How Long Has This Been Going On?

When Ferbie and I were lucky enough to go to Europe in 1971, I made a special effort to see the poppenhuizen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Having read all about the early cabinet dollhouses of the Dutch, I was fascinated to see one in person.

The dolls' house of Petronella Oortman, Anonymous, c. 1686-c.1710
The cabinet house can be seen in more detail online at the Rijsmuseum site.

The cabinet house is a time-capsule of its period. Author Jessie Burton used this dolls' house as the basis for her book, The Miniaturist, a book with much potential but a muddled ending. 

The cabinet gave me a better idea of what I wanted to do with the miniatures I had worked with in set designing. So when we returned home, I had some of my school students build me a four shelf bookcase (25" wide x 57" tall x 12" deep). So was born Braymore-at-Carnavan.

Braymore-at-Carnavan is locked into the Edwardian Period (The Forsythe Saga was popular as I started). The name is an amalagram of my mother's families' names: the Brays, Carnahans and VanDolahs. The four floor house eventually became 13 rooms. For years it made an impressive entrance to our home in Park Forest. Currently it sits in my dining room.

The entrance sets the tone of the house. The delft vase on the landing was a souvenir of the European trip and one of the first things for the house. 

The Dining room has a mural based on Bocklin's Isle of the Dead and a dining room suite based on Frank Lloyd Wright's Arts and Crafts Style. I had taught myself to do petitpoint rugs, but at a NAME convention I watched a presentation by D. Anne Ruff who used colored pens and no-wale corduroy. I got rid of all the rugs and redid them using her technique. The two cats are ones that I created.

The parlor is set-up for Christmas with a Boyd Santa which I painted. Over the years since I first started the house, some of the furniture has been replaced or added depending on what I could afford. Here also the rugs are pens on no-wale corduroy.

The Edwardian kitchen

The Victorian bedroom suite has been replaced by a more Edwardian handpainted canopy bed and armoire.

The Day Nursery has children's toys, a running frieze of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, and a flying Peter Pan.

The Night Nursery with expectant mother stands by a crib with a mother cat and kittens. The room has a handpainted frieze of Alice in Wonderland characters.

The Sewing Room

The Victorian Bathroom

Since the dollhouse was started in 1972, it has become the place where many of my miniature finds have ended up. At NAME houseparties, attendees are given souvenirs and many become part of the dollhouse.