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!

Keystone of Boston dollhouse, circa 1935

 

This is an older model Keystone of Boston dollhouse,

most likely from their initial dollhouse production

 year of 1935. It is a two storied house with four rooms.

Marta and Bernhard Schmidt live in this little house.

The back roof is attached to the front roof 
with fabric tape. The roof flips up 

to make the top floor available for playing.

Now this little house is ready for play.

This house is in fairly good shape for its 90 years. 

All the  window inserts are still with the house.

The kitchen has room for appliances and a large table with four chairs. 

Not sure what the hole in the center wall is for. 

There is a similar sized hole in the floor of the bedroom.

The bathroom is found on the second floor. 

I almost typed upstairs, but there are no stairs

 so that wouldn't be quite right.

The bedroom is large with room for twin beds, a night table, a dresser, 

a dressing table and chair, and a comfy chair in the corner.

Being somewhat crafty, I covered the hole in the bedroom floor with a carpet.

Marta is standing in the kitchen. 

I wonder if she is thinking about making supper,

or telling Bernhard they are going out for dinner.

Bernard is looking in the bathroom mirror

 wondering if he needs a shave, 

before Marta tells him they are going out to dinner.

 

And here are Marta and Bernhard Schmidt on their way to dinner. Good thinking Bernhard! 

The sofa, chair and end tables are part of Nancy Forbes #070 Living Room. The ottoman is from the Donna Lee #020 Living Room. The coffee table and end table are from Donna Lee's #022 Bed Room. This information was found in Patty Cooper's Nancy Forbes and Donna Lee Dollhouse Furniture 1940s found on Blurb.com.  The fireplace is unknown, although it closely resembles the fireplace listed in the 1928 Schoenhut catalog. 

The grandfather clock is probably of German origin. 

The sink and stove are Strombecker; the fridge is either a German or Japanese import. 

The maker of the table and chairs is unknown.

The table, with different decorative accents, came with the four chairs.

Strombecker lamps and clock and a Queen Anne lounge chair for the bedroom. 

The bedroom set is most likely a Japanese import 

that has been modeled after a 1931 Schoenhut set. 

Here is a comparison of the pieces with the Schoenhut furniture on the right side 

and the imported furniture on the left.

           

The sink, commode, stool and scales are Strombecker. 

The tub is hand crafted and I think rather unique.

The table and chairs and the bedroom set came from the same Ebay seller. 

I painted the sofa and chair to carry on the happy theme of this little house. 

Marta and Bernhard Schmidt are 4½ " tall bisque dolls imported from Japan.

And yet, another Keystone of Boston dollhouse!

 

Yes, another Keystone of Boston dollhouse! Keystones make up a large portion of my dollhouse collection. I have posted about them or mentioned them in 30 of my previous posts. Yes, I was curious and looked that up. My fascination with them probably stems from receiving a Keystone Tudor from Santa in 1948, I posted about it here. 

 This Keystone dollhouse was shown in a Keystone brochure of 1950.

An unusual feature of this house, not seen in other Keystones, is the side "picture" window. 

This model is one of their six room dollhouses without stairs or a fireplace, although there are two chimneys!

The brochure indicated "electric light in each room". Brackets on top of the upstairs walls hold D batteries to power the light bulbs in each of the six rooms. Several of my Keystone houses have this feature, but I have never checked to see if any of them are still functioning.

The living room is furnished with Lynnfield furniture, my favorite dollhouse furniture. I have been told there is a book being written on Lynnfield dollhouse furniture.

Lynnfield furniture is also found in the dining room.

In the kitchen is the unidentified brand of furniture I refer to as Marshall Field furniture. According to a 1957 Grandmother Stover catalog, this furniture was first sold at the Marshall Field store in Chicago. It is often attributed to Chestnut Hill Studios; it was sold in their catalogs, but the maker is still unknown.

In the bedroom is more Lynnfield furniture. I prefer it over the second generation of the Lynnfield line of similar pieces made by Sonia Messer.

The bathroom has more of the Marshall Field furniture.

The nursery is filled with Marshall Field furniture, and a sweet little yellow Strombecker duck rocker.

Classic lines are shown on the Lynnfield living room furniture with the Duncan Phyfe sofa and Queen Anne chairs. Chester Waite started this line of furniture in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, in the 1930s.

Lynnfield pieces include the desk, grandfather clock, and 18th Century end table. 

Zillner and Cooper's Antique & Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings  

indicates a floor model radio was included in the line circa 1940; it is possible that this radio was produced by Lynnfield.

The dining room is furnished with Lynnfield Duncan Phyfe pieces. The candelabra and the items in the corner cupboard are Tootsie Toy. 

In the kitchen, more of the Marshall Field furniture sold in Chestnut Hill Studios, Mark Farmer and Grandmother Stover catalogs.

The bedroom is furnished with the Lynnfield Empire bedroom set....vanity and stool, bed and night table.

The Empire bedroom set included this chifforobe and dresser.

Bathroom furniture first sold at Marshall Field in Chicago. All the the pieces of this popular furniture are so well made and truly reflect the furniture and appliances made from the late 1940s through early 1960s. I am hoping someone will eventually come forward and identify the creative artist that produced this wonderful furniture.

Such a sweet little set of nursery furniture....who made you?

And the little family of Caco dolls that live in my little Keystone of Boston house with the yellow shutters.