I remember the year I got a dollhouse. My parents made it from scratch from a kit of some sort. I must have been 9 or 10? It was so amazingly cool! Gingerbread trim, wallpaper inside. It wasn’t the plastic, barbie type you see all over the place now. They had to stay up late at night and probably cuss a lot to assemble the thing but it dazzled me on Christmas morning. Absolute perfection.
This had to have been 30-35 years ago and I have brought it with me through many life phases. I still have it today, it’s my laundry room waiting for me to do something with it. Some of the gingerbread trim fell off, there is no furniture and the wall paper screams “cusp of the 70s and 80s”.
I keep it though and I will restore it one of these days. As a child I loved tiny things and miniatures. I wanted to collect little bits of furniture and tiny dressed-up mice. I think that love is still within me – a couple years ago I visited a new client and was in awe when I realized they were running a miniature shop. I ooh and ahhed over their creations on display. I also love the idea of fairy gardens – the potted gardens with little gazebos and tiny tea sets for fairies.
Writing this inspires me to look at how I can refurbish my old dollhouse. I’ll need to find parts, and figure out how to fix the broken pieces. I am sure it will take some investment of cash and time, but what a wonderful way to revisit the loves of my childhood and the time my parents spent on a Christmas gift for me that year.
(Daily picture – taekwondo ornament, because we love TKD around here!)