Friday, September 21, 2012

A new dolls house

I don't know if you'll remember the scans I showed last year, from the very grandly named The Australian, New Zealand & Southern Equatorial Sportsgoods & Toy & Canvasgoods Retailer? The April 1953 issue has a full-page advertisement for a shop called "Elegant" Novelties, in Flinders Lane, Melbourne:



On the top shelf, at the back, are two dolls houses:


You can imagine my excitement when I saw the larger house on ebay earlier this year! Thanks to some friends of my sister's, who collected the house from the seller, I was able to get it freighted up to Darwin, and I picked it up on Monday!


I can't tell from the ad what colours the exterior was painted, but it has definitely been repainted. I can see tiny bits of red under the black paint on the window frames, and there is some green showing through the black paint on the central diamond shape. I don't think I'll try removing the black paint - I never get finished with exterior restorations, and I quite like the black as it is!





It's a book-style dolls house - it's hinged at the back, and both sides swing open, showing five rooms inside.  When I got it, it has bright red sticky-backed plastic (contact / fablon) on all the floors. That came off very easily, but has left a sticky residue. I just checked on Dolls Houses Past and Present, and someone had success using white spirit (methylated spirits?), so I might give that a go. I don't want to use eucalyptus oil, which is excellent for removing adhesive residue, because I think it might damage the flooring.




 I think I'll use this room as the bedroom.

Each room has different flooring. I'm not sure exactly what it is - an earlier version of contact/fablon? oilcloth? Lovely period designs, anyway! The walls are quite simply decorated - painted in a base colour, and then spattered with red paint - very simple and effective!

 This will probably be the living room.

This is the only room which had been repapered. Luckily it wasn't stuck down very hard - the main glue residue is on the front edges. The curtains are not original in any rooms - in this room, they were stapled in over the recent wallpaper.

This flooring looks good for the kitchen to me!

Two smaller rooms - the tiled floor suggests a bathroom, 
and perhaps the other room was intended as a laundry?

This photo finally shows the fireplaces! They are cut in each large room, at the inside front edge. Behind the walls at this point are planks of wood to which the hinges are attached - I'll take a photo of the back of the house so you can see that, and another of the fireplaces.
In this photo you can also see some recently applied wallpaper borders. I will remove this - the paper itself will come off easily, but there will be glue residue, so I haven't ripped it off straight away, having just spent some time removing the residue left by the glue under the wallpaper in the top right room.

I'm delighted to have this house, which is unique among my Australian houses in that I know exactly when and where it came from! I don't know who made it, but without the ad for Elegant Novelties, I might well have thought this was another homemade house, and wouldn't have been so sure of its age. (Of course, they were probably made in other years as well as 1953 - maybe sometime I'll be able to go through more issues of the Australian (etc) Toy (etc) Retailer, and see if it appears again.

The furniture that came with it was mostly quite recent tab and slot stuff, which I won't be keeping. I'm looking forward to going through my stash of furnishings and seeing what suits it. First, though, I have to work out where on earth - or rather, in my small townhouse - I am going to put it? I have too many dolls houses - or my house is too small, whichever way you want to look at it!

16 comments:

  1. What a great project. I find it pretty exciting when I find some of my houses or furniture in old publications too!

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    1. Thanks Troy! It does help to give it background, doesn't it?

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  2. What an interesting find. you can tell it has a history, fortunately of not being bashed about too much. Are you planning to replace the curtains to something closer to what the originals might have been like?
    I hope you manage to remove the sticky residue.

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    1. Thank you, DollMum! Yes, thank goodness it hadn't been redecorated too drastically, and has survived well - all the plastic windows are intact. Well, I've now removed the curtains - I'll go through my fabric stash and see what looks good - I don't know if it would have any originally, it doesn't look like it in that photo. But I'll try to make them look 50s style.

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  3. What a fabulous find Rebecca! Isn't it wonderful when one makes these discoveries? I've not seen a vintage house quite like this before.....the frontage is quite distinctive. It looks in great condition.

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    1. Thanks, Celia! Yes, it is indeed wonderful! And the frontage is so distinctive, it was unmistakeably the same as in the photo - unlike all the many beamed gable houses which aren't Triang but could be this, or that, or the other, or homemade, or ....
      This is a little out of your period, but I don't think the flooring would be out of place in some 40s houses - if I hadn't known the date, I would have thought it was a bit older, I think.

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  4. What a great find Rebecca! I love the exterior as it is, and the floor coverings are wonderful too.

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    1. Thanks, Rick! I'm so glad the floor coverings are still in it - I've never seen any like this before, and would have had no idea if they'd been removed. Now to find furnishings which go with them ....

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  5. Hello from Spain: Your new home is awesome .. I really like their distinctive frontage and floors of the rooms ... Keep in touch

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    1. Thank you, Marta! I hope to show more as I find furnishings and dolls for it :-)

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  6. Congrats, too, just what I love, a dollshouse and its history, directly from the shelf of the shop into your house - I am quite sure all the other dolls houses will close ranks and you will find space for it.

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  7. wonderful! great to see it. I love the floorings, specially the one that you're going to use as the kitchen. I don't think I've seen a "book style" dollhouse before. fascinating.

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  8. Totally amazing find, Rebecca! I love the technic used to paint the walls and the old floor coverings are wonderful. I can't wait to see how you furnish it...and which little family gets to move in!

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  9. Oh Rebecca, it is wonderful and meant for you. Every detail is fun. The kitchen flooring is so charming. It will be interesting to see what stove you choose for that year. Great to have it's history! Looking forward to many updates. CM

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  10. Rebecca, I have been looking at the dollhouse posted here on Craig's List for weeks, is it the same as your new dollhouse? I cannot tell.
    http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/jwl/3435587430.html

    Cheers, Neen

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    1. Hi Neen, Thanks for sending that link! It is similar, with the front door that is split in two by the opening fronts. I must take another photo of my house - the whole thing opens in two halves, not just the fronts! The first photo shows it closed, and the second is fully opened - I'll take another one showing it part open, so it's clearer.
      I like how the stairs in that house run up to a landing that's partitioned off from the bathroom! And it looks like it's got great windows on the sides, too. Looks like it hasn't sold yet, though it's lovely!

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