Two Blissful Dolls' House Days

Friday was a special day for me as my friend and fellow vintage dolls' house collector, Jenny (another Jenny!) came up from London to visit.  Jenny has a wonderful collection of Triang houses with contemporary English furniture that I was lucky enough to view earlier this year.   She also illustrated this enchanting story, written by her brother - a must for all dolls' house enthusiasts, though it does seem to be quite hard to come by now:

The afternoon and evening whizzed over in a blissful blur as I showed Jenny my own dolls' houses and we discussed the finer points of their furnishing etc.  Jenny held nothing back and I was firmly instructed to remove one or two incongruous or ill-placed pieces of furniture from various rooms, which was brilliant as she was absolutely right and the rooms look much better for it - sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees.

She did also mention that I had far too many animals, particularly dogs, in my houses, so clearly there are limits to her judgement too and not one of them was removed, ha ha!

We also managed to sort out my dilemma regarding the bedroom in the Triang Princess 2. Having employed my other friend Jenny's suggestion of looking at the front of the house as a whole, I had decided that continuing the Pit-a-Pat theme into the bedroom was definitely the right thing to do, but I still had the problem of what to do with the big Triang four poster.  I was convinced it was too big for the attic room of my Triang 81 but Jenny thought not and insisted (and I use that word advisedly!) that we try it. And look! She was absolutely right, it looks great in there, not too big at all!

Here is the Pit-a-Pat in the Princess 2 bedroom.  I think it suits the cottage much better than the Elgin/Triang, though there is a lot to be done in both the 81's attic room and this room to make them properly habitable.

So, having put my mini world to rights on Friday, Jenny and I were up bright and early yesterday morning to go to Leeds Dolls' House Fair, probably better known as Pudsey Dolls' House Fair.  After meeting up with my other friend Jenny, who very kindly drove us to the fair, the three of us had a fabulous day sniffing out vintage treasures and marvelling at each others' finds.  This is what I came back with:

These are all die-cast metal. The sentry box is for Bert the Grecon guard, to make him feel more at home.  The little bee hive is for Ophelia's garden. The chicken in her nesting box will probably go in a kitchen somewhere (yes, so unhygienic!)

The Britains bushes have gone here, outside the Triang DH/D, at least for he time being.

These little vintage or vintage-ish bits and pieces will add a bit of clutter to my houses - as if they need it.  I particularly like the flower trough which I'd never seen before. I love the Scottie dog too - Jenny just rolled her eyes!

I also bought a smattering of new and nearly-new bits and pieces.  Jenny found the dog-paw doormat which I had to buy for my pooches. The beautifully-made building blocks in a box and tiny hand-knitted hat, mittens and golly are by Emma Jane Miniatures and the crates are by Harlands of Hedon.

These two hand-stitched rugs were a snip at £20 and £4.50 respectively, given the work that must have gone into into them - I marvel at the skill and patience of anyone who can make these themselves.  The photo on the right shows the larger one siting happily in the new Pit-a-Pat bedroom of the Princess 2.  I think the smaller one will go nicely in one of the nurseries.

I'm always a happy bunny if I find Grecons at a fair and yesterday I found these two.  I'm particularly pleased with the lady on the right who is a nice early melon footer. 

She was surely made for my Austrian chap, Ludwig! Does this spell disaster for his wife Gloria and their children I wonder?

So, after a fabulous day at the fair, the two Jennys and I returned to my house for a swift bit of serious dolls' housing before both Jennys had to head for home.  What a treat to have two like-minded enthusiasts for 'important' dolls' house discussion and to have a giggle with.  Thank you so much to both Jennys (both very lovely ladies) for a brilliant couple of days!

Until next time,

Zoe