A New Year, a summer holiday, and op-shopping!

It's so long since I have posted anything on this blog that I feel I should be wishing you Happy Everything, not just Happy New Year! I do hope that this year brings us all health, happiness, peace of mind, and lots of mini enjoyment - and I hope to keep in touch more with my blogging friends!

I wish my summer holiday could have been longer - but I did manage to avoid the really hot weather that arrived just after I left, so I can't really complain. I had hoped to work on some of my dolls houses in Bathurst which need restoring, but didn't really have time. I did make a start on reorganising one of the rooms where some of my houses live - the former main bedroom of the house - so that they are easier to access, and so I could also fit a couple of new houses in (more about them in later posts).

My sister and I went to a few op shops (thrift stores / charity shops), which we always enjoy doing - and my haul of dolls house related things was better than it often is! Above you can see most of what I found in two op shops. Two things are from the art gallery shop - the little figurine may go in a house or a dolls house art gallery as a sculpture, and the postcard has lots of great mini portraits! The place mats have a nice woven pattern of green and red through them, and will make good flooring - and the silk tie will come in handy for bedding or cushions or curtains ....

My sister found the Blue-Box dolls house in one of the op shops - I have several other Blue-Box houses, but not this one, so I was thrilled to find it! It cost the princely amount of $4!!! (much less than its original price of $27.00, probably in the late 1970s - I have an ad for this dolls house from 1978, though I'm not sure when it was introduced or last available).

The mat is missing, but I think all the other pieces are there (plus a couple of extras) - hopefully I'll have time to photograph it all next time I'm there.

(The box does not have the Blue-Box name on it, strangely, but it is impressed on the bottom of the house.)

In another op shop, we had taken our finds (mainly books) to the front counter, and I had a look in the glass cabinet there, where small things are kept - and was amazed to see these two containers of miniature plastic plants!

The Britains flowers even have the planting tool (it's the long blue piece with a label about complaints attached to it). (These are two views of the same container here, by the way.)

 

 

Silver birch trees with moss foliage, and plastic conifers - are these also Britains?

In the op shop where I found the place mats, silk tie and Blue-Box dolls house, I also looked through the books. There were quite a few vintage carpentry manuals and children's annuals, both of which can be sources of plans for dolls houses or dolls house furniture, so I had a good look through them - and struck lucky with one, called The Handyman's Complete Carpentry Guide by Andrew Waugh, with furniture designed by William Greenwood. This was published by the former Australian newspaper company Consolidated Press - there's no date in the book, but it was advertised in newspapers in 1954 (and was a "privilege book" (ie offered at a discount) for purchasers of Consolidated Press's newspapers, including The Argus in Melbourne).

The inside covers show some of the items described in the book - including the dolls house (the small thing just to the left of the bed, with a green roof and red walls). (As you can see, this copy of the book was originally sold at Boans, a Perth department store, so it had made its way right to the other side of the country.)

The book gives instructions for building a house, as well as for making furniture, a slippery dip, an extension ladder (!), a sleep-out - and toys, including a dolls house:

The dolls house has a rather strange front, to my way of thinking. The roof is asymmetrically pitched, but the removable front has a "double-gable appearance" - a false roof line matching the steeper side of the roof, as well as the real roof line of the shallower side ... Perhaps they thought it looked better, as the false roof line would be parallel to the porch roof. I don't think that I've seen a dolls house made to this design, but I'll look out for it now - if this plan was followed faithfully, it would be quite distinctive.
The suggested colour scheme for the dolls house was cream coloured walls, apple green window sashes and frames, and a terracotta roof (quite different from the illustration on the inside cover!).

Most of the dolls house furniture is quite simple - it might be possible to identify pieces made to these plans, but some look quite similar to commercially made pieces. The book recommends that the dolls house furniture be "stained and finished with French polish or clear lacquer", with scraps of fabric for the settee, bed and dressing table).

I was very happy with these finds - and I hope to be back soon to show you the two dolls houses which were waiting for me in Bathurst.

Make your own 1970s chairs

I did buy a few other things at the fair - a book and a couple of magazines. The book was from the stand next to Anna-Maria's, and when I showed Anna-Maria the pictures, she said, "Why didn't I think of that!? Will you scan the pages?"
So here they are - with all the colour illustrations, because I love seeing how 70s style was represented here!



