The "Time Share" Rustic Cabin Doll House

[Liz Bryman]

Found  locally and brought home very very carefully : A such a fantastic rustic cabin doll house we can't stop admiring it!

To start it's 33+" long, 23" wide, 23" high.

We bought it to use it for a birdfeeder but realized that it's way too nice, fragile and pricey for this purpose. We've been unable to find the exact model online anywhere and we've searched most doll house sites.

[Liz Bryman]

Adding a few more pictures of the log cabin doll house.

[Molly]

https://www.wayfair.com/baby-kids/pdp/greenleaf-dollhouses-creeksid...

I found one similar, but it occurs to me that maybe you've just inherited a piece of art from a master carpenter that put his/her own spin on the available models.  The materials are different, the scale is a bit different, etc.  It looks like a lot of hard work went into it.  I cannot see it up close to know if it is actually factory-made, but it looks quite nice.  Definitely too nice to "leave to the birds".

[Liz Bryman]

Thank you, Molly! I looked at the Greenleaf dollhouses from your link and there certainly are similarities.

The workmanship is superb, such as only made by a very talented individual. It sort of breathes love and care and that the result was intended for someone near and dear but didn't happen... sort of sad. It was never furnished, played with. There's a ram's head (a miniature facsimile) affixed above the fire place. One wonders if that had any significance?

We need to examine all very closely such as the underside too. Perhaps there is a mark or writing somewhere to tell us more.

Thanks again, Molly, for assisting us!

[Liz Bryman]

Small Update: Careful examination of the entire structure, including on the underside, yielded no more information. No signatures, stamps, inscriptions, regrettably.

One thing, however, stands out on this dollhouse, not seen much at all on standard models: The roof has a flat top. Most dollhouses have pitched roofs except for those depicting shops, stores or businesses with only a plain flat surface.

This house has a flat top AND pitched sides. Only one commercial manufacturer of dollhouses shows similar roofs, Lundby of Sweden. However, Lundby models are not of the rustic cabin type but more of Swedish traditional homes from farm to suburban and city styles. We saw no Lundby model that came close to our example except for the similarity in roof styling.

Next guess: Could a craftsman in the U.S. have built ours, perhaps inspired by Swedish style dollhouses when he created the roof?

More input is warmly invited!

[Molly]

Looking at styles of roofs, the flat top on yours would suggest a Mansard style roof.  However, there are slopes on all four sides of the roof when the top is flat.  The Gambrel style is much more common, but in reality has a small slope followed by a more drastic slope, such as the slope on yours, on both sides.  I think perhaps, yours is flat for a practical reason, such as having a flat surface to rest things on...a more functional purpose.

I am happy to be wrong, but I cannot really find anything that mimics the design of your roof, thereby making me think it is indeed a craftsman's design that is both practical and beautiful.  Just MHO.  :)

[Liz Bryman]

Thanks again, Molly, for your valuable input! You certainly know roofs, I sure don't!

The cabin is still sitting on our kitchen breakfast table awaiting more attention. Just for fun, I decided to populate it a bit. Various figurines and metal art miniature furniture found around house turned out to be a good scale for this house. Here are some examples: