Malta's Sue Poulton inherited a dollhouse filled with family love

Sally McEldery always wished she could own a Victorian style house. In 1976, the wish was granted, in a smaller scale than she might have dreamed of, but made with an amount of love that can't be measured.

In Sue Poulton's living room, nestled in her Malta home, sits the Victorian Dollhouse which Sally and Richard McEldery – Sue's parents -- spent months building, countless years decorating and a lifetime loving. Sue – a former teacher at Malta Elementary – inherited the dollhouse from her mother, when her father passed away two days before Christmas in 2003.

"It is a huge, loved, cherished item for our family," Sue said. "Because over the years we have all contributed to it."

When Richard passed away in 2003, Sally decided it was time to move to a smaller home. The family had a meeting – Sue is one of six children in the McEldery family – and since Sue is the oldest daughter, the dollhouse moved from Dillon to Malta.

The house has electricity running through it and all the lights affixed to ceilings illuminate and make the home's furnishings glow. The house holds furnishing from across the globe – one chandelier from Germany, for example – one aunt crocheted many of the rugs that cover the hardwood floors and one of Sue's sisterS painted a tiny country scene that hangs from a wall. The house measures 45-inches long, 21-inches deep at its highest point, measures 40-inches high (the house is built on a 1-inch to 1-foot scale.)

When Richard retired from the BLM after 35 years, he decided he needed a hobby. That Christmas, Richard gave Sally a Victorian Dollhouse Kit. That same year, Sally gave her husband a gift of Dremel tools.

"Neither one of them knew what the other was going to give them," Sue said. "That is how the dollhouse started."

Richard didn't like how parts of the dollhouse kit were designed – there were no doors or steps for the three story structure – so he modified the plan to suit his tastes.

Of all the items in the home – easily over 400 – Sally's favorite piece is one of the smallest. Richard, besides being a self-taught carpenter, was also a musician and one year Sally bought her husband a mandolin. Richard took his tools and created a scale replica of the mandolin for the man of the dollhouse to play at his leisure.

"I bought him that mandolin and pretty soon he had a miniature one built that looks exactly the same," Sally said.

As much as the two enjoyed building and furnishing the dollhouse, decisions about the next steps were not always argument free.

"They would bicker back and forth," Sue said. "It was like they were building their own home. They would argue about where the stairs would go, or where a door should be placed."

"He was very fussy," Sally joked. "Everything had to be perfect, down to the smallest detail. He would measure 12-times and cut once."

Shortly after the dollhouse kit was gifted, the bones of the home were complete, but the rest of the interior design (paint would be replaced by wallpaper, pictures hung on the walls, Christmas trees and decorations placed and brought down depending on the season) has changed over the years and new items are always being added.

"When you have certain personalities you have certain gifts," Sue said. "Dad was the builder and Mom was the interior decorator."

"Richard made most of the stuff in his shop," Sally added. "He paid great attention to detail and on the piano he made, each key is handmade."

Besides the Victorian, Richard built at least two more of the houses that weren't for the children and then made at least four more houses for the children to play with.

Sue said that with the change of each season comes a change of the home's décor. On Halloween, pumpkins sit on the home's front porch and in the spring, bird feeders hang from the porch's rafters.

Sally said that her husband's love of miniatures started when he was a child as he loved to tinker with model airplanes. His passion for airplanes led him to become a pilot during World War II. Following his service in WWII, Richard went to school at the University of Montana where he met Sally. The two got married and moved around the state of Montana until landing for an extended stay in Dillon. It was after Richard retired from the BLM in the late 1970's that he devoted his time to his hobby.

"Besides the doll houses, he built all types of toys for the kids and the grandkids," Sally said.

The miniature Victorian House that was built out of love continues to be adored all these years later and, according to Sue, will continue to do so forever.

"My family is big on passing things along through the generations and I think this house will be in the family forever," Sue said.