Adventures at Weathertop

Abandoned Houses : Hurricane Irene Flood Victim

Well, hello!

I am so glad you joined me today, for I have a story to tell, one which I think you will enjoy.

On my other blog, I often post photos of abandoned houses, of which there seem to be no end in rural New York. You may be familiar with my work if you visit me there. Interestingly enough, this story is exactly that kind of story,  but on a whole new level...more precisely, a doll sized level, very appropriate for Weathertop, don't you think?

The Back Story:

As you well know, back in August, just before school started, much of the Northeast suffered flooding as a result of Hurricane Irene. Parts of Upstate New York, near where I live, were particularly hard hit. People lost their homes and are deciding not to rebuild. A bridge near our home, was completely swamped by the swollen creek bursting its banks and rushing onward. My husband caught some of this on video and posted it on YouTube. 

Here is another view taken and posted by another local resident of the same river on the other side creating a sink hole next to one of our historic buildings:

The shocking thing is that in the summer, this creek is known to dry up enough that you can climb up the rocks under the falls. It is a favorite passtime of my children.

Now...If you go back to the video my husband took, you will see a garage with two trees standing behind it to the right side of the frame. Eventually (not in the video) the garage and those two trees were sucked into the raging river and dragged to their ultimate demise. The owner of that property lost over half of her yard. It was just eaten away by the torrent.

If you would like to see more still photos of the destruction, you can visit my blog post here.

But this is just the back story...given so that you will enjoy the bigger picture.

About a month ago, my children and I were picking up a pizza at the little store you can see to the left of the video. We got in the car and prepared to make the long trek to our house. I, (you will be glad to know), looked into my rear view mirror to check my blind spots before backing out, and what do you think I saw but a wee abandoned house.

I did a double take. I was like Alice gazing through the looking glass. I could not believe my eyes, right there in my rear view mirror was the abandoned dollhouse of my dreams with delicious sherbert colored chippy, faded paint. At first I stared in incredulity and then I strained to see where it was sitting, convinced that it existed not on a plane where I could see and touch it in real life, but in some parallel universe into which I was being allowed just a glimpse.

Now, as you well know, I have a prediliction not only for abandoned houses, but also old dollhouses, and so I wasted no time locating that little house and giving it a full inspection in person. It was sitting on the bridge, apparently abandoned, with the look of a gift hand-selected for me eminating from it, the only thing missing was a hand-written tag tied to its roof with big scrawled letters "FREE" written across it. It's placement suggested that it might have been previously owned by the woman who had lost most of her yard, and since I knew that her basement had flooded and that she was cleaning up the damage from the storm, it took little to deduce that I might inquire about its availability from her.

With my heart beating excitedly in my chest, I knocked her front door. She confirmed that she had put it out on the bridge for someone to adopt. It had been her dollhouse when she was a little girl and though she'd kept it for all these years, she had decided that with all of the clean up she was facing due to the flood, it was time to let it go. She was tickled pink that I wanted take it and clean it up.

Needless to say, I was tickled pink to acquire it. I have found that the best treasures are often acquired in such a way and take on a richer quality for the history they carry.

That brings us to the present.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to sweep out my wee house and bring it inside from my front porch where it had been sitting since I brought it home. I started by sweeping out the debris with a wisk broom but quickly noticed that no matter how much I swept, dust kept coming out, so I decided to use the vacuum at which point I realized that there was mud caked on the back that needed to be washed off. What I didn't realize was just how much mud was caked on the walls of that dollhouse.

What attracted me to this particular dollhouse in the first place was that each room had been painted a different pastel color -- yellow, blue, pink -- but the paint was old and faded. Using Murphy's Oil Soap, I cleaned the outside of the house and quickly moved on to the lower left hand corner room. Within just a few swipes of my sponge, it became clear that what I had taken for faded, chipping paint, was really cracking mud about 3 mm thick.

