Did you have a dollhouse as a Kid

[Minis On The Edge]

My parents got me hooked on minis when I was a kid. I had 2 metal dollhouses and I had the fisher price dollhouse & Castle as a kid and I also had one wood house my mother never completed but I played with it and had fun with it any way.

I also had the Sesame Street building with Mr Roopers store and a LOT of Mini People. I also had the Toy McDonalds as a kid. My Brother had the Fisher Price Barn with animals and little people. Those count as minis, right? I was thinking about that when Our New member posted about a childhood dollhouse.

How many of you played with minis as a kid??

[CatColorado]

Hmm, I had the Fisher Price Family tree house and the merry-go-round with all of the little peg people. I loved those things. I still have the merry-go-round and it still works! I was given a dollhouse kit with furniture when I was about 10 years old. That poor ol house was never really finished.

[wonderwizzy]

How many of you played with minis as a kid??

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[Nameless1]

Me me me!

Some of my Fisher Price people lived in a tin litho house in this style. The Tweekie toys lived in what is now Nigel and Giles' house. I also had the Fisher Price castle and a few other buildings, though not the Sesame Street house. I had quite a civilization of FP people.

As well as the wooden house, my father built a 1:18 plexiglass house that slid under the bed. (Unfortunately, it fell apart years ago and any photos are faded Polaroids at my parents' house. It had three bedrooms, one bath, a huge kitchen, and a separate dining room.) Later, I got my mother's tin litho house, in this style, with Renwal furniture.

There's also a 1:48 plexiglass house with a garage -- that one, I still have but can't manage to furnish.

Oh, and I had the Imagination Dollhouse, which I think was inhabited by pipecleaner people.

When I was in my early teens, my parents bought one of those early 1980s Walmer mansard houses. (They show up on eBay occasionally.) This was purportedly my birthday present, but they always liked it way more than I did.

[fov]

Tracy, I had that same Sesame Street house. It had a hinge in the middle and folded out, right? With Ernie & Bert's apartment and Hooper's store and the Fix It Shop and one other apartment (maybe Susan and Gordon's?) My parents still have it. We also had a little block of shops that folded out the same way, also Fisher Price I think, and had a fire station on the end. There was a crank in the top of the fire station and you could turn it to make a fire engine noise. I used to crank that thing so hard I lifted the building off the floor and all the furniture fell over!

I had a dollhouse that my dad made. It was basically a square, with a wall in the middle and a floor/ceiling, and it was open on all four sides, so you had access to eight rooms. That was replaced with this house when I was about 12.

[Minis On The Edge]

Tracy, I had that same Sesame Street house. It had a hinge in the middle and folded out, right? With Ernie & Bert's apartment and Hooper's store and the Fix It Shop and one other apartment (maybe Susan and Gordon's?) My parents still have it.

How cool!! My girls play with the Sesame Street one I had as a kid and they play with the Mcdonalds. They lost all of the pieces to that though :o (they play too rough LOL :lol: )

I'll take pictures when my batteries recharge!! LOL.

I had the Tin House from Sears dated in the late 1970s. I killed one (guess my gilrls get it from me LOL) so in the early 80s she bought the same one for me but they stopped making them :lol: .

I see one every now and again on ebay with rust. The ones without rust I can't imagine paying that much for it LOL.

[nuttiwebgal]

when I was very young I had a tin house but I got into Barbie very early

I made things for their house(my bookshelf) I also had the complete sunshine family collection...but I lost all of these things in a house fire when I was 14

and of course who is going to replace those kinds of things at that age....I was more into boys than....should have played with my dolls longer! :lol:

it was also at this age I saw my first real dollhouse and my dream of someday having one for myself.

nutti

[shutterbugkc]

I had one dollhouse growing up. It was the plastic "Little's" house. I can't remember a whole lot about it and I don't even know where it is now. I didn't really get into miniatures until around two years ago. I think I played a lot more with our little people's village when I was a kid.

[Lony]

humm lets see, I had all the fisher price little people stuff. The house, A frame, plane, circus, barn and the castle. I still have it in boxes at my parents although the people are all scalped from dad running over them with the lawn mower

My dad also built a three room house for my strawberry shortcake dolls. It was constructed like a real house and he made "play" furniture too. LOL the tv was a block of wood routered around the edges with two finishing nails sticking out the top for rabbit ears and a 15 cent stamp for the screen. (boy I am telling my age now)

No wonder I still play with dolls :lol:

[LPCullen]

I had no dollhouses, or dollhouse miniatures as a child. Might explain why I have so many now, LOL!

