The Front Porch Part III

I know you have been wondering what happened to The Front Porch III. I was trying to hold off until I could get back to Greenville and get a picture of the creator of those wonderful dollhouses and roomboxes.
Well, between my schedule and his we just could not get it together.

So, I am going to tell you a little about the man behind the dream dollhouses and roomboxes. The Front Porch has been in operation for over fifty years. At one time, the owner, Tom Henry had the largest dollhouse business in the South East United States. His work has included miniature duplicates of local mansions. Many years ago, before many of us were even involved with miniatures, Tom was in his local newspaper for his lovely houses.  The "well to do" sought him to make duplicates of their own  homes, orginal dollhouses and supplies or to have their dollhouses repaired. Here are some of his other works of art:

Thank you so much Tom and Karen for indulging me and allowing me to get these great photos.





One of the many houses in Tom's photo album



The Front Porch "a step back in time"

Tom makes the news. Click to see the date in 1977

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Mini Jazzi Update

 Mini Jazzi is finally safe and sound at her new location...Brazil!! After leaving Greece, she had a several week stay in customs. Read all about it here...Mini Jazzi in Brazil! Now all of her international aunties can breathe a little easier. I know you will have a wonderful time MJ!

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If You Build It They Will Shop

Shortly after I purchased the shelves from the thrift shop I started working on my "mall."  (see May 28 post A Mini Mall)Then I got stumped. First it was the question of scale. Should I keep it 1:12 which is my scale of choice. The dimensions of  each store would be 7X12 made me wonder if it wouldn't be better in 1:24 scale. Everything I had put aside to go into it was of course 1:12.

After hashing it out in my mind and going to other miniaturists for advice, I decided to stay with the 1:12. Now I thought, what does a mall look like? My daughter and grands were happy to go with me to the mall with my camera and notebook in tow. I was careful not to appear to be casing the joint so to speak. I was friendly with security and had my cameral visibly around my neck.

I came home checked my notes and blah. Nothing noted on there excited me or would do justice to my stores. The only useful information was what type of items were found in each type of store.

One day, amazingly, while in the books for purchase section of my local library a book was jumping out at me. I usually grab anything that looks like a craft or decorating book.

Voila! Look at what I got there! This book has such great ideas. It was perfect to get me going on getting ideas for my mall. Take a look.
 Now I have absolutely no excuse. Pictures of the mall in its current state coming forth shortly.

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