So, in addition to the Moorehead Showhouse, I’ve acquired a Swiss chalet which I will be transforming into an early American Colonial folk-art type of dwelling, and a handmade gingerbread Victorian which I will be turning into a San Francisco circa 1968 Painted Lady hippie commune. Each came to me from a friend of my grandmother’s, whom I told in July that I had started working on the showhouse. In just under two months, she has gifted to me not only those two dollhouses, but about three or four shoe boxes of vintage dollhouse furniture, both constructed by hand and machine, in all different scales, and from a range of eras. I can’t believe how fortunate I am to have received all this great stuff! It’s kind of overwhelming though, because there is so much to figure out about it. What should I sell on eBay/Etsy? If I sell, how much are these pieces worth? Where/when are they from? And for a lot of the pieces which are broken, how am I going to repair/refinish them? Once they are done, where will I put them? I now have in front of me an endless supply of projects to work on for a while. Not to mention, I am nowhere near complete on the interiors of the showhouse, and I won’t begin interior work on the other two houses until I finish the first one! But I feel like furniture projects are a good way to break up the time in between doing walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows & moldings. Below are photos from my brand newly massive collection.
I love this wicker bed. It is not marked or stamped, but it came with two pieces of a matching screen that I’m going to use to frame the window of the room this bed will go in:

One of these (unmarked) chairs was broken so I snapped off the coil and am going to put new legs on it:

I have so so so so much of this stuff. It’s Dora Kuhn, (all stamped “Made in West Germany”). I am still trying to date the pieces, have found that some is from a set made in 1949, and some is from a set made in 1967? I have two of every piece. Armoire, table, dresser, bed, table, chair, sideboard, etc:

I think I would like to repaint this (unmarked) TV completely and then stick a new picture on the screen:

This (unmarked) table is missing a leg, so I am going to chop off the back leg and side stretchers, slice down half the table top and turn it into a French Directoire two-leg console. I’m going to make the legs look like columns, and do a faux marble top, like this. I will be painting it white though, to give it more of a Hollywood Regency feel:

Then I will be painting this piano (marked Made In Taiwan) white, to really go all out Hollywood Regency. I’m hoping to find really thin slivers shiny ivory & black seashell(?) in the bead section of Michael’s, and make a brand new keyboard from them:

I got a turkey:

And a set of pots & pans:

And an old kitchen set (marked Made In Taiwan) that needs a lot of cleaning. I am thinking about painting the refrigerator avocado green:

Here is a little unmarked canvas baby cradle:

Two out of these three (unmarked) chairs have broken legs, so I’m going to combine the legs of two to make a set of four for one, leaving the last chair without any legs and I will make replacements for it:

Cute wooden sofa and chair, no markings:

That’s not even everything. But as you can see from the above, there is more than enough to keep me busy for a long while. So keep watching this space! I will be posting progress of as much as I can.
Also… if anyone reading knows anything about any of these pieces, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments!






3 responses to “The universe keeps handing me dollhouse stuff”
Sabina
August 23rd, 2010 at 21:52
Hello,
I wrote you about the scarab.
I just haven’t got time at the mo to check your new acquisitions but PLEASE do NOT paint, scrape or redo the TV, the piano bench (belongs to a bedroom set), or the wooden sofa and chair yet – if ever! Piano may be junk – can’t say for sure.
I’ll make time to check a few books I still have in a few days and see what I can find. (I like to be precise if poss.)
These items may be more valuable to you to sell on ebay and then spend the loot on something you don’t need to fix up or something new and spiffy. (It is VERY easy with minis to end up with closets/drawers full of UFO’s aka unfinished objects that you intend to get around to redoing.) Plus I and many others love the old stuff which some see as ugly but it would be a pity to devalue an old collectible if it’s not really your thing.
I so enjoy seeing what you’re up to – and your site is wonderful!
Will get back to you soon – promise.
eloisemoorehead
August 24th, 2010 at 14:25
Sabina,
THANK YOU!
thank you thank you for stopping by and writing.
so…. it is too late for the piano bench – I painted it bright white and put a white fur seat cushion on it already. and i painted the piano white too. i gilded it a bit as well. they look awesome now at least! hope the bench isn’t worth too much.
I totally appreciate the idea of not devaluing collectibles by leaving them intact… so I won’t be touching any of the items you mentioned! i would definitely like to unload some of this stuff on ebay or etsy (etsy allows for non-handmade items so long as they are @ least 20 years old).
what books do you have? anything you think would be worthy of me looking for on amazon? i am starving for knowledge!
cant wait to hear back from you
Sabina
August 27th, 2010 at 14:01
Hi again,
Sorry to say the only books I kept I now realize are all about English/continental older minis.
However, I just found this website – with excellent pix and illustrations:
http://www.mckendry.net/DOLLHOUSES/1890s.htm
Surf thru to mid-20th century. The ‘piano’ bench was probably a 1930′s or 40′s STROMBECKER piece: if you go to the site above, you will see the bedroom vanity with which it went. (I have a twin bed bedroom set in Waterfall style with the dresser/vanity and bench myself.)
I haven’t been able to identify the TV, sofa or chair but would guess 40′s for latter and 50′s for former.
I just waded through gazillions of pages on ebay and not much Strombecker but you could search just to see what they have. It seems crazy but already stuff that age is getting rarer and more expensive.
(I notice you have a Lundby house and there is a Lundby bathroom set for sale on ebay right now. Being only from 70′s, Lundby stuff a bit easier to come by and afford.)
If I can find out anything more, I will let you know. Can’t advise about etsy as have only looked at new stuff there.
Here is a rather fun site I came across recently, in case you haven’t.
http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/
One book you might enjoy is THE ART OF THE MINIATURE by New Yorker Jane Freeman. She, like you, has an artistic approach, and loves to use found objects. I just love her work.
If you do list on ebay, place items under VINTAGE dollhouse miniatures – and you will probably make more if listed individually.
Hope some of this helps.
Cheers!