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Can anyone ID this vintage house?


shamrockgirl18

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Yesterday I went onto Facebook Marketplace (which I rarely do).

I decided to do a bit of 'window shopping/browsing' to see if anyone was selling used dollhouses - just to get some inspiration, I swear!

And someone had listed a FREE dollhouse! I couldn't believe someone was giving one away, so I messaged her immediately. She was very glad that someone was interested, and said she was about to donate it to Goodwill.

I made arrangements with my husband to pick it up.

It's an old wood/cardboard one. It needs some repairs, but overall it's not too bad.

Originally when I read the description of it being in rough shape, I figured "I'll just make it into a haunted/abandoned house" but then I saw all the graphics on it, and it's just too charming.

rsz_free_dh.jpg

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THAT'S MY HOUSE!!!!! That's the house that started it all for me-my mini obsession. My mother's 1949 Keystone of Boston that she got for xmas new in 1949-from Sears catalog. I have a gallery album for mine on here. She played with it, me and my sister played with it in the 70's, and both our daughters played with it in the 90's. Mom wanted to throw it away - I brought it home and totally remodeled it. (I got negative comments on youtube for "ruining" a collectors item-but thats what my family wanted, and it will now go to my grandkids when I pass away and stay in our family forever).

Fun fact - that particular model came in 3 versions. One with just the center, one with the fold in kitchen (most popular) and one with a fold in kitchen on one end and a fold in garage on the other.

 

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On 10/24/2020 at 8:00 AM, Island-Shack said:

THAT'S MY HOUSE!!!!! That's the house that started it all for me-my mini obsession. My mother's 1949 Keystone of Boston that she got for xmas new in 1949-from Sears catalog. I have a gallery album for mine on here. She played with it, me and my sister played with it in the 70's, and both our daughters played with it in the 90's. Mom wanted to throw it away - I brought it home and totally remodeled it. (I got negative comments on youtube for "ruining" a collectors item-but thats what my family wanted, and it will now go to my grandkids when I pass away and stay in our family forever).

Fun fact - that particular model came in 3 versions. One with just the center, one with the fold in kitchen (most popular) and one with a fold in kitchen on one end and a fold in garage on the other.

 

I looked at your photo album- your house looks great!

I am going to keep my mine vintage because I was gifted some antique (Strombecker?) furniture, and it looks really nice together.

But it is going to need some work. Do you have any tips for restoring it?

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Erin, you can make new windows from 1/8" basswood, which cuts easily with a utility knife and cork-backed steel straight edge.  Hobby Lobby used to carry the miniature millwork for window frames, baseboards, etc; if they no longer have it I think Micro Mark still does.  I almost wish my mother had given mine away for some neighbor child to play with, instead of putting it in her leaky S FL garage for the cockroaches, mice and silverfish to destroy.

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On 10/25/2020 at 8:49 PM, havanaholly said:

Erin, you can make new windows from 1/8" basswood, which cuts easily with a utility knife and cork-backed steel straight edge.  Hobby Lobby used to carry the miniature millwork for window frames, baseboards, etc; if they no longer have it I think Micro Mark still does.  I almost wish my mother had given mine away for some neighbor child to play with, instead of putting it in her leaky S FL garage for the cockroaches, mice and silverfish to destroy.

Thanks for the tip! One of the windows is still in tact, so at least I'll have something to model them by.

The extension interior had some kind of contact paper covering all the original graphics. It was old and peeling, so I was able to remove much of it, but it unfortunately took away the top layer of the cardboard walls, including the original graphics. I'm not sure how I am going to restore that, but I'd like to make it match the rest of the interior.

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4 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Ooo.  If you could somehow access images of the original graphics and print them on a high-quality matte photo paper to glue to the primed walls would be wonderful.  

I've been looking around for those exactly! Haven't found any yet though.   .  .

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