When I was little my very favourite book was Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, by Rumer Godden. It tells the story of a little girl who moves from India to live with her cousins in cold and rainy England. Life is horrible until she meets a kindly local bookseller and begins to build her own traditional Japanese Dolls House. This is a magical book about being a lonely little girl and the wonder of dolls houses and the imaginary world one can create. The book even has (very old fashioned) instructions for building your own Japanese dolls house. Inspired by this I have decided to build one for my daughter.
Here are two images I found which mine will be based on:
The brilliant thing about this is that it uses an Adams Dollshouse, a kit set, which I have now ordered and is on its way to me here.
As you can see the above tiny house looks amazingly like a real Japanese teahouse:
Here are some others (it is surprisingly hard to find any, as much as I have searched). This is a 1930s Japanese dolls house.
I found this on Pinterest. It looks old and authentic.
To make it a challenge, I have set a budget of $150. Excluding shipping. Because unfortunately most of these items have to come from US or UK.
Costs so far:
- Adams Dollshouse kit - $27.
- Wooden Japanese teaset from Ebay - $24
- Tiny Mount Fuji print from Ebay - $1.50
- Two miniature bonsai, fishbowl, and bamboo plates from My Tiny World (you must check it out) - $45
- Porcelain japanese vase from store up the road - $10.
- Wooden shingles from Canada - $12.
- wooden floorboards (fake oak) - $7.
And try as I might I cannot find miniature tatami matting.
Wish me luck !!
xo
