Recent Acquisitions

I have picked up a few items here and there, mainly at local estate sales.

I came across this 1930's Rich dollhouse.  I will need to make some new windows, but other than that, it is in pretty great shape.  I located an advertisement for the house in an old catalog, it is called the "Berkshire" and has six rooms inside.  It was unique because the second floor overhangs the first floor. It sold for $2.94 back in 1939.

The advertisement describes the roof color as brown, so I may have to fix that too!

A cow-worker picked this small cottage up for me at a garage sale for $5.  

It needs a little TLC. 

I came across these antique or vintage handkerchiefs at a garage sale. I liked the blue tatted edges.  I am envisioning it as a bed spread in my Tynietoy house in the blue bedroom.  It can be seen HERE

I have picked up a few random pieces here and there.  I found this Dollhouse Victorian wallpaper book from the the 1980's.  It still has all of the paper in it!  I found the porch swing at another sale and it will most likely end up on my daughter's house. CLICK HERE

I left another sale with this vintage 'antique' map of the world with burnt edges.   I think it will end up on the wall of a library. 

The Dolls' House book was a great find.   

Here is the inside cover page (1965)  It is mainly black and white photos and the typeset looks to be done with a typewriter.

When I visited the Smithsonian a while back, I was able to see Faith Bradford's dollhouse that is on display there and I picked up the the large full color book "America's Doll House".  It offers a totally different perspective than the 1965 version.  The new book is full of color photos of each individual room and goes into detail about how the collection was put together and also has some history.  The vintage book is put together more like a story book and describes each of the dolls in the house and talks about some of the rooms.  They are both great!

To see more about Faith Bradford's dollhouse at the Smithsonian, click HERE

La Pausa - Coco Chanel's Home

I was able to visit to the Dallas Museum of Art recently.  One of the permanent exhibits was a reconstruction of La Pausa, a home that Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel built on the French Riviera in 1927.  The 5 acre lot was originally located near Monaco.  In the early 1950's, fellow model Emery Reves, purchased the home and it's contents from Chanel.  In 1985, Reves donated the home and it's vast collection of art and antiques to the museum.

The home is reconstructed inside the walls of the museum and is pretty much in contrast to the other galleries inside the modern building.

This is the entry hall into the reconstruction of the house.

The reconstruction includes a replica of the exterior coutryard

Some of the furniture was given to Coco by the Duke of Westminister with whom she was romantically involved with.

The master bedroom

The house is full of antique furniture and great works of art including Renoir and Monet.

The dining room opens into the courtyard

The living room  or Salon opens to the courtyard opposite the dining room

Each room has a directory identifying the artist and the date

The home has hosted all kinds of dignitaries: Greta Garbo, Aristotle Onassis, and The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, just to name few.  Another frequent guest was Winston Churchill.  He would stay for months at a time. The following are paintings that Churchill worked on while staying at the home.

Churchill first stayed at the estate in 1956 after retiring from public life.