The Dolls House Emporium Blog

Fantastic letter from someone who obviously knows his onions!

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:07:12 +0000

We have noticed over the past few months that our miniatures are being used in some unusual places, such as fashion shoots in magazines. Because of this we sent our latest catalogue, together with a letter, to a number of Creative Directors at advertising agencies across the country with the aim of encouraging them to use their imaginations and our miniatures. On the whole the response was positive, but there was one letter that really stood out (and put a smile on everyone’s face, so thank you Mr Mackintosh!):

We obviously couldn’t leave Mr Mackintosh in such a quandary, so our Managing Director, Jackie Lee, sent the following letter, which has hopefully put his mind at rest:

Dear Mr Mackintosh,

Thank you for taking the time to peruse our new September catalogue. I’m sorry that the catalogue failed to provide all the information you require but I will attempt to answer your questions as best I can:

a) Unfortunately, due to a dispute with our TNT supplier, we are currently unable to pre-explode items for you. We are also unable to provide dismembered figurines, although you are welcome to purchase whole figurines and dismember them yourself. However, if this is how you enjoy spending your time then perhaps counselling would be a more prudent investment?

b) Sadly our miniature food is not edible and will not contribute towards your ‘5 a day’. Having said this, they may still contain more nutritional value than a pot noodle.

c) The Dolls house Emporium dolls are shy folk, unlikely to reveal their ‘wares’ on a first date. As such you may have to wine and dine the ‘Gentlemen and Servants’ a little before finding out the answer to this question. If you do require dolls specifically for nude scenes then please provide further details and measurements of your requirements and we will try to accommodate you. Please be aware that our dolls are modelled in a 1:12 scale and try not to be offended at the results.

d) We are unable to provide a plumbing service as part of the delivery, but your local directory will have many numbers for local plumbers in your area. As our houses are built to a 1:12 scale you should be able to successfully haggle them down to 1:12 of the price.

e) I am surprised at your request for an alternative installation technician as ‘Miriam’ is the poster-girl for our company and has wowed many a customer with her charm and wit. However, if you require an alternative we can dispatch your purchases with ‘Malcolm’; an ex-west-end actor who loves to get into character by dressing as a postal worker and pretending he’s only responsible for the delivery, not the installation, of your items.

f) Unfortunately our ‘astronaut range’ was removed from our catalogue in the wake of allegations from conspiracy theorists surrounding their use as props for NASA’s Apollo project. Due to legal reasons we are unable to comment further.

g) Mr Douglas is an emotive person and is certainly capable of an expressing a wide variety of emotions ranging from subtle contentment to mild indignation. He is, however, well renowned for his ‘poker face’ so your guess is as good as ours.

h) To be frank, we aren’t 100% sure how the stag came to be in this picture. We believe that it was simply running too fast and just happened to crash through the wall at the instant the photograph was taken. Post-photoshoot examination revealed no trace of the stag’s whereabouts so we can only assume that he extracted himself successfully and without harm.

i) Traditional 5-pin tumbler locks are installed on all outer doors. However due to the friendly nature of the inhabitants and a strict neighbourhood watch scheme these are rarely employed by the residents.

I hope I have been able to answer your questions to your satisfaction, if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jackie Lee

Managing Director

Work for The Dolls House Emporium!

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:30:45 +0000

UPDATE! Closing date for applications extended to the 9th November!

We are looking for a Retail Sales Assistant (part time) for our Houghton Hall, Carlisle shop. This is a great opportunity to join us in the most exciting period of the year! If you can share our customers passion for our products, take every opportunity to maximise sales and ensure their shopping experience leaves them feeling that they can’t wait to return, this permanent role could be for you. Hours are around 25 weekly, on a rota, including 3 weekends out of 4. Customer service, retail or merchandising experience would be useful, but most important is eagerness to excel. We offer competitive pay and a pleasant working environment.

Want to know more? Download the application details here. Closing date is the 2nd November. No agencies.

Creative Competition Pictures!

