Welcome to my Doll Room Tour!
We start by going up these stairs into my
ATTIC!!
This railing is a great place to store my quilts.
This way I enjoy them everyday.
Here is the first view at the top of the stairs.
Directly across the room from the stairs
is a small armoire that holds fabric
and doll clothes.
On top of this dresser I have an Easter display.
(The rose canvas covers my wall AC)
To the left of the armoire is a baby cradle.
On the floor are some of my sock animals
and my Georgene Raggedy Ann.
My Madame Alexander Puddin and Bitty Baby sit
in the cradle with some of my Raggedys.
in the cradle with some of my Raggedys.
To the left of the doll cradle is this white dresser.
This is the dresser I used as a girl.
The drawers are full of doll clothes.
This is Shirley's drawer.
On top is Ellen the china baby my Grandmother
hand painted for me in 1974.
I also have my Patsy Ann book, my Betsy McCall in her little
travel room and some of my favorite books.
To the left of the white dresser is my Grandmother's
secretary and a little hidden room.
You can see how low the ceiling comes down in here.
This little space is sometimes used by guests
when they come to visit us.
This is the bedroom set I used as a girl!
At the end of the bed on the floor is...
My vintage doll room. It is just in this little corner
with the low ceiling. It seemed like the perfect place.
Kewpie and Ann.
Nancy, Joan and the Patsy Twins.
And Joan in her new cradle.
(I really need to give my two Joan's their own names!)
To the left of the bed is the American Girl Doll House.
Honey and Shirley Have rooms on the middle left
and top left.
Honey's room and...
Shirley's room.
Behind the dollhouse is a curtain wall.
I put this up to make a privacy screen from the stairs.
Coming back out of the hidden room you
can see the secretary that acts like a screen,
and the top of the stairs.
As you come out you can see my sewing
and craft area in the opposite corner.
This is my whole sewing and craft area.
As you know it is not easy keeping creative areas tidy.
I did some housekeeping just for you!
This is my main work space.
That's Claire and my little pony.
They keep me company while I work.
I love seeing my family while I am working.
This cart holds my silk flowers and hat supplies.
On top is my current project basket.
To the right of my sewing machine are all my notions.
Another recent find, a Beatrix Potter Barbie.
Continuing to the right you can see my thread drawers,
My lace and ribbons drawers and
my ironing station and remnants bin.
Opposite from my sewing machine is the
cabinet Doll House.
On top is my Baby So Beautiful Doll, Sophia.
And of course my Patsyettes below in the
Cabinet Dollhouse.
Around the corner from my sewing area is a closet.
Open the doors and you see Cissy and Emily's room.
Dressing table close-up
Above their heads are stored many of
my doll's best dresses.
Across from Cissy and Emily is the stair rail...
And back down the stairs is the end of the tour.
Oh! Except for my Mom's high school portrait.
Hi Mom!
21 comments:
Hi Brenda, I am Doreen from Arkansas and have been so enjoying your room tour today. I have looked thru your blog many times, finding it first on Pinterest thru the Savage Dolls American Girl posts. Happy you are continuing and showing us all your other doll interests.
I received AG Julie a few years back when she first came out as she resembles me during my high school years..graduated 1974!! I was working then and the grandbabies were started to arrive. Mostly did sewing for them. Julie was on display along with other American Girl dolls that I was safe keeping for my daughter.
Having been retired for almost 7 years I continued my sewing hobbies thru the grandchildren. Finally using my ideas to try sewing AG doll clothes for the oldest two girls as they became able to play with the dolls. My mom and I had a huge collection of the patterns from the late 80's and 90's as we were able to recreate the historical costumes for sale by the Pleasant Company on our own. I loved the detail of these older patterns and had fun delving into the "doll world".
It took my husband to finally suggest"hey, why don't you make something for Julie?" Well that has started a fire storm of creativity!! And, of course two My Generation retro dolls because Julie needed friends..right!
Thanks to my mom for teaching me sewing skills and saving her fabric stashes, patterns and many of my dolls from the past. I so enjoy them all. I have a red haired 60's Barbie and many of her clothes made or purchased from that time period. A Ginnette 8inch Vogue baby named Becky, 13inch Tiny Tears, and a Mattel baby doll from the 1990's.
Your thrifting of items for the dolls, fabrics, etc has really inspired my to let my creativity flow. I live in a great area for thrifting and have had great fun making scenes using my dolls, new outfits and items found to portray doll life.
Thanks for continuing your blog even as your children have grown past the doll play stage, sadly lasts for only a short while. You have given me so much confidence to sew and create my own version of Doll World. I too love all the vintage looks, fabrics, quilts, hats.
Stay well as we all navigate thru our nation's health and economic crisis.
Doreen...Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Hello Doreen!
Thank you for your kind words. We too have a Julie! She was my daughter's second doll. I am so pleased that my blog has given you inspiration to be more creative with your doll collection. I have been considering restarting an American Girl Doll blog, but not sure what it would look like. I suppose I am waiting for inspiration. At this time we have a Pleasant Co. Molly, Julie, two Just Like Me dolls, Emma and Grace and a homemade American Boy Doll Martin. I have used the free Pleasant Co. patterns and have several in my pattern book. They are great, but I have found they run small. Have you noticed this? I always cut them out with extra room to spare.
Take care as well,
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Linda!
I am so glad you enjoyed the tour! I do enjoy my doll room. I feel very fortunate to have this space just for me. My mom is also named Linda, she is very beautiful to me still, even though she is now 80! She was born in 1940. I love having her portrait in my doll space.
