Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Bespaq
Date: Unknown
Intended Room: Day Nursery
Dimensions: 210 x 152 x 48 mm. / 8 ⅛ x 6 x 1 ¾ inches (height x width x depth)
Inventory number: 2021.053

Provenance: Bought from Dollhouse Junction in 2021

From the very beginning, I’ve wanted to have a dolls’ house for the dolls, and this appealed to me because it reminded me of the very earliest dolls’ houses, made in the Netherlands in the 17th century (think The Miniaturist!). This baby house was one of our early purchases and, like our JBM pump organ, I might have been inclined to avoid it, had I had a bit more experience at the time. Bespaq certainly make some attractive pieces, but they are mass-produced and the finish can be a bit on the shiny side.

On the other hand, I’ve yet to see something (that we can afford!) by an artisan which fulfils quite the same need. This charming little cupboard opens to reveal a three-storey house, linked by vertiginous stairs. In the cupboard base there are two wide drawers and two narrow drawers, with a drop-down leaf between them that could double up as a writing desk: there’s a cubby hole tucked away inside, and you can imagine envelopes or writing paper being stored in there. It’s a very versatile piece, and I suppose I would just feel slightly happier if we knew a way to make it look slightly more antiqued and slightly less factory-finished and varnishy.

Of course, the fun part has been thinking about how to fill the baby house. In an ideal world I would be terrifically handy, and would be able to make exquisitely tiny pieces that would suggest a 17th or 18th-century family heirloom. But, despite having bought a number of kits, I’m too nervous to have a go with them. Instead, at the moment, we’re relying on some incredibly tiny ready-made pieces of furniture, created by Simone Renai of Mini From Italy on Etsy. At 1:144 scale, these bookshelves, kitchen cabinets and tables are mind-bogglingly tiny. Simone must have the patience of a saint.

But then there was the question of people. The current solution has been to borrow from the world of miniature railways. I wasn’t able to find 1:144 people who fitted the bill, but the German firm Preiser came to the rescue with 1:87 (HO scale) figures who were nearly right. Technically speaking, they are a bit too large, if we’re going to be picky about this, but the scale difference is minimal and, crucially, they’re in the right kind of period costume. I bought several sets, all of whom are dressed in clothing from the period around 1900.

There is still a lot of work to do on the baby house. We have downloaded files that we can use to create wallpaper and floor coverings for each room; we have frames to hang on the walls, and tiny, tiny plates to stand on the sideboard; but for now, just to give you a flavour of it all, I’ve put together a few quick scenes using some of the Preiser figures and some of Simone’s wonderful furniture. (The eagle-eyed among you will note that we don’t yet have much bedroom furniture. The only bed we have at present was put together as an experiment by Nick from one of our kits.)