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:04:08 +0000

At long last the bugs have been fixed and we can post pictures again! Thank you to the IT team. So we’re not wasting any time and bringing you some creative competition pictures straight away.

Patsy McMahon created this delightful hat shop. Here’s her story.

My inspiration came from my Nan – Harriet. She always said she would love to work in a hat shop. So 50 years on I have made her own to be proud of! Harriet is standing behind the counter waiting for the first customer of the day. Her hat is on the chair at the front of the shop. I made the kit up, painted the walls to look “distressed” and used the stencil paints elsewhere. The mats are made of felt and the letters are individual transfers. Some of the hats were gifts some home made. The curtains are made from linen and trimmed with lace and the Victorian lace was used on the main window. I used kebab sticks for the curtain poles. For the pots on the outside I used card craft.

As seen on screen

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:02:38 +0000

Congratulations to Joe Carlton of Nottingham who spotted The Classical Dolls’ House on BBC’s To Buy or Not to Buy. £50 has been credited to your account Joe!

Remember that this competition never closes, we want to hear about all The Dolls House Emporium dolls’ houses you’ve spotted in unexpected places. Here’s what you could win;

Spotted in an estate agent window = £20 Gift Voucher for The Dolls House Emporium

Advert in Print* = £25 Gift Voucher for The Dolls House Emporium

Television advert/Magazine shoot = £50 Gift Voucher for The Dolls House Emporium

We will need evidence! So if it’s a billboard, take a picture and email it or post it to us, if it’s a TV advert you may be able to find a link to it on this website http://www.tellyads.com/ and then send us the link. Television show? Send us a link to the show so we can find the dolls’ house. If it’s a printed advert, cut it out and send it to us! You could win £50 to spend at your favourite dolls’ house and miniatures supplier.

Get spotting and good luck!

*Does not include a Dolls House Emporium advert – we’re looking for the unexpected places!

Prize is for the first person to spot one of our houses and contact us.
Employees of The Dolls House Emporium, those involved in the promotion and execution of this competition and their families are not eligible to enter.
The Dolls House Emporium reserves the right to feature the winner on other printed matter or website, and to feature name and home county of winner in future promotions.
Entry into the competition is deemed acceptance of the rules.
No responsibility can be accepted for entries which are not received or delayed.

Charming Charm Bracelets!

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:38:11 +0000

Forever struggling to find the best present? Year in, year out, trudging the high street? Well look no more! The perfect gift is right here! A charm bracelet is elegant, fun and something that can be added to, updated, changed to match an outfit – so you can add to it over and over again and never worry about present problems again.

You can purchase the charms individually to make each bracelet as personal as any gorgeous girl (or guy!) would want and place them on the bracelet wherever you choose.

These little charms are all detailed 1:12th scale versions of the real thing, so you could have a theme to reflect the interests of the recipient!

View the range of Charms »

Royal Mail Strike!

Amy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:24:30 +0000

Just because Royal Mail are (thinking about) striking, we’re not going to let that stop your parcels getting to you! Spend over £50 on your miniature treats during the Royal Mail strike and your order will automatically be sent via our super zippy carrier, to arrive the very next day*!

If you’re order is a little smaller, don’t worry you can upgrade to our faster than lightning carrier and still get it delivered the very next day*! Whilst Royal Mail are striking we’ve dropped the price of this upgrade from £5 to £3 saving you £2, so you can pop another little something in that parcel and enjoy it all tomorrow!

If you have a little more time to receive your parcel and don’t want an upgrade, we will be holding onto it from Wednesday 22nd until Monday 26th. Royal Mail will prioritise the incoming mail on Monday, so this way we hope your parcels won’t be sitting in a sorting office for weeks but will stand a chance of getting to you before Halloween weekend.

Perhaps Royal Mail have left you waiting for a catalogue? Download the PDF version whilst you wait and browse through the current offers to see if anything catches your eye.

