Two old photos of two German houses

Earlier this month, Pubdoll published a photo challenge she received from Miniatyrmama.

The rules were:

1. open the 4th file where you store your photos...

2. pick out the 4th photo & publish it to your blog...

3. explain a bit about it...

4. pass this challenge to 4 other blogs...

although Pubdoll changed the last step to:
4b. pass it on to all who would like to have an excuse for posting old photos!

I've taken a while to do it, but the 4th photo I found in the 4th file was an early one I took of my Bodo Hennig house, before I had much furniture for it:


Recently also, my sister scanned and uploaded a colour photo of the house we grew up in:


This house was built in the early or mid 60s by a German builder. I think you can see why the Bodensee reminds me so much of it! Although I'd like to find one that shows the whole front of the house, as you can't really see the roofline in this, nor the balcony.

So thank you, Pubdoll, this has been a good reason to dig in my photo files! Like Pubdoll, I'll leave this up to readers to take this challenge up or not, as you prefer.

To Brio or not to Brio?

When I saw these pieces on Australian ebay, they looked familiar. The Shopping Sherpa, for example, has the shelving units in her Brio house. But did Brio make them in these colours and these finishes? I wasn't sure.

I bid on the auction, which also included these pieces:


and won it.
Not long afterwards, a boxed set of kitchen furniture was listed on Australian ebay too:


The seller gave the brand names shown on the box - EUROPA on the left, and RUSCO OF AUSTRALIA on the right.


Well, I'd heard of Rusco as an Australian company making dolls, but was not aware that they produced any dolls house miniatures. I also thought that by the 1970s, manufacture of plastic dolls house furniture had pretty much ceased in Australia. So I was intrigued - and could see in the pictures on the box the other pieces I'd just bought, as well as an identical sink unit.

So I bid on this set too, and when it arrived, discovered, in small writing on one side, that it was MADE IN HONG KONG.

Also, that this is

Modern Scandinavian Design ■ Doll House Furniture
and
Neues Design aus Scandinavien ■ Puppenhaus-Möbel

Presumably this was marketed in Germany as well as in English-speaking countries.

It seems that there was quite an industry in Hong Kong making plastic dolls house furniture based on the designs of other companies. I have Blue Box furniture, made in Hong Kong, which is almost identical to Jenny's Home (Triang Spot-On) pieces, and other pieces of Blue Box furniture which look very like the 60s designs made in the former East Germany. This box does not give the name of the Hong Kong company which made the furniture, and all the furniture is unmarked. So it wasn't Blue Box, and in Australia seems to have been marketed under the Rusco name - if it was sold in Germany, it surely would have been under another company, though?

As well as the photos on the sides of the box showing each set of furniture, there is a photo on the back of a Europa dolls house filled with Europa furniture. Again, the house looks very like Brio dolls houses, even having the brand name on a central pediment:


The box doesn't show any of the chairs or sofas in the Arne Jacobsen Egg and Swan designs, however, so there was clearly a limit to what they would or could copy!

Has anyone produced a book on Hong Kong dolls house furniture, I wonder? Carola's dolls house website does have a page on Europa furniture, so perhaps she knows a little more about it.

Familiar Furniture, Unfamiliar Themes

In the library the other day, I discovered the book Hatched! The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood, by Sloane Tanen - who also wrote Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same. Pubdoll and The Shopping Sherpa both mentioned Bitter in their blogs (though sadly I can't find TSS's post right now).
The furniture is very familiar:

and so is the topic, but not in this setting:


I also stumbled across a webpage about an exhibition called "Shrinking Childhoods", (Tate Modern, 2004-2005), in which children who had been sexually or emotionally abused depicted their experiences through life-size or dolls house-sized installations. I won't copy the images here, as they're pretty shocking, but I was pleased to see dolls houses being used to let kids act out not just sanitised or romanticised versions of daily life, but the gritty reality.

Gerrit Rietveld Dolls House in the Brooklyn Museum

Daddytypes posted a couple of days ago about a wonderful dolls house built to plans by Rietveld (thanks, Greg). The dolls house is now in Brooklyn Museum, apparently - I wonder where the plans are?


See the Daddytypes blog post for the history of the house and another photo.

Lines DH/C ca 1924

My latest dolls house arrived today. It popped up on Australian ebay a couple of weeks ago. It was listed as pick-up only in Melbourne, but thankfully the seller was happy to pack it for collection by a freight company. It's a house in the same series as the DH/D which I am restoring (slowly), and of the same vintage. The series of Lines Bros houses named DH/A, B , C, D, etc, appears in catalogues from both 1921 and 1924, with slight differences. Both my DH/D and this DH/C are from 1924 on.


This DH/C has also been overpainted inside and out. It's missing its chimneys and shutters from the outside, and the fireplaces, wall- and floor-papers and window glass from the inside. But apart from that it's in pretty good shape.
A previous owner has put up two partitions in the upper room, creating three small spaces, and attached a homemade fireplace to the wall downstairs. I was hoping to use this house as a cottage hospital, and in fact the interior is perfect for that. So I will keep the dividing walls upstairs, and the green paint and flooring, which look very institutional!


(A stained wooden shelf had been attached upstairs - I've removed it, as you can see from the line of yellow paint, as it was at the wrong height for the hospital beds.)

The curtains are not the original ones, but are also very appropriate for a hospital.


Underneath the curtains, you can see evidence of several repaintings - first cream, then green, then red!

I hope to have the hospital set up very soon, as I already have the beds, the staff and the patients! I'm not sure whether to try any restoration of the front of this house - especially as I haven't finished the DH/D yet! Perhaps I'll just remove the paint from the lion knocker and the letters sign.

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!)

Carpets in the Swan House

Finally, new carpets have been laid in the Swan House! The Swan family were starting to think it would never happen. But now they've been able to move in the furniture they already possess, and think about what else they will need before they themselves can move in.

The dining table and chairs were a wedding present - they look very nice in the new spacious dining area.

The living room is starting to look more homely:

The bedrooms have beds and somewhere to keep clothes.













The bathroom looks good, with a Brio bathroom

intended for a Brio house on which the sale fell through:

The kitchen, however, still looks very bare:


The Swans aren't sure why there isn't even a sink in here - were all the kitchen fitments trashed by the previous owners? or did they intend to renovate, and didn't get past removing the old kitchen? Whatever the reason, the Swans need a functional kitchen before they can move in.






So, after taking a breather in the TV room off the balcony, they are off to Tim's Secondhand Shop to see what he can supply.















(Their carpet layer, Rebecca, has decided that she should not leave her current job to take up carpet laying. She would also appreciate suggestions from anybody who knows how to get photos lined up across the page, as hers will not stay where she tries to put them.)