Dollhouse Wonders is open again!

                     

                       DollhouseWonders

                                           Reproduction dollhouse parts as well as misc. items

Dollhouse Wonders, the go to shop for reproduction parts for Rich Toys and Keystone of Boston vintage dollhouses and other miscellaneous items, has reopened for the winter to spring months. 

If you are not familiar with Dollhouse Wonders on Etsy, it's a shop, run by JoAnn and Don Belanger, that specializes in providing reproduction parts for those missing pieces on vintage Rich and Keystone dollhouses that were made between 1935 and 1960. Made of Masonite and wood, these vintage houses are often missing chimneys, light fixtures, windows and shrubbery that were original to the house when it was new. 

JoAnn is a long-time collector of these vintage houses, and luckily for her, Don is an excellent craftsman with wood. JoAnn silk screens and makes items from resin, so between the two of them they were able to bring JoAnn's vintage dollhouses back to their original beauty. She started making small items for her friends that also collected these vintage Rich and Keystone houses, resulting in her opening this Etsy shop for other collectors of these wonderful old dollhouses. 

Here are some recent orders sent to customers....

....flowers strips for Keystone and Rich window boxes, brown shutters for a Rich house, doors for Keystone and Rich houses, latticed windows for a Rich house, and a Rich porch with pink vases.

This is a fireplace first found in a 1936 Rich dollhouse but can be used in any dollhouse of your choosing.

These items are made from resin....a flower urn or bird bath, Strombecker bowls, and a shrub that adorned the front of a Rich dollhouse.

Here are Rich and Keystone chimneys made of wood, and three lattice windows with hanging rods for the Keystone houses of the late 1930s and 1940s.

You can locate many items made by the Belangers at Dollhouse Wonders that will complete your dollhouse....even if it isn't a Rich Toys or Keystone of Boston dollhouse!

THE RICH TOYS BOOK ARRIVED ....and several others are available!

The much anticipated Rich Toys dollhouse book is now available in two parts: Rich Toys Dollhouses, 1935-1962 and Rich Toys Buildings, 1935-1962, authored by Patty Cooper, JoAnn Belanger, and Rita Goranson who collaborated on the books from three different states. 

Over 80 dollhouse collectors around the United States contributed photographs or other information resulting in a chronological catalog of Rich dollhouses through the inclusion of interior and exterior photographs, original ads of the time period in catalogs and magazines, vintage photographs showing children with their houses, pictures of appropriate era dollhouse furniture for the dollhouses, and lots of helpful information.

The reviews have been very positive with people commenting most often on the fine quality of the color  photographs, the interview with a Rich factory worker, and the still shots of dollhouses from 1930’s-1950’s movies.   Two quotes:

“So happy to have this excellent book!  It’s perfect for anyone interested in Rich dollhouses.  Beautifully illustrated and clearly written, the authors have done a first rate job with their research.  The book arrived yesterday and I have been devouring it since.  An invaluable and much needed resource for dollhouse collectors and those interested in the American toy industry.”

“What an outstanding achievement for Patty, JoAnn and Rita!  I looked at the Colleen Moore section first.  What a delightful picture of the little girl with Fred MacMurray and her C.M. dollhouse. I also found the ad for the 5 room castle interesting in that a lighted version was available.  I also enjoyed the many pictures throughout of children with their Rich dollhouses.  Rita’s interview with Maxine Hensch was fascinating.  This is a wonderful, well-done contribution to ‘saving’ these charming houses." 

You may order the Rich Dollhouse book ($65.00) or the Rich Toy Buildings book ($25.00) from JoAnn Belanger’s ETSY site, DollhouseWonders.  

  

Also available on DollhouseWonders is a book called Restoring Vintage Masonite Dollhouses   ($14.00), by JoAnn Belanger, which gives tips on cleaning and doing minor and major repairs to the floors, roofs, and walls of the dollhouses. 

A beautifully illustrated book by Carol Stevenson called Colleen Moore’s Doll Castle Made by Rich Toys, ($15.00) featuring the most sought after dollhouse made by the Rich Toys Company, is also available. 

And a comment from me:  The Rich Toys book is beyond what I anticipated. Anyone with a love for these grand old ladies made during  the generations from 1935 to 1962 will enjoy seeing toys that were made with children's  imagination in mind. Wouldn't either of the Rich Toys books be a great gift for the older lady or gentleman in your family to bring back memories of what they had as toys or what they wished for Santa to bring?

Be sure to check out these other books that Patty Cooper has published,  some  in collaboration with George Mundorf, and all available on Blurb.com...just click on the links I've provided.  I hear there are more in the works! 

    Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture
                  1928-1934

      Kage Dollhouse Furniture

                 1938-1948

The Complete Guide to Strombecker Dollhouses & Furniture, 1931-1961 

American Art Deco Dollhouse Furniture

                 of the 1930s

     R. Bliss Mfg. Co. 

Dollhouses Furniture & Buildings

New ETSY shop: reproduction parts for Keystone and Rich dollhouses!

lantern for a Keystone house

A great new shop opened on ETSY for dollhouse enthusiasts needing reproduction replacements for missing parts on their Rich Toys and Keystone of Boston vintage dollhouses. The proprietress is JoAnn Belanger, who for several years has made these parts available to friends and associates. How wonderful that now everyone can have access to the parts needed to complete that treasured vintage dollhouse! 

Here is a note from JoAnn telling about her shop:

"Finding and restoring vintage dollhouses, especially Rich Toy Co. and Keystone of Boston dollhouses, has become a retirement hobby for my husband and me. As we restore the dollhouses in my collection, we make duplicates of parts we needed which we then make available to other dollhouse collectors.  

I recently opened an ETSY shop to market the parts I now have available.  We have recreated windows, doors, stoops, chimneys, etc., in as authentic a look as possible. We work with wood, molding materials, resin for casting parts, silk screening, and sewing materials. The parts are representative of the originals as verified in the Dian Zillner books and the Rich Toy Co. Dollhouse book.    

 Please visit my ETSY shop, “Dollhouse Wonders” or search by my name, JoAnn Belanger.  I continue to add items to my ETSY shop as I have time. You may also contact me by email at  joannbelanger@gmail.com.  

I always appreciate connecting with other dollhouse enthusiasts.

Here are pictures of some of the items created by JoAnn and Don that came to complete my vintage dollhouses...

front door for a Keystone house

resin window for the newer Keystone houses

(these are wonderful!)

fence post topper for a Rich house 

(original on left, JoAnn's on the two right)

lantern on a 30's era Rich house

front door on a 30's era Rich house.
you can see an original door on the picture above.

(I added the green paint but JoAnn said she would have done that for me!)
JoAnn also makes the flower pots!

chimney on a 30's era Keystone house

(sorry Don, I haven't gotten around to painting it)

chimney toppers on a 30's era Rich dollhouse

(these are so often missing)

one of JoAnn's wonderful replacement windows 

for a 30's era Rich house

(these come in many sizes)

The Keystone lantern at the top of this post is also one of JoAnn's products....and her replacement reproductions are reasonably priced!

Visit her shop! If you don't find what you need, do contact her at joannbelanger@gmail.com ...as it might be in production.

I feel so lucky to have found two artists who are willing to share their wonderful vintage dollhouse creations!