The 'Welcom' Doll's House

            This is the 'Welcom' Dolls' House, a  little cardboard house from the UK. 

This is how it looked on Ebay....such a cute little house. Vintage, probably from the 1950-60s....but still brand new in the package. The "Welcom" Dolls' House....cut ready to assemble, complete with furniture, no glue required, three rooms, hall & garden. How could I resist since I have a weakness for little cardboard houses.

Four sheets of parts and an instruction sheet were included.

Instructions were easy to follow even though the technical illustrator said to bend Base A into a tray shape which would have the floor graphics face down. 

First the front and left side of the house were attached to the base. The cardboard was sturdy and most parts fit easily into corresponding slots.

Next, the door to the kitchen was added, forming one side of the vestibule (same as a foyer but smaller....and that it is!)

The wall separating the kitchen from the living area was added next....

....then the wall between the living area and the bedroom....

....and finally the back/side wall, completing the retangular shape of the little house.

So what happens next?

The roof is slotted together and the chimneys are put in place.

The porch roof is added....

and then the fence.... 

the roof is added...

a door mat and potted plants....

and a bench to complete a nice front yard. 

Next, the instructions told me to insert the window sills at the bottom of the window opening, then "hang" the curtains by slipping the tab at the top of the curtain into the slit above the window. Right! The inside portion of the window sill did not allow the curtain to hang straight, so I bent the sills down. I was not successful at inserting any of the tabs at the top of the curtains into the slits above the window. 

                         

Glue stick did the trick however, and my little house now has curtains at the windows!

               

   More attractive from the outside however.

               Furniture was included for this little house.

For the living area....secretary, table, chair and bamboo bench.

For the bedroom....wardrobe, bed and dressing table.

 For the kitchen....a stove.

                          

And pictures for the walls.

Kitchen.

Living area.

Bedroom

House and garden.

And all sides of the 'Welcom' Dolls' House

This little cottage was made in England by Williams, Ellis, & Company Ltd., located at 145 Edge Lane, Liverpool, UK. They were a private company that incorporated April 14, 1914, and dissolved April 3, 2012.

I said earlier that I have a weakness for little cardboard houses. Here are links to others I have blogged about.

Return to Wonderland

An Add-A-Room Doll House from Tootsietoy

Le chalet de caisses à savon

An ART DECO Birthday House

My little Trixytoy dollhouse from 1928

Mary Jane Doll House

Easy-to-Make Cardboard Dollhouse Plans

The Fold-Away Dollhouse and Playbook of Cut-Out  Furniture

Life in a Cardboard House

Another Trixy Toy Dollhouse

"Oh! It's a Dolly Ann House!"

Surprised myself having this many!

An Add-A-Room Doll House from Tootsietoy

 

I love finding vintage toy catalogs even if they are reproductions. Yesterday's mail brought  a reproduction of a Tootsietoy wholesale catalog from 1933. Of course it was filled mostly with little trucks and cars, but the best page of all was the one showing this little cardboard house. It is actually 5 individual room boxes that came free with the purchase of a full room set of furniture from their 1930 line. A little girl or boy could build a complete house if they were able to convince their parents to buy each room.

 

Dowst Manufacturing Co. called this the Add-A-Room Doll House. The catalog explains that  it was made of heavy container board in contrasting colors to the furniture and was included FREE with each set of Tootsietoy Doll House Furniture. 

 

 

Here is the little house. No mention if part of the roof was include with each room box. 

The living room with the furniture set....and an explanation of what came in the set. 

I wonder if the front porch was included with the living room.

  

 

The dining room was placed behind the living room and shared the large door opening. 

The door on the south side led into the kitchen.

 



I have the maple dining set but don't think I have seen it in green.

 

 

From the shape of the walls and placement of doors and windows, I think the kitchen must have opened on the west into the dining room and on the north to the bath.

 

 

My set is a mixture of the two colors available. Lad-a-stool....haven't heard that term before.

 

 

The bathroom was placed between the kitchen at the back of the house and the bedroom at the front.

 

A green or orchid bathroom....

wouldn't todays buyers on House Hunters have something to say about that!

 

 

 

The lovely bedroom with three long windows facing the front of the house, and  openings to both the living room and the bathroom.

 

 

The music room....those red pianos are gorgeous. I wish I had one. Evidently there was sufficient room in the living area to house the grand piano as there is no indication an Add-a-room was included with the music room.



 

  

Dowst listed 3 items of "good news" at the front of this catalog, the first one being that the Add-a-Room doll house was free with the purchase of each set of Tootsietoy furniture.  

The other two items of good news were

• Furniture is now made of new alloy with tensile strength five times that of the old..yet lighter. (that was good news I'm sure)
• Finished in harmonious colors----packed in colorful box with pilfer proof display feature. (oh my, sticky fingers back in 1933 also)

and finished with "Order a stock today ...  watch them walk off the counter!"

 

In Antique and Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings by Dian Zillner and Patty Cooper, I found this information:  This "Add-a-Room" dollhouse was used to market Tootsietoy dollhouse furniture in the 1930s. Each large box of furniture also included a cardboard room for a dollhouse. The consumer could complete the house by purchasing all the rooms of furniture. There were five rooms in all.

 

I wonder if any of these adorable little houses still exist today....