It's been almost a year since I last posted. I moved into this house last July. It's a one story house which is really nice, but it's 500 square feet smaller than my old house. I didn't think 500 square feet would make such a difference. I knew I wanted a smaller house and I'm really happy where I am now, but my doll room is a little smaller. I didn't realize how much smaller until I started unpacking!
I have too many dolls and too much of what I call "doll stuff." The "doll stuff" is probably more tempting for me than the dolls themselves. I love all the little accessories. Around 25-30 years ago when I started collecting the Vogue Ginny Dolls a friend told me to always look for Ginny size accessories (1:6 scale) whenever I was out shopping. She told me I'd be surprised at what I'd find. Well, she was correct and I went crazy buying little stuff! When Rement first came out there was even a website where I went to buy it. And in my travels I'd often find things like keychains with Ginny sized games, etc. It seemed like I always came home with something. Now I try and pass by the little things. It has just gotten to be too much.
I've been donating some of my doll things, but not nearly enough. I enjoy setting up doll scenes but once I've used some of my little accessories I never use them again. Of course, there are still plenty of things I just can't part with even though I should. You know how that goes!
My new doll room is so crowded and I'm still not done setting it all up. The old doll room had a large built in bookcase with storage cabinets and drawers. The current doll room had no storage so I found some little cabinets online at Target. They hold quite a bit but not as much as the bookcase and cabinets in the old doll room.
I thought I'd post some pictures of the new doll room. I'm still not done setting things up. This move has been a long drawn out process. Take my advice and be sure and move before you're in your seventies. The older you get the harder it gets!
Here we go. Welcome to the new doll room.
I know the pictures are dark. I tried lightening them up but when I brought them over to the blog they were darker than I wanted. I definitely need brighter lighting in the doll room. Even thought I opened the blinds it didn't really help much. This house has screens that are darker and supposed to block out the sun. I'm torn about what to do. I found that some of my doll things faded at the other house even though I kept the blinds closed or only partially opened most of the time. This room gets the afternoon sun and I'd like to keep things from fading again if at all possible. Decisions...decisions. Anyway, in the above picture you can see the cabinets I got from Target along the back wall.
Slowly but surely I'm trying to get my little doll rooms set up. You can see in the first picture where I've been trying to do something with Ginny's living room. In the move the one window fell off and I discovered that the wallpaper (actually imitation Contact Paper) faded quite a bit. The whole room really needs to be redone. You can't tell in the picture how faded some of the walls are now. I hope I can find something to use.
These drawers hold some of the little accessories. (I have more in a closet in another room.)
This will give you an idea of how everything is stuffed into these little drawers. I have the drawers labeled...Kitchen, Girl's Toys, Boy's Toys, etc., but I still have trouble finding things. Once again, too much stuff! I actually have more stuffed drawers under where the Chatty Cathy dolls are standing.
I have plastic containers, boxes, and even a basket full of stuff laying around the room. I'm tripping over "doll stuff" all the time. I sure hope I can get this place organized eventually. (I even have some doll outfits that I washed and ironed sitting on top of one of the containers waiting to be put on a couple of dolls.) In the first picture you can see a small container on the floor holding all the dolls that need to be restrung. When I was packing for the move a number of dolls fell apart when I took them off the doll stands. Eventually I hope to get them restrung.
I miss "playing" with my dolls and hope to get this room a little more organized. I'd love to get some Easter photos up on the blog in a week or two. Wish me luck!
I'll be back...Betty