You can see the blue room here after its first scrubbing. It is my opinion that the house had been laying on its back during the flood, because the bulk of the mud was caked on the back wall of the house. At this point, I decided it might be fun to take some before and after shots of the house, so I paused in my cleaning to snaps some photos.

Pale pink room before...

...and after.

The yellow room before...

...and after.

The attic before (unfortunately, I don't have an after...however you can see it in the above shot).

In the middle of the house are very narrow little halls that were difficult to clean. I am not sure how I would use them if I decorated this house. They are too small for much furniture or a scene. I can only think of Halloweeny uses for them (of course, Halloween was just two days ago, so maybe that is affecting my thinking).

I am not entirely sure how I want to use this house. My first thought was that I wanted to keep it outside as a sort of nature installment, but Mr. MacGyver thinks this would ruin it really fast, so I don't think I will do that. I wish I had an enclosed porch where it could sit outside but protected from the elements.

Although I think it will require several scrubbings, you can see that it is cleaning up pretty nicely. Some of the paint is rubbing off, but I think that just adds to its charm.

You will have to stay tuned to learn what happens to this wee wooden abode.

 

Corners of Home : Part 8 : The Winter Kitchen

Thank you for joining us for yet another episode of Corners of Home. During this weeks episode, we will be taking a look at the Weathertop Winter Kitchen.

We call it the "Winter Kitchen," not only out of a fondness for Anne of Green Gables, but because we have two kitchens, two stoves, two tables and two cabinets, and, well, we have to distinguish between them somehow. In reality, we hope to use the second kitchen in a separate house someday, perhaps a house that features as the backdrop for a more formal story, but for now, we have the space, we need to put these pieces somewhere, and so we have two kitchens.

A main feature in any kitchen is its stove. The stove in the Winter Kitchen is a cast iron "Novelty" stove. You can find them occassionally on ebay. This one was a gift to our family from a good friend.

It's doors open and close and it came with a couple pieces of cast iron accessories.

Weathertop has an overly healthy collection of tea kettles and tea sets. We just can't seem to resist them. The kettle below is from the Re-ment Strawberry House collection.

Oops! It looks like someone is getting into something they shouldn't.

The trestle table above was made by Barb G. She used to sell her Hitty furniture on Etsy, but I haven't been able to find her lately. On top of the table are some wee bowls I painted years ago for my daughter's fairy dollhouse. I was thrilled to inherit them when she was finished with them.

Behind the table is a settle bench of which I do not remember the maker, but I do remember the maker of the quilt draped over the back of it; it was made by Orlady49, who sells her beautiful quilts on ebay.

I believe the pie safe below is another piece made by Barb G.  I think I found this piece on ebay. I am a sucker for anything that looks like toll painting, so I was excited to obtain this piece.

The door of this cabinet opens to reveal several shelves. Mrs. Witherwax better get busy filling the shelves of the pie safe before the pie police stop in for an inspection.

 

That is it for this weeks installment of Corners of Home. Next week we will be the last week we spend time in the Weathertop Dollhouse. After that we are looking forward to sharing a room in the house of Hitty Hannah with you.

We would love to share a room in your Hitty home. If you would like to be considered for a segment on Corners of Home, please contact me privately or leave a comment at the end of this post.

Corners of Home : Part 6 : The Living Room

Time for another installment of our riveting series, Corner of Home. Today we will be visiting the Weathertop Living Room.

The Weathertop living room is quite spacious, so we've decided to look at half of the room for this weeks installment.

This part of the living room contains the seating area. As you can see, the primary focus of this room is the fireplace. Everything revolves around the fire, the Weathertops' daily activities, not to mention the furniture. Everything is arranged for comfort and enjoyment.

The most recent acquisition to the Weathertop collection, was this old fashioned gumball machine. It has been a hit with the younger set. It was manufactured by Re-ment and acquired on ebay. This is not the one we have, but you can find a gumball machine here.

As you well may know, one of the more difficult tasks, for the discerning Hitty, is to find an adequately sized couch. Our couch is on the small size, but it is not too small to be unworkable.

