Harry buys a used car.....

We last met Harry Castleman when he enticed me to order him a mail order bride......Harry is expecting his bride to arrive any day now, and has decided he needs a car. He doesn't mind taking the bus, but he thinks his new bride would certainly enjoy a car of their own.  Harry hops on the village bus and rides out to Smitty's Used Cars...on the outskirts of Dollhouse Village....we certainly don't want a used car business inside the village!



That must be Smitty standing outside...waiting for a chump...er... customer. Harry decides to take a look at Smitty's cars.

 

What have we here? Looks like a '50 or '51 Oldsmobile convertible and also a 2 door Olds....in pink...must be a repaint!  Where does Smitty find these classics?

Hmmn. Is that Smitty....or a Burt Reynolds  impersonator ?

 

 

Harry looks at the bright pink Olds first...and thinks there is not much headroom in this car. And probably too flashy for his new bride-to-be too.

 

 

Next, Harry looks at the convertible and remembers when he was young... and wanted a fine black convertible just like this one.

   

 

Smitty saunters over to see if he can interest our guy in a "good" used car ...

  

 

 

Harry's eyes are suddenly drawn to the red Corvette..

and he walks around the black convertible to check it out.

 

 

 

Smitty suggests a test drive...

 

 

and he doesn't have to make the suggestion twice...so Harry speeds away.

  

 

 

Yelling SOLD!, Harry  almost runs over Smitty when he returns...

 

  

 

Smitty and Harry go inside to close the deal.

  

 

 

Driving up to his home, Harry takes a good look and thinks maybe it needs some sprucing up before Sophie gets here.

 

  

 

He gets out to take a closer look and he realizes his stepping stones have completely faded away...paint could use a little touch up too. Better give a call to that dollhouse lady...she may be retired, but he has some work that will keep her busy. Ha ha ha!

  

 

 

Now....what was her number? Or should he just stick his head out the open side of his house and give her a yell-out?

  

 

 

We leave Harry....

standing on the porch and gazing fondly at his shiny new 1954 Corvette.

 

This story to be continued....

Finding the missing pieces....

When I first saw this house, I wasn't  sure if it was a Keystone of Boston . I ticked off the characteristics of the Keystones....roof, chimney, door, and shutters looked like the ones Keystone produced in the 1940s. But the windows were large and empty while most of the Keystones during that period  had the metal diamond-pane double windows that swung open. But it came to live with me, and for several years sat on the shelf with a blank look on its' face and a bit of Nancy Forbes furniture inside.  

 

Then I saw this house on an auction site with pretty half windows and the original box that indicated it WAS a Keystone of Boston. I was glad that I had guessed correctly! But it still sat on the shelf....unloved...for many more months. Not long after, another collector contacted me through my Keystone dollhouse site telling me she had the same dollhouse and with hers came one of the original card windows. She was able to reproduce the windows/curtains and had them available on her Etsy site, TFTTreasures. Sally not only has the windows, but also the decorative covers for the curved stairs in the 1947-50 dollhouses! I believe she also makes the card insert for the Keystone fireplace for these same era homes, although it is not currently listed on her site.

 

 

  

What a difference finding the missing pieces

makes to this wonderful old dollhouse!

 

  

 

Although all of the original curtains were blue,

Sally makes them in red, green and yellow also!

 

  

 

I had fun decorating it....the furniture is by Strombecker, the lamp is Jaydon and the fireplace is Lynnfield-Blockhouse. I used a permanent black ink pen to create "hardwood" floors like other Keystones of the same time period.  And since I had card curtains, I decided to add card pictures too!

  

 

 

More Strombecker furniture is found in the kitchen...

   

 

 

A chair and side table made by Kage sits in the corner, while the rest of the furniture is Strombecker.  And I finally used the  decorative stitches on my sewing machine...!

 

 

 

and Strombecker in the bathroom also!

  

 

 ...it is so nice to find the missing pieces!

Thank you , Sally!