*Next working day

Blog Pictures

Amy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:21:52 +0000

It’s a sad day for us today. We had been hoping for the past two days to bring you more creative competition entrants. To wow you all with the glory and inspire you with the imagination and talents of some of you miniaturist contemporaries.

Unfortunately our system has had some settings reset which are stopping us from uploading pictures. Our IT team are working on it as fast as they can but it may still be a few days until we are able to post pictures again.

This has also affected our Media Centre where we have lots of great coverage in magazines like Tatler to show you but we can’t upload those images either.

Please be patient with us, we are doing our best to bring you some wonderful pictures!

Creative Competition 2009 – Tanzanian Dreams

Amy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:22:49 +0000

Here is another of our Creative Competition entries. This one is by Felicity Hey, here is her story of her Summer House.

I have been a dolls house collector for nearly thirty years. I have often looked at the annual competition and felt somewhat overwhelmed by the fantastic creations featured, but this year as soon as I saw the Summer House I knew exactly what it really should be- a Tanzanian Safari Lodge Hut! My husband Grahame and I have enjoyed two fantastic trips to the Tanzanian National Parks, and the hut I have created is a combination of the (very expensive) Tree Lodges that are built into the trees, the tented accommodation found on the Ruaha plains, and the elevated huts on the river banks.

The bathroom facility is very typical- often open to the stars (and rain and insects, but they don’t tell you that!) and the twin basins- but there well might be a slop bucket concealed beneath, as there is often no mains drainage. I have used artistic licence for the animal print furnishings, and deliberately not put a mosquito net up because of the logistics of removing the roof.

My main inspiration for the roof and bathroom extension walls was from a redundant window blind, which not only provided a lovely rustic-looking material, but taken apart it provided narrow wood strips and thin canes, which I used to frame the mirror, edge the vanity unit, and top the bathroom walls.

I have had the greatest pleasure making this house, and it has been a talking point with visitors who have come to expect “something different” when they view my collection of houses, shops and retreats. Thank you for providing me with the raw ingredients!

Feel inspired to make your own miniature marvel? The Summer House and other smaller dolls’ house kits are available at The Dolls House Emporium.

More Creative Competition Entrants

Amy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:00:09 +0000

We still have more creative competition entrants to show you and will continue to bring you them throughout October (and possibly into November!).

As we’ve already mentioned the quality of the entrants this year was the highest we’ve ever had which means we are able to bring you some really wonderful ideas.

Stay tuned to see Santa’s Surf Shack, a Grecian art gallery and a three story mouse house!

Feel inspired to make your own miniature marvel? The Summer House and other smaller dolls’ house kits are available at The Dolls House Emporium.

Opulent October!

Amy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:56 +0000

Cumberland Castle makes a welcome return and if you are looking for a Gothic-inspired period property then this is the one for you. Go traditional with a medieval theme and dark stonework or think rock star retreat and dress it up in modern finery (perhaps with the odd antique art work?). For those with wizards and witches on their minds it would make the perfect magic school or with Halloween just around the corner what about the haunted house on the top of the hill? Buy Cumberland Castle, The East Wing and Rapunzel for just £261 this month, that’s a saving of £90! And you’ll be eligible for your FREE Christmas collection with this collectors’ dolls’ house, described below !

The perfect Christmas present is all wrapped up for you with FREE gifts on selected Collectors’ dolls’ houses and Junior Collection dolls’ houses. Choose from a FREE Santa’s Sleigh complete with Rudolph or the charming Carol Singers Set with collectors’ dolls’ houses. Or take home a FREE Santa Ted in his pretty red hat and cape with selected Junior Collection dolls’ houses. For a real treat, Ocean Drive comes with 3 FREE Funky Furniture sets and 4 LA Dolls, so you save over £96! Use the gift wrap service and it’s all taken care of for you !

Christmas falls on a Friday this year so there won’t be any post for a while! Don’t miss out on the January offers! Sign up to our email updates and get the January offers on Christmas Eve, direct into your inbox!

All these offers are available on the Dolls’ House Special Offers page on our website, or in our Dolls’ House Shops.