Dollhouse Stories

2009-03-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

"DAISY"

Grazhina

Once she was known as Hagerstown model 339-7 dollhouse, but she preferred to think of herself as Daisy. Most of the time she sat on her shelf in the toy store dreaming of the day she’d be taken down and wrapped up for a trip to her new home. After all, there wasn’t much to see or do on a shelf. “I wonder what color they’ll paint me”, she thought. “I hope I get to be yellow, I do so love yellow. Maybe they’ll give me shutters. Dingly Dell # 72 has them. I’d like green ones. Green goes so nicely with yellow paint. Oh, and a green door, maybe with a flowery wreath. Oh, a heart shaped flowery wreath like on the house in the calendar picture.” She sighed contentedly dreaming her pretty dollhouse dreams.

One day a customer pointed straight at her as she spoke to the clerk. “Oh joy!” Daisy thought. “It’s my day! This is it!” Yes indeed, the clerk walked straight over to her and lifted her down off the shelf. “Goodbye, girls!” she trilled to the other dollhouses. “Goodbye, Sam!” she called to the log cabin, and “Adieu, Sebastien!” to the tall, stately stone manor house.

In no time at all she was in her new home, ready to be transformed into the house of her dreams. Sure enough, bright and early next morning her lady started gathering her tools. There were scissors, and cutting knives, glues, rulers, and a stack of colored papers.“Jiminy Crickets! Wallpaper!” Daisy practically screamed with delight.

She relaxed as expert hands began their work. “Gee,” Daisy thought. “That wallpaper is awful red. I was hoping for a pretty rose colored floral in that room. Oh well. Maybe she plans on mahogany bedroom furniture. Some of that mahogany stuff looks really grand with dark red wallpaper. Of course, that paper sure is red-red.”

Later that afternoon the lady took out a shiny brass bed and put it into the red room, then she stepped back for a look. Daisy was dubious about the brass bed and the fancy red velvet wallpaper. “Yes, please, lady, think it over. Mahogany would be a nicer choice. I’m sure you’ll agree.” But the lady left the brass bed in the room.

The next day the lady selected a pink wall paper. “That’s better”, Daisy thought. “Pink is such a nice ladylike color, though I’m not so sure about it being next to that red room. Still, furniture does make the room, after all. It’s not just about the wallpaper.”

The lady laid the pink wallpaper on the table. It was shot through with gold stripes and red and blue flowers. Daisy just about faded away in embarrassment. She had dreamed of being a tastefully dressed yellow cottage with a green door and green shutters and white trim, with maybe a pretty picket fence in front. “I think the lady‘s taste in colors leaves something to be desired,” she thought. “Maybe she’s color blind,” she added charitably.

The next day the lady returned from shopping with some fancy gilded mirrors for Daisy’s bedrooms. She placed more furniture into the bedrooms, including a tufted red velvet couch for the red room, “Well, that it a pretty couch,” Daisy thought, and a pink dresser with flowers that matched the wallpaper for the pink room. “I hope she didn’t pay extra for that” sighed Daisy. The lady also added some pretty little embroidered cushions. One said ‘Love’ another said ‘San Francisco’, and Daisy couldn’t make out the rest. Next the lady glued some pretty pictures of flowers and ladies on the wall and added a stitched sampler to the red room that said ‘He who loves longest loves best’. “I wonder what that's supposed to mean?” pondered Daisy.

The next day the lady started on the parlor. She glued in some pale gold wallpaper that was decorated with sprays of delicate flowers and a bit of gilding. “Oh, that looks quite nice”, thought Daisy, hopefully. A beautiful walnut parlor set followed, upholstered in light blue satin, accompanied by a matching piano. The lady hung blue satin draperies on the windows that matched the parlor set. Daisy was very happy. The upstairs rooms may be in not quite the best of taste, but the parlor was more than making up for it. Even the rug was absolutely perfect. It was the most gorgeous room Daisy could ever imagine and she began to feel much better.

