Over the years, I’ve had my dollhouse photos on various websites. For a while I posted them on Seattle Filmworks, and then on PictureTrail. Each of them folded their tents and silently crept away. I tried to join Shutterfly, but that didn’t work out. I’m fairly sure it was my fault, as lots of other people use it and enjoy it. Anyway, when PictureTrail folded, The Squire downloaded all of my photos and put them on a flash drive, which went walkabout.
I found it last week and decided to see if I could show my loyal followers what I do with my spare time. This is not the first house I made, but it came up first on the thumb drive, so here we are.
This is The Mansard House. A friend asked me if I’d “do up” a house for her, but she didn’t have a one and wasn’t sure what she wanted. I took pictures of a couple of unfinished houses my favorite store had in stock, and she chose this one. After I paid for it and delivered it to her home, she decided she really didn’t want it, so I was stuck with it.
Not a really big problem, so I got my grandson involved and we had at it. Matthew has always had a really good eye for decorating and was happy to lend a hand on this project. We’ve done some other houses together in the past. I’ll get to those eventually.
This is the home of Howard and Annie Granger, and their son Martin.
From the left side of the house, this is the study. I found this boxed furniture set in a shop in Frederick, Maryland. A bookcase, desk, two armchairs, a side table, and a small chest, just the right size to fit into this rather marrow space. The walls are papered in a light green moire paper. A silver tray with a bottle of wine, two glasses and a tiny “winged” bottle opener sits on top of the chest, ready for visitors. The bottle opener is a charm from one of my bracelets.
Howard’s desk holds his computer, a cup of pencils, and a photo of his wife, Annie. Her parents were great fans of Edgar Allen Poe and named her Annabelle Lee. After years of being called “Annie Belly” she revolted and now goes by Annie, and woe unto anybody who calls her anything else.
The wing chair is a resin copy of one found in the Biltmore Castle in Ashville, NC. It’s not very comfy, but it looks nice.
The living room continues the moire paper around the bottom, and the top is a small rose design. The globes for the sconces are the tops from vials that held allergy serum. They even have a red line around the “Belly” of the globe. I snagged them when I was working for Hopkins. There is a candy dish next to the lamp on the table.
Annie is in her element in the kitchen, as she loves to cook. If only she didn’t have to clean up when she is done! There’s a desk with a pad and pencil and space for her cookbooks – and a pot of tea. The bread machine is a lip gloss container; I painted the top silver to resemble glass. The blue drinking glasses on the table are covers for preloaded needles for cortisone injections, one of our doctors saves them for me, and I cut them down to size.
Later, I’ll do the upstairs, but I want to see how this works out.
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