Grandma and Grandpa Take Possession of Another Renovation Project.

Grandpa is not often downcast for long. His positive attitude to life seems to draw good things to him. An evening of bemoaning the loss of No. 1 Dolly Mixture Lane behind him and he was visiting the multipurpose site KT Miniatures. Here the owner, Celia, offers homes, furnishing and household goods to discerning dolls' house dolls. Being a pensioner is not holding him back in any way, he is well able to negotiate his way around the internet and was very soon searching through listings.

The first house he came across on the KT Miniatures website was slightly smaller than No. 1 Dolly Mixture Lane had been, but full of potential.

In next to no time, he and Grandma were standing outside the door of No. 2 Dolly Mixture Lane, key in hand and full of anticipation. Within a few minutes Grandpa and Grandma had decided, 'We can do this!'  

A few minutes later, Grandma Jean realized that it wasn't just the work required to renovate the little house that she needed to worry about......there was Grandpa Roland's 
tendency to allow his enthusiasm to take over to consider too.

 

While Grandpa explored upstairs, Grandma sat on the edge of a dresser, examining the curtains that the previous occupants had left behind, wondering whether the wiring was as dangerous as it looked and trying to decide on a colour scheme for the kitchen. A moment later, she heard him call her. His voice seemed to be coming from outside, so she hurried out to see what he wanted.

 'I'm up here!' he yelled.  
She looked up and waved to him as he stood at the landing window.
 'Come down now, dear. It's time we went for lunch!' She called.
'Coming!' he replied.....

'Did you realize that there is no guttering up here? Perhaps we should......' puffed Grandpa.

'For goodness sake, Roland! Do be careful.It would only have taken 30 seconds to come down the stairs.' Grandma shouted, anxiously.
Showing  no understanding of the word fear at all - how like him - Grandpa replied, 'Just grab my legs and guide me down and I'll hang from the window sill. Then I can lower myself and drop he last foot or so to the ground.'

'When I'm down we'll find a cafe and....AGH!'

Grandma decided that it was time to lock up the house and go in search of lunch, or perhaps a hospital accident and injury department.
'Sometimes,' she thought. 'That man is the giddy limit! Where on earth has he got to now?'

Perhaps it's just as well she didn't know!

Grandpa and Grandma Crayshaw Come to Dolly Mixture Lane.

I had a dolls' house as a child. It was one of my most treasured possessions and I was so very sad when my parents gave it away. Only my Aunt Jean and Uncle Roland sympathized with my feeling of loss and, over forty-five years later, I inherited Aunt Jean's own little house, another 1:16 house of the type that has become known as a Dolly Mixture.

Not realizing how special they would become, I asked Robin Britton, of Coombe Crafts, to make two little residents and Grandpa Roland Crayshaw and Grandma Jean Crayshaw came to live in the house. Though the first house, having been stored for decades in a damp garage, turned out to be so riddled with woodworm and affected by damp that it could not be saved, these two little people have taken on lives of their own and this blog is to tell the story of the renovation of another home for them and perhaps the growth of the little community of dolls in their respective homes down Dolly Mixture Lane. Number 1 Dolly Mixture Lane is gone, but a new house to be refurbished hs just arrived and the old couple are keen to begin work on their new property.

 We hope you will join us as we try to work our way up from blunderers to reasonably accomplished builders, renovators and interior designers of  1:16  and 1:12 houses. We know it will be a long, slow process but, with Grandpa's boundless enthusiasm, Grandma's sensible approach to life and me just following along and doing as they tell me, we think there might be very few dull moments!

 As Grandpa says, the joy of being a doll is that, unless one falls into the hands of a less than gentle human child, one stays the same age forever and time is not a problem. Though I may be less fortunate, in terms of  aging, I hope to have many years to work as their jobbing builder/decorator. We would be honoured if you would keep us company.