hdatsopoulos

Hi Everyone!

I originally went to the Greenleaf website to see if I could download the instructions for the Buttercup Cottage, which I lost some time ago. As I was reading through the past posts, I saw a lot of posts regarding a particular dollhouse that I am currently working on. That dollhouse is the Duracraft San Franciscan - 550.

I had to laugh at a lot of the posts, because it seems that I am not the only one suffering with the construction of this house! The windows in particular have caused me major headaches!

I have been building dollhouses off and on for about 14 years. My first dollhouse was a Peaches 'n Cream by Walmer Dollhouses. It was given to me as a Christmas gift from my parents in 1996, and that started it all. I have decorated that house twice, bashing it the second time around. I'm about ready to redo it again, because the electrical system is not working correctly. I guess it is true that a dollhouse is NEVER finished!

Since then, I have aquired 3 other houses that are all in certain stages of construction: The Buttercup Cottage by Greenleaf, the Foxhall Manor by Real Good Toys, and the San Franciscan by Duracraft.

I am currently working on the San Franciscan for one reason, and one reason only - it's my Mother's dollhouse. I ended up with it because for the last 20 - 25 years, it has been sitting in an open box, partly constructed, waiting for someone to bring it to life. I have recorded it's history here, which may be pretty boring, but it explains how my frustration with this house began many years ago...

The San Franciscan I have had been a gift from my Dad to my Mom back in the late 80's. She had never had a dollhouse, and always wanted one. So, he bought the kit for her and started to build. Unfortunately, my dad isn't very good with things that don't go together exactly right, and the old Duracraft kit was riddled with problems. Parts didn't fit together very well, and even when the house was new, some of the wood pieces were warped. This was really frustrating for him, and he gave up after constructing the base, the walls, and the windows. He threw the remaining pieces in a box (not the original of course), and there they stayed. Many times he tried to throw it out, but Mom wouldn't have it - it was still her house and she wanted it built. My parents had moved 5 times, and each time, they took the house with them, my mother never losing hope that someday it would be built. When I finally finished my first dollhouse, Mom got that gleam in her eye, and gave me her dollhouse to complete. I took it, knowing how important it was to her, and promised to get started on it right away.

That was in 1998.

When I got the box with the dollhouse pieces in it, I was upset to discover that the house was not in it's original box. I was even more upset when I realized that the instructions for the house were also gone. So, I pulled out a few of the pieces. I never knew that there were dollhouse kits that made you build the walls, like the Duracraft kit - back then I thought all dollhouse kits were like my Peaches 'n Cream house, which had been a dream to put together. However, I was totally lost when I looked at those pieces. Without the instructions, and without knowing the name or who made the house, it again sat in the box, waiting for someone to build it. I had the internet back then, but without knowing what the house was even supposed to look like, I had no idea what I was looking for. The only thing I had to go on were the pieces that my dad had already completed - the front of the house with the hexagonal attic window, the bay windows, and the base.

Jump ahead to 2005. Mom and I were in Spokane, WA, visiting relatives. The only dollhouse shop left in Spokane is Bobbi Jo's Miniatures. The shop is actually a residential house that is filled to the brim with merchandise, and dollhouses. As we were walking around the room, I spotted a beautiful Victorian house sitting in the corner. I looked at it briefly, then did a double take. There was an attic window in the front wall, just like my Mom's! I rushed over, and bent down to look at the base. Yep, the base was the same! The bay windows were also the same! "Mom! This is your house!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes - see this front wall and the base? They are exactly the same! What model is this house?"

"It's the San Franciscan by Duracraft." Bobbi told us.

"I knew it was a San Franciscan!" my mother exclaimed.

"No you didn't! All you ever said was that it was supposed be a 'Painted Lady'!"

"Well, painted ladies are San Franciscan houses, don't you know that? You really should have known that." She started laughing as I rolled my eyes at her. Bobbi Jo wrote down the phone number for Duracraft for us, and we left the shop. Unfortunately, when we got home, and called the number, I found out that Duracraft was no longer in business! Wasn't I ever going to get this house done? I tried to find the instructions online, with no luck. I tried other sites - but the pictures of those models weren't the same house. AAARRRGGH!

2009 - I was shopping on eBay for dollhouse stuff. I had by this time lost the instructions for my Buttercup Cottage, and was looking for them. (I'm sure I put them somewhere safe where I wouldn't lose them - HA!) As I typed in "Dollhouse Instructions" a seller on eBay popped up with instructions for a lot of different houses. Many of them were for Duracraft houses. "San Franciscan" I typed in. A bunch of instructions popped up. As I scrolled down looking at every picture I could find, a certain window and front wall jumped out at me. SF - 550, it said. Cost: $4.95. Was this the same house? I wasn't sure. The picture wasn't very good, and it could have been for another model. But that top window sure looked familiar. It was worth the five dollars to find out. I ordered the instructions.

Three days later, a packet arrived in the mail. It was a long three days for me. I tried not to get to excited. After all, even if the instructions were the right ones, I'm sure that there are a lot broken or missing pieces. The poor house had been sitting in an open box for over 20 years! But, I couldn't help it! At last I was finally going to find out if I could build this house. It was a beautiful day outside, so I took the box of pieces out of the garage, and sat them on the patio. I went inside and grabbed some bright yellow sticky notes, a pencil, and ruler. I looked around in the storage room downstairs, and found the base and walls, as well as any other piece that I thought belonged to the house. I went back outside, and opened the packet...

2 hours later, my husband came home from work. I was so happy and dancing around, that he didn't quite know what to make of it. I had finally found the instructions to this house! I had gone thru every dusty piece in the box and was now taking a damp tack cloth to wipe off the dirt. I had all but one piece of the house, and the one missing piece was a very, very simple hexagon shape that was easy to recreate. I called my mother. She was happy too.

So now, here I am, struggling to finish this house. It will be beautiful when it is done, but of course there are things I want to change. Back in the 80's when my dad had built the walls, my mother painted the exterior slate blue. She had also tried to wallpaper the inside of the walls with Elmer's glue. She wasn't very precise about it. The first thing I did was remove the old paper she had glued to the walls. (I wish I had taken pictures of the papered walls, but I didn't think about it at the time.) Most of the plastic windows had broken over time, so I removed all of the windows and frames. I now have 11 rectangular holes looking back at me. The walls are up and attached to the base; the 2nd and 3rd floors are installed. I haven't attached the tower or the roof yet, because I'm afraid that I won't have access to decorate that little tower room if I attach them. I'm working on that right now, as well as attaching fish-scale shingle to parts of the exterior. She will be a real Painted Lady when she's done, but I still have a lot of work to do. This house may be over 20 years old, but its journey has just begun!