THE STORY OF GREENLEAF # 9

I am not even sure why I am writing about the 9th Greenleaf house....which was a Pierce.


It was made for my older daughter, per her begging for a house. She picked out the Pierce and gave me strict instructions that I was to do all of the basic work, and buying most of the furniture was OK too, but I was not to finish the stairway, the porch trim or the roof. Sandy had her own ideas of what she wanted and how it was to be done. Well, that was OK with me and I gave the house to her so long ago that I can't remember the date. She later moved to Charlotte, NC; then to Alexandria, VA , then Orlando and finally to Miami. The Pierce made all of those moves with her and it survived quite well. I was amazed to see that all of the lights worked when the dollhouse finally got back to Miami....and that's my recommendation for soldering light connections...I am convinced they will last as long as the house. I think by now you must have guessed the end to this story, but in case you have not, I will tell you that the Pierce has never been finished. In fact, it looks now as it did when I gave it to my daughter all those years ago. She is a talented seamstress and decorator, but she didn't put any of that into her Pierce. I wonder if she will ever get the house finished or if I should finish it and give it away?

GREENLEAF # 7 & 8 AND MAYBE #9

I am about to post the two McKinley Greenleaf houses which were built at the same time. Both were presents for young girls at holiday time; one for Christmas and one for Haukkah.


As you look at the pictures you will see that the two houses are almost identical; it seemed easier that way because they were gifts for two girls who didn't know one another and in all probability would never see the other, nearly identical house. One child was in Orlando and the other was in Miami. The McKinley is one of my favorite houses because it is a wallhanger, yet a complete house. It also was one of the easiest that I have ever wired, not that I look for that in a kit because wiring is a challenge and one of the fun parts of dollhouse building. I have included one picture which may seem like an unnecessary posting....it is the second shot of the living room and I included it because it is the only picture that shows the windows. I am not a fan of plain, plastic windows so on these two houses, I got out the stained glass design book and put a pattern on all of the windows. It made them look so much nicer and added to the Victorian feeling of the house. Also note that one house has a clock on the mantel and the other has a Menorah.

MORE GREENLEAF HOUSE KITS

When writing about my Arthur Antique Shop, I mentioned Joe Andrews from whom I bought many wonderful miniatures, particularly those from a prior era like the strange bathtub and the butter churn in the floor of the kitchen. One thing I forgot was to state that Joe's wife was Jackie Andrews. She was well known for her fabulous collection of dollhouses, shops, souvenirs from NAME conventions and projects from many artisans. She was also known for the loan she took out to buy a miniature house, Wilton. The story was (and I do believe it was true) that she went to the bank, took out a mortgage, but it was for a dollhouse instead of a house for real people. One can only imagine the furor that caused.

GREENLEAF HOUSE KITS

The pictures shown are those of various Greenleaf kits that we have made. The Willowcrest is a beautiful house, not currently available, but hopefully to be reissued soon. In the house shown here, I built the house, did the flooring, wallpapering and the wiring. The child's mother wanted to furnish the house with her daughter so I added no furnishings.

The next house shown is the Glencroft, one of my favorite houses. I built this one for me. It has an extra garage type room beside the house and that room is used for the owner's gardening tools as well as her laundry facilities. I added quite a bit of landscaping to the yard and attempted to show some of what an English garden might contain.

The next house is the Arthur. I made three of those; one was sent to Maryland to my sister-in-law as a Christmas present. She is not a miniaturist, but she does collect some minis and needed a place to house her treasures.

The second Arthur is mine and I made it into my Antique shop. It is well stocked with artisan pieces, a spinning wheel by Warren Dick is one example. This project was one of my earlier ones so it contains some treasures from past artisans and well known vendors, Joe Andrews being one of my favorite vendors because he always had such wonderful wooden pieces and oldtime pieces like the strange bathtub on the 2nd floor of the shop with the built-in water storage tank.

I can still remember how I debated about what pieces to buy each time that I saw Joe at a show.

The third Arthur was made as a Christmas present for the 6 year old daughter of my "veggie" lady. She had seen some of my miniatures and asked if I would make the house for her child. Making houses for children was something I loved to do because it gave such joy to me and to the child!!