My doll display cabinet

With my Westville Greenleaf half-complete dollshouse currently in storage because we are trying to sell our house, I'm in the category of frustrated miniaturist - I can't do much in the way of miniature projects because most of my tools and materials are with the house, and we're trying to keep the human size house tidy for viewings. There are a few things we can do to complete the accessories in my daughter's toy and cake shop, but I can't do anything major.

So I'm showing you my collection of mini dolls and curiosities instead.

Some years ago I realised I needed the equivalent of a printers tray in order to display some of my mini treasures, but a printers tray would not hold many of the dolls because mostly the compartments for the old type letters are too small for miniature dolls. So I kept my eyes peeled around antique and charity shops, and managed to find a little cabinet (probably an old medicine cupboard). It had already been painted to look 'distressed' and has a stencil on the glass in the door. I'm not that keen on the paintwork, I was tempted to strip it down and either repaint or varnish it, but in the interests at the time of needing to give the dolls a home because they were packed in boxes, I decided that project would have to wait. The cabinet was mounted on the bedroom wall, and there it has hung ever since (apart from when we redecorated the room a couple of years ago).

It has three shelves and the dolls are arranged on these shelves. I'm going to concentrate on the residents of one shelf at a time over the next few postings. For the time being all you can see is the outside of the cabinet with a glimpse of the dolls as I realised on taking photos this evening that it will be better to do the photography during the day without needing the flash or having to worry about lamp shadows. My hand carved wooden dolls which featured in the previous post sit on the top shelf surrounded by various friends, but I think I shall start with the bottom shelf.