Carolyn Peck was redecorating a three-story Victorian house in Columbia recently when she spotted a mouse on the dining table, inches away from a platter of strawberry shortcake.

Peck plucked the critter up, wondering how it got there. She had discreetly placed other miniature mice around the 13-room dollhouse, part of the Lexington resident’s efforts to simulate a real-life residence inside the Children’s Room of the main Richland Library location on Assembly Street. 

Peck, 76, has redecorated the house dozens of times over a decade. It started when fellow dollhouse enthusiast Gayle Sneed invited her to collaborate on the volunteer library project, which Sneed started in the early 2000s.

A quarter-century later, at a time when children are spending an increasing amount of time on electronic devices, library administrators consider the dollhouse a distinct educational tool for the thousands of kids who visit the building every year. 

Made up of hundreds of components, the miniature house sparks curiosity, promotes observational skills and fosters socialization, said Leslie Tetreault, manager of the library’s children and teen department.

“It’s not unusual for children to see a screen. It’s not unusual for children to hold a phone,” she said. “It's more unusual to have children engage with something like that.”

Seasonal decor changes

Peck, a former Lexington educator and dollhouse store owner, updates the house’s interior decor and yard setup every few months to keep pace with the changing seasons. 

The retiree describes the task as “playing” with the dollhouse, which she has largely done by herself since Sneed fell ill and died last year. A photo of Sneed, with a commemorative inscription, can be found on the dollhouse stand. 

To mark the nation’s 250th birthday this year, flag-themed cloths hang from the house windows' exteriors. It’s the same design that adorns the mantel runner on one of the fireplaces and a throw pillow in the music room. A bedspread on the third floor bears a pattern of flags, stars and hearts. 

The yard, meanwhile, depicts a classic summer scene. Beside a patio table laden with two burgers on paper plates, there’s a bottle of white wine in a fabric-lined wicker basket. A beach ball sits beside a fishing pole and a tub of watermelon on ice.

Setting up such an intricate display, especially of Lilliputian dimensions, requires a well of creativity. Besides buying furnishings and household objects from dollhouse stores, Sneed and Peck also made some of the items; they sewed bedspreads and molded ham from clay.

Others were repurposed from natural or man-made items, including dried bell pepper seeds (potato chips), pecans (painted to resemble watermelons), a container of coffee creamer singles (garbage can), a pizza tripod (legs for the Scrabble table) and a toothpaste cap (flower pot).  

With the World Cup having come to North America this summer, Peck added to the children’s study room a poster showing the stadiums that hosted the 2026 games. 

Peck’s decorating principle is that there should be “something for everybody.” She recently added a flat-screen TV to the living room after a girl commented that the dollhouse was old-fashioned. 

It does have a gramophone, crank wall telephone, metal sewing machine, leather-bound books and suit of armor.

Firing children’s imaginations

The dollhouse appears to have everything a real home does, except people. Sneed thought that skipping the human figures would encourage the children to imagine its residents, Peck explained.

“You can put your family in it,” she said, “or you can make up your own family, or you can see whatever you see.”

Mila Walker, a 5-year-old from Cayce, came over with her dad while Peck was redecorating one July afternoon. 

“I really like the dogs and cats,” she said. The girl had just finished a scavenger hunt for objects in the dollhouse, one of eight hunts that the librarians created to foster children’s engagement with the display. 

Mila is among thousands of visitors to the library’s Children’s Room in the summer, which Tetreault, the department manager, said was its busiest season.

Eight-year-old Jacob Olvera, who was on a day trip from Greenville with his family, asked Peck for help in locating some of the objects. 

“What is an easel?” he asked.

“That’s something that you would paint on,” Peck said. “See, this is paint.”

Other children also began peering into the dollhouse and touching the tiny furniture, decor and accessories. It was a rare opportunity for visitors to handle the objects, since the house is usually ensconced in a plastic display case.

Peck, a grandmother of two, enjoys interacting with the kids, constantly pausing to answer their questions during the hours she spends redecorating. She hopes someone who can help her comes along, but it’s not been easy finding a person who not only loves dollhouses but also has the time to volunteer and the desire to work with children.  

“Who put the mouse on the dining table?” Peck had said, after finding the critter beside the cake. She added with a laugh: “This is where you gotta watch out for kids.”