Debbie lives in Bristol, England with her husband Andy. They have two grown children in their 20s, Matthew and Caitlin. They also live with two cat furbabies, Stripey, who belonged to their neighbor but the dog over there frightened her so she spends most of her time at Debbie`s house. They also have a new kitten named Holly. She`s a lovely bundle of energy and has different colored eyes. Debbie works part time in Criminal Justice as a project co-ordinator. It is a new post she started just before Christmas. Her job is to educate the public about how the criminal justice system works. 

The first time Debbie received a dollhouse was when she was about eight years old. She bought it from the toy stall at a local church rummage sale. It was a very small three roomed house in 1/16th scale. She bought some furniture and made the rest of the decorations herself. She gave it away to another child when she became older. The next time she thought *I want a dollhouse* was a few years ago. There is a charity in the UK called Sue Ryder (http://www.suerydercare.org) that makes dollhouses and furniture which are then sold to raise funds.  There was a large dollhouse for sale and she would have gladly taken it home if she had the room to display it. That sale gave her the itch.

Since then she has had a conservatory built at her home. In February 2010 she saw a beaten up dollhouse at a charity shop and could not resist taking it home to set up in the conservatory. This house became the Rectory and hooked her onto miniatures once again.

Debbie has not actually built any dollhouses from kits yet. All of her houses have been refurbished. She has four houses so far. There is the Rectory which is a tribute to Agatha Christie novels, the Marigold cottage, a Georgian house, and a vintage Triang.  She does love to transform former neglected houses though. She enjoys stripping out the old worn out materials and putting in fresh new bright ones. She is not too keen on the whole lighting process though. She loves when it is done but she uses the tiny plugs and sockets. It takes a lot of patience to drill the holes, thread the wires, and re-attach the plugs. Sadly, patience is not one of Debbie`s strong points. Debbie has some true dollhouse horror stories to tell. Many of you may know the story about the destruction of Marigold Cottage by her postal system. She refurbished a child`s toy into a very pretty country cottage which she then sold because of lack of room. It was totally ruined during transit and arrived at its destination in pieces. Once while decorating the cottage, she left a bottle of white spirit on her new oak coffee table. It leaked and removed the varnish, leaving a big white patch on the table.

Debbie`s miniature dreams is to first continue to find houses that meed a make over and transform them before donating to charity. The other thing she would like to do is to purchase a dollhouse which is very similar to her childhood home and recreate it as closely as possible. This would involve a scratch build, which she has never done before but would love to learn. Her plans for 2011 are to create a garden for the Rectory and makeover the small house her husband bought her for Christmas. Originally she thought this may become a beach house but now on arrival it is saying that it is a ski chalet instead. She would like to do another cottage and she is keeping a watch for any interesting projects that may come her way.

At first Debbie did not feel she should or could give any advice to any newcomers to this hobby because she is such a newbie herself. She did say to enjoy it, if you want to try something then give it a go, make sure you pack any dollhouses properly when you mail them, and do not be afraid to ask the advice of the very talented people on the forum. If you would like to see all of Debbie`s beautiful refurbs, you can look in her gallery here.

For participating as the Member of the Month, Debbie will receive a $25 gift certificate to the Greenleaf Store