Photos courtesy of Edith-Anne Duncan via her Instagram @edithanneduncan
Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY- Edith-Anne Duncan, a Blacksburg-based interior designer, created a one-of-a-kind dollhouse with her team to support the Montgomery County Christmas Store, raising more than $4,500 through an on-line auction.
Edith-Anne Duncan, a local interior designer who has been featured in many home and design magazines, wanted to fulfill a dream of hers: making a dollhouse from scratch. Duncan said she had always wanted to design and decorate a dollhouse, and she knew there’d be someone out there who would want it, so Duncan and her team spent about 10 working days building, designing and even hand painting small details to make a dream dollhouse filled with some of their favorite design elements, like wallpapering the ceilings.
Duncan had volunteered at the Montgomery County Christmas Store about 15 years ago with the Blacksburg Junior Women’s Club and knew she wanted the proceeds to go to the Christmas Store. The dollhouse, according to Duncan, sold for $4,552 and 100 percent of those proceeds went to the Montgomery County Christmas Store to help families in need. The Montgomery County Christmas store is all volunteer run and is a non-profit organization that assists low-income families and people in shopping for the Christmas season with dignity and the holiday spirit.
Duncan said that her and her team approached the dollhouse project the same way they would if it were a normal home they were designing. Their jumping off point with this project was her favorite Schumacher fabric and all the other design elements for the colors to the patterns blossomed from that. Duncan knew that whoever would receive the dollhouse would be filled with joy and it would benefit an organization she cared for that would help her give back to her community.
Duncan and her team made nearly everything for this dollhouse from scratch and what they could not make, they turned to Etsy and Amazon for. They were able to download the wallpapers they loved and print them out. They handmade small details like the catalogs and project binders in the house, to match the ones they were featured in or had in their office. Duncan said that along with the Schumacher fabric, they started with the cabinet colors in the dollhouse kitchen as well. They also had a miniature original painting curated for this house titled “Bowl of Cherries” painted by Amy Cruz. Duncan hand painted the wall plates in the dollhouse kitchen. Everything that needed to be cut, screwed and assembled was done by Duncan’s team and herself. Small things, like the chairs, were ordered through Etsy or Amazon because they were unable to make them themselves. Duncan mentioned that until the making of this dollhouse, she did not know there was a whole world of people who specialize in making miniature furniture on Etsy. Her team also added personal touches to things like the books and even took this opportunity to show off their particular design specialties like painting or wallpapering what Duncan calls “the fifth wall”, known also as the ceiling, a design element she’s known for.
“I love,” Duncan said, “creating something that someone could enjoy.”
Duncan and her team would love to do another dollhouse next year, she explained, but maybe the next one will be larger. Overall, Duncan said, the dollhouse turned out great and that it was a fun way to give back to the community.