Hugs
Brenda
Oh Thank you Sandra! I am SO glad you enjoyed it! I always enjoy my annual doll room tour. I am amazed at how much changes from year to year. I always kept my vintage dolls and AG dolls separate thinking that people would not be interested in all of them, but maybe that is wrong? I will add some more posts about the AG dolls too. I am considering starting another American Girl blog, but waiting for inspiration about what it should look like. You've made me think Sandra!
Hugs
Brenda
Oh my oh my! What a wonderful doll room you have Brenda, I love the secret room, and the way everything is displayed is absolutely delighful. I have a doll room, but it's tiny compared to yours. I really wish I had an attic so my room was then as big as our whole house. Thank you so much for sharing all your photos.
Big hugs,
X
Thank you Xanadu! I do feel so fortunate to have this space! It is my place to go when things are stressful in life - like now with the Corona virus. It also gave life to this blog and meeting all of my online doll friends. It started out as just a place with my sewing machine and storage boxes. There is no heat up here and in summer it gets pretty warm, but I still love it!
Hugs
Brenda
What wonderful doll spaces you have and everything neat as a pin! Everything is amazing and such a feast for the eyes. :o)
Blessings!
~Carolyn
Hi Brenda, What a wonderful adventure that you have given your doll friends. Your attic is beautiful and full of such treasures. A Pleasant Company [American Girl] blog would be a delight. I have many original Pleasant Company dolls. Samantha is my favorite. I do have a special place in my heart for my Ginny doll. My older sister and my late father bought one each for my twin and I one Christmas. We have a trunk and lots of clothes . We also received a sofa bed and a swing set. love the way you placed everything in the attic. Brenda, thank you for sharing this lovely doll haven.
Marilyn
Oh Brenda your attic is a treasure hunt. Everything is so lovely. I have a Betsy McCall doll,Molly from Pleasant Company. I like the way you have everything situated so nice. A blog for American Girl dolls would be nice to read.
Joan
Brenda Thank You for sharing your marvelous attic full of a world of treasures. The furniture is lovely. I have Pleasant Company dolls (original and later ones when Mattel took over.) My favorite is Kirsten. the Beatrix Potter doll is in my collection too. The Patsy dolls are favorites too. my first Ginny doll is one that has been with me since I was a child. My sister and I have the original Mousketeer dolls.
Marion
Thank you Carolyn! I am so glad you enjoyed my Doll Room Tour. I have fun sharing all my dolls and doll paraphernalia with my friends here. I must admit, I had to do some tidying to get it all looking this way! Glad you liked how I have everything.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Marilyn! I am so glad you like my Doll Room. It brings me so much joy to see all my dolls in their places, playing and having fun. I am thinking about starting that new Pleasant Co/American Girl doll blog. I will be sure to let you know here at the Savage Pea when I do.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Joan! I am so glad you enjoyed my tour. I like to invite my friends over. I wish we could all get together and play dolls. This is the next best thing I suppose! I only have the one Pleasant Co. doll, Molly. I have shown her picture on here a couple times. She is one of my favorites.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Marion! Wow, we both have the Beatrix Potter doll! I found her in a thrift store - of course. I couldn't leave her wearing that dress! SO CUTE! I played Barbies a LOT as a girl, but have not collected them as an adult, but this girl was special. I would love to see your Mouseketeer dolls.
Hugs
Brenda
Hi Brenda, Thank you for the lovely stories and pictures you post. I don't really know any collectors and really enjoy following your blog. I am in New Zealand and a lot of the dolls you have are difficult to get here and shipping from America is expensive, but I have been lucky to collect a few from eBay over the years. I have recently purchased Molly and Kirsten dolls after seeing your Felicity doll post. I usually stick to smaller dolls and love Ginny.
Most of my dolls are fixer uppers but I like that about them. As shipping is so expensive I sew a lot of their clothes.
I love all your lovely photos and the way you set up your displays. They are so sweet. Your attention to detail is amazing!
We are heading into lockdown over here tonight. It's such a scary time. Your site adds brightness to a dark world at the moment.
Best wishes to you, your family and your readers.
Anna
Thank you Anna! I am so pleased you have enjoyed my blog! The only reason I do this is to make friends with other doll lovers. I must remember how much you ladies in other parts of the world have to pay for the dolls we take for granted here. I wish I could set up a secret doll mail and send my friends, who live so far away, dolls I find here in thrift stores. Sigh.
I am glad that my blog can add any brightness to these trying times. I am planning on adding my American Girl Dolls to this blog. If you read the other comments you will see that there is more interest in them than I imagined! So stay tuned, I will be adding a Dollhouse tour soon.
Big hugs and take care
Brenda
Brenda, there a no words to describe the joy this post brought to me! Everything, the lovely dolls, beautiful dresses and linens, beds and cradles, the rooms, makes my imagination run wild. You are so blessed to have a room to "play" in. I would also like to see more about the American Girl dolls; I only have one to sew for. There are several free patterns online but, as you said, they usually seem a bit too small. Now I'll just sit back and drool over these pictures. ;)
Thank you Charlotte, (Lil red hen) I have been so happy with the response to my Doll Room Tour! And really happy to know how you all would like to see more about my American Girl Dolls and their house! I have been thinking about how to introduce them here. I think for now I will just include them on this blog instead of creating a new blog.
I do love having this little attic space all for my own. It gives me joy knowing that sharing my doll hobby can make other people happy too. :) I have a lot of work to do preparing for my next post!
Hugs
Brenda
I enjoyed the tour of your lovely doll room. I've just started collecting vintage dolls from thrift stores. You have a fabulous collection. Thank you!
Loved the tour and you fabulous collectiin of dolls. Thank you, Brenda. Love, Selina xx
Thank you Selina,
I am so glad you enjoyed the tour! I have so much fun sharing with all my doll friends here at the Savage Pea. I hope you come back and visit again.
Hugs
Brenda
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