LisaN Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Was watching the news this morning with hubby and drinking coffee at 6 am when they began announcing the yard sales! They suddenly announced a huge church bazaar yard sale, so off we got dressed, dragged Amanda out of bed, and away we went. This yard sale was huge. Ever had one of those days when you feel lucky? Well today was my day. Dollhouse lucky. There she was, all thirty-two inches tall of her, sitting neglected with maskin tape in the morning dew yelling, buy me! Ten minutes later I had hubby antie up and we were lugging the dollhouse to the car. :lol: Remember how we were talking of collecting houses? This dollhouse was a find--she is made of good solid wood, and has hinged doors on the front like the english dollhouses. A damp grocery bag taped to the top of the roof had miscellaneous chrysonbon parts in them, nice kits. This whole house was homemade, even down to the stairs and some of the partitions. It was papered with shelf and wrapping paper in awful colors for this house, but I soon got rid of that with some warm water and lysol wipes, came right out with only a little residue left behind with the ugly wrapping paper. I took pics, the pictures are in my webshots album: http://community.webshots.com/user/lisaneault I thought at first it might have been a gloucester, or another gl kit, but it has the look of a handmade dollhouse or model. In fact it looks like a model of a house made into a dollhouse as an afterthought, just from the look of the kits, and the joints and the way the doors are hinged. Enjoy looking at the pics! I've included some in this post! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peggi Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Great find. It was your lucky day. And was the price right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa_F Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 wow, what a great find! Way to go! I keep hoping to stumble across doll houses at yard sales or thrift shops, but no luck so far. So what are your plans for this house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 That's a very cool house! I'm glad it fell into loving hands to detox the bad wallpaper and give it a new look. It's definitely got a lot of potential. Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Congratulations on a great find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaN Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 Thank you! Key to finding dollhouses at yard sales, bazaars, etc. GO EARLY. I know in my heart if I had not got there when they were just beginning, this dollhouse would have been snapped up. The sale was so huge that people would go up to one of the church staff members who wore a cash apron, and marked the item sold after you paid for it so you could still go about and shop. I wasn't taking that chance--I lugged it to my car and put it in the trunk--it was a perfect fit. I hate to say this, but go to big yard sales, big bazaars, or even large, big flea markets. (Places that have good junk! :lol: ) stands to reason in my yard sale forays that nice areas have nice 'junk'....I picked up some of these yard sale tips from various people I know that go foraging every Saturday. They make lists, plan their 'strategy' as they call it, and can drive up and decide if there is good stuff in one fell swoop. I plan to put up a hallway where the stair placement is, so some more walls will be needed. I might magic brik it in, and use a combo of brik and stone quoins--this house definitely looks Georgian. For anyone wanting to do a Georgian house, you need Brian Long's Book called 'The Authentic Georgian Dolls' House' I bought that book in Florida along with his new Tudor & STuart dolls house book, the books are well worth the money and give a historical accuracy and ideas that can't be beat. He & Kay are lovely people; I believe he will be doing his apothecary shop workshop in Sturbridge coming up in June. I played with the stairs last night, and they are ready to be put together! What is really neat is these stairs are handmade! The bannisters and bulstrades are a little large, I will have to buy some. I will probably get to work today staining & painting the stair treads, and seeing if I can get them assembled, so I know how much space I will need to work with in the hallways. But that is what I have up for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Color Me Holly Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Nice find, Lisa! I don't do yardsales. I went to DI again yesterday with Mabyn for shorts and there was another house there. Not worth what they wanted for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Congrats on the new baby! I am like you lisa. I am a yard sale junkie! See the classified marks going up my arms? I soooooooooooo desperately want to go to Brimfield this year. (DESPERATE :lol: ) I might be able to swing going to the one in the fall. My mother took me to yard sales, flea markets, church bazaars,and jumble shops when I was a wee one. There is this annual child and family sale that I go to. One year b4 they opened they said it was there 30th year. They wanted a show of hands of 1st timers, 5 yrs, etc. When they got to 30 yrs I raised my hand. They were shocked and asked me how old I was. I said I was 34. That is how much of a junk junkie I am. I tell hubby "It`s not junk. It`s a treasure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPCullen Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Great find Lisa! I bet you're going to have fun with that one! It doesn't say kit to me either, especially with that roof support, although it is reminiscent of the kits sold by Dolls House Emporium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 I found that book remaindered at a "Book Warehouse" store and have a Cheltenham I one day want to build as a Georgian house, complete with "thunder box" in a corner of the diningroom, decorously tucked behind a privacy screen... I think making & dressing period dolls would be an interesting challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaN Posted May 15, 2006 Author Share Posted May 15, 2006 It does have a look of DHE, doesn't it? But when I examined it closer, the wood is what gave it away. Hubby knows his wood, and said he can't get this thickness in birch anymore, or if he could, it would be hard to acquire. Brian's book has some great ideas on chamber pots, stools, kitchens, etc. Heidi, I too was taken to yard sales and flea markets as a kid. My dad worked with one of his coworkers who ran a side flea market business, selling tools, that was quite lucrative. To