2010 - a new decade begins

Happy New Year! Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! Bonne Année! Godt nyttår! Feliz Año Nuevo!


I hope you all had a very happy New Year's Eve celebration. I spent the evening quietly at home with my mother and sister (and two playful kittens!), watching the fireworks on TV, and listening to them all around us.


I am looking forward to another year of sharing my collections with other collectors and minaturists. In the last year, I have met more collectors of dolls houses through blogs, through facebook, flickr and the Dolls House Past & Present website, than I had in my whole life! My life has become much richer through contact with you all, enjoying your collections, your creativity and inspirations and knowledge. I love being part of this network - so here's to lots more blogging in 2010!


(As I am away from home, I don't have any dolls or dolls houses to share this time - so here are the fireworks on Sydney Harbour instead!)

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all my blogging friends and readers!


In the Cupboard House, the whole family has gathered in the drawing room to decorate the tree. Richard and Allan somehow managed to carry it up the stairs and through the door. Jenny is supervising Polly and Lois as they add some decorations, while Grandma Eleanor surveys the tree through her lorgnette and gives directions. Belinda is so excited she is standing on the sofa behind Grandpa Bernie so she can see! Already there are some parcels under the tree - what can they be? and who are they for?


The decorations are stored away in a box during the year, and Susannah is looking through the collection with John to find the old favourites. (David is very patiently waiting his turn - or is he perhaps getting a bit old to be excited by Christmas decorations?)
There's a gold star to go on the top - Richard or Allan will put it in place when the rest of the decorations are done.
Now the tree is up, and the visiting uncles and cousins have arrived - and there are only two more sleeps until Christmas Day!


I wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas and a relaxing Boxing Day.

The Swans decorate for Christmas

Narelle Swan has started decorating the house for Christmas.


With Mark's help, she's moved in another table and covered it with a Christmas tablecloth, so that the cold meats, seafood and salads which she prepares for Christmas dinner can be spread out for guests to help themselves from.


The Christmas tree is up, and Narelle has decorated it with baubles and candles. Now little Nicole is allowed to help drape the tinsel on it very carefully.


Only nine more sleeps until Christmas! Nicole is very excited.

On my wish list ...

Not a dolls house, this time, but this wonderful book I discovered on the Puppenhausmuseum website:


This appears among the 1950s dolls houses, on a recently added page called Papier (Paper), which also has photos of 1950s furniture to make from cardboard. This book, published by Pestalozzi Verlag in 1958, shows a real dolls house (I'm not sure of the maker), peopled with Erna Meyer dolls!

The woman standing by the front door is almost identical to one currently in my Triang 52 house, though she has rather more hair:


The woman looking out of the window, and also dealing with an obstinate child later in the story:



must be Dianne Praeger's sister! And I'm sure some of my Erna Meyer children are just as obstinate.

I've seen a woman similar to the one standing outside the garage, ready to go out in her overcoat, listed on ebay once or twice. She's pretty rare, and goes for high prices.

The furniture and the dolls house itself are pretty cool too, but to have a whole book illustrated with Erna Meyer dolls! Wow! And one great thing about a book like this is that it dates all the dolls and furniture, probably to a year or two prior to publication. I suspect this book is much rarer than the people and furnishings within it, but maybe I'll get lucky some day, now I know to keep an eye out for it!