Many people have asked what happened to the dollhouse I rescued after Hurricane Eileen. (I could only find one link to previous posts about this dollhouse; however, I am certain there were at least two as I worked on it on two separate occassions).
The truth is, this is a weird little dollhouse. The central part contains two very skinny "halls" (for lack of a better word). They are so slender, in fact, that they are almost like secret passageways inside the walls, but to remove them by knocking out walls would take away part of what I like about the house's structure and composition. Also, keep in mind that I don't want to restore the paint, as I like its state of multi-layered, chippy disrepair. In the end, the only thing I could think to do with the house, that would involve its use as a "real" dollhouse where dolls might live, was to turn it into a haunted dollhouse and hide gruesome, Poe-like scenes inside those narrow spaces between the rooms. I could not get the image of something or someone hiding inside the walls, spying on the occupants of the house (yes, my mind leans towards the paranormal and freaky). As I was pretty sure having a house of this sort sitting in our main living area would give my children nightmares, I quickly rejected this idea (although, I am pretty sure I could make it pretty creepy ... perhaps some Halloween I will provide you with your very own miniature haunted house -- FUN).
In the end, I decided to turn it into a kind of museum. The strange thing is, the museum itself came before any of its contents. I collected old dollhouse furniture with the precise intention of displaying it inside the house. These pieces, together with a few carvings, shells and acorns I have collected over the years have made this house one of my favorite pieces of home decor. At Christmas, I put a wee tree in the upper "hall." It was sweet. To be honest, my search for an old derelict dollhouse to use in precisely this manner began before I was carving and collecting Hittys. At one point, early in my search, I bought a big old chippy birdhouse that my husband made me throw out because the wood was rotten and he was afraid it would infect other items in our house, I was disappointed, to say the least...so this little piece of salvage is exactly perfect, even in its weirdness, as you will see in the photos below.
With that long and wordy back story behind us, let's get on with the pictures, which I am sure you have been waiting to see.
Here it is in situ on top of my art supply cabinet. (Not loving the lighting in this pic). The little stage on the left contains fairy furniture which I will share with you at a later time. I decided to name it "The Eileen" after the hurricane that brought it to me.
Here it is from various angles.
As I stated earlier, I love its chippy paint as well as its varied palette of colors.
Now for the individual rooms, starting from the lower left-hand corner.
In this room, I keep several figural carvings I have collected over the years. The doll pictured here was given to me and carved by Laurel Parker. She liked to carve Hittys from vintage wooden items she found. This Hitty has no legs, but her tummy opens to reveal a little cavity. I should carve a wee Hitty and hide it there.
The "hall" on the lower floor.
The "Piano Room" with various flotsam and jetsam I have collected walking in the woods and on the beach.
I used to read a blog on which the owner of the blog posted pictures inside her dollhouse. However, it wasn't an ordinary dollhouse that had been decorated and was sitting ready for a small personage to occupy. She would photograph things like dried leaves, or stacks of dollhouse chairs. There was something about it that really appealed to me. Ever since I discovered her blog, I have been wanting to build an outside dollhouse that I could photograph throughout the year with its seasonal changes. I just need to figure out how to weatherproof it so it doesn't just fall apart...or maybe that would be part of the fun, watching it deteriorate. The Eileen was too far gone for a project like that. It had seen too much weather already and deserved a quieter life.
The Yellow Room. Upper floor.
I love this vintage table and chairs. It was just perfect to add to my dollhouse diorama.
The upper "hall." I love that it is pink.
It also looks great in contrast to this little turquoise couch.
The blue room...perhaps Humpty should move over to the yellow room to bring out his minty blue accents more.
Isn't he fabulous?
The fridge...
I guess I call it a fridge because it came with this can of oatmeal and a round of cheese with a wedge cut out.
The Attic.
This is the end of my tour of the Hurricane Eileen dollhouse. I hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear what you think or if you have any ideas for the improvement of its collection.
Just so you know, Judy has 5 games left to the basketball season and Punch has three. We are almost there! I can see the end!
For more dollhouse stories, please visit my other blog Adventures at Weathertop.