New Acquisitions and Inventory Time

I usually browse Facebook Marketplace with a simple keyword search: dollhouse. The results are mostly plastic children's play toys but occasionally wood dollhouses and dollhouse kits pop up.  If you've followed my blog you know I've acquired some great houses on Marketplace. When I did this recent search a garage sale popped up because they mentioned a dollhouse in the description of the post. I contacted the seller to inquire if the dollhouse was wood or plastic, and she replied with TWO wood dollhouses for $30 total. She attached pictures of the houses, and I couldn't do the electronic payment fast enough. I purchased a DuraCraft Sweetheart that is completely finished and fully electrified, including two working light fixtures and the second house is a Walmer Cranberry Cove, unfinished on the inside and missing the front porch attachment. I can do a lot with this Walmer house, I'm looking forward to working on that one.

 

Walmer Cranberry Cove, 1:12 Scale

 

DuraCraft Sweetheart Cottage 1:12 Scale

Both of these houses are new projects for me, as I intend to finish off the Cranberry Cove, and completely redo the Sweetheart as a Tudor style with a thatched roof. I just can't look at the roof lines on this house and not see a thatched roof. I'm not fond of the current colors either, or the decorative hearts all over the house. I could possibly get carried away and make it a fairy house, the potential is there, but as of now I'm thinking of a clean lined tudor.

The Cranberry Cove may end up with a solid brick exterior with no front porch, or my second vision is a smaller front porch than the original, that just covers the front door area. If I do that I would try to add a bay window on the first floor as well. I'm still looking at both of these houses carefully, to get a clear vision.

I wasn't able to blog about this next acquisition, because four days after I bought it my home flooded in the storm surge from Hurricane Ian in South Florida on September 28, 2022. This is a Hofco Federal Victorian, that I drove 2 hours one way to pick it up. I also found this on Marketplace, and honestly didn't realize how big it was until I picked it up. Not only is it the largest house I have, it's made of MDF wood so it is very heavy. The back is solid flat because it's a front opening dollhouse, so it's a lot like a piece of furniture. It's similar in size to a small dresser. The house is in pretty good shape, a few pieces need to be reassembled and the hinges need reinforced, but overall it's great.

HOFCO Federal Victorian Front Opening Dollhouse 1:12 Scale

Since I have a dollhouse display room now, I'm starting to absorb the size of my collection. In addition to the houses I have listed below, I have many room boxes, lanterns, odd scale houses and my built Quarter Scale houses. Once my dollhouse room is completely set up I will post a video and photos. 

CURRENT DOLLHOUSE INVENTORY
Listed in order of acquisition

 

Built Houses:
1949 Keystone of Boston
Greenleaf Travel Trailer
Greenleaf Arthur
Greenleaf Brookwood
Greenleaf Harrison Rehab
Greenleaf Harrison Partial Build
Petite Dreams Victorian
Greenleaf Buttercup
DuraCraft Ashley
Greenleaf Brimbles Mercantile
Whitney Tennyson
Batrie Sparrow Lane
Skilcraft Colonial
Greenleaf Washington
Skilcraft Cape Cod
Lundy Gotenburg
Hofco Federal Victorian
Walmer Cranberry Cove
DuraCraft Sweetheart
Four Greenleaf 1/4 Scale Houses

Dollhouse Kits:
DuraCraft Pioneer Log Cabin
Real Good Toys Princess Anne
Real Good Toys Victorian Cottage Jr.
Artply Highland
Walmer Mint Julep w/Left and Right Wing Additions
Greenleaf Rosedale
Greenleaf Orchid
Greenleaf Travel Trailer
Greenleaf Village Kit
Greenleaf Town Kit
Greenleaf Emerson Row
Real Good Toys Beachside Bungalow
DuraCraft Newberg
Real Good Toys Conservatory

I have several projects in mind that I want to get started on, I need to decide which one I should tackle next. Most likely it won't be a new kit, as I have several built houses that need to be refinished. In the meantime, I think I will stay off of Facebook Marketplace for a while, Ha! 

Thank you for visiting!

~ Mini - Shack

The Lundby Update

One of my favorite things to do is go treasure hunting, aka thrift shopping. My main goal is to find a dollhouse or dollhouse accessories, but it hardly ever happens. I finally found a pretty good score at my local Goodwill store, a Lundby Gothenburg model. I saw it the moment I walked in the store, and made a beeline to the toy section in the back corner. Once I had it in my cart I browsed real quick then went to the register. I mentioned that I was a dollhouse builder to the clerk, and she was relieved. She said she was afraid a child was going to buy this and destroy it, and she could tell it was a collectors item. 

The house included quite a few accessories, and it's in really good shape. The electric wiring still works, and there were several light fixtures included as well. I couldn't resist for $9.99 and I was so excited to get home and check it all out. Over time I have accumulated a few Lundby pieces in furniture lots I've bought, plus I bought several pieces from the Michaels Store dollhouse collection which are the same scale, so I knew I could end up furnishing the entire thing. 

I decided it was time to finally give this house some attention, and do what I call - a quick redo. By that I mean I didn't do as much as I could potentially do. I wanted to re-cover all the floors and walls, yet try to keep as many of the original pieces that came with the house. Here's a few before and after photos:

 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It wasn't a hard decision to make this a Mid Century Modern themed house. It's practically made for that. Since I have an Artply Highland MCM dollhouse in the wings waiting to be built, I had already been collecting things for MCM decor. I have several wallpaper packs in that theme, so I chose the ones I thought would best fit my vision for this house. I ended up keeping the wall color in the living room areas, they already blended well with my theme.

Kitchen photo: I replaced the wallpaper and flooring, and added the counter bar, barstools and tea cart. I was lucky to get the original Lundby kitchen set with the house.  The light fixture is original as well.

 

Dining Area: I replaced the wallpaper and flooring, and kept the original corner hutch that came with the house. The light fixture is original as well. Lucky to get the staircase in good condition.

Bathroom: Lucky to get the entire original Lundby bathroom set with the original seashell wallpaper. There's a section of ripped wallpaper that I hid with the cabinet and plant. I replaced the flooring, and that's all I did in this room.

Bedroom: I replaced the flooring with white carpet and the wallpaper with a lime green MCM pattern. The fireplace in the corner came with the house, and the light fixture is original too.

Sitting Room: I covered the floor with carpet in this area, but left the walls original. I made it a groovy music area. There's a record player with extra records on the table in the middle. The Lundby fish tank came with the house, but the Lundby bookshelf was already in my stash of furniture. I kept the original curtains in this room, and built the color theme around them.

Living Room: I kept the 3 wall hangings/pictures that came with the house, but that's the only thing original in this room. I covered the floors, and I made the MCM clock and accent wall. The Lundby fireplace was already in my stash.

 

More photos of the inside of the house:

I enjoyed this quick redo, and in the future I'm sure I'll be updating it. You know what they say..."is a dollhouse ever really done?" I'm in several Lundby groups on Facebook, and there's a few pieces I've had my eyes on. The first thing I would like to replace is the dining room set - I would love to find the orange and white tulip table and chairs set to put in this house. But for now, I have a shelf specifically for the house to sit on, high above all the others in my dollhouse display room.

Thank you for visiting!

~ Mini Shack