At home with the Ideal family in their small Keystone Put-A-Way

In 1949 Keystone of Boston came up with a new innovation in dollhouses, making three models of their "Put-A-Way" dollhouses. Catagorized as Put-A-Way because of the ability to pivot or fold wings/rooms of the dollhouse inside adjoining rooms, allowing for a smaller "footprint" in a child's room.

This is the smaller of the three Put-A-Ways made in 1949.

Meet Horace and Gertrude Ideal 

and their twins Freddie and Flossie.

 This small 5 room Keystone of Boston house is their home.

They have a combination living and dining room

 with a partial wall giving the living room a bit of privacy.

Gertrude brought her childhood grand piano 

and her mother's secretary to grace their living room.

Their dining room set was an anniversary gift
 to Gertrude from Horace.

Their kitchen is compact but very serviceable.

Their bedroom suite fits perfectly in their room 

with the blue and white wallpaper and Gertrude's comfy chair.

The bathroom is quite large even with a corner tub, 

so Gertrude stores her ironing board 

and washing machine there.

Are Freddie and Flossie playing, hiding from Mom 

or is it nighttime and this is where they sleep?

A nice patio is found outside the bathroom.

Gertrude is wondering just where 

she put the picture she wants to hang over the sofa.

Horace is getting confused. He wants to shave 

but all he can see in the mirror is a sailing ship.

Freddie and Flossie are playing hide 'n seek on the patio. 

Can you help Freddie find Flossie?

Now we must say goodby to the Ideal family. 

Say goodbye Freddie and Flossie....

and also the two of you, Horace and Gertrude.

Here is my little house in the Put-A-Way position.

When the kitchen is "put-away", 

the dining room table moves into the living room, 

the front door disappears....and so does the piano.

Gertrude wishes the kitchen would also disappear.

These five pieces of furniture were made by Renwal.

The dining room set is a product of The Ideal Co. 

I had this identical set in my childhood dollhouse.

All of the furniture in the living area was made by Ideal.

The screen and flower stand are part of 

the Petite Princess/ Princess Patti line Ideal introduced in 1964.

Another Ideal set is the kitchen furniture. 

None of the doors or drawers open in this line of furniture.

 I had this identical Ideal bedroom set in my childhood dollhouse. 

My comfy chair was pink and blue. 

I remember picking it out on a trip with my Mom 

to Woolworth's five and dime store in 1949. 

The blue and yellow bath room fixtures 

were also made by Ideal....

....as was the furniture found on the patio.

These dolls were made by Ideal, 

but only for a very short period in 1949-50.

Their arms are the only moving part.

Well, the Ideal family has turned their backs on us.

I guess I will leave at that.

What do you know about dollhouse bathrooms?

 Was the chamber pot the original indoor "plumbing"?

With an introduction on chamber pots  by Rhu McBee, the newest book by Patty Cooper is all about dollhouse bathrooms. 

From the "almost lovely" wooden bath pieces produced in Germany around 1900, to their metal bathroom pieces and bath roomboxes in the 1920s, collectors of dollhouses from this time period have a large variety of bathrooms to choose from. 

Not to be left behind, America and the UK  jumped right in with bath pieces made of metal, wood and plaster. We find them in the same colors that were popular in actual bathrooms during the 1920-30s.....green, blue, orchid, pink and aqua.

Following right along with the new popularity of bathrooms in dollhouses, makers of dollhouse accesories produced a myriad of items to complete the dollhouse bathroom decor.

If you are looking for a resource to help you furnish a dollhouse in a period appropriate way, this book is for you!

Patty Cooper has published 26 books on dollhouses and dollhouse furniture that are a valuable resource for collectors, all available on Blurb.

A Keystone of Boston dollhouse from 1938-39

Say hello to the Jurgensons....

Jerry, Janice and their little daughter Jezebel.

This is their home, a two story, five room house

with side chimney and attached kitchen.

It was manufactured by Keystone of Boston 

and appeared in their catalog of 1938-39. 

Jerry and Janice saw it, liked it and ordered it immediately.

Janice insisted I wallpaper every room, 

not my favorite thing to do.

         Here we find Jerry and Janice sitting quietly in the living room.

Pick one:

1) not on speaking terms.

2) waiting for the other one to fix dinner.

3) hoping the other one will tend to the demanding  Jezebel upstairs. 

4) stoned.

No one has set the table for dinner! Janice must think that is a job for me. 
But she is very happy with her modern dining room furniture.

I hate cooking. (That's me talking, but I think Janice must feel the same.)

She needs to figure out a way to get out of cooking. 

(I did, but that's my secret.)

Hopefully he lifted the lid. At least the blinds are shut.

HELP! I'm stuck in a bamboo prison! 

WAAAH! Get me out of here!

Often Janice sits in front of her mirror and thinks

"Beauty is in more than the eye of the beholder."

 Yes, this is the original color of the modern dining room set.

The lace curtain was decoration on a dress I bought in 1967. 

Anyone else a hoarder?

The appliances and table and chairs set are Strombecker. 
It seems like I use this floor paper in all of my houses.

 Some little critters found the floors in this house

to be tasty, so the floors had to be covered. 

Nothing like a pink and blue bedroom for adults. 
The spreads, pillows and curtain 
all came from different Ebay sellers. 

I was not feeling crafty when I set up this house. 

More Strombecker furniture in the bath. 

The first, and probably the last, time I attempt to make a shade. 

Hung it anyway.

I tried very hard not to over-decorate. 

More successful this time!

One of the unique features of this dollhouse

 is the side chimney.

 As far as I am aware, this is 

the only Keystone house with a side chimney.

This is the only cupola appearing on a Keystone dollhouse 

until Keystone produced a dollhouse 

sold exclusively at FAO Schwarz in the 1960s. 

It was modeled after their largest dollhouse, #510, produced in 1955.

The kitchen window has a curtain printed on the interior side. Keystone printed shades on the interior sides of their earlier 1935 dollhouses. 

This dollhouse (lower right) was shown
 in Keystone's 1938-39 catalog.

 I am assuming it came in two different color designs....

red roof with white quoins and the combination

 on mine, green roof with red quions. 

This is a nice little Keystone of Boston five-room dollhouse. 

It came from the collection of Geraldine Scott.

 The Strombecker chairs, sofa and end tables were introduced in 1942, while the grandfather clock as early as 1934. The fireplace is a remodeled Nancy Forbes, the coffee table, missing the mirrored top, is also Nancy Forbes circa 1940, and the lamps are Dolly Dear.

Strombecker produced this Modern Colonial Dining Room  in 1938.

This style kitchen table and chairs set was produced by Strombecker as early as 1933. The three appliances were part of the New Modern Furniture sold in 1938.

The bedroom set was sold by Strombecker starting in 1942. The lamps

 are Dolly Dear and the "bamboo prison" is a Japanese import.

Strombecker introduced the bath set in 1942. The clothes hamper is Nancy Forbes.

                                                

The Jurgenson adults are small scale German Caco dolls produced probably in 1950-60s. Jezebel is a larger scale Caco and produced later when the dolls still had metal feet. The best information on Caco dolls can be found on https://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/.

Now this post is ending and we must bid adieu to the Jurgensons. 

Wave goodbye to Jezebel!