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Letter to the editor

Dollhouse devotees

By Elizabeth Bettendorf Times Correspondent
Published October 26, 2007

On Christmas morning when I was 5 years old, I awoke to find a family hand-me-down dollhouse under the tree. It was a 1940s colonial confection with pink shutters and window mullions and an old-fashioned kitchen sink that stood on legs.

It was such a charming American home in miniature that I sometimes think it might have served as an exact replica of the dream house young Natalie Wood picked out in the original Miracle on 34th Street.

The decorating was as in-synch with the time period as the little house itself. Everyone - including the dollhouse parents - slept in twin beds with a matching wooden nightstand wedged between.

The bathroom towels were monogrammed, and the TV set, probably acquired in the 1950s, featured a teensy-weensy screen and a fold-down phonograph in a proportionately sized cabinet.

I loved to play with the house, not so much for the playing itself - though I did write many dramatic scripts for the doll family - but for the chance to decorate something to miniature perfection. I sewed curtains and put up matching wallpaper, even added wreaths and itsy-bitsy holiday lights in December. I also made bed coverings from my great-grandmother's antique handkerchiefs.

I can honestly say that no toy gave me greater joy or provided me with more hours of wonder as a child. Over the years the dollhouse was handed down to younger siblings, and then to the children of family friends. It has long since disappeared from our lives.

I've known adults who still enjoy decorating and displaying dollhouses - I can think of one interior designer in particular - but I have never lived in a place where I had the room to display such a treasure, so I never pursued the hobby as a grownup.

But recently while spending an afternoon antiquing, I ran across a set of charming dollhouse furniture from the same era as my dollhouse. It got me thinking, so I browsed the Internet looking for dollhouse enthusiasts or a miniatures exhibition in the Tampa Bay area.

I tracked down Barbara Bollenback, a retired substance abuse counselor from the Centre for Women in Tampa.

Bollenback, 72, became interested in miniatures back in 1987 after making a dollhouse for her granddaughter. Since then she has decorated many more dollhouses, as well as 30 miniature room boxes that she has displayed at events at miniature clubs, including the Tampa Bay Miniature Enthusiasts Club, which has its 29th annual show coming up Nov. 17 in Largo. For more information go to the Web site atwww.tbme.com.

"Most miniaturists love to talk about it and show it off," says Bollenback.

She specializes in creating incredibly accurate and authentic tiny historic rooms, including one Early American setting filled with miniature British and Queen Anne furnishings and another High Victorian room outfitted with carved, tufted furnishings from the period.

"It was actually a two-story bordello," she says with a laugh.

Bollenback, who has eight grandchildren and three grandnieces (and frequently gives her miniature furnishings and accessories away to the little ones) lives surrounded by her miniature room boxes, which range from 12 by 12 inches to 12 by 24 inches.

"I make them part of the decor," she explains. She nestles them on bookshelves amid her books. They adorn her workroom as well as shelves especially built to display them.

She likes to build furnishings from kits, but with her own twist, adapting and changing the furnishings to whatever tiny scene she's creating.

"Miniaturists call it 'kit bashing,'" she says. "You can make things that look very realistic."

She prefers to buy her miniatures in person, not online. Although there were once many stores selling dollhouse furnishings all around the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas, most are long gone. She now travels to Ron's Miniature Shop, a well-known store in Orlando.

She attributes the lack of interest in miniature collecting among adults to economics: "When money is tight, you're not gong to go out and buy a miniature sofa," she says.

With kids, she connects the current apathy about dollhouses to something bigger, an elemental shift in the way children play.

"They're all playing electronic games with their thumbs," she says with a sigh.

She hopes that the handiwork of her fellow Tampa Bay Miniature Enthusiasts at their upcoming show will help educate and generate interest among younger generations.

"We really want to pass this along to children," she says, "because it's the only way to keep this hobby alive."

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

[Last modified October 25, 2007, 07:53:26]