Life, in miniature

It will be no surprise to any of you that I loved to play pretend when I was a little girl.  My mother would say that I would come downstairs in the morning, have breakfast and then proceed to lay out all of my toys for a morning's play.  While having someone to play with was always wonderful, it was completely unnecessary for me.  I was more than willing to play all parts!

My favourite toys were always those which were smaller than regular size ones.  One of my all-time favourites was a small Disney Castle that had almost all of the key figures from the various Disney movies pre-1971.  I was especially besotted with my 2" replicas of Sleeping Beauty, Malificent and the three fairies!  I preferred Dawn dolls over Barbie dolls. If it was small, I loved it!



If you don't remember Dawn dolls that's okay - but they had MOD clothing!!!  I wish I still had mine - I had to settle for Polly Pockets for my daughter!

And then suddenly, I seemed to start collecting these little treasures in earnest.  It started with a small wooden table and chairs that I bought when I was about 8 years old at a local shop. 

That summer, when we went to visit my grandfather (on my dad's side) at his old house in the country, he and I found an old cardboard box full of little teacups and saucers up in the attic.  I played with them out in the flower garden for hours.  About a month after I arrived home a box came in the mail: that same box, its contents carefully wrapped.  I will never forget the thrill of having such an unexpected gift come in the mail.  I had died and gone to heaven!



The little crock and saucer on the right started it all.  the rest are tucked away in my daughter's room!

 My mother must have mentioned this to her mother, because a month or so later when we went to visit her, she produced a box of miniature doll furniture that she had had made for my mother in the 1930s.  I don't know if she had designed it, which would have been typical of her as she had an artist's eye, but as you can see in the pictures here, the workmanship is exquisite; every drawer opens, you can even see yourself in the mirror.

The little bed has a little woven blanket and a wee pillow filled with sawdust!

You can see they take up a whole shelf in my library - don't ask about dusting it all..

Yes, those chairs are upholstered in purple velvet - could you die?  I have a table almost identical in my living room.

The kitchen table, set with real miniature brass candlesticks that my grandmother found for my mother in the 1930s.  Do you see the dice?

The little wooden buffet has a miniature cast iron clock and a little perfume sample bottle that my mother treated as if it was a nice decanter of cognac!

One of two identical chests of drawers.  And tucked beside the bed, a miniature brass bed with a frozen Charlotte on top:

Once they knew I loved these little pieces as much as I did, my family was always on the lookout for anything tiny and my grandmother, who was an antique dealer, scoured flea markets for the pieces.  We found kits and my dad would make them (the grandfather above for example).  Even my husband has been known to get in on the act, buying me this little guardian angel for my Christmas Stocking a few years ago:

What am I missing?  I am missing a house of course!  And that house will have to be custom made, just like this furniture was, as it won't easily fit a standard size dollhouse.  This may be a retirement project, but I am not mentioning to to Barry yet as he has his own lifesize renos to get to first.  I figure that he will wait until someday when we have a grandchild on the way and then get at it!

Even writing about them makes me want to start collecting again.  Oh dear....

How about you - do you like miniatures?  Did you have a dollhouse when you were young?  Do tell!

On a completely unrelated topic, I mentioned I came across a very nice Calvin Klein double-breasted navy blazer at Winners on the weekend.  They only had a size larger than my typical size, but I bought it anyway, as I was looking for a lightweight, but dressy blazer-like short jacket for Spring.  Did I mention I also bought a fatigue jacket at H&M.  Together, both jackets cost me $100.  Still sticking to the gaps and the budget!

On the hanger:

It is a nice dark navy, with navy enamel buttons and epalauts on the shoulders.

And on, with a tshirt AND another blazer on underneath, which is perfect as  I wanted lots of room for sweaters while it is still cool!

 I wore it for a walk this afternoon, only with boots, not the little loafers I was wearing around the house.  Coupled with a nice scarf I felt tres chic!  Don't you like the little purse - my daughter picked it up at Smart Set last weekend for a song because she loved the colour so much!

So that is a Tuesday!  As always, take care, have a grand day and stay safe out there!