this day, (over thirty years later--he's still selling!) I can go to the outdoor flea market, and find him there. I grew up with his kids, so we were all flea market and yard sale kids. That family must have some rockin sales! I believe the hunt for finding that 'find' is more of a thrill than the actual find itself! Well, I created the partitions and papered in some of the walls this evening. I will stain the stair runner and treads, tonight I just painted the backs white, and painted some of the hallway walls warm white. I have some great ideas as I was papering, and it is really going to look awesome. Look in the community.webshots.com/user/lisaneault Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anya Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Great buy. I just won a Queen Anne on ebay that I am so happy with . What is a yard sale exactly? Is it like a car boot sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 What is a yard sale exactly? A full-fledged, wham-bang yard sale usually starts godawful early in the AM, with everything you want to get rid of set out (usually on the surfaces of furniture you want to get rid of), marked with the maximum price you dare think someone of limited intellect and maximum funds might part with, so y'all can both enjoy the sport of haggling the price down. Sometimes when more than one family goes in together or the seller has inordinate piles of stuff, they make cookies & coffee for the early shoppers. The sale is usually advertised to go until early afternoon, in reality it's over when the last shopper hands you money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakyshaky Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 What is a car boot sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 It's a yard sale from the trunk of a car. As I understand it, people drive in from the surrounding area and open the trunks of their cars to display their goodies ("boot" is the English for what we call the "trunk"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Havana, you forgot to mention that fact that your prices become drastically low when you start to get tired and sunburned and realize you dont want to DRAG all your treasures back into the house! And Haggling is a Must! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuttiwebgal Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Its looking good! already feeling the love I can tell! glad you are having such a good time with it! nutti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doogster Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 ("boot" is the English for what we call the "trunk"). And why is that? There actually is an answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peggi Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 And why is that? There actually is an answer. Wild guess--to patch a tire you use to use a portion of another tire callled a boot. The booted spare tire went in the boot/trunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doogster Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Wild guess--to patch a tire you use to use a portion of another tire callled a boot. The booted spare tire went in the boot/trunk. Wow, you could not be further from the right answer. Inventive though. 2 things the same, called a boot in England and a trunk in the US. Why would that be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Possibly because the very earliest cars manufactured here (I can't speak for the rest of the world) didn't have anything in back, then gradually luggage-carriers were installed over the rear bumpers to hold actual trunks for road trips, eventually the car companies included them on the carriers, then incorporated them into the design. There is a wonderful museum in the old Auburn manufacturing plant showroom in Auburn, IN, that has the most extensive collection of US-made cars up through the 1930s we've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaN Posted May 17, 2006 Author Share Posted May 17, 2006 I know the term 'boot' over here can refer to a lock called a 'boot' that is put on cars in private parking lots when they do not pay their parking tickets. This was a popular item when I worked for a security company and we checked the parking stickers....but I am digressing. I actually have no idea what a 'boot' sale is --unless it's the English term for a sale similar to a yard sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaN Posted May 30, 2006 Author Share Posted May 30, 2006 I have lots of updates on my 'yard sale find'. I have progressed past the stairs, and stained and installed the stair stringers, and have priced up the 'kit' that is available to apply siding to the house--that is the next step, after I alter the windows and door--they need to be trimmed a bit to accomadate the windows I wish to use. I have incorporated many items from my collection that I have collected over the years. One of these is a Lionelville hallmark train ornament, that looks like a miniature train set up. I have also collected the miniature hallmark ornaments with a plane, train, and a fire engine. So it is only natural the attic should be made into a train room and a little boys room(the little boys room will be done in cowboy theme--to also house my collection of Breyer Mini Whinnie's! ;) --I also collect model Horses from Breyer. These are perfect replicas of what would be the equivilant of 1:9th scale or traditional scale in full size. :lol: ) Here are some pics so far of the train room the wall that divides the two rooms is made of foamcore, and some stripwood stained was use to make a door frame. The support strip is low, so it blends in with the viewpoint of an attic /playroom/bedroom duo. For more on the yardsale dollhouse, check out my blog documenting this little house! http://yardsaledollhousestory.blogspot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minis On The Edge Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Lisa I love your train scene!! Your yardsale house is a GREAT size!! I am going to take a look at what you have done to it now. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nameless1 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Wow! The blog's a lot of fun, and that's quite a find there. I agree with you, Lisa, and with Linda... while it has a DHE shape, the plywood construction and the way the back is put together just have the feel of someone with inspiration and a power saw. The inspiration probably did come from seeing pictures of British front-opening houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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