Faith Bradford's Doll House, Revisited

The third floor of the display house shows off Strombecker's Custom Built line, as well as the Modern Line Nursery, new for the 1937- 1938 season.  Bedroom- I have one bed, just not seen in the photo   Nursery- isn't this the cutest?  The drapes are Dolly Dear, as is the potty.  The potty is not in the photograph of the original display, but is should have been,lol! The Dining Room- short of chairs, but there wasn't much in this Custom Built set; and only one Dolly Dear picture on the wall plus the matching drapes.  I will remove the rug since I think I can tell all of the carpeting in the photo is solid. The Living Room- it's stuffed full!  The Dolly Dear log holder is present, and a halfway hidden magazine rack could be in my future.  This room shows dark Dolly Dear drapes- I have never seen ones this dark anywhere in real life.  There is a second set, probably the same, in an ad, so that gives me hope there are still some out there.

Mrs. Doll, seen in the doorway of her bedroom (checking on the sleeping twins) looks wonderful for having had 10 children.  I tried to find a curly red-haired doll,  but gave up.  I think Faith's Mrs. Doll is French, mine is probably German. The Original Here's Mine Mind you, without the blond bedroom set and brown vanity, it isn't even close.  Although white, the vanity is an exact match, as is the vanity stool. I think it is original paint, so I can't strip it off.  Lot's of details to do, lol, as always.

Dolly Dear & Strombecker house Second Floor 1" scale Modern Furniture Kitchen The refrigerator isn't Strombecker, it is an unknown brand I am calling Chestnut Fields.  Lots of folks call it Chestnut Hill, but the white enameled pieces aren't labeled as such like other Chestnut Hill pieces.  They were sold exclusively (maybe??) by Marshall Field's, and were perhaps made by the people who made Chestnut Hill - hence the name: Chestnut Fields.  Anyway, a Strombecker refrigerator will replace it as soon as I find one.   Delphinium Bathroom  Not sure I will use this floor, using the Shackman curtain might make it too much blue.  Dolly Dear made a lot of vanity items, it odd that there aren't any shown in this bathroom.    Bedroom I have all of the Modern Bedroom pieces (except for the black bottomed vanity lamps); I stole the set from my Schoenhut house.  In this room the curtains match the bedspreads - all Dolly Dear - wish me luck on f

While collecting accessories for the Bradford house, I needed to learn more about Dolly Dear.  My friend Patty wrote the book on Dolly Dear- literally.  I got the book and asked Patty lots of questions.  I have acquired lots of the pieces for the Bradford house, but there are many more to go.   When asking me what would be my next project, Patty tuned me in to the photo on page 109 of the Dolly Dear book: The photograph came from the archives of Dian Zillner, and Patty doesn't know where she got it from.  We suspect it is a display case for a store, and is filled with Strombecker furniture and Dolly Dear accessories.  At the time, Strombecker and Dolly Dear used the same distributor. So...da dum... the incredibly talented Mr. Builder said he would give it a shot: Ha!  I love it!!! The Dolly Dear & Strombecker house has been made to show off the three different Strombecker 1" scale furniture available in 1938.  The least expensive, called the Deluxe line, is

I can't blame my tardiness with posting entirely on the holidays, it just seems like it is getting much easier for time to get away from me.  Sheesh! There have been some wonderful changes since the last time I showed you photos- There are a number of things in the house that I have worried I will never be able to find- or afford- including the Dining Room set, the 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep' sampler in Alice's room, and how am I going to get a Butler's Pantry built-in? Well, well, well, look what the builder showed up with this weekend!  Ok, so don't look too closely at the temporary 'pulls', I'm just trialing things.  I bought some Chrysnbon dishes but they are too small and 'flat'.  I guess I am going to have to slowly build a stock of various table settings.   And my oh my, the  Dining Room table showed up!  Lol, TheToyBox on etsy has had a fair amount of things for the house.  One of my favorite shops! Bliss. And

Last time I showed you how Faith Bradford decorated her house at Christmas- Tree with presents, circle of greens with candles on the mantle, and one lonely candy cane on the piano bench.  What an odd little pitcher on the TynieToy round table. I've made headway in mine: The entire right section of my room is empty.  The TynieToy flip top table is on it's way from Ann Meehan, and what is the odd little pitcher on it made from?  I have no TynieToy chairs for this room, but that should be fairly easy, albeit expensive.  There are 4 matching chairs in just this room. Today I did string white lights all round the house, and hung some wreaths on it like I imagine Faith did.  Artistic license, lol. The Parlor maid needs to be dressed, or in this case over-dressed.  I am pretty sure I can get a black dress with apron on over the green without altering what looks to be an old outfit.  She has a new feather duster in her hand, but I found an old one in my stuff so will