Into the Dolls House

The dolls house that we played with as children is still at our parents home.  Yesterday I opened it up for the first time in many years to have a look.  

It still has its original outdoor and indoor paintwork and In this room it has the original wallpaper.

This dolls house has been played with by several generations of children and the furniture is now rather mixed up.  I didn't re-arrange it but just photographed it where it was.  The rooms are quite deep and a little dark.

In the kitchen the appliances are largely absent - a black range is at the back of this picture and an old gas cooker at the front left.  

Some of the tiniest details of the house were the most fun to play with, such as the pink tea set at the back of this picture, the knives and forks in the cutlery box and various plates of 'food' for the table.

In its heyday, the dolls house had little electric bulbs to light each room and a bulb with a red surround in each fireplace to simulate a real fire in the grate.

In these pictures of the hall and stairs you can see both bulb and light switch.  Hidden in the shadows by the stairs is a pram.

The opening doors of each room into the hall provided the opportunity when playing with the occupants of the house to move them around easily from room to room.

The beds were always a challenge to make up as the covers didn't always fold around the base!

Some of the more delicate wooden furniture is looking a little battered now but most has survived remarkably well.  There are some new additions and new occupants - not all quite to the same scale.

As with many of the older houses in Bath the bathroom is a bit of an afterthought, being on the door, above the front door.  It may need a little refurbishment.

Here is the house ready to be played with and re-organised by the next young visitor.

And finally the front door with its (originally) working doorbell.  The dustbin seems a little small now for the size of the house!