Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A dollhouse~~~~Past and Present

For some time now, I've had an overwhelming desire to grab onto a small piece of my childhood and try to relive the happy memories associated with it. I came across an old photo of me standing by my beloved dollhouse and I thought ..."boy, I wish I still had that dollhouse"!!!! Of course I don't remember who my mother gave my original dollhouse to, so I kept looking on ebay to try to find one just like mine. I had to be careful because my original house had a garage and so many on ebay don't have the garage. Many from the early 1950's have a garage but with a Disney character nursery which my original house didn't have. I researched the history of the Marx dollhouse and I learned that my model was made from 1949-1951 with a garage and no Disney characters although the same house was available with a garage that included the Disney nursery. The following is an excerpt from the Marx dollhouse history.

A PLACE TO PARK THE CAR....
This house was first produced in 1949 along with the Disney house. It had a cute little animial motif in the nursery instead of the Disney motif. The other rooms were the same: living/dining room, kitchen, garage on the main; nursery, bathroom, master bedroom and patio on the second floor. The exterior of these earliest houses seemed to be the standard white clapboard with coloured brick style. Inside this house was pretty much identical to the Disney house, except of course for the aforementioned nursery. After 1951 however, the houses were produced with a utility or laundry room rather than a garage. Please go here for a superior reference to the Marx dollhouses.

Sooooo I kept finding houses with the utility or laundry room instead of the garage!!!!!
I finally found a dollhouse exactly like my original and it arrived today!!! Yipee! I had to put it together which was quite a chore with all those metal tabs, but I finally managed and you can see the finished product above.
Here is the nursery with the animal motif instead of the Disney characters.
Here is garage instead of the utility/laundy room.
Here is the kitchen which is identical to my original house complete with the clock, curtains, and other things on the walls.
The living room/dining room exactly like my original house.
The identical bathroom
The master bedroom
Now all I have to do is furnish the thing! I'm going to try to furnish this house like my original even though it's kind of difficult to see each piece of furniture in my original black and white photo.
The colors and the lithographs are so clear in this dollhouse and there isn't any rust which is a problem with so many houses on ebay. Overall, I'm very excited with my recent purchase and the memories that come with it.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Loretta,
WOW!!!!!!!!! How you must feel right now, like you have stepped back in time, and what a beautiful house! It is near perfect! Congrats!!!! I have some dollhouse furniture I want to sell...it isn't renwal but it is cute and colorful, let me know if you would like to see it! Thanks for the email! Sandy :)

Betty said...

Oh dear...I really shouldn't be reading this post. I recently told a friend that I'm sometimes tempted to try and find my childhood dollhouse, but I really don't have room for it. She told me I could squeeze it in somewhere, but I'm determined to be strong. Then I read your post and I'm so envious. Actually, I see my dollhouse quite often on eBay. You can see part of my dollhouse in this Christmas picture that I put on my blog last year. It's all the way to the left.

http://daydreamnworld.blogspot.com/2009/12/are-you-ready-for-christmas-1948.html

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee this!! What a FIND! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Vintage Linen Treasures said...

Oh my gosh! What a cute little girl you were!! I would so have wanted to play with you and your doll house. How fun for you to go through that treasure hunt and actually find your treasure!! The doll house is wonderful.
Patricia :o)

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

Wow! What a great find!
And I love that picture of you, in a dress, no less! You like like you stepped out of a vintage grammar book!

Unknown said...

How exciting for you! It is wonderful!

JANIE said...

HI LORETTA- I ALSO USED TO LONG FOR THE DOLLHOUSE THAT I GOT NEAR THE END OF WW2. THIS PAST SPRING AS MY SIS AND I WERE GOING THROUGH OUR MOTHER'S 13 ROOM HOUSE, IN THE ATTIC I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK. I HAD NO IDEA THAT MY MOTHER HAD SAVED THE POOR BROKEN THING. MY BROTHER HAD 'BOMBED' IT IN ABOUT 1945. IT WAS RATHER A WRECK AFTER THAT AND I KIND OF LOST INTEREST IN IT AND WHEN MOM AND DAD ASKED HIM WHY HE DID SUCH A THING, HE REPLIED THAT HE THOUGHT THAT THERE WERE NAZIS LIVING IN IT. I'VE NOW GOT THE DOLLHOUSE IN MY OWN HOME AND HOPE THAT SOMEDAY I WILL FIND THE TIME TO RESTORE IT. MINE ISN'T TIN, BUT IS INSTEAD MADE OF SOME KIND OF PRESSED WOOD THAT IS SMOOTH ON ONE SIDE AND HAS A 'WAFFLE' BACK. I'VE DONE SOME RESEARCH IN BOOKS THAT I HAVE AND SUSPECT THAT IT'S THE 6 ROOM 'FOLD-AWAY' NANCY FORBES ONE MADE BY THE AMERICAN TOY AND FURNITURE CO. I'VE GOT LOTS OF WORK AHEAD OF ME. YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO FIND ONE LIKE YOURS IN SUCH IDEAL CONDITION. JANIE EILERS, MPLS, MN.

Jenny said...

How wonderful! I'm so glad you found this treasure. And what fun it will be to find the furniture now, too!

kayellen said...

I had this playhouse growing!!
What fun :))

Fond Memories~~~

xo
Kay Ellen