Modern Dollhouses - A Surprisingly Wonderful Hobby

Modern Dollhouses - A Surprisingly Wonderful Hobby
By Richard Weirich

Looking for a getaway? You know, the kind of place that you can go to escape from the stress and pressure of, well, just living. If that is what you are looking for then you need a hobby. And the hobby that I would like you to consider is building, or at least collecting, modern dollhouses.

Your initial reaction is likely, "You have got to be kidding! How is that a getaway...or an escape? Sounds like a toy for kids."

Well, actually, I was right where you are a while back. I surely wasn't looking for a hobby...and even if I was, anything associated with dollhouses would be the furthest thing from my mind.

In fact, I didn't find a dollhouse hobby. It found me. And I have my granddaughter to thank for that.

It all started with wanting to get her the perfect Christmas gift. Since she had a bunch of dolls my wife suggested that we start looking at dollhouses. Before long, we found one that we liked on the internet and we ordered it.

The dollhouse arrived a few days before Christmas and I began the not so easy task of assembling the house. On Christmas Eve we proudly placed the finished dollhouse by the Christmas tree, anticipating that our granddaughter was going to love her gift.

Then came Christmas day and, sure enough, our granddaughter loved her gift. Quickly, she ran for her dolls, gathered them up, and hauled them to her new dollhouse. But suddenly, joy turned to sadness when she discovered that her dolls were like giants in comparison to the house. When ordering the house I had no idea that only certain houses accommodate the size of today's most popular dolls. "Houston, we have a problem!"

So, we came up with two possible solutions. We could order another dollhouse scaled for her dolls or, we could order dolls and accessories to match the size of the existing dollhouse. After some discussion we all agreed, granddaughter included, that the house was indeed wonderful and the best solution was to accessorize the new house.

With one failed effort under my belt I was determined not to mess up again. This time I did considerable research before making additional purchases.

The first thing I learned came as quite a surprise. What I thought was a simple toy for kids turned out to be a huge hobby for adults. Dollhouse hobbyists...both builders and collectors are incredibly passionate about their hobbies and they love to talk about their chosen craft. The information that I needed was abundantly available.

In the process we discovered that just about anything available in the way of architecture, furnishings, and accessories has made it to the world of miniature dollhouses. And the first question that we always got when talking to a dollhouse collector was, "what kind of house do you have?"

The house we had purchased from all the many styles was a modern dollhouse. Actually, we were just looking for something that we thought our granddaughter would like. But the more we researched modern dollhouses the more we realized that modern dollhouses offered more material choices and greater opportunities for creativity.

I guess you have figured out that by this time we were hooked on dollhouses, and in particular, modern dollhouses. What followed was an obsession with decorating, furnishing, and finding the perfect dolls (and clothing) to go with our granddaughter's modern dollhouse.

Now we had something that provided not only great interest for our granddaughter, but something that had captured our imaginations as well.

So, we worked "together" on the project, and the process of ordering accessories took us around the world. That is, we ordered select pieces from around the world thanks to the help of the World Wide Web.

When you become passionate about a hobby you get so caught up in it that it actually becomes a place of escape. You quickly learn that in stressful times you can throw your mind and energy into your project and forget your troubles. Moreover, it's not something that you can only do a couple of times a year when your vacation time rolls around, but something you can do every day if you are so inclined.

There is also this wonderful fraternity of like-minded people who love to share their related experiences. And if you happen to land on a hobby that involves the people you love then it is really special.

Modern dollhouses make for a wonderful hobby. Unlike other styles, like Victorian and ranch houses, modern dollhouses allow you room to dream without boundaries. The sky is the limit.

Most important is to find a hobby that you can passionately throw yourself into. No matter how old you are...it's great to dream again. It will do you a world of good. My recommendation is modern dollhouses. If not that...then find your own thing. You will be glad you did.

Richard Weirich has written numerous articles on all aspects of dollhouses and accessories. For more tips and information on modern dollhouses click here and you can also visit the author's website here.

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