A homemade dollhouse

The third doll house which I picked up this summer is a home made house with lots of charm. It is a gift from my friend Lotta in Malmö who got it as a child. I don't know so much about its history more than that Lotta got it in the 70s.

The scale of the house is bigger than the Lundby houses. It is in rather good shape with not so many damages on the wall papers expect the water damage in the biggest room on ground floor. Its tricky to date it but I have found some electric wiring work which I think is from the 70s and not from the beginning, because I think the house itself is older. I also think that the little blue room on top floor is a later construction, maybe also from the 70s. The rest of the wall papers I think is older than the 70s. They could be  from the 60s or even the 50s. I like the house very much anyway and I am going to furnish it with things from mainly the 50s and which are in a larger scale than that of Lundby. 

The left room on upper floor has a cute and a little childish wall paper. In the right corner you can see a electric wire from the 70s.  All floors in the house, expect the little blue room have had wall-to-wall carpet. Probably also from the 70s. But I am going to keep the wooden floors. 

On the right side on the upper floor there are two rooms, where I think the little blue one is a later construction. The little blue room has also its floor painted red. I think it has been used as a bathroom. The rest of the walls has the same cute wall papers as the left room, previously described. 

The left room on ground floor has also cute wall papers and between the two rooms on this floor is is a door. By the way the only door in the house. The door seems to have been cut in the bottom end and that is probably done when the house got the wall-to-wall carpets. Otherwise the door could not open. This room has also a window with window glass (plastic material). 

The fifth and last room in the house is the biggest one and has unfortunately a water damage on the back wall. Otherwise it has a rather cute wall paper with little flowers. The curtain is made of typical fabric from the 70s and need to be fixed. This room has also a window. 

A Lundy lookalike.

Hi again! Here comes some pictures of another house I picked up this summer. It is homemade and the one who made it has obviously the Gothenburg model of the Lundby houses in mind. The similarities are many. For the first the layout of the rooms.

One major difference from genuine Lundby houses is the scale. This house is bigger. It is also in rather good shape even if some of the wallpapers have some damages. It is tricky to date it, but according to the fact that it is a copy of a Gothenburg house from Lundby, it is probably not older than from the 60s. The wallpapers also make me guess of the 60s or perhaps early 70s. I love these Lundby lookalikes. They are adorable.

This left room on second floor is going to be a bedroom. Look at the funny wallpaper with Christmas decorations on it. I think it can be a gift-wrapping paper. I think it is the best/funniest wallpaper in the house because it is not like a ordinary wall paper at all. I just love it.

This room is going to be a living room. The wall paper here is also very cute. It is hard to see, but the left wall paper is also in the ceiling. The bedroom on the earlier picture has also wall paper on the ceiling.  

Now we are on the ground floor and the room to the left which is going to be the kitchen. The house has no doors, just openings, as the windows. 

The middle room/hall on ground floor has the living room wall paper on the back wall and a Lundby lookalike staircase. 

The last room, to the right on ground floor is going to be a bathroom and it has the same wall paper as the kitchen. I will post pictures further on when I have decorated the house. 

A Gemla house

On my road trip in Sweden this summer I picked up 3 doll houses. One of them I am going to present for you today. It is a house containing of two rooms, one above the other. The house could be closed by a door with glass windows. As far as I have managed to find out the house is manufactured by Gemla but I don't know yet have old it is.

The wallpapers look rather old so I guess it is from the first half of the 20th century. When I bought it, it was furnished with lovely furniture from the 50s and 60s. Those furniture I am going to put in other houses from that period of time. This house is going to be decorated with older furniture and in a bigger scale, because this house is bigger than the Lundby houses. 

The top room has a lovely yellow wallpaper and pink curtains. It is going to be a bedroom. 

The room on ground floor has green wallpapers and white lace curtains. The floor is of same kind in both rooms. This room is going to be a living room. When I have decorate it I will post you some pictures.

A 1960s Lundby with spiral staircase

Today I am going to share with you a post about a dollhouse which I haven´t showed you before. It is a Lundby house from the beginning of the 1960s but with the old layout from the 1950s. Perhaps it is one of the latest houses with this layout. Am not sure about the age but I think it is from about 1962 to 1963.

When I bought it it wasn´t in this good condition.It had wall to wall carpets from the 1970s in all room except in the kitchen and bathroom. A wall to wall carpet in plastic material from the 1970s in the kitchen and the house was filled with furniture and little boxes in a mess. So I actually didn´t know for sure what I bought but it turned out to be a treasure. Below is a picture from after the reparation. I am so satisfied with the result, compared to how it looked when I got it. 

I took away the old carpets, glued the roof and chimney, took away paper pictures from the walls, glued the staircase and managed to take away a lot of stains on the wallpapers. All the floors were also cleaned. The staircase is intact and all wall papers are original, as the floors.  In the little boxes I found curtains. On the top floor two ceiling lamps followed the house and a ceiling lamp for the living room laid in one of the boxes but it is broken. I shall try to fix it. 

