A little while ago this dolls house appeared on ebay:
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| The post on the right of the verandah roof appears wonky - it's not fixed at the base, just sits in position, and can shift a bit. I thought I'd positioned it so it was straight, but obviously not! |
It was described as "made for the 2nd series of "Skippy", so I contacted the seller to find out more. She replied,
My late husband was a cameraman in the second series of Skippy. The dolls house was made by the set builders for the set - The dolls house was used in the house where the children lived I believe. My late husband brought it home for my daughter after the series ended.
The seller very kindly offered to pack it for freighting from Brisbane, so I was able to buy it!
As the seller also said in the auction listing, it is pretty basic - most of the detail is on the front. It's quite big - the base is 30" (76.5 cm) wide and 14" (about 35.5 cm) deep, while the roofline is 33" wide by 18" deep. It's about 26 1/2" (about 67.5) high to the top of the higher roof ridges.
The inside is bare stained plywood:
There are four rooms, two with roof heights of about 12" (30 cm), and two about 18" (45 cm) high. Apart from the height, the dimensions of the rooms are about 1/12th scale - about 10" (25.5 cm) deep, and (going left to right in the picture above), 9 1/4" (23.5 cm), 10" (25.5 cm) and 10 1/4" (26 cm) wide.
There are arched doorways cut between the lower rooms:
The doorways are 7 1/4" (about 18.5 cm) high. (The front door is 7" (17.75 cm) high.)
The seller didn't know which episode(s) of Series 2 the dolls house appeared in - I've only watched one episode, and didn't spot it, so I'll have to check out some more.
The roof - thin strips of ply simulate roof capping.
I don't know if I'll furnish this dolls house - or perhaps find some figures for the verandah. What do you think?
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Hi Rebecca, I'm a recent follower, so this is my first comment :-). What a great find, with a lovely history! We had Skippy here on television too (I live in Belgium), so I know the show. I'm still learning about dolls houses because I want to make one from around 1920 with furniture from that era, and know nothing about available furniture and other things. I like your blog very much, looking forward to future posts!
ReplyDeleteHi Nymphaea, Welcome! Thank you for following me, and for commenting! I'm glad you enjoy my blog :-) Have you seen the website I manage, Dolls Houses Past and Present? The link is in the list to the right, of Websites Useful for Identifying Dolls Houses. There are some dolls houses of the 1920s on that site, too!
DeleteHi again, thanks for the link to your website, I added it to my list and will browse through it soon, it looks like there's a lot to read :-).
DeleteHello from Spain: great dollhouse. Keep in touch
ReplyDeleteHi Marta, Thank you for visiting! I'm glad you like it :-)
DeleteHi, we had Skippy here to (England) You could insert floors to the 2 rooms to the right, making them into bedrooms. That what I would do x
ReplyDeleteHi elbey, Thanks for visiting my blog! I could make more rooms by inserting floors, but I don't want to make any changes to this dolls house that can't be undone. The seller said her husband brought it home for their daughter to play with, so I guess she managed with the rooms as they are! I'll think about it some more - thanks for your suggestion :-)
Deletethats a wonderful little ( well not that little :) house! we loved "skippy" soooo amny years ago! well..i think i'll also look through some episodes..( nice reason to se them again!!) , perhaps the dollhouse can be found! I think i would want to furnish it as it is in the series..:) perhaps w'll find it! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Anna, That would be great if you look through some episodes too :-) Perhaps between us we'll spot it. The dolls house does look a bit like the ranger's house, on the outside, and I think it might be possible to furnish the inside to resemble the house in the series too ... I'm sure I'll get more ideas looking at more episodes! :-)
DeleteHi Rebecca. I used to love Skippy as a kid and I think I still have a Skippy golden book somewhere. How exciting to have a house that was aired in one of the episodes. You will have to keep watching the programmes to see if you can see it. Perhaps while you are watching you can take note of some of the things they had in their home and decorate this house like the house they lived in.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharee, Yes, I will have fun watching - I hadn't watched any for years and years! It's a good idea to try to decorate this like the house they lived in. The main thing I noticed in the episode I watched is that their kitchen/dining area was just separated by a work bench. I don't know that there's room to do that here - all that height, but no large rooms!
DeletePerhaps you can just try to use the same type of furnishings and accessories to evoke the era and the family rather than worry about the layout.
DeleteUna casa estupenda..me encantará ver como vas decorándola. Un saludo desde España...
ReplyDeleteHi Maria, thank you for visiting! I will have fun collecting pieces to decorate this house :-) Best wishes from Australia, Rebecca
DeleteWhat a unique find, Rebecca. I was a big Skippy fan as a child too, and I often pretend my dog is talking to me in a "What's that Harry? Steve's fallen down the old mine shaft and we need to get him out?" kind of way… to much information, I'll shut up.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll let us know which episode it features in when you find it so we can have a look too. I wouldn't do anything to it either but maybe be guided by what you find in the TV episode. Exciting!
Thanks, Zoe, I will let you know if I spot the dolls house in an episode! Watching more will be useful for ideas on furnishing it, too - I think I might have to improvise a bit, to make things like maps of the park and a radio for contact between the rangers .... And I'm not sure that finding a kangaroo of an appropriate size will be easy, either!!
DeleteHello Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful. It is a beautiful, sturdy looking house with a tone of potential.
Big hug,
Giac
Hi Giac, Thanks for visiting! This house is well made, but actually not that sturdy, as the plywood is fairly light and is just glued together. It travelled well, though - and now I'll spend some time thinking about how to furnish it!
DeleteYou could always insert removable boxes into the main spaces to provide a second storey (with room for a staircase, of course!) and apply the decoration to the new walls and floors. The house can then be easily returned to the original state. But you've already thought of that, right? :-)
ReplyDeleteI could - but I rather like the grain of the plywood! As it's in Bathurst, and I'm now back in Darwin, I'll be living with it for a while (the idea of it, anyway, at a distance), so we'll see ....
DeleteWhat an exciting find! I used to watch it too when I was very little. I think we had a board game at one stage to. Can't wait to see how you furnish it. IndyPoppy
ReplyDeleteHi Indy Poppy, yes, I've been checking out ebay, and there were board games - and records of the songs, cards to collect, annuals (published in Britain, so perhaps not so much for the Australian market?) I managed to buy an annual in Sydney, thought it's not that useful for the interior of the house, as the illustrations are all drawings, and pretty well all of outside scenes anyway. So, I'll need to watch lots of episodes to get ideas for furnishing it!
DeleteI'm with you...I dislike altering vintage houses....especially one as unique as this one. I like your idea of having people on the veranda....you could always add a "to lease" sign.... One more on your bucket list!
ReplyDelete