A few days later the lady came into the workroom with some bags. She pulled a can of paint out of one. “Oh, goody, goody”, Daisy thought, “Maybe I get painted today!”The lady had already painted Daisy’s window trim white, and Daisy was eager to see what sort of a face she’d be presenting to the world. “Yellow, yellow, please let me be yellow. She’s opening the can…..oh boy, oh boy, I’m going to be…..red? I’m too little and cute to be red”, she pouted.” Big barns are red, little houses aren’t red”. There was nothing Daisy could do but sit there and be painted red. “What’s the matter with this woman? What is she thinking?” Daisy was getting downright peeved.

There was just one room left to decorate. “Well,” Daisy sighed, “She can’t mess up a kitchen. No matter what she does I’m sure the kitchen will do. It certainly can’t look as bad as the bedrooms or my (sniff) front.”

The lady laid some pieces of stained wood on the table. “Why,” Daisy thought, “that looks like paneled wainscot, and very nice wainscot indeed, in mahogany yet. Who puts mahogany wainscot in a kitchen?” She settled back and waited to see what came next.“Oh, maybe it won’t be a kitchen after all. Maybe I’ll have a library.” The idea of having a library within her little walls made her feel very grand indeed. She felt quite puffed up with that thought.

The lady brought out a white box. “Maybe it’s a fireplace! No, the box is too big for a fireplace. Maybe there’s bookcases in there, no, it’s still too big for that. Or maybe it’s a library set all in one box, like kitchen sets or living room sets, like the ones they used to sell in the store!” She waited.“What’s that? Why……it’s a bar…..a mahogany bar.”

Indeed it was, a magnificent mahogany bar and the wainscot matched it exactly. It even had a delicate brass rail that ran along the bottom. The lady had also bought tiny green and brown bottles with pretty labels and the smallest glasses you could ever imagine, all made of real, tinkling glass. She added a matching table with two little chairs with red velvet seats. Next she hung a picture of a lady in a big gilded frame. “Oh my,” blushed Daisy. “ Why, she has no clothes on. Wait a minute………”. A thought had begun to cross Daisy’s mind. “Not that, no it can’t be.”

The lady opened another box. In it lay a small doll. The doll had long black hair and a lacy peignoir. Daisy could see right through the lace that she had a corset tied in pink ribbons and pink garters, with a pink rose on one of them.

“Oh, noooooo!!” wailed Daisy in despair, “I’m a House of Assignation!!!! I’ll never be able to hold my head up again! Oh the shame…..” She whimpered silently, and later that night, when she was all alone, she cried herself to sleep.

The weeks passed. Daisy was on display in the lady’s living room, and none too happy to be so. “She should be ashamed of herself,” she pouted . “I’m certainly ashamed of myself and I didn’t even do anything.” Every time a visitor came in to see her Daisy just wished she could shrink into 144 scale.

One day Daisy was tenderly packed into a large box and taken on a long trip. “What now?“ she moaned. Her nerves caused her clapboards to feel too tight, and she was sure her shingles must be curling. “I wish I could have stayed on my own shelf in the toy store.” She began to wail, and once again, cried herself to sleep.

When she woke she found herself in a very large room and there were hundreds of people milling about. Many of them were stopping to look at her. She could see big banners overhead that said Northeast Miniatures Fair. “Oh fine,” she thought angrily. “The woman turns me into a bordello and now she wants to get rid of me. Yes, people, take a good look at gaudy, tawdry, tacky me. My life is ruined anyway.”

Just then something was placed on the table just in front of her. “What’s that? What’s it say? I can’t read upside down writing very well. Wait a minute, it looks like a blue ribbon. It says…..”
“First Prize goes to….” announced the loudspeaker. Daisy didn’t hear the rest. She didn’t need to. By then she had deciphered the upside down writing on the blue ribbon. It said, First Prize.

So, Daisy didn’t get to be a sweet little yellow cottage with green shutters and a white picket fence, but then again, it’s not every Hagerstown model 339-7 dollhouse that gets to be a prize-winning bordello.

BREAKING NEWS ALERT!!!

2009-03-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

DEAD FAIRY FOUND IN NOTTINGHAM FOREST

The Fairy Tale Case Of The
Dead Fairy Who Loved Flowers Too Much

*******

Dear Diary,

(Fairy by Fairy Garden)

*Sniff* Tonight upon my return home from doing my usual job of being the night shift PalPay Fairy, I discovered to my dismay*Sniff* that my locked cabnet had been broken into.