[MiniMadWoman]

I didn't have any dollhouses or miniatures as a kid although I remember always wanting them. The closest I got to minatures was Barbie and friends. We'd play for hours OUTSIDE in the summer. I seem to fondly remember a friend's Easy-Bake-Oven . . . am needing chocolate! :lol:

[IrishMist]

Count me in, too! I built houses out of grocery boxes for my barbies. Actually, mine were usually pioneers - they had shoe box wagon trains with Breyer horses to pull them. And the they had log cabins made of twig covered boxes. Also was big into trolls. They had a house made of chicken wire and clay to look like a tree stump.

And then I saw Coleen Moore's Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago....used to go every chance I got to stand there and dream (and drool!!!) ...still do if you want to know the truth! I know the museum is huge, but as far as I am concerned it consists of just the castle.

And there is a wonderful display in Arcola, IL. A guy bought a huge old store and made it into a series of rooms with plexiglass front walls and a hallway winding through them. Each room shows a different scene from an 1800s village. Talk about impressive!!!!

In the early 90s I made a dollhouse "so my niece would have something to play with when she came to visit" teehee.. :lol:

Carol

[julygirl56]

The only dollhouse I had as a child was the folding book kind. It was a Victorian household with the Father, Mother and little girl. Some furniture wsn't attached to the walls and some was. I used to play with it for hours. :lol: Had it stored away for my "some day daughter". My kid sisters got a hold of it and ruined it. So, had to buy the Large folding Fisher Price dollhouse for my daughter. She's 19 now and we still play with it, every once in a while. :lol:

[LisaN]

I had a metal dollhouse I think one of my grandparents gave me when i was three. I loved that house--and whoever gave me the metal dollhouse, also gave me a metal gas station so the minute people could get gas--it even had gas pumps like they did in the 60's.

I had the fisher price schoolhouse, and it is probably either still in the attic or in the garage in a box. I loved that schoolhouse, with all thelittle peggable people. My kiddles went to school there too. :lol:

Remember watching the Sesame street clip where the little girls are playing with madame alexander dolls in their wood dollhouse, and let the kittens come into tea? My stepfather built me a dollhouse for my favorite madame alexander dolls, and it is still being played w/ by my stepdaughter today. The furniture was one inch scale, but I think the one on sesame street was 2 inch to the foot, madame alexander dolls back then were eight inches tall, and had the bendable knees.

I never really grew up either. I played with both of my houses all through school, and still collected in college.

[hydroped]

The closest I ever came to owning a dollhouse as a kid was making a house for my pet rat out of an old cardboard box, never could teach him to use the door but he loved jumping in and out the windows lol. When I was about 8 or 9 though my parents became good friends with another couple and we went on a lot of vacations together etc. Their daugher had a dollhouse - so we'd go in the spare room where it was kept and rearrange the furniture - funny thing is the attic/sewing room usually became the bedroom cause it seemed like it had the coolest view lol. Leave it to me to turn a dollhouse into a fort somehow. Her grandad made all of the furniture so everytime they got something new we all had to go in and ooh and ahh over it and how it was made - very big deal. It was a very cool dollhouse which he built from a set of plans. I really loved being at their house, it was quiet, relaxing, they had great classic books to read and an heirloom quality dollhouse that we were allowed to touch and rearrange, so while I didn't have one of my own I did get to play with one sometimes.

-David

[darrellandmelissa]

The closest thing I had to a doll house was a fold up box that sort of resembled a house for my barbies.I packed all my dolls away on my 12th birthday. I had decided I was too old for dolls and such and packed all my toys away. Darrell said he had a plastic fort with cowboys and indians, fences, and little cannons and other such, He said it was called "Fort Apache". Funny thing is when we met it was Darrell that introduced me to miniatures, and had half built the "beacon Hill".

Melissa

P.S We are leaving today for a week vacation in the mountains. I hope to return with a new outlook on life, and renewed intrest in many things.

[LisaN]

Melissa, the mountains will be good for you, enjoy yourself. I love going to the mountains this time of year, but the best time is fall when Skyline Drive has all the leaves turning.

I played with my aunt's 1950's foldup 'apartment' house made of cardboard, and folded up into a big cardboard box w/ carrying handle. I still have Midge, and that was a big treat, going to my grandmother's and my aunt would let me play with her Barbies. We were eleven years apart, so it was fun.

