Views From Paradise

I have been building ship models for almost 40 years.  When we moved to Calgary I decided to use my skills to build a dollhouse for Meagan and Janine.  Louis XV cube parquet floors in the entryway with base boards and crown molding in most rooms.  Walnut flooring and wall paper in many rooms. Problem was that I had never built a dollhouse and never looked at plans, so I kind of made it as if it was a real house.   It is a double sided Victorian home.  You go upstairs and there is a hall down the middle that leads to the various bedrooms and bathroom.  No one puts a hall in the middle of a dollhouse.

Both a formal staircase at the front and the servant narrow staircase into the kitchen with a pantry that you could never find  But what did I know.

Anyway Janine and Meagan loved it and the hallway was a place to hide dolls.  But they outgrew it.

Years later I made a Barbie scale dollhouse for Ariana.  Again with hardwood floors and windows that looked back into the woods behind.  I even added lights.  She loved it and it had an extended life in the day nursery that Monique operated, but again it was eventually retired.

Now I realize that the fancy details are not there for the enjoyment of the girls but for my love of the art.

Reminds you of the song Puff the Magic Dragon.  The kids love to play with the dollhouse but eventually grow up and it sits sad and forgotten.  Janine took their dollhouse along to Cincinnati and it spent years in their basement.  Ariana’s house came back here to Courtenay where again it hibernated in the cold room.  Dollhouses just yearning for children playing.

Finally this year both homes got a new opportunity to entertain girls.  Ariana’s house went to a little girl named London and Janine and Meagan’s house went to a little girl named Grace.

Granted both girls a bit younger than I originally intended for the homes, but by all reports they love them.  A new life.  Just as if Puff the dragon came back to life.

I am thrilled.