HOBBIES : CRAFTS : What a Dollhouse! : Self-Taught Carpenter Is Architect of Miniature Dreams

The thought of idle retirement is unthinkable to Wendell Cole, who at 65 has gone back to a hobby he had abandoned for decades. And the world may be a better place because of it. Well, a smaller place, anyway.

Cole, a masterful carpenter, makes dollhouses mostly from scratch. And although it’s been decades since I was a little girl, I’m dead sure they’re the sort that make little girls go misty-eyed.

Perfectly aligned shingles--2,500 of them--grace the roof of one of his latest, a stately, three-story Queen Anne style with seven rooms, clapboard siding, a front porch and balcony. This charmer’s also got French doors, alder wood floors, windows that open and shut, copper rain gutters, a built-in bookcase, a staircase with carved balusters, lattice work along the foundation and other enchanting details.

Three feet tall, it sits on a lazy Susan. Unlike other dollhouses, it’s not flat on one side, but a more realistic, three-dimensional replica. Also, its second and third floors are removable to make wallpapering--not to mention furnishing and playing--easier.

“You’re looking at about 100 hours’ ” worth of work, Cole said during a recent interview at his Santa Ana home, a life-size, two-story Queen Anne, built around the turn of the century, filled with photos of his nine children.

A self-taught carpenter and farmer by profession, Cole bought property in Riverside about 25 years ago and turned it into an egg ranch, constructing more than 125,000 square feet of chicken houses. He’s also built barns, a family room, playroom, treehouse and basement over the years.

“Making mistakes--that’s how you learn,” he said.

He made his first dollhouse when his daughter Wendy was 3 (“It was just a box, very plain”) and by the time she’d outgrown dollhouses, he’d made her three. That was it, though, until a few years ago, when he got out of farming. While he continued to manage the Riverside ranch property, he had extra time on his hands.

Described by his wife, Margery, as a “workaholic” who has to stay busy, Cole said, “I saw my father retire and die” soon after, “and I figured that’s not what I’m going to do.” So he built a workshop at his ranch, where he’s made elaborate dollhouses for another daughter, three granddaughters, his brother and a neighbor. He’s also sold a few to Casey’s Wee Littles, an Anaheim miniature shop, which sells them for nearly $700. (Dollhouse kits are generally less expensive; consumers pay for the skill and labor involved in dollhouses made from scratch.)

“I try to build them so little kids can use them,” he said. “In other words, not too fragile.”

Cole uses cedar, bass, oak and pine for the pint-size abodes he designs, top to bottom. He also wires some for electricity and has painted the ones he completed for his family and friends.

He buys pre-cut wood and ready-made doors, windows and such decorative fixtures as the balusters but does most of the rest by hand. He painstakingly glues each shingle on individually, spending hours at it while listening to classical music.

“I’ve tried to find a way around it, but I can’t,” he said with a rueful grin.

At the moment, he isn’t constructing any dollhouses; he’s busy remodeling his kitchen for the second time instead. He says he’ll get going again if a request comes in.

Cole, a modest, easygoing man, gets satisfaction from seeing his handiwork “get used, instead of just being decorative,” he said. He doesn’t grow attached to the playthings, however, unlike some crafters who view their creations as offspring.

“The fun is building them,” he said. “Then after that, they’re gone.”