Morning Pointe resident spent 18 years building a miniature world inspired by family, memories and the home she imagined
Chattanooga, Tn (October 30, 2026) — For Gisela Redick, the dollhouse she spent 18 years building was never just a collection of miniature rooms and carefully crafted furnishings. It was a world of her own, shaped by a lifetime of creativity, memories of her childhood in Germany and the places she called home along the way.
Now 91, Redick can still see the countless hours of work reflected in the three sections of the dollhouse displayed at Morning Pointe of Hixson Assisted Living and Memory Care. Every room holds details she created by hand, from tiny blankets knitted with sewing needles to lace curtains, painted flooring and a sweeping staircase inspired in part by her grandmother’s home.
“I always like little things,” Redick said.
That interest began long before she opened the box containing the dollhouse kit that would eventually become her largest creative undertaking. Growing up in Germany during World War II, Redick experienced the loss of familiar places and belongings as her family left the city amid the bombing. Her father was a soldier, and her childhood was shaped by a period when much of what she knew could change overnight.
Among the people who brought her comfort was her grandmother, who taught her to sew and made beautiful clothes for Redick’s dolls using scraps of fabric and old stockings.
Redick remembers her grandmother fondly and drew inspiration from photographs of the family home that stood in Hamburg before the war. Although she could not reproduce the house exactly, elements of its interior influenced the miniature home she would eventually create.
Her own childhood dollhouse also remained a fond memory, though she could not recall where it had come from. The combination of those early experiences and her lifelong interest in making things would later find an outlet in a project that grew far beyond its original plans.
A house built one detail at a time
Redick began the dollhouse in 1994 while living in upstate New York. Her children had grown up and moved away, and she missed having them nearby. With an empty bedroom available in the family’s large home, she found a place to work on something that would become a meaningful part of her daily life.
“Building the dollhouse was like therapy for me,” she said in an earlier interview. “It was fun.”
The original kit provided a starting point, but its thin wood did not meet her expectations. Her husband, Phil, helped by cutting sturdier replacement pieces, while Redick took charge of the design and construction of the interior. She rearranged walls, added windows and expanded the original structure into two connected houses, eventually designing a central staircase to join them.
She had no master plan for the finished project. Instead, one idea led to another.
When she attended miniature conventions in Rochester, New York, Redick photographed furniture and decorative pieces she admired but could not afford. She returned home and figured out how to make her own versions with whatever materials she could find.
A trip to the hardware store became an opportunity to discover new possibilities. Antique shops supplied old lace for curtains, while everyday objects became miniature household accessories. She even used small printed pictures and repurposed materials to furnish the rooms.
Her favorite details were often the ones most people might overlook. She made plates from buttons, knitted tiny blankets and painted intricate designs onto the floors. The dining room features an inlaid floor with a rosette made from coffee stirrers, while the kitchen reflects the kind of room she would have loved to have in her own home.
The staircase remains one of her proudest accomplishments, particularly its intricate railing.
“I had to learn to use a level,” Redick recalled. “I always wished I was an architect, but I wasn’t.”
She continued working on the dollhouse around the responsibilities of family life and other creative pursuits, including painting. Eighteen years after she began, she completed the project in 2012.
A family’s effort to preserve her work
As the years passed, the dollhouse became too large to move easily. When Redick and her husband downsized, the structure was placed in the basement, where it remained unfinished on the outside.
Her daughter, Susan Gruber, eventually agreed to take the dollhouse on the condition that it could be separated into three manageable sections and that her mother would finish the exterior.
Redick redesigned the structure so each section could stand independently. Her husband built round display tables that allowed the pieces to turn, and she added exterior finishes and landscaping. The work gave the dollhouse a new configuration while preserving the connected world she had imagined from the beginning.
The family also worked together to make sure the creation could be displayed and protected. Redick’s son David built the cases that now hold the pieces, with help from other family members.
For Gruber, seeing her mother’s work displayed at Morning Pointe has brought a new dimension to something that was once simply part of their family home.
“She was never anybody who had a business selling art,” Gruber said. “She never displayed her art anywhere. It was just enough.”
Now, residents and visitors can stop to admire the dollhouse, and Redick has opportunities to talk with people who are curious about how it was made.
She appreciates that interest, even if she is modest about the attention.
“I’m happy,” she said. “And proud of it, but I don’t like a big fuss about it.”
Still finding ways to create
Redick’s creativity has never been limited to miniature houses. She also paints and continues to seek out opportunities to learn. Today, she watches art lessons on YouTube, exploring techniques and ideas from her apartment at Morning Pointe of Hixson.
Her daughter said the community has given her mother an opportunity to continue pursuing her interests while sharing her work with people beyond the family.
“She’s able to keep making art and she’s able to share her art with other people and be recognized for it in a way she never was before,” Gruber said.
Redick chose to move to Morning Pointe herself, recognizing that she needed a living arrangement better suited to her needs. She said she is happy with her decision and appreciates having a space where she can display her paintings and decorate her surroundings.
Although her hands and eyesight no longer allow her to work on the dollhouse as she once did, the finished creation remains a tangible reminder of what she accomplished over nearly two decades.
Its three sections may stand separately, but Redick still thinks of them as one house, with the imagined residents moving through the rooms just as she envisioned them.
Asked what she hopes people take away from seeing her work, she offered a simple answer: “It makes me happy if they like it. I hope it brings them joy.”
For Redick, the dollhouse represents years of patience, resourcefulness and imagination. For her family, it preserves a piece of their mother’s story. And for those who encounter it at Morning Pointe, it offers a glimpse into the life of a woman whose instinct to create has endured through changing homes, changing circumstances and the passage of time.
About Morning Pointe Senior Living
Morning Pointe Senior Living, headquartered in Ooltewah, Tennessee, was founded in 1997 by healthcare entrepreneurs Greg A. Vital and J. Franklin Farrow, Morning Pointe Senior Living operates assisted living and Alzheimer’s memory care communities in four southeastern states, including GA, IN, KY & TN. For more information, visit morningpointe.com.
The philanthropic arm of Morning Pointe Senior Living is the Morning Pointe Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to provide clinical scholarships and caregiver support.