We start a house tour in the bathroom. Here I furnished with bathroom units from Kleeware, sold in late 1950s to early 1960s. The towel came with the house. 

Next stop is in the middle room on top floor. Here the family of the house have a grand piano made by Lerro (I think) which the father likes to play on. His daughter is sitting in an armchair made by Lundby in late 1950s. The picture on the left wall is made by a dear friend of mine. 

In the bedroom I have replaced beds from Lerro which came with the house. The right bed I think has original bed clothes. The corner cupboard followed the house and is repainted. It was probably white or brown from the beginning. It is at least manufactured by Lundby. The night table between the beds and the dressing table to the left are Lundby's and sold in the 1960s Look at the cute curtain which came along with the house. 

Down stairs in the living room we have a rather cool wall paper. I can´t decide if I like it or not but I think it´s very special. The two green plants followed the house and are home made out of textile fabric. I guess that the sofa, armchairs and table are from Lundby, but I am not sure about that. 

In the other end of the living room there is a dining table with chairs of Lundby model sold in the 1960s. The book case is also Lundby and was sold from late 1950s to 1960s. The rocking chair is also of Lundby model and was sold in mid-1960s. To hide some damage to the floor I put a little carpet, made out of fur which also came along with the house in front of the door to the kitchen. By the way the dining table and chairs came also with the house. 

We end the house tour in the kitchen. Look at the lovely wall paper on the back wall. The lamp came with the house and also the kitchen units. The kitchen chairs are also part of the house but I bought a new table because the one which came along was repainted to red. The little drawers on the upper cupboard are also repainted. 

A visit to one of my BRIO houses

Today I think it is time to revisited one of my BRIO houses. It was one of my earliest houses in my collection of doll houses. The interior is all original, floors, ceilings and walls. Unfortunately, do not the electricity work in all rooms. I don´t know why it is just a part of the house where it works but I shall try to fix it.

I have had some troubles with dating the house. I have compared with the BRIO houses from BRIO Lekoseum published on www.swedish-dollshouses.com and founded out that it must be from later than 1968. The 1968 house has the same windows and doors as in my house. Also the kitchen is the same. One major difference is that the 1968 house does not have wall to wall fitted carpet in the bigger room on ground floor. Comparing with a catalogue from BRIO 1970/1971 it matches rather well, but I think it is other colours on the carpets. So I dated my house to be from 1970 (in between the two sources). If anyone had any more evidence to date BRIO houses of this time I be glad to know. I have tried to furnish the house with things from the time and from BRIO as far as it is possible. 

We start the house tour in the living room where three members of the Jansson family are sitting. They have since last visit got a new Stereo from Hogarin complemented with a red Hogarin radio. To the right you can also see a glimpse of a Hogarin guitar. Both lamps are from BRIO. The yellow floor lamp was called "Månen" and the ceiling lamp was called "Zenith". From 1971 BRIO manufactured miniature lamps for doll houses which were copies of original models from Fog & Mørup AS. The "Månen" lamp was designed by Juel Nielsen and "Zenith" by Jo Hammerborg. The sofa and armchairs were designed by Arne Jacobsen. 

In another part of the living room one of the children is watching the telly. The telly is not from BRIO. Actually I don´t know its origin. In this picture we can also see a new table which the family got yesterday. It is the round side table with the bottle on beside the father of the family. The green plant is also from Hogarin and the three pictures on the wall that we just see glimpses of is from Caroline's home. 

Another of the children is bicycling indoors on the ground floor. I am not sure if she´s allowed to do that. In this room the family got a new table lamp on the side board. It is called "Orient" and was designed by Jo Hammerborg. I had this lamp in my own childhood with a red lamp shade but I have lost it. The red ceiling lamp was called "Zone" and also designed by Jo Hammerborg. Around the table there are just three chairs. I am still looking for a fourth one. The curtains I have made out of a curtain from the 1970s. 

The kitchen is in BRIO design. But the small kitchen stuff is made by others, mainly by Lundby. The tray on the table with cups and a pot is actually made by Lego. The curtain is in plastic material and followed with a box containing all sorts of things which I bought on an auction. I think it´s become rather great as a curtain in this house. 

Finally, we end the house tour in the bathroom where I have put some cleaning stuff which I think is made by Hogarin. 

A pedestal for flowers

In my Lerro 1955 house I put a new little thing the other day. It is a pedestal with a flower on. I don´t know how old it is but a guess is 1950s. However, I think it´s adorable.

New little things in Lill-Glottra

Yesterday I got by the post some little things for my dollhouses. They were all made of metal. Some of it I put in the house from 1940s, Lill-Glottra and I think it became rather good.

In the kitchen I placed some pans, a coffee pot and a mincing machine. The pot and the mincing machine were sold by BRIO at least in the beginning of the 1950s. 

The fire place in the living room has got a clock which also was sold by BRIO in the beginning of 1950s. The candle stick was moved to the piano. 

On the last picture you can see a a vacuum cleaner in a 1940s model. I don't know if it was manufactured then, but I am certain that it is rather old anyway. Isn´t it cute.