The Good Life
“My mom has been in the antiques business for almost 40 years,” explains Donna, a Massachusetts native who relocated to Fairfield County shortly after graduating from college with a business degree. “On weekends, I would help her search for antiques, and I worked with her at many of her shows.” Like her mother, Donna always found herself drawn to pretty English antiques, chintz and floral fabrics and English country-style accessories, such as mirrors and gold and crystal chandeliers. “I spend most of my time working,” says Donna, whose career in the field of marketing and financial software sales keeps her extremely busy, “so when the day is done, I like to surround myself with the things that make me most happy and comfortable.” Today, Donna showcases her favorite pieces in the beautiful home she shares with her husband, Ricky, and their two adorable Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Donna’s collection of blue-and-white transferware, Staffordshire figurines, happy blue, pink and white fabrics, and the prevalent Cavalier dog motif make their home a veritable showplace. While Donna has presumably finished decorating her house, she has turned her attention — and her exquisite taste — to another project: restoration of a large 1920s three-story, rear-opening colonial-style dollhouse that she purchased seven years ago. “Decorating a dollhouse is similar to decorating a real house, except on a much smaller scale,” Donna explains. “If you love to decorate, restoring a dollhouse is a really wonderful hobby.” While the structure of the house was sound, the aesthetics needed attention. The period wallpaper had aged, and the wooden floors needed to be refinished. Doors and windows also needed updating. Initially, Donna would decorate the exterior of the house according to season and holiday, using wreaths and window boxes to convey Christmas and Easter. Earlier this year, however, she felt the time was right to address the interior of the house. “First, I had to decide what scale I wanted to work on, as there are many scales from which to choose,” she explains. “I prefer 1:12 scale, which translates into one inch on the model equals 12 inches, or one foot, in the real world. For example, a five-inch doll would equal
See Dollhouse page 46
G. Lisa Sullivan
Rooms For Improvement
a five-foot person. A collector could go as small as 1:144, which would result in extremely tiny miniatures, many requiring long tweezers and magnifying glasses with which to work.” For Donna, the restoration began not with furnishings but with dolls. “I began looking for period dolls, primarily circa 1900 bisque-head German dolls,” she recalls. Donna started talking to retailers of dollhouse miniatures, and quickly learned that there was a huge network, or subculture, of specialization. “One artisan makes
Furnishings, dolls and clothing display the owner’s love of the decorative Edwardian period.
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The detail of each tiny item is enchanting.
October 2008
The HOME Monthly, a Hersam Acorn special section, Ridgefield, Conn.
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