(White Fairy Cabinet by Enchanticals)

My white cabinet with all my special potions, and someone stole my potion jar with Dead Fairy Dust in it. As you know, Dear Diary, Dead Fairy Dust is very poisonous to live faeries. *Sniff*

('Stolen Potion Jar' by Mike Rowe)

My phone was ringing too when I got home. I received some very sad news from Scotland Yard. *Sniff* My sister, who is also a PayPal Fairy (PPF as many humans call us) was found laying on her back in a pile of leaves in Nottingham Forest by a poacher. *Sniff* Just her skeleton and her tutu and her wings. *Sniff* They said she was holding a pink flower. *Sniff* My sister loved flowers. *Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

"Dry your tears, and call your friend, Hercule," said the Diary as it rolled its eyes.

('Diary' by Blue Kitty Miniatures)

*Sniff* So as you know, Dear Diary, I tried to dry my tears and called my friend Hercule, who I met in Hyde Park. He assured me he would use his 'little grey cells' to deduce what had happened to my sister.

(Hercule Poirot by Sandy Copeland)

Well, Hercule went to the taped off area where he found my sister still laying on a bed of leaves. Without disturbing anything at the scene of my sister's death, Hercule deduced that my sister had been *Sniff* murdered *Sniff* * Sniff* from inhaling the stolen Dead Fairy Dust. I asked how he had come to that deduction and he said he could see some tiny glittery specks still on the flower my sister was holding. *Sniff* My sister loved flowers. *Waaaaaaaaaa*

(Dead Fairy by Fairy Garden)

(The Diary said nothing; just kept rolling its eyes.)

As you know, Dear Diary, I poured my heart out to Hercule and told him everything I could about my sister. He has such a way with we female faeries. *Sigh* When I mentioned this one particular human who enjoyed hoarding PPF's, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! Anyway, he went to visit this human who he said was just about to leave for a costume ball, but he assured her he was only wanting to talk with her about a friend of his and he wouldn't take up much of her time.

('Ugly Stepsister' by Solet Luna)

Hercule said he quickly gained her confidence, and before long she confessed to the crime and never made it to the costume ball. She suddenly poured out the whole story to him confessing my sister had some how escaped out of her cage.

(Captured Fairy by Fairy Garden)

My sister's escape so enraged her that she came to our home anticipating my being here to capture me, but as you know, Dear Diary, my hours were changed a few days ago to the night shift.

(Shroom House by WonderWorks)

As you also know, Dear Diary, we have never had any need to lock our door, so this human told Hercule she walked into the house and not finding me here broke into my white cabinet and stole the potion jar with the Dead Fairy Dust. *Sniff*

She had taken my sister's crystal ball from her and hid it. She knew it was the way PPF's communicate with each other so upon her return home, she got the crystal ball and was able to see where my sister was hiding. *Sniff*

(Crystal Ball by Enchanticals)

She also knew my sister loved flowers *waaaaaaaaaa* so she set about cutting the most fragrant of the flowers from her garden and sprinkled Dead Fairy Dust on the inside of every one of them. Then she went to Notingham Forest where my sister was hiding and laid down one flower.

(Flower by Mostly Art)

She patiently waited to see if the flower's fragrance would entice my sister to come and pick it up. It did. *Sniff*

Oh, Dear Diary, why oh why did my sister have to love flowers so much? *Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

("Fairy Tale" by Golden Unicorn Miniatures)

2009-03-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

The Dollhouse Chronicles
Tales From Dollhouses

"Building a Better Dollhouse"

by Beth Ward

"Hello, I’m Bill Cabana and today on Building a Better Dollhouse, we will be concentrating on remodeling and improving an old dollhouse. We have everything we need to bring this empty shell of an early 1900’s replica of an actual house to the 21st Century. The wall paper will be replaced, all the modern conveniences will be installed, and contemporary furnishings will be added to really liven up the place. I’ve got my handy dandy wall paper scraper and glue solvent, so let’s get to work."

"And we’re clear," said the director. Bill Cabana and his assistant began to scrape the paint and wallpaper from the 1902 dollhouse. "This should be a fairly easy thing to do," Bill told his assistant. But it wasn’t. Every time they scraped, scratched and peeled off a layer on a section, the previous section needed to be done again. Even the bits that had been wiped away were back in place. The two men tried desperately to get that chore done by the time the director of the show was back from his break. It was harder than it should have been. But, after a few words with the house, they managed to get the job done.

