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Houston’s Tiny Perfect Houses — True Designer Dollhouses to be Auctioned Off In Unique Fundraiser

Providing Housing For Cancer Families With the Help of Priceless Little Homes

BY // 08.30.22

Kudos to interior designer Alexandra Killion who shared her brilliant fundraising concept — an auction of priceless dollhouses — with A Shelter for Cancer Families founder and CEO Missy Bellinger. The fruits of the collaboration between the two will come to life at the Junior League of Houston on the evening of September 7 when nine fabulous dollhouses are destined for the highest bidders.

Newbury Architecture created three designs, traditional and contemporary, that were constructed by Stetzer Builders and turned over to nine interior designers, including Killion, who were given carte blanche to create fantastical interiors.

Joining the effort were Ashton Taylor Oberhauser of Ashton Taylor Interiors, Courtnay Tartt Elias of Creative Tonic Design, Devon Liedtke of her namesake firm, Hallie Henley Sims of Hallie Henley Design, Julie Dodson Webster of Dodson Interiors, Meg Lonergan of  Meg Lonergan Interiors, Sari Imber Moore of Sari Imber Interiors and Laura Dalton of Laura Dalton Design.

The La Petite Maison cocktail party and auction, as Bellinger notes, has an ideal symmetry with the nonprofit.

“We are super excited about this event as petite maison quite literally means “little house,” Bellinger tells PaperCity. “And that is exactly what ASCF provides to visiting cancer families seeking care in our Texas Medical Center every year.”

Creative Tonic's Courtnay Elias and Houston artist Andrea Condara partnered on the design of their dollhouse for A Shelter for Cancer Families's gala auction. (Photo by Claudia Casbarian for Julie Soefer)
Creative Tonic’s Courtnay Elias and Houston artist Andrea Condara partnered on the design of their dollhouse for A Shelter for Cancer Families’s gala auction. (Photo by Claudia Casbarian for Julie Soefer)

In addition to the dollhouses, a number of other auction items will be on the block including a Buccellati cuff donated by Tenenbaum Jewelers and a private shopping experience with designer Christy Lynn in her Montrose area atelier.

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Individual tickets are $175, while sponsorships range from $500 to $5,000. Details are available here.

Shortly before the pandemic took hold, A Shelter for Cancer Families purchased a campus close to the medical center in West University with 15 private residences. ASCF offers its service to cancer families at no charge. Since its founding more than two decades ago, the nonprofit is on track this year to have provided more than 25,000 nights of housing.

Tours offering sneak peeks of the individual townhouses began on Tuesday and continue at various locations, listed on the website, through September 1.

We checked in with Courtnay Tartt Elias on her whimsical design which was on display at The Annie Cafe on Tuesday. She allowed that during recent travels in Italy and France, fruit-related art kept popping up. It was inspiration for this project, her “ColorFULL Fruit Salad Cottage.”

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Courtnay Elias’ dollhouse, created for A Shelter for Cancer Families’ gala auction, answers every little girl’s dream. (Photo by Claudia Casbarian for Julie Soefer)

“A dollhouse is really for a child and I interpreted the assignment as a fantasy dollhouse and I thought it would be fun if every room was a different fruit,” Tartt Elias tells PaperCity. “My vision was really inspired by the Bloomsbury artists and the Bloomsbury style from the early 20th century where everything was decorated around you from the walls to the furniture to the lampshades.

“But what I really needed was an artist to interpret my love of pattern upon pattern and maximalism. I’ve known Andrea (Condara) a long time and when I saw her murals at Lulu’s in Round Top I knew she would be a perfect collaborator. I also wanted everyone to know how crazy talented she is.

“So instead of a room here and there in my ColorFULL Fruit Salad Cottage, we decided to go all in and turn everything in the house, including the piano, into a little work of art.”

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