April 2020
Life in Miniature Park Rapids woman builds own dollhouse
Photos by Shannon Geisen/Enterprise Beginning in 1975 and steadily since 2013, Nancy Reeves of Park Rapids has designed and built her own dollhouse.
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ancy Reeves wanted to be an architect when she was in junior high in the early 1960s, but she wasn’t allowed to take mechanical drawing “because I was a girl. Back in those days, they said, ‘You’d be the only girl, and you’d disrupt the class.’” She has satisfied that childhood dream by becoming architect, electrician, carpenter and interior designer for her dollhouse. “Everything but a plumber. It has everything but running water,” Reeves said. Self-taught, she developed the necessary skills to construct 20 rooms “and counting.” “It’s a work in progress,” Reeves paints a she said. her dollhouse. Originally from south Florida, Reeves graduated from high school in the Twin Cities. A retired accountant, she has lived in Park Rapids for 13 years. The giant dollhouse consumes most of the hallway at her Woodland Court apartment. “You could stand here and look for hours and not see everything,” she said of the four-story, 82-inch long dollhouse.
Reeves uses one-inch scale. “One inch equals one foot,” she explained. She has worked sporadically on the project since 1975. Reeve started by buying kits of furniture, which initially were hard to find. “I carried the furniture around with me for years and years and years, and then finally in 2013 is when I decided to become serious and bought one room box. Then I bought a second room box, then another,” she recalled. She purchases the kits online from four or five vendors. “Some of them are actually from England,” she noted. “And I buy accessories that I can’t make realistically.” Miniature dollhouse kits are much more readily available as the hobby French door for has grown in popularity, she said. “You can find things for everything. Anything you can buy for a house, you can buy for a dollhouse almost,” she said. Each floor is 10 inches high and 17 inches deep, complete with 3/8-inch flooring and ceiling. Each room takes months to assemble – from the ceiling, wallpaper and flooring to the furniture, upholstery and light fixtures.
MINIATURE: Page 3
Inside this issue... 2 Bob King, Pelican wrestling 'Godfather' has Park Rapids Roots 4 The Lost Italian: Blueberry Streusel Bread 5 Helping parents who just won't listen 6 Victory gardens are back! 7 Important legal documents 8 Protect yourself from radon
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By Shannon Geisen sgeisen@parkrapidsenterprise.com