"Back on the air in 3, 2…"

"Hey there and welcome back to Building a Better Dollhouse. Stan and I just finished scraping off many, many layers of wall paper and paint from the inside and outside of this quaint 1902 dollhouse. Now we’ll take a good look and see if there are any structural repairs that need to be made...This house was built to last forever it seems. It’s very well made of nearly indestructible cypress. They don’t make dollhouses or any houses like this one anymore. When redecorating a house in any scale, design elements are a key factor. Color, furnishings, drapes, and lighting are all very important for pulling a room together. Now, let’s see what our designer has planned for the overall theme for this house. Angela, what do you have in store for us?"

"Hi, Bill. I have chosen a very simple yet elegant look for this house." Angela showed off the color palette she chose for the décor, each room had a central theme in one of the basic colors. "The living room which is the largest room in the dollhouse is basically red. The walls in this room will be clear coated, because the natural color of the old cypress wood is the perfect back drop. We will strip the floor then seal it with polyurethane. Red woolen area rugs placed in front of the tan micro suede sectional sofa with a matching chair and ottoman, and red throw pillows. The fireplace mantle will have two red topiaries on each side of the mirror to be placed above the mantle. I found these darling red drapes to go on the window.

"Moving to the kitchen/dining room, I have decided on a mainly yellow color scheme. The refrigerator, stove and sink are all white as well as the dishwasher. Everything is to scale. The countertops are all a very pale shade of yellow, and the table and benches are painted to match the countertops. The bench cushions are two shades darker. The flowers in the center of the table are daisies. The tile floor is white with little yellow daisies. The window over the sink has antique white curtains. We have potholders, oven mitts, little dish towels, place mats and napkins in various shades of yellow. White dishes, stainless steel flatwear, and simple clear glasses finish the look on the table."

"That’s lovely, Angela." Bill complimented the designer.

"Thank you, Bill," Angela replied. "Next is the bedroom. We have gone with a blue theme. One wall is royal blue the other walls in a blue-gray. Baby blue carpet fills the entire flooring area in this room. The floor to ceiling window across from the royal blue wall has baby blue sheers and royal blue drapes. The mahogany head board and foot board are centered along the royal blue wall. A memory foam mattress is under the eggshell sheets topped with a comforter in blue and gray plaid with solid blue dust ruffle. The lamp tables on either side of the bed match the mahogany headboard. There is a matching wardrobe and a mirror in the corner."

"Stay tuned, because after this word from our sponsor, we will see what else Angela has picked out for the rest of the house." Bill told the camera. During the break, the design staff really worked on getting everything in place as Angela had described. It just was not working. The window treatments kept falling down, the counter tops would not stay put, the furniture kept rearranging itself. It all looked fabulous in the drawings, but they just could not make anything stay - except for the polyurethane. The dollhouse liked that her floors were all shiny, but didn't like the fumes.

The staff was getting frustrated and the house itself was having a good giggle. One of the show’s producers scratched his balding head in disbelief. It was coming down to the wire for the big reveal of this episode and they had nothing more to show than when they started. The interns were laying down bets to see who would snap first. Odds were on the Host, Bill Cabana. He was known for being able to not only finish a project on time and within budget, but his nerves were always calm and under control. The director decided to wrap it up for the day; they would try again tomorrow. After all it wasn’t a live show, it was taped. They all went home.

Angela took the dollhouse home to prepare some sketches for the bathroom and exterior of the house. She set the dollhouse on her dining room table and went to fix dinner. While she was cooking, her 10 year old daughter, Amy, snuck a closer look at the house. She thought it was a model for a real house her mother was working on. She had no idea, yet, it was only a dollhouse.

After Amy read the card taped to the base of the house, she ran to her room and got a few of her small dolls. She had been collecting dollhouse miniatures for a while and dreamed of actually having a real dollhouse to put them in. Together with her dolls, Amy imagined what the house would look like if it matched her mother’s drawings. She moved the dolls in and out of every room while reading her mother’s notes of how each room should look. Using the dolls to arrange everything just so, something wonderful happened. The house slowly started to accept the changes. Amy and her dolls had mastered the living room and the kitchen. Then it was time for dinner.

