Okay, the title is totally misleading. I still know very little about this house. But I’m hoping it’ll trick Google into leading others who have one here!

I bought my Hillside Victorian off Craigslist in March 2010 for $150. The couple I bought it from had purchased it a few years earlier from Shellie’s Mini Mania in San Carlos, CA. It was already assembled; they added the siding and shingles. According to the instructions that came with it, the house is signed and numbered (I haven’t found a signature or number on mine, though) and the manufacturer, MiniWright, was based in Simi, California.

After I posted about it on the Greenleaf forum, another member found the house in a 1979 miniatures catalog. Here’s the description:

Heirloom quality slant bay home features: authentic detailing, unique second floor, entry with 3″ base and side street stairs for hillside effect. Shingled, Queen Anne gabled roof; doublehung window treatment. The suggested floor plan defined by removable partitions includes: lower level maids’ quarters, bathroom. hallway, kitchen, and wine cellar/pantry. Main level includes: living and dining rooms (12″ ceilings). Third floor: spacious bedrooms.

The house is in the 2nd edition of the Miniatures Catalog copyright 1979 and the house sold for $450 and came unassembled.

She also sent me a couple of pictures out of the Miniatures Catalog 3rd edition, which didn’t include a price, but did include a bonus Country Victorian that looks very similar.

   

For a long time, that’s all I knew. Someone posted a comment on my blog that she had a MiniWright Mercantile, but when I emailed for more info I didn’t get a response. Then, in December 2011, a woman named Sheree got in touch to let me know that she’d recently bought a Hillside Victorian dollhouse just like mine but a bit farther along, also off Craigslist. Today she sent me a bunch of pictures and said I could post them.

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Third day on this rehab and it’s looking good! Took me about an hour and a half to paint the whole house.

I’m using light blue paint that I’ve had for several years, and it was very thick when I first opened it, as if a lot of the water had evaporated since the last time I used it. Might not have been fully sealed. Geoff helped out, first stirring it with his drill attachment, then adding water until the consistency was closer to how paint should be.

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Not only is this house much larger than I’m used to, it’s also much heavier. I’m used to light little half scale houses that I could toss in the air if I wanted to. After a second day of fighting with the siding on this behemoth, my hands and arms are covered with scratches and my muscles are actually sore. Score one for the dollhouse.

Having decided I’m definitely not going to add the garage, the first thing I did today was remove the siding at the bottom of that side of the house so I could replace it. When liberating the little room, if I had approached it differently and scored the siding right at the edge of the room, this wouldn’t have been necessary. But thinking I’d be adding the garage and this would become an interior wall, I removed a few inches too much. Joining up two pieces of siding looks bad so I decided to take it all off and redo it.

These pieces were glued better than the ones I took off yesterday and I ended up pulling off some of the outer layer of plywood along with them.

Next I cut and glued on new pieces. Luckily I had just enough siding left over from the Westville to cover this area. Unluckily, it’s much harder to glue siding onto a house that can’t be turned onto its side (damn you, gravity!) After a bit of comedy I managed to get the pieces held in place. I also fixed a couple of loose spots higher up on the wall.

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