Interior of Beth Neal's Dunham's Cocoanut Doll House

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

This post is long overdue. I am going to focus this post on the interior of Beth Neal's Dunham's Cocoanut Doll House and on the original paper furniture.

Let's start with a peek at the kitchen, which is on the ground floor:

It does not look much like modern kitchens because kitchens in 1903 consisted of freestanding furniture rather than built-ins. The lithograph shelves on the left held little lithograph packages of  Dunham's Cocoanut. 

The second floor may have been intended as a dining room: 

This is Beth's favorite room because of the moose head! I find the aquarium fascinating. I guess it held goldfish. I'm not sure what other fish would have thrived in water without an oxygen pump. It's interesting to think that people might have had such large aquariums in their homes. Even though this room has a very masculine, outdoorsy feel, the dish rack on the wall makes me think it is a dining room.

The third floor seems to be the sitting room or parlor: 

The sitting room has a much more feminine feel - from the upright piano to the frilly lace curtains.

The top floor was the bedroom:

The colors in this top-floor bedroom seem the most vibrant. The rug is especially well preserved as is the blue striped wallpaper and paintings on the wall. Notice that true to the time period, the paintings are suspended from the molding. It also looks like the upper portion of the bay window was stained glass.

The original set of paper furniture is the crowning jewel:

These pieces are in very good condition even though some bits have flaked off. Each piece of furniture bears a Dunham's Cocoanut medallion. The furniture is deserving of its own post, and I will try not to wait so long to post the next entry about them.