After dinner Angela went back to the dollhouse, expecting to experience more strangeness. The look on her face was priceless when she saw what Amy and the dolls had managed to do in a few minutes that had taken a handful of adults a whole day to try to do. She knew Amy had done the work, because Amy's dolls were sitting in chairs and lying on the couch.

Soon it was bedtime and the next day was Saturday. Angela asked Amy if she and her dolls would like to go with her to finish the house on the TV show. They talked about what to do with the bathroom and the outside of the house. After breakfast on Saturday morning, Angela, Amy, the dolls and the dollhouse went back to the set for Building a Better Dollhouse.

They had decided that the bathroom should be white with green accents. The tub/shower combination was white with green tiles on the back splashes and counter top for the vanity. A low profile toilet sat near the sink. The green shower curtain, bathmats and towels completed the room. It was the only room in the house with a secondary color scheme. Amy and the dolls put everything in place as they had done the night before. Bill Cabana and the rest of the staff were pleasantly surprised and definitely confused about how this girl and her dolls were able to do what they could not do. When the bathroom was completed, it was time to freshen up the outside of the house. Angela let Amy decide on that. Amy chose to brighten up the paint with a fresh coat of the original white. She chose to keep the original trim red, and the roof got an update of red singles.

"Congratulations Amy!" Bill Cabana exclaimed. The camera crew showed every room, the outside of the house, and the roof. The taping session was finally a success! “Join us next time on Building a Better Dollhouse."

"Cut! That’s a wrap people”, shouted the director.

A few days later Amy and her mother were watching that episode on TV when there was a knock on the door. Amy opened the door and there was Bill Cabana and the dollhouse. “Happy Birthday Amy,” Bill said as he carried the dollhouse to the dining room table. He handed her a card. The card simply said 'Thank you', and it was signed by Bill Cabana and the entire staff of Building a Better Dollhouse. A picture of them all and the house was attached to a tiny key chain to which was attached a tiny key for the house. Amy had her dollhouse and the dollhouse had its Amy.

Later that day, Angela and Amy moved the dollhouse to Amy’s room, where it sits near her bed.

2009-03-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

The Dollhouse Chronicles

Tales From Dollhouses

"Russian Blue,

or,

How to Get Cat Hair Out of a Dollhouse"

by Beth Ward

Achoo…!

“God Bless you”, said the scaled miniature sofa to the scaled miniature drapes behind it.

“Thank you,” sniffled the drapes in reply.

Every piece of furniture in the dollhouse was sneezing. They had never had a cat around before and they didn’t like it one bit. The cat was a Russian Blue. He would gently nuzzle and rub against the furniture in his favorite spot; Sebastian was a very large cat who for some reason or another loved to sleep inside the dollhouse. The dolls and the furniture weren’t very pleased with the situation but they didn’t know what to do about it. So they kept on sneezing and whining.

One day, the bookshelf had an idea! “We’ll scare it away,” the bookshelf told the others.

“But how can we scare that cat?” asked the Persian rug under the coffee table.

“We can make the cat believe this house is haunted,” suggested the lamp smugly and flicked itself on. The piano in the corner laughed out a tune… “That’s a wonderful idea!” They all agreed. The entire house thought of something to do to make the cat not want to sleep there and the plan was quickly put in motion.

That very afternoon, Sebastian casually walked up to the house that had cleaned itself up and was buzzing with energy ready to spring its trap. The cat did what he always did and rubbed each piece of décor in the house before settling down for his afternoon snooze.

When Sebastian began purring in his sleep, the front door gave the signal...SLAM! …

Nothing. The piano started playing Chopsticks. Again nothing happened. The rooms upstairs peered over the edge of the floors just waiting for their turn to fall on Sebastian’s head when the next signal was given. From the kitchen, the appliances all moved to the dining room ready to occupy chairs should the cat open his sleepy eyes. Meanwhile the coffee table, the rug, and the bookshelf managed to move Sebastian’s tail into the fireplace. The fireplace lit itself, the cat screeched, and all the other rooms emptied on top of the cat.

To any outsiders it looked as though the cat startled himself in his sleep and disrupted the house. Sebastian ran away from the house. The house cheered in victory and everything scrambled back to its place.

