After selling his business in the late 1970s, Aaron Friedman was looking for a new way to spend his time. A simple suggestion from his daughter-in-law to build a dollhouse for his oldest granddaughter eventually grew into an ambitious, nearly two-decade project that produced eight elaborate miniature houses.
The project also brought Aaron and Sarah closer through a shared creative pursuit. Sarah helped plan, furnish, and decorate the interiors, contributing handmade rugs, pillows, chair cushions, and other needlework. A family friend, Pearl Brook, created many of the window treatments, bedspreads, and additional decorative pieces. The houses include miniature china cabinets in dining rooms, food stored in kitchen cabinets, miniature vegetables on counters, and flower arrangements throughout. Other details include books and newspapers on bedside tables, slippers by the sides of beds, toys spread all over in the nursery, a nd monogrammed towels in bathrooms. Glasses lying on top of books or family photos kept above the fireplace can create a realistic ambiance of a living room in a miniature form. Each house also comes with a picture of its owner in addition to being an architectural wonder. This shows that building them takes more than simply assembling the parts. The construction reflects research, design, and decoration. For instance, Friedman would study the houses he wanted to recreate, photograph them, and then build them in miniature form.
Therefore, Friedman’s case study shows how a new hobby can be an important component of one’s retirement years.
