MY HOUSE FROM THE SEVENTIES
For years I have wanted to make a house situated in the 70's, as a memory of a very special time. I loved the seventies.
We were young, we had a lot of fun, were creative and wanted to do everything different from the way our parents did.
We thought that making things ourselves was much better than buying. So we baked our own bread (like stones) spun and dyed our wool and grew our own vegetables. This dollhouse is like the house we had ourselves in the 70's. So the adults are: Peter and Annelies and the baby is our eldest daughter Floortje.
To remember the atmosphere of the 70's I started to look at photo albums to bring back memories. I also bought some books about the 70’s but they did not give me the information I wanted. In those books I found the highlights of architecture, furniture design, etc, but very little about "normal" people. So I made a miniature series about daily life in the 70's, from being a baby to being parents who had adolescents themselves. They are partly from my memories, partly stories I got from my email group.
Because this house is like the one we lived in that time, needlework is the main feature in this house.
My old needlework books were a big help.
In this dollhouse are no doors. In those days we thought we had nothing to hide from each other, so we did not need doors. To make rooms in a house indicates a narrow-minded spirit. A house without inside walls was what we thought to be ideal; but we just did not have that.
THE LIVINGROOM
Peter is reading his football magazine. He is sitting on a pouf made from pieces of leather. His sandwich is on the plate. Meanwhile he looks after Floortje. On the ground is a carpet I knotted myself. Next to the television is a terrarium with cactuses growing inside it. Crocheted pillows are on the sofa.
The television is standing on a cupboard we made ourselves. In the cupboard are games, records and booze.
On the table is an ash tray with a packet of tobacco and matches.
Here are the "real" Floortje on her grandmothers lap and the doll Floortje
Here is the knitted rug for the playpen. The orange playpen (maxi) we bought for 50 cents at a market
A roller blind with macramé curtains.
A lamp with a crocheted shade. Very cosy!
And who did not have a toy box made out of a soap powder box. It only needed some nice paper wrapped around it and the toy box was finished!
Every one had a macrame hanger with a cactus.
This is the other side of the room looking into the kitchen. On the wall is a piece of macramé.
The apple green chairs have embroidered pillows. In the book case are a lot of books, albums, funny dolls and statuettes.
In the rattan chair (similar ones were found in everyone’s homes) is a pillow made using Irish crochet.
THE KITCHEN
All the cupboards are white. To make this less boring, I had, in my maxi house, stickers of flowers glued on the fronts. In my dollshouse I did the same, after this photo was taken. The sink has a dish drainer. In those days tiles for kitchens and bathrooms had awful designs.
The brown pottery and the earthenware from Cologne was again something everyone had.
I painted my fridge brown. Very modern! Everyone said that the paint wouldn't stick - but it did!
On the side I hung 2 macramé bags.
Next to the rubbish bin are my step-in clogs and a crocheted cardigan for when I had to get the vegetables out of the garden.
The stove was, of course, free standing.
A fondue-pot
In the cupboard with shelves I had my herbs, somebooks and the famous chicken-cock pottery.
The kitchen door has a crocheted curtain and a hand made "Wheel".
On these shelves are my recipebooks. They are mostly about freezing and the preserving of our home grown fruit and vegetables. Here I am preparing beetroot for freezing.
On the wall an old classroom picture.
On the right the vinyl flooring
THE TERRACE
The terrace has green vines. Plants with flowers belonged to my mother and grandmother. Water from the barrel was for watering the plants. It was said that it was the best to wash your hair with, but I did not. There were little insects in the water!
Birdfeeders and macrame plant hangers. The dachshund has an orange coat with flowers. The laundry rack and the bicycle pump are essentiel items.
THE BEDROOM
The design of the wallpaper was typically 70's. Some loved it, some hated it.
The curtains are made of bobbin lace, the violet bedcover is crocheted, and the rug is made of lengths of plaited wool sewn together.
On the wall is our wedding picture. The curtains are made using bobbin lace and I had some funny animals below them.
And again vinyl flooring.
Here is the other side of the room. There was a flower shaped mirror and some shelves for make-up.
I loved to wear hats and caps!
THE BATHROOM
Again those awful tiles! All the bathroom furniture is not white but Bahama beige! The everlasting but terrible ugly bathmat was made from crocheted strips of pantyhose!
The toilet is situated behind the little wall to have a little privacy.
Wall tiles, floor tiles, a bucket and the toilet.
This is the right side of the bathroom.
I made a macramé hanging with beads to go in the nursery
THE NURSERY
The most important furniture in the nursery is the cradle. We designed and made it ourselves. It is an exact copy of the maxi-cradle. And the same bedcover was sewn with Old Dutch motifs. I knitted the soft toys. In full size in knotted the carpet, but in miniature I embroidered it.
In every nursery there was a vinyl change mat like this one. The sheets have Old Dutch folk patterns.
The little dress has a crocheted yoke. I made lots of dresses like this, very easy and very cheap.
Some typical baby clothes from the 70's
A pair of trousers made from a traditional teacloth, A baby cape, baby jacket made from a farmers handkerchief, Floortje’s first cardigan with cap that I crocheted. And the second cardigan was knitted.
A wall hanging and from the ceiling a lamp with a picture from a book made by Dick Bruna. The lamp matches the fabric under the baby changing table.
THE ATTIC WITH A BALCONY
This is Annelies' hobby room for sewing, weaving, spinning, lace making, knitting, painting etc.
On the floor are squares made of rush. They were very popular and very cheap. You had to spray them regularly with water though. The shelves are made of wood (this is not real wood but pieces of wood and glue pressed together) covered with a white plastic material. Very popular in those days! All the modern furniture was made from it.
Between the shelves are concrete bricks. Cheap and functional.
In the orange bag is the rough wool that can be spun. Right in the back is the corner for painting. There is oil painting, watercolours and etchings. I made this dreadful lamps at the end of the 60's. And what is not good enough to hang in the living room, you can hang in the attic!
Here is my weaving and bobbin lace equipment.
I embroidered this door hanging.
When you go through this door, you enter the balcony.
When the weather is nice, I do my needlework here.
This balcony is ideal for the dyeing and drying of the wool.
My daughter Els made a film about this house in which she interviews me. You can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/annieminie/videos
I made 2 stop-motion films about this house.
https://studio.youtube.com/video/uU20x4CjLh8/edit,
https://studio.youtube.com/video/M4JDXjjVurM/edit
Articles about this house:
Poppenhuizen en Miniaturen nr. 57 febr/mrt 2002
Handwerken zonder grenzen januari nr 114 - 2002
Handwerken zonder grenzen nr 122 sept. 2003
Poppenhuizen en Miniaturen nr 95 juni/juli 2008
This is not a trade site, but you can always sent me an e-mail if you are seriously interested in a miniature.
My webshop is: https://miniaturenannelies.nl
Nothing can be taken from this site without permission of Annelies de Kort.