I recently bought a new house on UK ebay, with the help of Dolls Houses Past and Present member Linda. It's an old English style brick house, which (based on the lighting and furnishings) dates to the 1930s.
The house is small - 1/24th scale, or 1/2" scale, measuring 8 1/2" (21.5 cm) deep, 13" (33 cm) high (to the chimney tops), and 22" (56 cm) long (including the bathroom and shed).
Every roof surface and window sill has a dusting of snow (cotton wool), so it must have been part of a winter scene at one time.
It needs a bit of work - this is how it looks at the moment.
I'm not really sure which side is meant to be the front - one side has a knocker on the door, while the other side has a door with a porch and a letter flap. I think the side with the knocker is probably the back, as the shed also opens on this side. I love the shed door - it opens top and bottom, and has a wooden latch to close the bottom half. This side of the house opens on hinges - or will, when it is reattached to the hinges.
The front door also needs to be re-hung:
There are also some windows that need replacing:
The back of the roof lifts up on hinges to access the two bedrooms:
There is one set of Dinky bedroom furniture - bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers and stool - in excellent condition.
The roof is kept shut with a little hook on each side, which goes into a hook just below the eaves:
Downstairs is a stone-flagged kitchen on the right:
The stairs go at the front of this room, something like this I think, although the gap at the top doesn't seem quite right. There are steps missing - two are with the house, but I will need to make some replacements as well.
On the other side, downstairs, is the drawing room and hallway, here without the dividing wall:
and here with the dividing wall in place:
The far door opens into the bathroom, which is also furnished with a Dinky set:
The shed contains the electrical wiring and switches:
As you can see, both the shed roof and the bathroom roof lift off. The undersides are constructed to sit on top of the walls:
The dolls house is handmade, and probably a one-off. A lot of work has gone into creating all the detailing - the roof "slates" are made from paper stuck on to postcards, painted grey and cut into individual tiles, which have then been stuck down on to the wood:
The bricks and the flagstones in the kitchen are painted, and pencil outlines are visible between the bricks:
The panels in the doors are marked by pokerwork (or pyrography) and chasing, and I think the functional letter-flap and the door knocker are handmade too.
This photo also shows another thing I need to deal with: woodworm holes, which I could not see on the auction listing!
As well as the two sets of Dinky cast metal furniture, this house also came with 3 rugs and 4 lampshades:
The rugs have also suffered from pests, as you can see clearly from the backs:
There is also a hand-drawn picture of a dog, stuck to what I think is part of a matchbox:
The poor dog has also suffered the depredations of pests, poor thing! I'm wondering if one reason that there are only two sets of furniture is that the rest was wooden, and was eaten. The metal alloy that Dinky furniture was made from also deteriorated, though, so if there were other Dinky sets they may have broken and been discarded. Anyway, I'm delighted to have two sets in very good condition.
So there's a fair bit of cleaning and repair work to do before any dolls can move in! I won't get much done before Christmas, but hopefully I can work out how to treat the woodworm, just in case there are any live ones still.
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