A dollhouse of memories

When I was around 10 years old, my friend had made a cardboard dollhouse that I was completely envious of. I made an attempt of my own to replicate said dollhouse but it wasn't quite "it". My father (who has many talents, including building things) stepped in and offered to make me a real dollhouse out of wood with all the trimmings. And so the project began with my dad taking care of the construction of the exterior and I, making my first debut as an interior decorator. He even made a little stove and fridge with doors that opened (washers painted black were the burners) and I was in heaven.

The years went by and I grew up, but the dollhouse still held a special place in my heart. When I got married and moved to the east coast, a generous friend offered to bring the dollhouse back to Halifax in the back of his pickup truck after the wedding. My hopes were that someday we would have kids that would enjoy it as much as I did.

Well, we've had two beautiful daughters (now 9 and 6) that have enjoyed the dollhouse but over the years, I'd noticed that a facelift might be in order. Small items could get lost in the not so current shag carpeting and it had suffered some damage. For my daughter Emma's birthday, I decided the makeover was due and the redecorating began. A friend from work had some great carpet leftover from her house, so out went the shag. Scrapbooking paper provided a ton of options for wallcoverings. Some new wood furniture from Plantown (made from organic Rubberwood) was bought to work with some of the original pieces my father had made. I sewed some new curtains and bedcoverings and just in time, the dollhouse was ready for unveiling. We even bought a new family of dolls complete with a grandma and grandpa doll!

A friend from work also connected me with a couple of other sites that had intriguing dollhouses as well. Using UP! the movie as an inspiration, a couple made a house for their daughter using cardboard boxes and wrapping paper tubes (and then as they say in the blog, they took it to "crazytown"!). Sounds like something I would do... check out the full article here

Another site shows how a woman in Manitoba took an old abandoned farmhouse and turned it into a lifesize dollhouse! Very cool... check out the full article here