Now I have houses made out of wood like I wanted as a kid and I challenge myself with cardboard--go figure. I love the challenge out of making something from nothing --and given the materials and paints, and adhesives available today, you can make some cool stuff out of cardboard--look at Joann Swanson.

[havanaholly]

We just got back from our two-month road trip (turned out to be 2 1/2+ months, but it was FUN!!! & I got to meet Tracy ) and I had to reply to this one.

I vaguely remember a little tin house until someone gave me what I learned long after it mouldered into dust was a Keystone six-room dollhouse with one electric light (an appliance bulb, I think) and I furnished it with Tootsietoy & Renwal furniture & had a Renway family living in it. When Mother decided I was too old to play with it she stored it our leaky garage and when I went to collect it after she'd decided to move to a trailer the roaches & silverfish hadn't left much. I don't know what happened to the tin house, but this was just after WWII, probably went to a younger cousin.

As soon as DGD was "old enough" (her mom would let us give it to her) DH & I made her a house and I was back to playing with dhs all over again.

[Peggi]

Welcome back Holly! You've been missed, glad you enjoyed your vacation.

Peggi

[LisaN]

welcome back Holly! You must post some pics about your trip--and meeting Tracey too!

I remember my stepfather found a one room dollhouse that had probably been made in the forties or fifties by the previous owners of the house in an old shed he was tearing down--the windows & doors were marked w/ a black pencil or crayon. The house was little, but it was fun to play with.

In my teens I remember putting together a cheap kit, don't remember the name, but I made it into a halloween house by weathering it with alcohol & india ink-a tip I read in Nutshell News. I loved the effect, and have always wanted to do another house like that.

Holly, did you make any minis on the move?

[havanaholly]

did you make any minis on the move?

I worked on the Glencroft (see the blog), but because of the nature of the trip (sightseeing, cycling & kayaking) I didn't get it finished. I did fill up the storage spaces in the camper with minis, however. And bless Tracy! She donated some bottles for the Glencroft pub when it's ready for them. We found some wonderful mini sources in some of the places we went, including a shop on the eastern side of Mission Ridge in Chattanooga; if it had been there 30 years ago, when we lived in Signal Mountain, I'd have begun mini-ing twenty years sooner than I did !

[LisaN]

I have heard there is a great little shop in Tennessee. Always wanted to go. I visited Memories on the way to Florida, in Folly Beach, SC and it is simply MARVELOUS, darling. My husband was pleased as punch because next to this beautifully landscaped dollhouse store, is the owner's husband salvage yard. Chris loves to salvage old car parts, etc. The owner is Joan, and one of my friends works in the store part time so we all had a wonderful visit. Joan is starting a museum at the store, and the pieces she has on display are simply overwhelming! I bought a wonderful bird cage and a toy shop sign for my doll Emporium while there, Amanda collected egyptian stuff. She was getting alot of her museum pieces donated from someone's estate and collection in Tennessee. Did you pass through Piegon Forge, TN? I love Dollywood--you have to look , but it is a great place to find the odd mini or two.

[havanaholly]

Pigeon Forge is 'way east of where we were. DS#1 has done a good thing by his ol' mini mama & moved to Charleston, SC, which is just up the road from Folly Beach so now I have an excuse to go shop there more. My favorite part of Miniature Memories is Alice Zinn's circus, I have to go back to see what's new. Her posts to SSD can get my creative juices flowing faster than chocolate!

One of the nice things about goint to visit DMIL is that sometimes we can go down to Nancy's in Naples or over to Orlando to Ron's before heading home.

To get back on topic, I've been making up for 40 years between dollhouses.

[LisaN]

WOW! You've got me beat! I just love to fiddle with the project of the moment that seizes me before I go to bed at eleven o'clock at night.........

I saw Nancy's dollhouses at the FL. show, and her pieces are gorgeous. Unfortunately for my purse, other tables like Ron's were calling--I persuaded my hubby to buy me a hawaiian santa feeding a flamingo. He was complete down to hawaiian shirt jams, and flip flops.

Memories is a great store--I was in awe of Alice's circus. Jane Ratcliffe, my friend who works there occasionally, told me that Alice had modeled the participants on people in the store, her family, and friends. It was so great--I fell in love with the poodles wearing tutus.......I hope to own one of Alice's dogs one day. The poodles were so delicate!

My mother started me in minis when I was quite young, but fostered it all throughout when I was growing up. I was given incentives (money for minis--or minis) to do things like chores, so when I went to shows with money in hand, I realized even then great deals could be had at the shows. I attended Back to School for miniaturists in my twenties, and it really took off in my late thirties so I even surprised myself!