Blue Box Dollhouse

I've had my Blue Box dollhouse for quite some time now, but it has been forgotten amongst the other houses in my collection. In fact, I neglected to add it to the My Collection resource page, so I put it there with other small scale houses.

These plastic houses, manufactured in Hong Kong, date from the 1980s. They are quite petite and are closest to 1:24 scale. My house came with its own furniture and people and the people are actually more interesting than the furniture, which is quite boxy and lacks detail. You can see more about this style of house on Rebecca's blog; here is a photo of one of her Blue Box houses that is identical to mine:

Courtesy of Rebecca's Collections

I decided to decorate my house with new floor coverings and I also added washi tape to the living room wall. I had to really search through my collection for pieces that were of the right size. It was challenging!! And you can see that some of the pieces are a tad too large, but I still used them. The pieces that actually worked particularly well are the ones by Paul MacAlister -- in addition to some beautiful 1:12 furnishings, I have a set of his 1:24 scale pieces and I put some to use here.

My people were feeling a bit dwarfed by their surroundings!

It was actually a lot of fun to decorate this house. I am embarrassed to say that this took place over some weeks...! I never had more than 15 minutes at a time, so progress was slow. And I know there is so much more that could be done, like wallpaper, but if I didn't capture it now, I'm not sure when I might have done it!

Credits: Livingroom shows a LISA couch, a Paul MacAlister table, and a Dol Toi ottoman. Kitchen has a table and chairs by Fisher Price and a Paul MacAlister shelf. Bathroom has a Fisher Price vanity and a TOMY plant. Mudroom has a Plyamobil stroller and baby and a Lil' Bratz stool. Entryway has a Paul MacAlister credenza. Accessories in all rooms by: Re-ment, Paper Source, AG Minis, Miniatures.com, Gigi N Studio, Minimodernistas, Playmobil, Michaels, and Lundby.

The time it took me: See above; weeks!

Plasticville

My house has been a "Plasticville" lately, and I wanted to share some smaller scaled finds. Do you know Plasticville? It is a brand name for a line of plastic buildings for train layouts made by Bachmann. I recently purchased two HO scale buildings and one O scale building and they are really charming. Even the boxes are charming.

There is the Frosty Bar (O scale, 1:48), which dates from 1954

And the smaller HO scale (1:87) post office and supermarket, with some N scale Preiser figures; not sure about the date, but perhaps from the 1950s as well

Aren't the colors and styling fun? I cannot do scenes with them per se, but it was fun to set them up with my son, who actually helped me figure out how to snap some of the pieces in together. I like these because there is no glue required and they can be easily disassembled.

They came with the original brochure, too.

Anyone else collect vintage Plasticville? I'd love to see your finds.

Another plastic acquisition -- the Lil' House Wonderfull by Galoob. That's right, Wonderfull.

What an odd house! The furniture pictured on the box is not the same as what comes with the house, and the people (which the owner said were original) are way too large. This made for some weird pictures of them lurking above the furniture in the house!

Still, fun to play with and very easy to put together. A breeze to store, too.

My last recent plastic find, a Blue Box writing desk, which is super mini in size, 1:24 scale. I like the box and the midcentury lines of the piece itself. You can get a sense of the size from the 1:12 swan chair juxtaposition.

Will I use this for anything? Probably not, but there's always the chance of finding a Blue Box house!