After giving himself a calming bath and getting a snack from his food bowl, Sebastian returned to the dollhouse. He approached it with caution. When nothing else happened that seemed out of the ordinary he curled up and resumed his nap only this time outside the dollhouse. Sebastian rolled over in his sleep and touched the dollhouse curling around it like a child with a favorite blanket, and he purred.

The sofa scooted to the edge of the wall so he could see what Sebastian was doing. The house itself cleared its throat. The wall nearest the sofa whispered, “Maybe that didn’t work.” The beds upstairs agreed, and they all felt ashamed of what they did.

A few minutes later Sebastian woke up and stretched. He eyed the dollhouse carefully. 'Was bad dream' he decided and roamed through each of the dollhouse rooms, gently rubbing everything in it partly to assure himself that it was a dream and partly in forgiveness. When his back was turned, the whole house sneezed.

Still curious, Sebastian just sat there watching the house, wondering what would happen next.

The bookshelf was curious too so it stepped out to get a closer look. Sebastian placed it back where it belonged. Slowly each room of the house was emptied and replaced in an unusual game with the cat.

Ever since that day, Sebastian never again slept inside the dollhouse. He and the dollhouse were quite happy with the new arrangement, and he and the dollhouse enjoyed their daily game of empty and replace.

2009-03-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

Hope you enjoy reading the second installment of...

The Dollhouse Chronicles
Tales From Dollhouses

"107 Ruth Drive"

by Beth Ward

Christmas Eve, 1972...

It was a cold night in Southwestern Louisiana and snow was beginning to cover the ground. It was a very rare occurrence in this part of the world, but a white Christmas is always a wonderful thing. The little girl lay sleeping in her bed, dreaming of dolls and dollhouses and the fabulous adventures that only a four year old girl could on Christmas Eve. Belinda had only gotten over her fear of Santa Clause that year and was excited about getting up early on Christmas morning to see what wonderful surprises awaited her under the Christmas tree.

Belinda climbed out of bed and ran to the living room, following her big sister, Lydia’s example. There it was, even more wonderful than she imagined! It was her very first dollhouse.

The house was made of metal. The outside had a brick façade. Red bricks, a green roof, a big bay window and many smaller windows made of white plastic. It was a two story house with a chimney. It also had a balcony with a white railing and a trellis with roses. She turned it around and there were so many rooms, eight in all. The front door opened to the living room and the stairs. Each room was furnished with plastic furniture. And she had new dolls to play with in her new house and the Sunshine Family. This was one happy little girl and a very happy dollhouse.

As the years went by the dollhouse realized it wasn’t being lived in. It was loved, but not lived in. The house on 107 Ruth Drive was no more than a back drop, a set in the movie production of a little girl’s dramatic imagination. A prop…

Time went by and the little girl was growing up, and Belinda just didn’t have time to visit the old house anymore. Not that she’d ever taken very good care it. She’d thrown it around and was really rough on it. The roof was dented, the furniture was broken and a lot of it was missing. The windows had been pulled out, the stairs and the trellis with the roses had been cast aside and lost. Rust was starting to take hold and ruining the paint job.

Belinda had outgrown the need for the house. But the house never forgot its early days. Because it loved Belinda and had watched her grow, it had always been there for her; it was heartbroken when Belinda’s mother packed it away to be hidden in the attic for what might be, the rest eternity.

From its location in the attic the dollhouse could hear all the conversations and life it wasn’t to be a part of. When the family moved, the box it was stashed away in was loaded in and out of trucks and again placed in the attic of unpacked, but memorable things. Then finally one day, Belinda’s mother took pity on the house and the treasures that were part of it and returned them all to the Belinda. She was overjoyed at being reunited with her lost treasures and memories. The old house from 107 Ruth Drive was loved once again.

Belinda, now a middle aged woman, was very sad about how pitiful and neglected the house looked and she tried to restore life to the old house. Many of the walls were now either missing or just broken. The house was beyond repair. Belinda cried as she hugged the house and apologized for treating it so carelessly. She lovingly placed it in a box marked for Charity.

Amazingly the house was relieved and accepted the apology and went bravely to meet its fate.

Valentine’s Day, 2001...

