When our local grandson was five years old, he and I built a dollhouse together. I had one, which The Squire was often called upon to help with the wiring, his other grandparents had given his younger sister a house, I had made a beauty shop room box for his aunt, and then, to add insult to injury, my sister and I had kit bashed a Storybook cottage to make a church for our dad, who was an Episcopal priest.
Suddenly, every man, woman, and child in the family had a dollhouse but Matthew. After a quick consultation with his parents, I dragged out an old McKinley kit and set to work. The McKinley is only nine inches deep, so I added three inches to the back, but once that was done, we set to work together. Matthew has always had a good eye, and I took him to a dollhouse show to help select furnishings. He chose everything in the bedrooms himself.
Once he outgrew it, he passed in on to his sister, and then it went into the barn. After his son was born, he began to discuss having me refurbish it for the Little One. And it took me for-bloody-ever. It took so long I was really afraid Little One would outgrow it before I got in finished.
Matthew picked it up last Tuesday.
The house was a HUGE hit! The box beside Little One had all of the furniture and “stuff” in it. He took one look and remarked that “There’s a lot of stuff to set up in here, so don’t rush me.” I’d never considered putting the washer and dryer in the bedroom, but it is certainly convenient when it comes time to strip the beds.
The tower roof was lost sometime in the past, and I have to reconstruct it, but it doesn’t rain much indoors, so I doubt the upstairs bedroom will get wet. Don’t rush me.
thisendoftheswamp 