The (not so) elusive vinyl Mansion, see sidebar

Petite Princess and the urban myth.

 Because this dollhouse furniture was made for only one year the dollhouse that goes with is is hard to find. Have you seen it? Do you have one?

This vinyl version was better able to survive. This is from 1966 and 1967 sold through Sears. I think people who look at it think it is junk because the vinyl is just becoming antique now.

            

from Vixie Vaporous on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xchromosome/2793578102/in/pool-petiteprincess

I love to play with pieces but I also get a kick out of having the miniatures in their real home.
I saw several vinyl houses on ebay so I decided to research them.

I used the Sear's Christmas Wish Books listed on a helpful website: www.wishbookweb.com/  to search for the advertising of this dollhouse.

In the 1964 Wish book I found

I know just how that girl feels! Love the "pixie band".

the listings of the three cardboard roomboxes offered at the time. The living room, dining room and bedroom. So rococco!

                         Here is the 1966 Sears Christmas Book

From later books I found these vinyl houses,

check out the picture on the bottom of the page below of the Colonial Mansion.

 This one from 1969 showed a later version with the furniture, which was Petite Patti by then and made by Redbox in Hong Kong.

And check out this last black and white ad for a vinyl house from 1969, Cape Cod mod. $4.99.

 The hunt continues...

                       do you relate to vinyl dollhouses? Yet?  

 CM

Keeping it light

Well my friend Lemoncadet infected me with her beautiful photography on Flickr. Go here to see more.

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemoncadet/5337195709/in/photostream/ 

                                     How sleek is this?

          How mod is this? I love how she contrasts color and shape.

These pictures feature the miniature furniture of the Petite Princess Fantasy Furniture Line that was made for only one year in 1964 by the Ideal Co. It was high end, had 30 pieces and was made in Japan. Later under the name Princess Patti it was carried at Sears and produced in Hong Kong.  It is 3/4 " scale and represents the best of 1960's design. Lemoncadet also shows a good selection of the original miniatures contrasted with the later knock offs which are pretty darn close. The serious Buddah is the original, the laughing one was made later.

There are 8 of us in the Petite Princess by Ideal flickr group. There is even a fan page on Face book for Petite Princes Furniture and many references through Google.

The furniture is what they call "Hollywood Regency" to me. It has an emphasis on antiquing and rich fabrics. Tony  Duquette ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Duquette )  perhaps?
Or like a bad LSD trip in a 60's furniture store... Your choice.

When I put mid-century into a search of furniture on ebay recently, I noticed Hollywood regency kept cropping up. Uh oh, I have blogged about how I grew up in Southern California in the '60's and am haunted by images of my Mom's swag lamps.

From ebay

I even found this one there a while ago that was the look in her bedroom, the gold one was in the livingroom... So Hollywood Regency was sort of the worst of the worst. Think Liz Taylor in a caftan entertaining Mia Farrow when she was married to Frank Sinatra. A time of excess. The Petite Princess furniture embodies that time to me with their lush fabrics and exaggerated forms.

(Update 3/23/11: RIP Elizabeth Taylor you were a great activist for championing AIDS/HIV when no one else would touch it.)

And the point is I confess... I started collecting it, Shhhhhh... don't tell anyone! Much more to follow.