New Year's Resolutions in the village.....

1. Clean up the village…otherwise known as my dollhouse room. Think back to Nov 29 when Call of the Small blogged about clearing up a corner of her basement for her houses and related possessions…didn't it look fantastic!! LOL. No way will I post pictures of my room that almost always looks like a bomb exploded in it…can I blame it on my peeps?

Update 2024:  Hah! 

2. Clean up the Hogarin house. Bathroom is neat (wow), and they can almost sleep in the bedroom! But the rest looks like.... my dollhouse room. This is the only house I have with rooms tall enough for my really tall Asian family. I have been trying to decide if they will live in the house, or if I will give it back to the Hogarin family that came with it. There they are… standing outside…notice granma is standing between grandpa and the younger maid that used to live with my friend Amy . This should be easy to do, and I should be able to keep this resolution!

Update 2024: Got 'R Done! see post Hogarin Re do Jan. 10, 2010!

3. Quit storing furniture in the Wagner dining room. That’s Karen Wagner throwing her hands up at the confusion I left in her dining room. She and Doug would really like to give a dinner party, but until I do some cleaning and moving there is no chance of that.
Evidently she hasn't looked at her spare bedroom upstairs either, or she would be kicking and screaming on the dining room floor!
Hopefully by summertime.....sorry, Karen.

Update 2024: Quit storing furniture in the dining room, but still haven't made curtains, repaired front window or replaced front door molding. 

4. Get started on my English cottage.
This is an English dolls house I bought from
Canada several years ago.
The seller stuffed it in a box that was too
small and broke the chimney top into
several pieces, but I saved them…
plus the door and windows are missing.

It looks like it had vines or climbing
rosebushes attached to the front (nice glue
residue!) to match the ones painted
on the side.




I've decided to turn it into an English cottage and and fill it with my collection of Barton Tudor furniture. Basically, I know how I want it to look, but just getting started has been difficult for me.

Please advise if you know the maker of this little house. I have another, with similarities, that was made by Playcraft.

Will I be able to keep this resolution...I hope so, as I have always been anxious to work on this project!

Update 2024: Repaired it, furnished it with Barton and sold on Ebay.



5. Put my Wichtel furniture back together. I've had this since last year. I recognized the box from the Puppenhausmuseum website.

What wasn’t already FLAT when it was shipped became FLAT as soon as I opened the box.

I hope I am still good at puzzles!

I need to take one long weekend and attack this collection of wooden pieces!

Will I get this done…I think so!

Update 2024: Nope, still in the box in the closet.

I think I have finally come up with a list of new year's resolutions that I look forward to fulfilling!

Must be because it involves my little houses.

So what's on your list of resolutions this year! Good luck to all of us!

Buy of the year...Dora Kuhn delights!

Although many of the blogs I follow have an affinity for modern decor, my personal preference is for the vintage dollhouses and dollhouse furniture. I have a total fascination for vintage Dora Kuhn furniture; it must be my German heritage!

And I love it when I have a really great win on eBay. I wanted just the beds in this auction, but of course you can't tell the seller, "I want to bid on just the beds, please!" Evidently not many buyers were interested, because I won this entire set for $42US! (And right after I won this set, a dear friend sold just 2 of the larger scale blue chairs for $44US.)

Several of the pieces in this set are marked Made in Germany US Zone; so that would date them back to before 1957. They have a lovely patina, mainly because the varnish has started to yellow. One blue chest is missing a drawer, but I will make that an open shelf....on my list that keeps growing!


I didn't realize until they arrived that they were the smaller 1:16 scale, so I couldn't use them with my other Dora Kuhn furniture. I placed them in a Keystone of Boston dollhouse from the late 1930s and liked the look...so here they will stay.
Dad lost his coat before he came to live in the village, so that is another item on my 'to do' list.

Do you have a really good buy from 2009?

Greetings of the Season....from Texas!

Around my dollhouse village, my little "peeps" (borrowed that term from my friend Amy who promises to start a blog on her Lundby lovelies very soon!) are getting in the spirit of the holidays......


Here we find Alex and Sara and their pup Pookie hanging a wreath on the red door of their Keystone house that was built in the mid 1930s. Looks like they have already decorated the fir trees gracing the entrance.

Rhett (who is a big boy) is helping daddy hang the wreath on their 1950 era Keystone house by staying out of his way. Rhett is hoping Santa will bring him a "two-wheeler" for Christmas!

On the south side of the village, up on a hill, we find Papa Nils waiting for Pia to hang the last ornament on the tree so he can place the new starburst on the top. Little Harald is busy playing with his kitty Kelo while Mama Margit waits in her comfy chair to light the candles on the tree...

Camille and Gabriel Bertrand hung their holiday wreath and are walking to the village store to buy candles for their tree. They are giving instructions to Baby Huey Bertrand to stay close to the chalet while they are away. Papa Bertrand always takes his umbrella with him.

In the middle of the village, Karen Wagner holds the wreath to hang on their door while hubby Doug prepares the reindeer topiaries to place on their front lawn. They are thinking about adding a red nose to one of the reindeer.......

Jeanette Renwal is trying to coax her kitty Titus away from the door of their 1940 Rich Toy home so her dad can hang their Christmas wreath. Titus must be from the same litter as Susan's lovely Darci.

In a corner of the village, Pappa Niklas Karlsson takes a nap in his chair by the tree while his wife Nana Astrid clears the dinner dishes. She is happy they decorated the tree before dinner so Niklas is free to have his nap! She is proud of her new retirement home built by Caroline's Home.

Chloe Hughes brings the door wreath to hubby Rhys while little Sofie waits patiently to help her pop. They live on the upper east side of the village near the Karlssons.

Little Greyson has helped daddy hang the wreath on their front door, but mom needed to make some adjustments.......

Grandma Wuensche wishes she could remember just where she stored the angel tree-topper because her darling grandkids are excited about seeing real candles on her little tree!

And, from one of my favorite cards from 1979, my holiday wishes to you...