Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Disappointment

Where has the last month gone? Partly work has been challenging, partly I've been busy with the Dolls Houses Past and Present magazine, partly it's the start of the wet season here, so it's hot and steamy ...
But, before November expires, here is a post or two.


I recently bought this copy of the Australian Home Journal, dated October 1967, as I've started looking for doll's house references in magazines as well as in newspapers.

Here's what the ebay listing said:

Hmm, conversion of a dolls house? I'm not one for doing major renovations on old dolls houses, but still ...

Here's what the contents list showed:


Conversion of a "Doll's House".

As in,

So, no need to worry about old dolls houses being vandalised! Though why anyone would want to remove that lovely iron lace and a shady verandah (unless they couldn't afford to have the rust treated), I can't understand ...

It was not by any means a complete waste, though.

"Does a dull dining area destroy your appetite? Bring in the color:"



Also available in a vast range of vivid colors is Il Cubile, by Mim, "selling like hot pizzas all over Italy," and as "at home" in your bathroom, bedroom and living-room as it is around the swimming-pool:




Personally, I'd rather sit here, in the "H-shape for Harmony" house:



More comfortable, and less colourful!

9 comments:

  1. Hi, I know how quickly time flies sometimes, but it's nice to hear from you again, especially when you're bringing with you old interior goodies as well!
    I like the wall shelving system on the last ad for Il Cubile. It reminds me of my Brio wallshelving (which I haven't posted a photo of yet)
    In my dolls houses I like to use bright colours like in the interiors with Il Cubile, but like you my real life taste is leaning more towards the last scenes.

    Too bad the dollhouse was a lifesize one, I can understand why you was a bit disappointed!

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  2. I like the colours in these 60s magazines - and the in-between-fashion: still one foot in the 50s and already the other in the 70s...

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  3. the conversion leaves a lot to be desired... better as it was, even if it needed work..
    its the pre martial pregnancy thats a worry!hehe :-)

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  4. I always find vintage magazines from any era fascinating. Having lived through the 60s as a child, I used to love all those bright colours we used to have at that time which were so trendy. I can remember begging my dad to paint my bedroom bright orange!!!! Can also remember our lounge being decorated in the late 60s quite clearly....we thought that the circular red wallpaper in the alcoves plus yellow/green heavily patterned paper on the rest of the walls was so cool! We also used to have a shelving unit not dissimilar to the one in a photo above. Thank you for sharing this with us Rebecca. Celia

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  5. Hi Pubdoll, I liked the wall shelving too - it's very like Brio! Or, I suppose, the Brio wall shelving was modelled on the same 1:1 shelves!

    I like some colour in real life, but I do remember a house we rented briefly in the mid 70s. We had moved from our 60s, German-designed house with white walls, dark wooden beams and polished wooden floors to this house which had red carpet and purple curtains in the living room (or was it the other way round?), and yellow and green wallpaper in the kitchen. Actually, I found that that destroyed my appetite, especially in the mornings!

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  6. Hi diepuppenstubensammlerin, if I get time, I'll scan more and put them on flickr - the colours and the styles are fascinating, and the ads are equally a mix of periods :-)

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  7. Yes, Christine, sad that it was seen as old-fashioned and seedy; "a dilapidated sagging balcony .... darkening the front of the house." They do look very sad when they're neglected and boarded up to provide extra sleeping space, but when restored, that iron lace is lovely. Some people were already recognising it - we had a book (and Mum still has, I think) with drawings of Sydney iron lace - and my English uncle also had a copy, found it very typical of Sydney. I bet the current owners of that little house in Woollahra wish they still had it!

    And pre-martial pregnancy, mmm, actually could have some sense in that! The actual article is about the problem of teenage pregnancies, bit different from pre-marital. And this being 1967, abortion was illegal, and illegitimate babies, poor little souls, are handicapped from the beginning, and the best option was adoption. How things have changed!

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  8. Hi Celia, what fascinating memories! I gather you didn't get your bedroom painted bright orange? As you can gather from my comment to Pubdoll, my childhood in a house that was actually built at about the time of this magazine, but which was much more like the H-for-Harmony house, meant that even then I found too much colour overwhelming.
    I find vintage magazines really useful for reminding us of the range of styles that coexisted at one time. I'll scan some more when I get time!

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  9. As a young and newly married in the mid 60s, we had the same "Brio style" shelving units of the colorful pic and the wood and leather chairs of the H for harmony house....must be why I have no affinity for all the modern dollhouses that are popping up now! (And we wore our dresses short and our lipstick pink!) Thanks for the memories...

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