Sitting upon the couch is a cozy little pillow made by Piccalilly.

Sitting in the corner behind the couch is the second of our three Heco clocks. They were made in Germany and are sometimes called miniature grandfather clocks on ebay. This one is painted a deep cream with blue flowers.

Next to the couch is the fireplace. Fireplaces are another hard thing to find in the correct scale for Hittys. This one is a bit small, but we prefer to think of it as cozy.

On top of the mantle, is a little Fairy painting and fairy statue that were given to the Weathertops by our friends Martha and Hitty Jean. Just like in the human Weathertop home, the mantle is an ever changing display surface that often features seasonal decorations, but right now is a kind of in between time.

On the other side of the fireplace, sits our cushy armchair. This, too, was a gift from Martha and Hitty Jean.

And that is it for this weeks installment of Corners of Home. I hope you enjoyed our little corner of the living room. Stayed tuned next week for the music corner.

In three weeks, I will have shared every corner of Weathertop with you. I would love to continue airing Corners of Home and feature Hitty Homes from different parts of the country. What would be required of you would be to photograph one of your Hitty rooms using your best photography skills (I can provide tips if you need them), give me a description of your room including how your Hittys use it and what pieces of furniture are featured there. Because my readers are always on the lookout for the right pieces of furniture and accessories for their Hitty homes, it would be nice if you could provide sources to go along with your descriptions. If you want to be considered for this segment, please leave a comment in the comment section or contact me privately.

Corners of Home : Part 4 : The Nursery

In today's installment of Corners of Home, we will be taking a closer look at the Weathertop Nursery.

It is one of my favorite rooms in the house, and yet it is the one I photograph the least. Many of the pieces in this room have been handmade by myself and other miniature artisans. The braided rug, for instance, was made by me in my early days of Hitty collecting and features rich green and blue fabrics. I made the daybed out of clothespins and popsicle sticks, and although it is a rather primitive piece for Weathertop today, I still really enjoy it. The bedding, also hand-made, was hand-sewn from 100% cotton quilting fabric. Sitting atop the bed are two of the Weathertop children's dolls.

The bisque baby doll was made by Beckie's Babies and Raggedy Ann was made by Gail Wilson (although I don't know if these are available any longer).

In the corner of the nursery stands a vintage, hand-painted Heco Clock which I believe was made in Germany. You can find these on ebay once in awhile. Try here and here, if you are interested (but oh my goodness, do not pay $199, as I believe you can find them cheaper if you keep looking). Weathertop has three of these clocks in turquoise blue, berry red and cream. If you don't see one you like on ebay today, keep looking, one will turn up.

On top of the clock you will see a small assortment of toys. These are just a very few of the collection of toys you will find in the nursery.

The horses were a gift from Laurel P. and the little gnomes were a gift from Marilyn and Hitty Hannah.

Next to the clock is a toy box (available unpainted at Michael's) full of toys of various types, shapes and sizes.

Inside the toybox you will see a crocheted dolly, made by Tree S., a Half-Penny baby doll from HearthSong and a variety of stuffed animals (I wish I could remember my source for these so I could share it with you, but I can't. If anyone recognizes them and can tell me where I found them, please share the source in the comments section.) You will also see a pinwheel and a sailboat, both of which I made, and a tiny origami crane on a stick, which was made by my daughter.

On the floor you will find two more toys which were given to me by Laurel P...

...a circus elephant and a lamb pull toy.

Oops, one of the inhabitants of the nursery, a sweet little baby carved by Michelle Del Valle, crept into the next shot. I usually like to keep the inhabitants out of Corners of Home shots.

Finally, in the corner near the clock, you will find our hand-painted cradle, purchased unfinished on ebay and painted by me.

Here is its sweet inhabitant.

And because I don't want you to think we leave these sweet babies in the nursery unattended, I will make one more exception and introduce you to my nursery fairy helper, Tibbens.

That is it for this installment of Corners of Home: the Nursery Edition. Please join us next week for a look at the Weathertop School Room.