ABOUT        PORTFOLIO        SHOP        CONTACT

12/11/12

320 sycamore


when i was a little girl i ached for a fancy wooden dollhouse. and i'm sure my mom ached to give me one. but it never was in the cards...and instead we girls made do with homemade shoe box houses and pictures of living room sets ripped out of JC Penney catalogs. and looking back, those ragamuffin dollhouses we made were fine as can be!

now 20 years later, i've been given the most amazing gift of a house from matt's grandma. one that was started but never finished. a beautiful fixer-upper for me and bee (and max!) to work on together. so much of it reminds me of the old granville house in "it's a wonderful life". the abandoned house with the broken windows from wishing rocks...lassoing the moon type wishing rocks.

it came just in time for christmas and 10 year old katie is pleased as punch! 
(and she told me to do a room in catalog pictures just for old time's sake)

48 comments:

  1. ohhhh my gosh, that is SO. beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh my, that is the sweetest! My story with dollhouses is much the same as yours, what a dream come true! merry christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not quite sure why but when I first saw the picture I thought that the house was a gingerbread mansion and I was so impressed, but your story is even more wonderful and how fun that you can build it with your family. I was recently asking my mom about the dollhouse I got for Christmas one year and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll turn up somewhere. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. It reminded me of the old granville house right away! I wish the 10 year old Cortnie could come over and play with it with you!
    xo cortnie

    ReplyDelete
  5. It reminded me of the old granville house right away! I wish the 10 year old Cortnie could come over and play with it with you!
    xo cortnie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh fun! I LOVED my dollhouse when I was younger!

    ReplyDelete
  7. this is amazing...your excitement is contagious through this post

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is beautiful! I, too, had shoebox dollhouses! Although I usually pretended they were detectives' offices and that my dolls were workaholics who slept at their desks. I can't quite explain how those little stories came to live in my mind. I guess maybe too many Nancy Drews.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a surprise! Though you waited to receive this doll house for years, I bet it was so worth the wait ; )

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's so funny that you mention the old house from "It's A Wonderful Life"-- that is exactly what came to mind when I saw it. How neat! What a wonderful gift to be given.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's beautiful and I'd be tempted to keep it as a fixer upper on the outside! When I was little, my parents made us a dollhouse and put all the leftover bits of wallpaper from our real house on the walls. It's waiting in the attic until the grandkids come along!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a sweet story! I love this little house. My aunt built me one when i was a little girl and it is such a special way to remember her.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That doll house is beautiful. I was lucky enough to have a crafty Pops who made us most of our toys and my doll house was always my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my gosh that is so cool! What a beautiful gift & you will pull off something amazing with it! I have such a similar childhood dream, and I even talked about this with my sister the other day while we were shopping. We had really wanted doll houses, and then even fancied the Calico Critter Doll houses. My mom was so sweet, and helped us improvise with foil and we made "Foil Town" animals & homes. I feel so blessed to have mamas that raised us to be creative & innovative. <<< And I loved that you named it the house from "It's A Wonderful Life." That is such a special movie. Happy home making!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a beautiful housebwithna festive address!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ahh, I can't wait to see what you do with it!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am smitten! I always wanted a dollhouse, as well. This one is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  18. i think it's the season but that teared my right up! merry, merry from Georgia's biggest sap! love it and so happy for you!

    ReplyDelete
  19. what a beautiful doll house, and just in time to decorate for the holidays!

    xo
    amanda

    http://sovereignsoliloquy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. So cute! Can't wait to see what you do with it!

    -Lindsey

    ReplyDelete
  21. This doll house is amazing! I think it has the potential to become a family heirloom! I am really looking forward to see how it looks finished!

    http://higgledypiggledywonderland.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I always had the same dream as a young(and not so young) child... last year, my bestie gave me one for Christmas- but we've yet to put it together. I can't wait to see your progress!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Absolutely beautiful! I love a good fixer-upper.
    Www.bakesomebodyhappy.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. It's beautiful! What a fun project to have!

    ReplyDelete
  25. So beautiful! What a fun project for the family! I've never really wanted one as a kid, but I do as an adult. Ahem, I mean I want one for my kid!

    Theresa
    http://bomamma.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. love the movie and love the house! when i was little my dad made me a wooden house and my great grandmother sewed all the curtains and rugs and linens. it was small and not many dolls would fit in it, but i loved to move the furniture around in the wall papered rooms. i have a four year old and a five year old girl...i want to share the dollhouse with them...but not quite yet:)

    ReplyDelete
  27. that's so much fun! and it's beautiful :)

    xo,
    kristyn

    ReplyDelete
  28. Oh, my I am jealous! I also wanted one growing up and was circling those in the JC Penny catalog too!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh my! I would be so excited too! I hope to one day build Lucy a dollhouse, and put my years of design training to work. Building models and all that. But honestly I don't know if I'll ever have time for that! haha So what a gift! I'm sure Phoebe will love it.

    ReplyDelete
  30. It is perfect. Almost don't want you to fix it up. Just imagine the stories it could tell,

    http://iliska-dreams.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
  31. I always wanted a beautiful one like this one when I was growing up too. With my little sister, we built a makeshift one in bookshelves. This is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  32. I am amazed by how much overlap there was in our childhoods. A "real" dollhouse was always my dream, too! But yes, JCP served us well. I used to even cut out a handsome husband. haha

    ReplyDelete
  33. Oh my, she's going to be so lucky to have this! I had a shoe box house too... I have hopes to find a house like this for my girl

    ReplyDelete
  34. so exciting!! i actually have almost the same exact one from my childhood. my dad bought one of those kits to make it yourself. while he is very handy he lacked in time because he worked to support our family. so it sat for years, then one christmas, there was a different house under the tree. painted and decorated. furnished and wallpapered. they bought it off of a friend who was ready to pass it along.

    Phoebe and Max (and little katie) will love this little treasure!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hooray. This bit of luck couldn't have a happened to a nicer blogger :) Can't wait to see what you do with that little fixer upper

    x Elena @ Randomly Happy

    ReplyDelete
  36. that little house is gorgeous !

    ReplyDelete
  37. This is beautiful. What a wonderful little thing you get to do, fixing up the little doll house. I bet it is going to turn out lovely

    ReplyDelete
  38. This is such a lovely post, I have a vintage dolls house and I was considering vamping it up and decorating it for Christmas!
    www.and-kate.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. Oh my goodness! Pretty please with lots of sugar and glitter and pom poms on top...PLEASE keep us updated on what you do with that little fixer-upper. xooxxo

    ReplyDelete
  40. that house is gorgeous. i know you'll make it even more so.
    xo,
    andrea >>hecallsmewifey

    ReplyDelete
  41. I'm so excited for you! I always wanted a doll house too, but it was not to be. Maybe someday if I have a daughter :)

    www.tracetheshadows.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  42. Cannot wait to see the finished home, although I like it pretty well right now. Delish!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.