Tynietoy Dollhouse

Was on vacation in Washington DC. Visiting my Assistant and the news from the sonogram is It's a boy!!!
The baby is due late July and is doubling in size. Such a miracle!

And I am suffering from a bad case of rugburn...


The news in Miniland is "It's a Tynietoy"! I am lucky enough to have found a Tynietoy Townhouse in Pennsylvania.
It required a 4 hr drive and I am in debt to my pregnant Assistant who (with great discomfort to herself) and with the best son in law in the Universe helped me pick it up in their SUV.

Here is the front wooden facade. Some of the markings one looks for are the original blue painted architectural detail around the door and lintels. I was told this was a "garage find" and had suffered some water damage.

It looks to me as if someone started renovating it, sanding the front for painting and was stopped before the original design was completely removed. The windows are poorly done in what looks like white-out on acetate. The curtains are not original. I like the front door a lot though. The floors are warped. There are 2 chimneys, one looks newer. 

The stairs going straight up look original, the hallway panels on the

second floor look, new, to me. The doorway decoration felt slightly raised as though they were made of paper and glued on, or of thick paint. The upper left bedroom had been sanded, painted an odd green and the door frame clumsily  repainted. Really a poor job. The canopy and bedspread are not original either though the bed is and came to me with the house.

But I am so lucky because many of the Townhouses were simply repainted inside and this blue detail is missing, as in the below example from a previous auction.

 This is an old picture from auction catalog showing a Townhouse repainted inside leaving no architectural detail.

Go to McKendry's seminal dollhouse history for background and to the Master herself, Susan Grimshaw at http://www.tynietown.com/.  She has collected Tynietoy since she was a child and is writing a book about it.

Oh, the rugburn??? I went from my Happy Shaw House where I kept my Tynietoy furniture and this Townhouse back and forth, faster and faster. I have hardwood floors at home and was not used to kneeling on wall to wall carpet. When I woke up the next morning I was dismayed to have a bad case of rug burn on my knees. The kids thought it was hilarious...

So Susan is in isolation, still in the hospital and they are testing for pneumonia. OK Susan! That's enough of that! The rug burn humor is for you.

CM

A letter to my fellow mini house collector, Susan

Susan I know you are lying in the hospital with a spiking fever. I hear you may not be going home till Monday and have one last chemo treatment to endure. Here is a picture of Susan in her wig after her hair fell out. Tres chic, no?

Well if you have followed either of our blogs, hers is Susan's mini homes and is listed in my side bar, you know we spent Christmas in Paris this year. I have been telling her about the detective novels of Cara Black. Cara is a San Francisco native who spent time in Paris.
Her female detective, Aimee Leduc discovers a mystery from each arrondissment in Paris (well not all 20 yet). I am reading "Murder in the Bastille", and one police officer is housed in the Marie in Place Leon Blum, our metro stop. 

There are many wonderful comments like how the crosswalk we used to go to the market once housed a guillotine and the cobblestones ran red with "aristo" blood.

And how the 11e is being corrupted by le caviar gauche who are turning workshops into lofts, like our hostess' place.

But what brings me to writing this post is one of the characters is a
craftsman who works with antiques. He just complained about the new breed of wood workers from the Charles Boulle ecole. The school our Boulle founded. Did you know Charles Boulle created the chest of drawers????? Too funny.

Charles Boulle mean nothing to you? Read Susan's and my last posts! (ok mine is about 6 ago).

These books come in audio version at my library if it is too hard to concentrate and read. They will just have to be our vacations for now until we return to Paris again. Funny how "Boulle" keeps turning up. Especially for you at les marches puces!Cheers! CM

Join the Mini Modern Super Pac, Vote now!

Wrapping up the I house and putting it to bed!

Mattel 1950's wooden bedroom furniture

Matches the Livingroom set in the I house

Before 

After,

 Goodnight I house,

Goodnight re vamp,

Goodnight Mattel bedroom set,

and Jonathan Adler lamp.

Goodnight Moon,

Goodnight Delph. 

Goodnight PDR serpentine shelf

Goodnight hacking

what more can I say,

and the noisy old lady hooting "Hooray!"

Off to DC,

Vote for Mini Modern by going to the link here http://modernminihouses.blogspot.com/

Goodnight, CM

The I house Office: 2nd floor

The house came with these steel colored spiral stairs and I love their design. I even um..."borrowed" another set from my Little Assistant's dollhouse. I can return it now.

Be still my Hacker heart! Look at all this pink and purple I  transformed!!!! YAY The set is by Gloria and can be found on 

ebay. I put the tower under the desk instead of under the monitor.

                         The Patient's couch before... ah hacking ...

                          That Eames chair before hacking...

Notice the miniature kleenex box on the coffee table... This is the office of a therapist. Your dolls are invited over to unload their burdens. The white power plug under the desk is by Delph Miniatures.

Another favorite trick of mine is to use little woven rugs as wall
hangings. CM

Packing up the I house: Dining Room

                     Retro 1950's dining room furniture from Mattel

Minimodernista shell sculpture and you can see the shadows of her hanfing lamps. Place mats are material swatches from my Assistant who is now 5 months along, making her own mini world... Bozart Vase, lucite vase with greenery by Minidork. Oriental screen is a postcard.

                    Love the 1950's orange and brown color scheme.

A little worn around the edges... but more realistic. The sculpture in the back ground is a lamp finial.

Looks out on the living room which goes with the dining room set by Mattel. Cheers CM

I see some hot pink and I want it painted black...

 Sing like you're Mick.

This is the patio off the I House kitchen. The faux bamboo furniture was hot pink... The planter, an incense burner. The "ghost" chairs" those name card holders from the Lavender and Navy wedding sight. 

Nobody makes a modern umbrella like Mighty world! 

 This white planter is really the tip to my outdoor patio umbrella, notice how it is missing below?

                                I think I'll put it back now ...

Below is how is how the Mighty World umbrella from the set.

Metallic screen from tap plastics a treat from Mini Modern.  C