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Monday 8 November 2010

Welcome to Mrs Harvey's

At long last, a promise I made on this blog several months ago has finally come to pass!  As explained in my previous posting, I'm busy doing a photography course at the moment (in between everything else!) in the hope that my doll photography will improve. Today I felt suitably confident to try photographing my elder daughter's dollshouse and contents, which I've been wanting to do for ages, but after taking some really awful photos of my Triang last year, I was very aware of my shortcomings with a camera and miniatures.

Welcome to every child's dream shop - Mrs Harvey's cakes and toys.  Mrs Harvey lives above the shop, and does a lot of her own baking.  She has two grandchildren who often come to visit her (hence the train set in her sitting/bedroom), and today they are downstairs watching two other children choose some cakes.


My husband built this house from a kit soon after our younger daughter was born, for our elder girl, who was 7 1/2 when her sister arrived.  He did a beautiful job of hiding the lighting wiring in grooves, so there are no ridges in the wall or ceiling papers, the switches are on the back of the house behind the staircase.  I did the painting and decorating and painstakingly sanded and laid the floor tiles in the shop (next time it will be squared paper, not real tiles!).  I also rebuilt the shelving unit in the shop which was bought ready built but needed to be adjusted to fit the space under the stairs, and I'm quite pleased with the result.

My daughter and I had great fun finding miniature toys at various fairs we attended, and we made most of the cakes from fimo including the hot cross buns which have real poppy seeds for the raisins.  Mrs Harvey and her grandchildren are all Heidi Ott dolls, which came without clothes, and I dressed them (even doing smocking on the little girl's dress, and knitting the jumper worn by the boy).  The two visiting children were gifts from my godmother and I haven't changed their clothes, even though they seem a little old fashioned in their attire compared to the others (the kitchen is fairly modern, so we think this shop is probably quite recent, despite some old fashioned toys).

 Mrs Harvey's bed sitting room in the attic


The gaily woven rug which my daughter made on a toy loom

 The kitchen area

 Baking

 Mrs's Harvey has 2 dogs
The dresser, including the mini tea set
with mouse on the teapot made by Fay of Cape Town

 The middle floor
The cake and toy shop
Mrs Harvey's Grandchildren

 Dog on the stairs

 Customers for cakes

Toys

 Cake Shop window from inside

 Toy shop window

 Shop windows from outside

Mrs Harvey's grandchildren outside the shop

They have now all been packed away carefully in a plastic box, as we are hoping that we'll be moving house soon (though you never can tell with these things).  It is quite sad seeing the dolls house empty and knowing that it is likely to stay that way for the next couple of months while we move and get settled in our new home before we can bring all the dolls houses out and set them up again.

7 comments:

Ann said...

Hi DollMum, this is lovely. Nice pictures. Thanks for showing!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Great pics!! :) I love miniatures, and I love all the detail you've put into Mrs. Harvey's house and shop.

My Realitty said...

Incredible detail in the dollhouse! The pets are especially cute.! Your photos are very clear. Good work! C

Carolyn said...

Hi! I love your daughter's doll house! What an awesome job you all have done putting it together and filling it with wonderful things!

I wish you well on your move and look forward to seeing more.

Please drop by and visit my doll blog when you have time.

~Bama

Pan said...

What a lucky girl your daughter is! The house and shop is lovely.

Mercedes Spencer @ Liberty Biberty said...

Well, Mrs Harvey has a very lovely home!
Wonderful pics!
Mercedes

Rebecca said...

What a wonderful combination! And so many lovely pieces - the cakes and sweets are brilliant, and the shelving under the stairs looks great. I love the hanging shelves too - and the wee teapot with the mouse! Your daughter's rug is beautiful, nice and warm for cold toes :-)
I am very impressed with the effort you and your husband put into this, too, with a new baby!
I hope your move does come off, and that it all goes smoothly. I'm sure you will be very glad not to have things packed up or in storage in anticipation of moving.