The book is called How to Decorate a doll's house, by Eve Barwell, published by Studio Vista in 1975 (ISBN 0289 70509 6). The 70s was when dolls houses and miniatures really took off as an adult hobby, but this book was written for children (as was the rest of the Studio Vista How To series - How to Amuse yourself on a journey, How to Disguise yourself, How to Mend your bike, How to Start using tools, etc ).

The introduction does explain about scales, particularly 1 inch to one foot and 3/4 inch to one foot, and recommends sticking to whichever scale you choose. It doesn't give measurements in the directions for making furniture, but suggests using the furniture in your own home to check the right size for your doll's house.

A lot of tips are given about how to decorate the house, based on who will be using the room, when and how often ...

The first room that visitors see is the hall, so it must be welcoming. However, it's a room where no-one spends much time, so the colours can be strong and dramatic:


An elegant, clean and bright hall, with its purple carpet and vase of red flowers giving a splash of colour ... (I have mentioned before the house which we rented in 1978, which had purple carpets and red curtains - or was it the other way around? - in rooms in which we spent a great deal of time. Clearly the decorators had not read this book.)

Postage stamps are one suggestion for pictures - an idea I have used myself (for example, here and here, although they would look better hung!!) - but personally, I prefer pictorial subjects to Willy Brandt and the Queen ...

The living room, of course, is where people spend a lot of time, and because of this it needs restful colours such as blue, brown or beige ...

Hello, Mr and Mrs Dol-toi!

This living room is decorated in beige and brown with splashes of contrasting green; orange or yellow would also have contrasted well ... A brown carpet and beige curtains would have worked just as well as a beige carpet and brown curtains, but not brown carpet and brown curtains - that would make the room seem dark and small (!).

Here are the instructions for making the living room chairs - of cardboard covered with fabric on both sides, with either pipecleaners or cardboard cut-out rectangles for the arms and legs:



For extra chairs in the living room, take some cardboard packaging (the kind which used to be used round fruit; is it still??) and make bucket chairs:


The colour scheme for the kitchen is yellow and orange, with a red Venetian blind - bright, warm colours making the room seem sunny and gay:


The cupboards and fitments are white, to make them look extra clean and bright - but the floor is patterned, as a plain colour would soon look dirty.

Here are the instructions for making this bright, white kitchen table and chairs - from polystyrene trays and cocktail sticks:



A pretty and restful colour scheme for the parents' bedroom:


and bright, primary colours for the children's bedroom / playroom:

Master and Miss Dol-toi happily playing in their bedroom

A little bit of Illinois in every state in Australia

As you know, I love old home-made dolls houses, and I have quite a few in my collection. I would have more, if I had room and if ebay sellers could freight them all to me .... but as neither is the case, I enjoy looking at them on ebay, and saving some of the photos.
Then, as I've been looking through old Australian newspapers online, I saw ads for dolls house plans - and realised that some of the plans for sale were the same models that are now coming up for sale on ebay.
Here's one that I've seen a few models of:



and here it is advertised in the Sun Herald in 1978:



The ad says that the house is 27 1/2 inches high and 29 inches wide, and the back is cut away for play. The pattern included acetate windows with printed dividers, and decals for the house and window boxes. The house "will be cherished by any little girl fortunate enough to receive it, [and] is sturdy enough to last for several generations."

This seems to be borne out by the houses which have survived - the one above has wonderful 1970s wallpaper, and, except for one of those acetate windows, looks pretty sturdy 30 years on.

I was pleased to know the source of the design, and the date of this house, and then ebay threw up another piece of information:


The plans themselves are currently available for sale, and, as you can see, they give the designer's name: A. Neely Hall.

Another house, which came up on ebay in Sydney recently, was also made from plans for sale - the ad I found was in the Sydney Morning Herald of 1982:








Turns out this house was also designed by A. Neely Hall - this I discovered by browsing the galleries of old dolls houses on KT Miniatures. Marilyn Pittman of Ohio found the same model dolls house at a flea market, and later, she says,

While browsing eBay, a "Craft Patterns Doll House Packet" came up for auction, and it was my house! After buying the pattern, my decision was made for me. The pattern had an address, so I contacted the museum in Elmhurst, Illinois, and the rest is history.

The house now resides at their Historical Museum in the section of their famous architect, Albert Neely Hall, 1883-1959. His first pattern for this house was printed in 1958 and there were several subsequent printings of the pattern of the house, breezeway, and garage, as well as patterns for furniture. The brick paper, paper to cover the shutters, and plastic windows were included in the pattern packet.

So houses made to this plan could date anywhere between 1958 and 1982, or even later. Probably the best way to date them is by the materials used to decorate them - the offcuts of flooring, wallpaper, fabric and so on.

