Victorian Schoolhouse

 

This is one of my mum's dollshouses. Here is what she has to say about it:

"Although my daughter Emma and I had each had a dolls house when we were little (both made by my father, her grandfather), I had not for many years given much thought to dollshouses.

What brought the subject to mind was a TV programme in which a lady who had never had one as a child was given one as a 50th birthday present. Being of that age group myself, and with a birthday coming up I thought "Why not me too?" and promptly started to look around for something suitable locally. This proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated, I even checked out second hand shops and junk stores with the idea of renovating something, but with no success.

Soon I had interested Emma, who still lived with us then, in the idea and we eventually decided on working from kits. We still, however, had to go to the other side of Scotland to get them.

The Victorian Schoolhouse was my first attempt at making my own dollshouse from a Buttercup kit.

The majority of fittings were either made by us, or bought cheaply at fairs and converted to suit. The water pump in the toilet was probably the most difficult item to find. The Monopoly Set in the upstairs room is the furthest travelled, it was brought back by a friend from Salem in the USA where Monopoly was invented.

The school motto above the door is "Surgo in Lucem" (I rise into the light), and the school badge - the tree of knowledge rising into the light of learning - can be seen on the front door of the school. (This was the actual motto and badge of the High School I attended).

As you can see, the teacher is at her desk ready to start lessons, but although the pupils' hats, bags, toys, books etc are all present, unfortunately the pupils themselves have yet to be purchased or made. I hope to get around to this soon. "