My two tin lithographed houses reside on the palm-lined street in the study atop some book shelves.
(The palm trees were a 75% off after Christmas find and are made of painted metal also.)
One of the things I liked about these two houses when I purchased them several years ago, was that they are from such different era's - the 1940's and the 1950's. The decor is radically different inside and out. The one from the 40's uses bright and bold colors and the one a decade later is mainly pastel colors.
In 1948, T. Cohn introduced this elegant Spanish themed, tile roof home as their first dollhouse. The detail is wonderful. The lattice windows, which are fully functional are a wonderful touch. The house was unique with its tiled, pitched roof with it centered chimney and lots of flowers and shrubs decorate the exterior
The master bedroom has a floral print wall paper and featurs a floral rug set near the front opening of the house so that no matter how you arranged the furniture in the rooms, it would be visible.
The nursery has a sort of circus theme with toys on a shelf on the wall.
The kitchen is bright with its yellow and red walls and a geometric linoleum floor. The walls are decorated with a a shelf and clock and a large fruit wreath.
The large living room in the T. Cohn house has dark green walls, a roaring fire place and built-in book shelves. The light colored floor also has a tradition green border.
The patio is on the second level and is filled with brightly colored floor tiles.
This house was first produced in 1959. It reminds me a lot of the Brady Bunch House. This one sits on large base that was lithoed to look like a patio and provide the 'Split Level" look. My research showed that the house came with plastic front, back and inside steps, and a plastic grill/bbq that was built right into the wall adjoining the patio and kitchen. There were various models of this house and they all came with some, none or all of the following: playground set, pool set, Corvette or T-Bird car, split rail fences, plastic trees and shrubs, bird bath with birds, dogs, rock fence, vegetable garden, boxwood hedge, horses with riders, 18-20 dollhouse figures, lighting, working doorbell, and an opening front door.
The kitchen is this house is also a bright yellow, but features modern applianced of the day including a built-in oven.
the family room and dining room are done in tones of blue with modern built-in cabinets of yellow and blue. There is a wonderful harliquin pattern wallpaper in the "breakfast" area.
The master bedroom is decorated in kind of mint color and is relatively bare compared to the other rooms in the house.
I really like the living room. It has wood paneling on the walls, built-in shelves, a mid century modern fireplace with modern art hanging on the walls. The pattern on curtains is great too.
The outdoor pation on the modern house is pastel colored flag stones. There is a great website which features both of these and a whole lot more:
http://www.barbigirl.com/marxhome.htm
Another thing that I think is so great about these houses, is that there is so much detail, it is pretty easy to imagine a family living in each of these rooms even without furniture.
