Doll's House

I wouldn't mind being the doll that lives here!

I don't live with many regrets. In fact I'd say that I probably have only one thing that I would have done differently in my 34 years.  It's not a significant or life changing regret in any way, but it is heart-wrenching when I think about it... So I try not to think about it.

When I was a little girl my father built me a dollhouse in our unfinished basement workshop with his very own hands. He got the plan from a book in the library. He sawed and measured and glued each piece together and even put shingles on the roof and working electrical lamps in each room. It must have taken hours upon hours and was surely an act of great love.

similar to the one my dad made me

In my mid-teens, during a time when I was very disconnected from my past or my future I agreed to l the dollhouse in a garage sale.  At the time it felt like a liberation of a large object of clutter that I didn't use anymore. I didn't have any foresight.

I didn't know my father would die and that that material proof of his love for me would become such a symbol of loss for me.... As if had I not given up the dollhouse I wouldn't miss him as much.  I also worry that he was saddened by my letting it go so easily. I hope that he had never read anything into me having sold it and I hope the child that subsequently got to play with it has fond memories of it as well. In a way having something my father created out there in the world somewhere is a comfort as well.

Unless the family broke it down for firewood... Which is possible too. I hope the glue fumes didn't asphyxiate them.

Since Sera will never play with my own childhood dollhouse a substitute must be found!  Ideally my hubby will become a carpenter when the time is right and built his own version of a dollhouse for his little girl and when she turns 16 I will stop her and remind her that she too will have children one day and that hand-made items are by default family heirlooms.  But he's not all that crafty or carpenterish. But I guess anyone can learn!

There are also loads of gorgeous dollhouse kits on the market and I suppose that could be an alternative with just gluing things together in the right order. We could work on it all together.  Or there are the classic store-bought versions. They come in all shapes and sizes but lack that personal touch that having a parent built it adds in. 

GLENN HOWELLS design for A Doll's House Auction

If you would prefer a dolls house that you can leave out in your lounge and that doubles as a work of very exclusive art you nab one this November at the A doll's house auction You'll also be helping a great cause as all the proceeds go to a children's charity called KIDS. The 20 houses up for auction are designed and built by some of the best current architects in the world, but be prepared to pay upwards of £1000,00 for any of them, and the bidding has just started.