The box traveled to a very special place. By strange chance, the house came back home to 107 Ruth Drive. It was lovingly restored by a retired couple who specialized in dollhouses of this particular make and model. They completely rebuilt the dollhouse restoring the red brick façade and the trellis with the roses. The missing staircase was replaced with a much grander one. Framed windows with glass panes replaced the white plastic ones which were original to the dollhouse. The chimney now had a beautiful fireplace that was not painted on a wall. It actually worked. The couple filled the house with beautiful furniture and even wired it with lights that turned on and off. They cherished the house and made a lot of improvements to it.

That year on Christmas Eve, the house was placed under the Christmas tree and early Christmas morning, their four year old granddaughter, Melanie, was the happiest little girl in the world. She woke up, ran down the hall from her room and saw only the dollhouse waiting for her to love. This dollhouse had come full circle and was the happiest dollhouse ever.

2009-03-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

We MIDS hope you enjoy reading the first installment of...

The Dollhouse Chronicles

Tales From Dollhouses

"The House on the Table"

by Beth Ward

You have heard I’m sure of the absurd and often creepy things that can happen on Halloween Night. This night was definitely one of the creepiest. There at the end of a lonely display table in an Antique Shop stood a very old dollhouse. This house was not the average antique dollhouse. It had once been a full sized house.

"Chantilly" was a cheerful looking house that had been built just before the beginning of the War of 1812. Its white-washed wooden siding, marble columns, slate roof, and green shutters overlooked a vast expanse of lush gardens with imported flowers from all over the globe and huge oak trees. There were children playing in the yard and workers working hard to keep everything looking perfect. The owners of the house spared no expense to this magical place. Visitors from near and far would stay for days, sometimes longer just to experience the luxury of the house. They didn’t know of its dark side.

As with most legendary homes, this one has its secrets, a mysterious story that is beyond infamous. After the house had been completed, the war was still raging. Soldiers from both sides wanted the house for personal and strategic reasons. "Chantilly" was located less than a mile from the river and the huge oak trees surrounding the outer limits of the property and the variety of plants made it very difficult to sneak up on by foot or on horseback. Many men died trying to take over the property. Fierce battles were fought by the armies on each side of the battle. The owners thought it all very entertaining.

The owner’s eldest daughter, Sabine, was in love with Brent, a young officer from the English Army. They hid from the watchful eyes of her parents, his associates and everyone. Or so they thought.

The housekeeper in charge of the children knew what was going on. She tried to help the young lovers, but like most young people, they wouldn’t listen. The couple managed to escape her watchful gaze long enough to take a walk in the moonlight. Brent proposed marriage and Sabine accepted his proposal. They got swept up in the moment and forgot they had to keep it secret. It was Halloween night 1813.

Strolling back to the house hand in hand they went right up to the front door, where her father was waiting. He was furious when he found out they were to be wed. Cowering next to him was her mother, her siblings and her nanny. No one had ever seen the Master of the Manor so angry. He hurled insults at his daughter and her young officer. The battles previously fought on this land weren’t nearly as bloody or awful as the one that was about to happen. The Master was armed with a rifle and he shot his daughter and her young officer at point blank range right there in the door way. So distraught was his wife, she fled with her remaining children and their nanny up to the hidden third floor room where she and her servants had conducted séances. The Mistress of the Manor couldn’t bear to have her home destroyed or the memory of her child tarnished. This was enough of a scandal already. So she had her servants preserve the house so that it would remain in its glory forever. They did as she pleaded.

The house is in perfect repair. The gardens are just as lush. The oaks are as majestic. Only now the entire estate can fit on an 8 foot by 12 foot table. Everything was scaled down including the furnishings and fixtures. The people also were scaled down proportionally to scale. With one exception, they were no longer alive. They are the most life like looking doll house inhabitants ever.

How did this now miniaturized house become the main display in an Antique Shop? Nobody knows. But the name of the house and the name of the Antique shop are the same: Chantilly.

"Chantilly", the antique dollhouse that sits on an 8 foot by 12 foot table in the window of Chantilly, the Antique shop is not for sale. It is a museum unto itself and a reminder of a family's history. It has been said that on Halloween Night since the tragic deaths of Sabine and Brent, you can hear the angry shouts of the Master of the Manor, the gunshots echoing off the walls, and the screams of a heartbroken Mother and her children.