Regular visitors to KT Miniatures website will be familiar with the various Galleries, all are there with the aim to inform and inspire. They include some customers' own inspirational creations and gorgeous old dolls house collections.
You will find the Galleries section at the very top navigation bar. As you place your cursor over the Galleries button, a drop down bar with three options will appear.
So then simply click on the the relevant section.
Yesterday I updated Collection Three on the Old Dolls House Gallery Section
Collection Three belongs to Barbara Kendall-Davies, a retired opera singer from Jersey, who sent me some more wonderful photos of three very different dolls houses from her enormous collection to add to the existing page that already features some of her gorgeous houses. Her husband has nicknamed her collection "Barbaraville".
DH12 Dolls House
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| Barbara tells how the house went from this, before restoration...... |
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| To this, after restoration. |
She did a magnificent job! Barbara allows us to take a peek inside the rooms and shares some of her restoration techniques such as how she diluted the brand new craft paper flooring upstairs with coffee!
G&J Lines No 32 circa 1909
Barbara has had this house for a very long time and it has actually featured on the gallery page for many years now. However, Barbara sent some updated photos as she has had a bit of a shift around with furniture and furnishings, as I suspect like many of us do with our old houses from time to time (I certainly do).
She tells us that this house is a bit of a mystery, and that although the facade conforms to the one that appears in the 1909 catalogue, strangely it opens each side instead of the front.
When she acquired it, it came with an added conservatory on the back so she has kept it like that. I actually quite like the conservatory and think it gives the house extra character.
Dierdrie's House
Now this restoration project is a testament to Barbara's patience and perseverance.....I suspect many people would have simply binned this old house with cardboard interior walls and floors, but not Barbara. It belonged to a member of her dolls house club in Jersey, whose grandfather had made it many years previously and consequently been sitting up in a loft for a very long time. The owner didn't want it, so Barbara took it on.
It went from this......
before restoration.......
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| To this.....isn't it fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Again, Barbara gives us an insight into some of her restoration techniques, which are inspiring. For instance, she used printed pocket handkerchiefs for the curtains and downloaded some of the papers from the internet. She tells us that she spent hardly any money on the restoration, just many hours of labour. To furnish it she used bits and bobs, plus customised some cheap plastic furniture from Pound Land.
I think it is very pretty indeed and a perfect illustration on how a real wreck of a dolls house can be rescued and made to look beautiful once again.
To see these houses and many more of Barbara's collection, please click on the following link:
To view the main Old Dolls House Gallery Index, please click on the following link, not only will you find old douses but there is also a page of the rare previously sold Beatrice Hindley plants and the very recent collection of Grecon dolls which included some rare ones.
