kitty's cottage

My two things I looked forward to most about ever having a little girl was taking her to ballet and buying her a doll's house. My mum actually ended up buying this for Kitty for her first birthday but I only just unveiled it now. She is over the moon with it!.....
My doll's house was made by my dad and was my pride n' joy growing up. I played with it continuously from about the age of 5 to (little bit embarrassing here) early teenage years.
When mum suggested buying one for Kitty I was in a bit of a 'tiz woz' as I didn't want a huge plastic Chinese manufactured one and I was completely incapable of making one myself.
Then at the local markets one day, mum spotted this one which had been lovingly handcrafted by two elderly ladies with a little bit of 'woodwork' help from their hubbies. They put a hell of a lot of effort into crafting every piece of furniture and even went to the trouble of making mini newspapers, cereal packets and tissue boxes (filled with tissues!). It is ridiculously gorgeous and the fabrics they have used are verging on the retro which makes me very happy indeedy.

The only thing I wasn't happy with was an ugly brown painted tiled roof. Here's mum painting it red instead. Voila.....Kitty's cottage complete and I'm sure many hours will be spent playing with it. It's like having a mini Cornish Cottage in my living room and is one of the toys I actually love to look at and am not desperate to stash away at Kitty's bedtime!