This Old House

Last week we said "hello" to a very precious heirloom and this week we are saying "goodbye" to another.  

This piece of history has a story.  When I was a girl my daddy built me a Barbie doll house.  He built it from the cheapest plywood that may have been used for something else before.  I watched him saw out the 4' x 1' slabs and draw the cuts for the doors and windows.  

I suppose I watched him make the walls and doors, paint and carpet, but I don't remember that.  I do remember thinking that watching the building process was better than the finished project.  

I loved the finished project, too.  We played and played with it and I brought it to my house when my first daughter was born.  

It was a very special project, Dad painted it white with a red door, just like the house we lived in. 

The doors were cut to fit and had real hinges and little door knobs.

 Our door had a diamond window, so did this one.  

The windows were trimmed in red; our house had red trim.  When dad built the house the windows had wood sashing to make it look like window panes with thin clear plastic for the windows. It had a back door into a hallway.   

One bedroom had the lavender paint and yellow carpet of my bedroom.

It had the carpet of the boys bedroom, but their room had paneling.  I don't know where the orange paint came from. Both bedrooms had closets with rods.

The living room is yellower than this.  The carpet is the same as our living room carpet.  The yellow was from something else.  

There was an arch into the hallway.

And a door with no door into the kitchen. There was a bathroom but it was too narrow and the worst damage and I didn't want a picture of that. 

Dad mounted wheels on one side to made it easier to move and store when stood up on that side.  

This is just a glimpse when it was down in playing mode.  I didn't get very close with these, because it is broken now.  Somehow it got badly damaged in storage.  Someone who didn't value it as I did. 

I wish the yellow of the living room would have photographed faithfully, but it didn't.  Since this post is for me to remember I am posting photos of each side.  

This house still looks pretty good on the outside, but damaged enough on the inside that it would take too much time and energy to fix.  It is large and awkward and hard to store.  It has made great memories.  

Especially the one where I can say, "My Dad made this for me."