While I was visiting family in Germany a good amount of time was spent with my niece, Nadine. Nadine took time off from her work as a hairstylist as we had made plans to visit museums and art galleries. It turned out that the exact week we made plans for was also Anni’s, her daughter’s, transition time in daycare. Anni had turned three and was moving from the toddler group to the 3 – 5-year-old group. Ensuring a smooth transition was a priority that I fully support as a former Kindergarten teacher. When Nadine and I get together we share similar interests, and this time we tackled the big Christmas surprise… or better, the big and only wish on Anni’s Christmas wishlist: A dollhouse!

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Anni and her mom are very organized and Anni’s wishlist was prepared and sent off in good time!

Nadine had started the huge job of remodelling her childhood dollhouse. The renovations were well underway by the time I arrived on the construction scene. Nadine had already installed new floors, freshened the wallpaper and finished the outside. The mauve was a specific request by Anni. After all, it is her absolute favourite colour. The roof was also getting reshingled!

Nadine had also started collecting and painting the furniture. I wondered how I could possibly contribute to the project… It only took a few moments and I was sitting with needle, thread and various fabric scraps in hand to create custom drapery. There was no sewing machine, so hand sewing it would have to be. It was the logical activity for me because Nadine loathes sewing. 😉

We spent every morning in Nadine’s dining room chatting about historic world events,  politics, child-rearing topics, and childhood memories while we both concentrated on the task at hand. I finished the drapes. With the sewing machine, it would have taken a couple of hours to create the curtains for various rooms and connecting doors. By hand, it was a much more involved job but in the end, it all looks fabulous!

Nadine sent me images of the finished dollhouse this afternoon. It looks amazing and just calls out to be played with. The family is waiting for the one person who will create new memories with the “old” family treasure. Thank you, Nadine, for letting me be a teeny, tiny part of your labour of love. I will always treasure our time together!

The finished dollhouse!

The facade and the family waiting for Anni!

The entry doubles as the dining room.

The well-appointed kitchen.

The cosy living room. The carpet is a stand-in for the hand-stitched carpet I completed a day ago and will be going into the mail tomorrow!

The carpet…

The master bedroom upstairs.

The children’s bedroom.

And last, but not least: The spacious bathroom complete with roll-top bathtub!

Oh, how I wish I could see Anni’s eyes when she discovers the dollhouse under the tree! I do hope Nadine will send me a video capturing the excitement! I will keep you posted on how it is received. I have no doubt there will be squeals of delight…

23 Dec This entry was published on December 23, 2019 at 7:11 pm. It’s filed under Creativity Update, History, Journaling, Reuse, sharing touching the soul, Something to Smile About, Special Project, staying in touch and tagged blogging, Christmas anticipation, Christmas preparations, doll house, family, helping create a Christmas surprise, Inspiration, just for fun, making handmade curtains for a doll house, recycle - reuse - repurpose, writing. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.