Followers

Monday, September 20, 2010

Sidetracking to a 'new' house

When I was 9 or 10 I fell in love with a metal house in the store 'Waltons'. Every time we went shopping I would gaze at it and wish and wish that it could be mine for Christmas. Christmas came and Santa brought more Enid Blyton books and I loved those of course but was still disappointed. I can even remember that it cost $10 which was probably a lot of money around 1970 (my books were $1.55 each - Santa never removed price tags)

I saw it again 30 years later, neglected and rusty in a second hand shop and 10 times the original price and again was disappointed when it wasn't the right thing to get at the time.

Now 40 years later it has come into my possession after an impulse at a local collectable fair,  $1 for each year of waiting. I'm not sure it is exactly the same house I loved so many years ago, Mettoy stopped manufacturing these in 1965, but many of the features are the same - the black and white checked flooring, the soldiers in the nursery and the painted furniture on the walls. The chimney is missing and so are the stairs and the front door knob and when I got home and looked at it properly, I wondered what had I done! I'm not even sure if the garage is original to this house - photos show different garages and to the adult me, it is gaudy but I still can't stop grinning when I look at it.

Among the bag of plastic furniture included were two inhabitants but I think they were just props waiting for the real family to come along and they have moved safely into a box where they can remain forever elegant.

The Bendy family was waiting  patiently in that box and were thrilled to move in with their few bits of nursery furniture. The baby and dogs (black and white scotch whisky terriers) are still to come (from another box) and Mrs Bendy wants to add personal touches like flannelette blankets and toothpaste lid flowerpots but meanwhile she loves her new kitchen and Mr Bendy is proud to be master of the house on his new lounge in front of fire and  the Bendy children are safely tucked in bed sleeping....

I think it is still a childs house and I will let children play with it. Everything is sturdily made and as it still delights the 10 year old in me, I look forward to it delighting little girls to come.
If anyone knows anything about these houses, dolls or furniture, I'd love to hear from you.

5 comments:

  1. oh Christine, its so cute, and its yours finally! i don't have one of these (yet), so i don't really know any more than you would after a google search...
    ps. did you get my email reply? and was that the info that you wanted? its a great site...
    Christine xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes I did thank you Christine and I joined, but am shy yet :~)There is some great stuff there! I meant to email back to thank you but was sidetracked and sadly have the memory of a goldfish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember seeing something like that when I was growing up, it was a great time to be a child back then the toys were wonderful. I'm glad you finally got the home of your dreams.



    Marisa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Marisa :~) I think toys then were so wonderful because they were simple and well made and we didn't have as many, so looked after what we did have.

    I sometimes look at a McDonalds toy and think that there is more sophisticated design and workings in it than anything I ever owned as a child and it is virtually disposable! So different.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hacer nuestras casas siempre nos dá muchas satisfacciones.
    Un abrazo
    Maite

    ReplyDelete