Paul MacAlister on fire on ebay

Not again!?!? Well, kudos to all of the winners who out bid me, I'm crying now. I was hoping to get my hands on one of these sets, but the ebay gods and my pocket book said no.

All of the pieces came directly from Paul MacAlister's estate and have been in storage since his death in 1986. The seller lucked out and purchased all of the 1:12 items at a local (Chicago) auction earlier this year. These pieces were made to populate miniature rooms that he presented to clients and also shown on his TV show. Since we can't all have them, I'm posting these photos so we can remember and be inspired by Paul MacAlister's incredible work.

To all of the winners, PLEASE send (or post) photos of where this collection takes you. These gems have been boxed up for over 20 years so please share how you bring them back to life.

All information and images are from ebay listings by seller decoray.

Mid Century Modern Miniature TV & Stereo Hand Crafted
The set consists of a tall console TV set in mixed woods with metal pulls and plastic TV screen & a console radio / phonograph cabinet of mixed woods with woven wood speaker cloth and plastic tambour door, metal handle and knobs and hand drawn radio face. This cabinet is composed of 2 separate cabinets joined together.



Mid Century Modern Miniature Beds & Headboards + more
All the upholstered pieces were hand painted to simulate fabric including the pillows. The headboards are crafted out of walnut and meticulously finished. This versatile set can be used as twins with a single headboard, twins with individual headboards, as a daybed or corner sofa, with or without the bolsters & pillows, etc. There are 11 pieces in all as shown.




Mid Century Modern Miniature Table & 4 Chairs Set
This set consists of a matching table & 4 chairs upholstered in blue & white striped fabric. The chair seats and backs are soft like real chairs. The table top is laminated walnut. All pieces have black metal legs, and frames.



Mid Century Modern Miniature Upholstered Lounge Set
This set consists of a matching sofa & chair upholstered in red corduroy, an ottoman for the chair in blue fabric, & a square wood endtable. The chair seats and backs, and ottoman are soft like upholstered furniture. All pieces have black metal legs, and frames.



Mid Century Modern Miniature Living Room Hand Crafted
Note the careful attention to detail in construction and surface finishing of the woods. The couch displays hand painted fabric designs and walnut wooden legs. The endtables have interesting construction details as does the walnut coffee table. The coffee table has a slight warp to the top.



Mid Century Modern Miniature Bed Room Set Hand Crafted
All the pieces are meticulously crafted and made in the manner of the actual furniture. Note the careful attention to detail in construction and surface finishing of the woods. The set consists of a wide chest, 2 3 drawer chests, a wall mirror, & a stool. All are in walnut and the fabric on the stool is painted wood. The mirror is displayed up-side-down in the first photo to allow it to rest on the chests. It is designed to hang on the wall. All pieces are fully finished on the back side too. The case pieces rest on the pedestals and are not attached. I believe he did this in order to use other cases with the same pedestals.


(All information and images above are from ebay listings by seller decoray)

Congrats on the book Karina!

The Mouse Mansion is back with exciting news... (I was wondering where she disappeared to) Karina has a book on her work being published this fall.

She built The Mouse Mansion as a backdrop for a children's book. Karina made all of the adorable mice and built the interior with authentic materials from the 50s, 60s and 70s along with all kinds of waste material. Very fitting for a mouse dwelling. The Mouse Mansion is made out of cardboard boxes and paper mache. I'm glad to see her blogging agin, my kids are in love with this house. I can't wait to buy the English edition book when it comes out later this year.

Congratulations Karina!!

(images are from PDF of books being published this year by Rubinstein http://www.rubinstein.nl/files/file/home/zomer%202011.pdf)

Who won the Paul MacAlister minis on ebay?

I am really regretting not bidding higher for the Paul MacAlister dining room set. I have a feeling that the winner of both sets, probably still would have outbid me, but I fell in love with those chairs and wanted to build a house around them. Sigh. I hope to see pictures of them in their new home.

From what I can gather, these pieces were quite unusual and most likely one of a kind at their 1:12 scale. Paul R. MacAlister died in 1986 but these items along with many of his trademark "Plan-a-Room" sets were sold at auction last month. These pieces were from his personal collection, so I'm guessing it was from the estate sale of a close relative.

From the ebay listing: The mid century modern living room and dining room sets were entirely hand crafted in wood and hand painted by important mid century interior designer Paul MacAlister. All of the pieces are meticulously crafted and made in the manner of the actual furniture. Note the careful attention to detail in construction and surface finishing of the woods. The chairs have a hand painted abstract hand painted fabric as well as the sectional which also sports tiny taper brass legs.

MacAlister was an accomplished artist, as well as inventor, craftsman, industrial designer, and world famous decorator. These pieces were made to populate miniature rooms that he presented to clients and also showed on TV. These pieces are from his estate which was recently disseminated. All pieces are in near mint condition. These rank far above any mass produced miniature furniture of the period in design, faithfulness, construction, materials, accuracy & craftsmanship. All pieces are entirely handmade and one of a kind.

MacAlister produced one of the first TV shows on home design in Chicago in the mid-1950s. The majority of his work was in half inch scale (1:24), making the above sets quite unique. He developed and mass-produced "Plan-a-Room" kits with scale furniture and room layouts that could be used to plan and organize home spaces for consumers. The kits were used by 1500 schools and colleges as a visual planning device. Below are a few that were auctioned last month. If anyone ever saw Paul MacAlister's TV show, or has more details on his work, I'd love to learn more about him.



(All 1:12 images from seller decoray on ebay, for items here and here. All 1:24 scale room images from Artfact.com)