Ah, the Old Cottage. This is one of my oldest houses -- I built it when I was nineteen and knew dick about making furniture, so the inside is somewhat crude compared to the work I do now.

Still, it's not a bad dollhouse all told -- I'm particularly pleased with the spongepainted walls, meant to simulate aged whitewashing, and dropped loft floor. It was originally at the bottom of the upper windows -- that was almost useless for any real living, so I dropped it. On reflection, I should have dropped it another inch or so, but I was still a beginner back then.

I also like the stuff I did build for it -- luckily I'd found a book with all kinds of dollhouse and furniture plans, so I lifted a set for a Dutch country kitchen and used that to make the trestle table, seats, banquette and oven. Making the faux Dutch tiles was an absolute blast -- I have to try doing that again sometime.

And I've got to say, this dollhouse is a frigging rock. It's survived five moves (four of them overseas), being stored in my sister's basement, cats chewing on it, kids playing with it, and a wealth of other offenses. It's pretty damn sturdy, if I do say so myself, and the address never ceases to amuse me (1060 West Addison -- for Blues Brothers fans or Chicago natives, you'll get the joke).