dolls in the shop, it's easy to work out what they would be saying. I think one thing that would make it harder for you would be writing conversation in two languages? Maybe not for you, but the different ways the dolls speak, and the interactions between Tim and his customers, would probably be a bit different in Norwegian and in English.
    Oese gave me some help with the pictures - I'll work on the layout next!

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  8. PS Helene - The first Prime Minister of Australia was called Edmund Barton, so there is a suburb in Canberra named Barton. I don't know if it has a Caroline Street, though! There could easily be - Caroline Chisholm is a famous 19th century woman who supported female immigrants - she used to be on our $5 note.

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  9. So great Barton is a real place in Australia! (And thanks for using the word rummaging so I could see how it's really written :-) I googled rumming and got several hundred hits!)
    And I agree about the conversation, for instance I don't think a shop conversation in Norwegian would be as polite as in English - or in most other languages...

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  10. Very nice! It is not easy to have things look "messy" or cluttered on purpose, and you have done it very well here!!! I know we can all relate to finding treasures when we rummage:)

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  11. wonderful!
    so glad the Swans found all that useful furniture and some good appliances - pity about the fridge, but I guess they can use an Esky until the right fridge turns up.

    it all looks great, and I wasn't even noticing the white space on the screen because I was so absorbed in the story.
    and the ballerina lamp is just gorgeous!

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  12. Hi Rebecca, I like how you put these stuff together before you move them to another house for a story :).

    On the pictures, I often do the alignment on a trial and error basis because the preview is never accurate. So I go back and edit posts until the alignment is right etc. If the pictures are too big, you can always resize it on the "compose mode", Click on the picture and use the drag method to resize.

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  13. Thank you, Callsmall! I'm pretty good at real life clutter too :^)

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  14. Hi Sans, thanks! I don't have so many ongoing stories as Pubdoll does, but somehow this furniture shop has taken on a life of it's own. And thanks for the tips about the photos - I'll just have to keep experimenting! It's a bit frustrating that the preview looks so different, though.

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  15. Really enjoyed reading about the Swan's shopping trip and also looking at all the lovely stuff in the shop!

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  16. hI Rebecca,
    nice story and lovely shop!
    I can imagine my little figures purchasing in this shop.
    They have recently bought the same sink as the blue one, that Tim and Johonno are moving. Do you know the maker, please?
    I'll come back tomorrow to read the end of this story ...

    best wishes,

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  17. Hello Bea,
    Thank you for your nice comments. The blue sink is lovely, isn't it? It was made by Twigg, an English company set up by Ted Twiggs in 1946. You can see some pieces at http://www.ktminiatures.com/Twigg.html and http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/short_paws/Twigg/Kitchen/
    We had some pieces when I was a child.
    best wishes, Rebecca

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  18. Hi Rebecca,
    thank you. I've just read this morning the end of the story and noticed , the mark was mentionned.
    It's a really good idea, to have a second hand shop, for all the furniture we usually keep in boxes and propose for sale or exchange. I often go to second hand shops, in my real life, to look for my own furniture, why wouldn't my little dolls have their own second hand shop?
    best wishes,

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