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Living Life After 50
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Elko Edition REaching ElkhaRt, kosciusko, noblE and lagRangE countiEs
September 2026
Vol. 39, No. 7
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
Kathy Spalding collects and builds
VINTAGE
DOLL DO LLHOUSES HOUSES Photos and Text By ANIKA YODER Feature Writer
Spanning back hundreds of years, dollhouses have been a part of many people’s childhoods and family heirloom collections. Ready-built dollhouses have been sold for decades, and do-ityourself building kits rose to popularity in the 1970s and into the 1980s. After the decline in dollhouse kit manufacturing and children’s toys evolving to replace the miniature structures, kits were phased out. But avid collectors and enthusiasts still take the time to search for intact, buildable structures. Kathy Spalding, 66, has been collecting and building dollhouse kits for eight years, with her latest project starting in 2023 while working on other houses in between. The Victorian mansion, measuring almost three feet tall, takes up her dining room table while she works on roof tiles and windows. “So I started buying DuraCraft [dollhouse kits],” Spalding said. “They’d gone out of business back in 2005. But that dollhouse is from the ‘70s and brand new in the box. That’s what I look for.” Spalding said she became interested in working with dollhouses when she built one for her oldest daughter as a birthday gift but was not able to pick it up as a hobby until much later, after her kids grew up and moved out. Altogether, a project takes about a year, Spalding said, Continued on page 2
LATEST PROJECT — Kathy Spalding shows off her latest project, a Victorian dollhouse she’s been working on for a while. She sources brand-new dollhouse kits through eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
NEXT STEPS — Kathy Spalding looks over the Victorian mansion dollhouse she’s been working on. She uses the included directions as guides rather than hard-set instructions. She also uses materials found around the house to add textures, such as popsicle sticks as hardwood floors.
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