I didn’t have a dollhouse when I was a kid — the closest I got were haphazardly stacked boxes with cut-out doors and windows for my Barbies, with mismatched furniture made from odds and ends scavenged around the house. Eventually I got Polly Pocket playsets, which I loved too, but a dollhouse that can fit in the palm of your hand isn’t exactly a proper dollhouse.
Last year around the holidays, I scored this wonderful find from Andy, a friend who sells books online: A Three-Dimensional Victorian Dollhouse, which brings me one step closer to my dream dollhouse.
It’s a bit musty from not being opened in a while, and some of the doll figures are missing (I think), but the dollhouse itself is intact, which was all that mattered to me. When you open the covers all the way around and tie them together with the ribbons, the book unfolds into an oversize (about 18 inches) 3D, 360-degree, two-storey Victorian dollhouse with eight rooms!
Here’s the top view:
And here’s how it looks, when the book is folded out:
I’ll let Linka (sorry, I know she’s an anachronism, but we don’t have a lot of toys left in the house and the Planeteer is the closest to scale) take you on a tour:
the foyer
the study
the formal dining room
the kitchen
the second floor hallway
the Master’s bedroom
the kiddie bedroom
and the bathroom
I’ve got a growing pop-up collection, but nothing like this yet. It’s magical, how the whole house stores flat when the book is closed. The details are amazingly authentic, too!
I still plan to build my own dollhouse (from scratch) someday, but this book does nicely for now.
***
Special thanks to Andy B for this book!
A Three Dimensional Victorian Doll House, hardcover, 5/5 stars
[amazonify]::omakase::300:250[/amazonify]
that looks awesome blooey!
we should totally play!
I need to buy dolls this size. Next time we go to Libreria let’s raid the Ukay across Cubao X
Love the doll house!
I love it too!
is that a ken doll? (i don’t think it is, but it’s eerily similar)
It’s Linka from Captain Planet :D
This is amazingly beautiful, what a gorgeous book for your collection!
Lovely dollhouse Blooey! Cut-up boxes for dollhouses and Linka really takes me back to my childhood. :-D Good luck with building your dollhouse! Have you already envision the designs and materials for it? Sounds exciting!
thanks, Chipitita… You just gave me an idea — I don’t have dollhouse plans yet. Must get to work on them pronto!
Beautiful. It’s shame you won’t find many of these around anymore, though. I guess you’re lucky!
I’ve seen some new dollhouse books at the bookstore, not 360 though.
aww i remember my dollhouse frustrations too! i have a carpenter uncles who always used to promise to make me a dollhouse. which he never did. it took me some years to find out that on his rare visits he was mostly drunk and broke.. gah! lol
I know the feeling. I saw my dad building a wooden box one time, and it turned out to be a toolbox :s then one time he started building a small house; I thought it was a playhouse but it turned out to be a shed! Rats!
We have this same exact dollhouse back when we were kids, given by my grandma. :):):) Brings back memories. I’m not sure though if we still have it in the house. O.O
Really? How cool! I wish I had this book when I was a kid.
nice! Linka (is that the name of the action mini?) looks like he fit in to the victorian feel.
Linka is actually one of the girl planeteers from Captain Planet
This sparked a memory I didn’t remember until now. This was my childhood dollhouse I loved this thing so much. Looking at it I remember the details. And 10 years later I found it again :’)