Well, I wanted a tea set. For some reason there is very little available commercially that is in scale. Many of those sets out there contain a tea pot that is between an inch and two inches tall. When was the last time you saw a 2 foot tall tea pot? Oh well. In my search I came across this little beauty. Nothing is over 1/2 inch tall. Ok, so I still don't have my teapot proper, but I just couldn't resist the sweet little sheep teapot that came with this set! The set itself is made from porcelain clay. I am told that the price I paid for it is spectacular, so I am happy:). The sunflower motif is the most delicate I have ever seen. Note the large cup handles. A purist might have issues, but these cups can be put into a dolls hand if that is what is needed. The little sheep had a mishap the first day I had it. It accidentally got knocked off the couch, and lost a leg. I spent the next several hours trying to locate a piece of black porcelain clay (that was no bigger than 1 mm long) on a grey carpet. Not that easy, especially since the cat thought I was playing. I did find it, and a little crazy glue fixed the problem. So here it is, my neat little sheep tea set!
The following house was purchased at a flea market in Kelowna, B.C. The history? Well, this house was one of the Marx company's first designs in dollhouse...before this they mainly made tin toys. The first model appeared in 1949. It originally cost all of $2.95 and came with 36 pieces of furniture. (Thanks, B, for sending me the information!) It is missing the chimney, and there is a very small amount of deterioration on the tabs in the nursery but for the most part the colors details are still in great condition! My favorite detail is a Currier and Ives print that lives above the fireplace in the master bedroom. There are also other interesting features, like the library shelf in the living room, the two highly detailed rugs in the master bedroom and livingroom and when a window has a picture instead of a hole for glass, that picture matches what "scenery" is on the opposite side (aka, from the nursery window, you can see the top of the flowers in the window box, on the outside, you can see the box!). The house is 18 inches long, 13 1/2 inches high and 8 inches deep (so around a 3/4 scale house). It did not come with furniture.
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Front of Tin House |  |
Back of Tin House, rooms from left to right, top to bottom...nursery, bathroom, masterbedroom, kitchen, livingroom |  |
Side of house on kitchen |
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Living room side of the house |  |
Bedroom decorated in green, pink flowered curtains and fireplace. Upstairs fireplace is not lit, though the fireplace in the livingroom is! |  |
This nursery is the most decorated room in the house. |
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The modern bathroom with all the conveniences...a tiled surface, medicine cabinet full of miracles, patterned bath rug, toilet paper holder and even a bar of soap! |  |
Livingroom, nice roaring fire, cool things on the hearth...notice the patterned rug! | 
| The kitchen, complete with geraniums in the window! |