Elmhurst, Illinois' website gives more information about Albert Neely Hall. He wrote many books and articles in newspapers and magazines, and with his brother, illustrator Norman P. Hall, he founded Craft Patterns, which published the designs he created. The business was continued in Elmhurst by other family members until 1986.

(Another Elmhurst resident was Walter Burley Griffin, who designed the Australian capital city, Canberra. Elmhurst Historical Museum recently had a fantastic-sounding exhibition,

Dwellings: A Study in Residential Architecture
Using Elmhurst as a case study, this original exhibit takes visitors on an exploration of the diverse architectural styles of the western suburbs. From bungalows and prairie style residences to turn-of-the-century Victorians, Sears mail order homes and more, Dwellings depicts the architectural details of neighborhoods in the Elmhurst area and explains how the city evolved as a classic example of Midwestern suburbanization. The exhibit includes special features on the work of Walter Burley Griffin, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright; a video on "The Lost Homes of Elmhurst"; and a hands-on kids' activity desk with architectural building blocks.

Pity it's finished, but still, Elmhurst sounds like an interesting place to visit!)

Here's an early design by A. Neely Hall, published in a 1937 issue of Science and Mechanics Magazine, for sale on ebay right now:


So, he was certainly a prolific designer of dolls houses, and it seems likely that he (or his company) also produced the plans for these other houses which could be ordered from the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald.

From 1973, this open-backed house on castors, pattern no. 411:





(Perhaps the maker of this model, listed on ebay in Adelaide four years ago, had taken to heart the message of the feature (and photo, right) above the ad: "Eye appeal need not rely on furniture .... today's excitement lies in backgrounds provided for that furniture".)

In 1979, plans for this three storey, front-opening house were advertised; I've seen several models of this one too:




A lot of the plans I've come across were for two- and three-storey houses. There were also two bungalows, neither of which I have photos of, unfortunately.

This fantastic model was advertised in 1966. A house of this design was sold on ebay in Perth a couple of years ago - I don't seem to have saved the photos, but I do remember that it had the same vinyl flooring as my re-decorated Lines DH/C.


(Notice how it's the same little girl, in the same outfit, and holding the same cot, as in the Cape Cod plans?)

UPDATE: Thank you, callsmall, for noticing this house on US ebay, and letting me know about it:


This house is signed on the bottom, and dated 1965. The maker chose a quite different colour scheme from the maker of the model sold in Perth - that had a red roof.

And this one I don't think I've seen yet, a ranch house from 1978, the same year that the Swiss chalet plans were available.


So parents who wanted to make a dolls house for their daughters (or possibly even sons?) had some choice of styles. The plans right at the top of this post are a teaser - they're in an ad for a 1975 issue of Woman's Day magazine, so not available from the newspaper. Hope I can track down a copy of the magazine - at least for a better image of the plans!


And just to finish, who would have thought it was International Women's Year the year before this ad appeared?

Super City Construction Set

I recently found this Super City set on Australian ebay.

I hadn't heard of it before, and I don't remember seeing it in supermarkets - it was sold at Coles Stores and New World Supermarkets. Coles is an Australian supermarket chain, and used the 'New World' tag from 1962 to 1990. I would guess that this might date from the 1970s, but there's no date on it. It does say 'Made in Australia':


and also that it's a registered trade mark of the Ideal Toy Corporation:

so perhaps there's a US version as well.

It's a modular construction set, not a dolls house - it's designed to build a city with shops, utilities, businesses and houses. You can tell it's Australian from the spelling of the signs:



What caught my eye was the coloured plastic sheets that form the walls of the buildings, so that you can construct multi-coloured buildings - a similar concept to the Marx Imagination house or the Bozart Kaleidoscope house.

I've had a go putting together one of the buildings:



and also making a small house that I could almost use as a dolls house in the Kaleidoscope house. The square plastic frames, into which the coloured inserts go, are 5.5 cm wide, so this structure is about 13 cm x 7.5 cm, or roughly 5" x 3":







I think the tiny plastic dolls house furniture I've used in the top pictures came with the 1949 Ohio Art Corporation metal dolls house, although it may have been available through other companies too. I bought it from an Australian woman who played with it as a child.

I haven't tried the modern home with its second floor overhang:


or the research centre or medical centre:



and I'd need the Skyscraper Kit to make the skyscrapers shown on the lid of the box, and also in the Building Guide and Plans - no doubt so that kids would ask their parents to buy it for them!