Dreams of childhood
Moi Ali uncovers the story of a dolls house that all started with a kitchen sink!
Moi Ali uncovers the story of a dolls house that all started with a kitchen sink!
Many of us start to feel a bit nostalgic as we get older. We look back on our youth and wonder what happened to childhood friends and neighbours, or to the street where we grew up. It’s natural to be a bit reflective and thoughtful, but Hazel Wyle took nostalgia one stage further: she recreated her childhood home in miniature, correct right down to the last detail!
It all started with a kitchen sink
Let me explain. Hazel, who lives in Alva, a village in Clackmannanshire in Scotland, decided she wanted a miniature oldfashioned Belfast-style kitchen sink. She recalled the full-size one from her childhood and decided that she wanted something like that. At this point, most of us would simply look online for something similar. But oh no, not Hazel: she wanted a perfect replica and there was only one solution. She had to make it herself.
At that point, most of us would cobble something together with polymer clay and feel that the results were satisfactory. But you guessed it, not Hazel! She modelled a sink, created a mould from silicon, cast the sink in the finest plaster, sanded it, gesso’d and sprayed... and finally achieved something that was just right. Well, almost right. The drainer had to be right, the taps had to be right, the plug hole... Hazel is a stickler for detail, and it really pays off. Her work is stunning. She might be an amateur, but her work is expert quality. She very kindly cast one for me using her mould and it will take pride of place in my Mountfield.
Having made the sink, Hazel decided to make a few other pieces from her childhood home. A bed, a table, a chair... hmm, perhaps a sofa too. Oh, then an armchair – and the antimacassars to go on it. A television – oh, and a table to sit it on. The sideboard, the boiler, the fires... Then of course there was the vexed question of where to put all of these things. That’s where the idea came from to build a house to put it all in.
The house build
At the time, I’d been sharing with Hazel my photos of my refurbishment of Mountfield House, a classic 1930s house. She decided to make something from the same era, and then hit on the idea of her childhood home, which was built to a standard Scottish local authority design with a few nods to Art Deco style.
Hazel picks up the story: “Plans were afoot for the project and then Covid arrived. It’s a kind of lockdown project. The most difficult bit was getting hold of house plans with accurate measurements. I took my research very seriously and contacted the council planning department, who found a plan for the ground floor. It was for a house on other side of road and was a mirror image of mine. The only measurements on it were for a door and window and no heights were shown.
But it was exactly as I remember it.”
“I posted a message on my home town Facebook page and asked for help with sizes. A lady who lives two doors from my old home invited me to come and measure her house. I was so pleased to see that it still had some of the original features.”
Hazel measured up the old house and exchanged stories with the lady who lived there. They kept in touch and the lady was happy to re-check measurements and to send photos where detailed images were required. Nevertheless, Hazel had to rely to a large degree on her own memory of how things were in the 1950s: “I only have one photo of the house interior, showing just a small corner of the living room. But that one photo really helped me recall detail.”
Hazel started with a version made from old cardboard boxes, just to get an idea of what size it would be. This enabled her to play around with dimensions and to work out the puzzle of how it would all fit together. Only then did she start to cut the MDF to build the final structure. It took shape quickly thanks to meticulous planning, but construction was far from plain sailing.
I asked Hazel about the challenges she faced: “The window frames without a doubt were the trickiest.” Like many houses of that era, Hazel's had Crittall windows. These steel framed windows (rather than the more traditional timber frames) are typical of the
Art Deco era. “Nobody makes Crittall windows in miniature,” explained Hazel. My husband Gordon came up with the idea of using old model rail track. He found some but only bought a few bits so that I could experiment. Nowhere near enough! When he went to buy more, it was all sold. That became a real nightmare trying to find the same stuff since it was now obsolete.”Thankfully Hazel eventually managed to source further supplies, but making metal windows proved far from easy. She persevered and the windows look terrific.
Her house was kitted out with utility furniture, a wartime invention to create pared down items that used up less scarce materials and were easier to manufacture. Most homes in the 1950s still had utility pieces. Being such a stickler for accuracy, Hazel needed to secure the dimensions, so she approached people selling full-size items on eBay and asked for measurements!
You will be unsurprised to hear that Hazel's determination to secure complete accuracy extended even to details that were unseen. For example, she recalled pipework running inside the living room ‘press' (a cupboard) so even though the pipes would not be visible in her model, she still recreated them! Why? “I know it's unnecessary, but that's me,” she explained. “I have been obsessive. No one else would ever know it wasn't exactly as the original, but the whole point was to replicate the original. Some bits are as near as possible, others will probably be changed when I find a better match. The pipework would have bugged me if I'd omitted it. I take satisfaction in knowing that it's there.”
At the time of writing, the pandemic is still ongoing and restrictions are in place. As soon as they are lifted, I am planning on a trip to see Hazel's awesome house in person. I too, will take satisfaction in knowing that there is pipework in the cupboards, washing in the sink and food in the pantry. It is these details that make her miniature recreations so special.