Modern Miniatures on Monday: Parade of Houses, Part Four (1975-78 Lundby)

And this is where my collection of 3/4" scale houses started, with my 1975-78* Lundby house.

It was late morning Saturday 29th March 2003 (if you want to be precise) when I bought my first Lundby house from the ACT Miniature Enthusiasts show. A friend told me later that I'd bought it off collector Wendy Benson (who had been part of the Dolls' Houses in Australia exhibition at Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney back in 1999/ 2000) but I was too excited at the time ensuring the $85 treasure was mine to notice who sold it to me.

This photo was taken once I got it home and arranged the furniture that came with it, plus added the very few pieces I had that might work (mainly childhood treasures: the blue and pink kitchenware you can see on the kitchen table, the rug in the dining room and the childhood embroidered picture propped under the stairs.)

Since then it's grown like topsy and now looks like this, complete with the extensions that were available at the time the house was designed:(I've let the ragtag bunch of dolls that came with the house stay on, even if they're missing various limbs or look like they're got some nasty disease. I did, at one stage, banish them to the car when it arrived in the hope they'd drive off into the sunset but felt bad so let them come back inside. Where they seem very happy.)

The house itself may have come from just across town, but the two extension levels came from the USA (via eBay. At, embarrassingly, more per level than the house itself cost...) They both have this sticker attached the the front right corner:Designwise, not terribly much has changed since 1973/74. As you can see the edging is now brown plastic. The colour scheme is more 'together'. There's a clip-on balcony. And there is carpet on the top level floors and plastic window inserts (you can see in the photo below how they are designed with slots to clip the curtains into)This photo, to me, encapsulates what this house is all about. The chair came with the house and so (with as many of the other original pieces as possible) stays. And the cushion was one I made when I was around 11 to 13 years old for my first dolls' house. It's survived the years, and my moving house (and country!), and it seemed fitting that it live in this house.

In this house I've been less worried about having the 'correct' furniture than in my later purchases. Probably because at the time I bought it I thought it was going to be my only house in this scale (!), so decided to furnish it with pieces I like rather than be a pedant.

So the lounge furniture is Tomy Smaller Homes (American)the kitchen is Caroline's Home (English)and the dining room (which you've seen before) is Jean of West Germany.My favourite parts of this house?

The 'big eye' pictures on the lounge wall I got off eBay with a lot of German furniture:The craft area in the basement, complete with desk, sewing machine and picture of knitting and weaving:And the fact that I got given the pool (read the full story here) which had been bought at Salvos!

And now excuse me while I show some night pictures. As much as I may curse about rewiring lights I still find it a thrill to flick the switch to turn the lights on in a pitch black room...(* Catalogues across these three years remain fairly standard with this house shown in each)

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