Mayfield House - The Lower Hallway

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's blog post from Beverley and D.

As promised, we are starting a periodic series about our dollhouse: its construction and the imagined guided tour, telling the story of each room. We can't wait to share this journey with you.

Welcome to Mayfield House.

We set this Georgian-constructed house in 1914, on the cusp of a new era with the recent outbreak of World War One. Although most male staff have left to join the war effort, life in Mayfield has changed very little. Female staff continue to support the family, but even those numbers have started to fall.

It, therefore, seems appropriate to begin our tour of Mayfield House in the basement, where staff work to ensure the smooth running of the house for the family. We start the tour today in the lower entrance hall, a place of bustling activity and the gateway to the rest of the house.

The staff and tradespeople enter and leave via this front entrance, constantly crowded with dusty and muddy boots. 

The young maid, Polly, has the thankless task of keeping it clean and tidy. You can see her at work with a bucket of water and rags while a brush and pan lie nearby. She dreams of rising through servant ranks to lady's maid or even housekeeper, but that is many years away, and things are changing. 

Behind her, a half-opened door leads through to the back hallway and the staircase to the upper floors. One of the resident basement cats has discovered a tiny mouse hiding in a tall planter – the standoff between the two is mounting. 

The hall furniture comprises a large mirrored coat stand, a small table with an indestructible plant, and a settle seat. The seat is on the opposite wall to the rooms occupied by the butler. If you sit down, you can see the servant bells, high on the wall, which ring when the upper house requires staff attention. 

Next time we will call in to visit the Butler of Mayfield House. See you soon.

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Putting the room together

After we painted the walls a pale yellow with white woodwork and cornices, we covered the floor with individual quarry tiles. We also changed the room depth by adding a false wall to give the illusion of further rooms beyond our view, such as the servant's hall and the stairs to the upper floors. 

The long seat or settle has been covered with a seat pad made from a small piece of leather belonging to Beverley's grandma.

The coat stand was a bought item with a few things added that might have been stored there, such as the hat, scarf and walking canes. The book on the show keeps track of tradespeople visiting and the purpose of their visit.

We also added a backboard to the servant bells with numbers written above to denote which room they related to. 

Polly the Maid was a store bought doll.

Have a good week, everyone, and if you are in the UK, enjoy the Bank holiday.