Saturday, January 14, 2012

Maryann Roy shabby to chic DIY tutorial

(Carol, I know you're going to love this one!)

Maryann Roy has a really cool DIY post with details and directions on how she resurrected this shabby Barbie furniture into stylish mid-century modern chic. The furniture is 1:6, but great tips for any scale.

(all images from Maryann Roy's blog maryannroy.wordpress.com)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Fashion House Tour

So, yeah, the staircase is my favorite part of this house. It's made out of one inch acrylic bar with polished ends from TAP Plastics. I blogged before about the gluing jig I used to assemble the staircase. I used Seal All to glue the stairs to each other and the 3" x 5" one inch acrylic landing. Pillows are minimodernistas and chairs are CB2 igloo chair ornaments, gift from Modern MC (on sale for $0.50). Large verde plant is PRD Miniatures. I'm not positive what I want to do for the front door, so for now I'm using Callsmall's trick of deco tape on the plexi wall. I wanted the front of the house to have a grand, open feel, but I have to find a way to make it look more realistic.

Here's a look at the stairs through the side window over the landing. Then moving around the side we'll peek upstairs into the bedroom and bathroom.

Painting, rug, magazine rack over tub, bed and bedding by PRD Miniatures. Laptop by lilu. Small pillows on bed by minimodernistas, as well as boxed shells over loo. Tub and loo are IKEA. Magazines are X10NY. Remaining items are Kaleidoscope House, ebay and dollhouse show finds, along with gifts from MyRealitty and mini2b. The tub is tucked into an alcove I built for it. I'm debating between sliding doors or a hinged wall to cover the opening.

I used deco tape and masking tape on the window and door, sprayed with several layers of glass etching paint, then removed to add some privacy. The door actually works, the frame is made of styrene. I need to add a handle, but I was really excited it came together. It took over an hour to build; measure twice, cut once. CB2 Reed chair ornaments painted grey (on sale for $0.95. Thanks again MC!) Ribb Chaise is PRD Miniatures, gift from mini2b along with topiaries as well. Accessories AG Minis and Mighty World.

The working sliding doors head into the great room. I glued the mirror pieces together to add a little glitz. I have tons of extra pieces so if anyone wants one stay tuned, I'll blog later when available. I think its time for a give away. ;) The Essex Kitchen from PRD Miniatures was built for my Antrim, but fits great here too. I had purchased a kit from Elf Miniatures, but time did not allow me to finish. I'll blog the kit build later.



My original design called for a half bath next to the stairs, but I didn't have time to finish. The red parlor came together instead, so I'm not sure I want a half bath there now. Coffee table is Peter Tucker. Sofa, pillows, rugs, ribbon lamp, silver lamp, clock, green IKEA style bookcase, and grey slant bookcase are all minimodernistas. Kitchen, bar stools, chairs, paintings, frames, decorative accents, carpet tiles are PRD Miniatures. Designer chairs are Reac. Sideboard is AG Minis, gift from Doris. L'arc de triomphe from Modern MC along with TAP Plastics black and white boxes in green bookcase. Accessories from dollhouse shows, hobby shop and arts and crafts store.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Happy New Year for Modern Mini Houses!

As there have been so many new modern houses on the market, I wanted to show the additions I made to my Where to Buy Modern Dollhouses page. I have over 50 modern houses pictured, check them out when you have some time. Thanks to Modern MC for always finding and sharing new houses.

The Bauhaus Dollshouse by Louise Putman comes in different colors and with choice of tinted or clear sliding plexi doors. Edward House is the new and improved Emerson House by brinca dada. MiniTown Loft Kit by HBS Miniatures has a lot of potential and is their 2012 Creatin' Contest Kit.

Newcomer The Contemporary Home in Miniature introduced three houses this year: The Solent Reach, The Harbour Heights and The Quayhaven.

This year brought us some new Barbie modern dollhouses. The Minimalist by Miss Schumetta and Miniko Doll House by Miniio.

Under Custom, Commissioned, OOAK builders, please send me more modern builders you know with websites. I added Erik Goddard www.erikgoddard.com. I have more to add, and will try to update soon.

In the Budget Friendly Finds section I added two new DIY projects. Made by Joel madebyjoel.com. Joel's website has some great ideas and plans for building your own dollhouses and furniture. Check out his video making a dollhouse on the Martha Stewart Show. Four Bad Apples fourbadapples.blogspot.com. Check out this blog to see how Adrienne and her daughters made this house from scraps of wood from the throw away bin at her local home supply store.

Please send me ones I have missed at modernminifan at gmail.com, and I will add them to the growing list. I'm looking forward to what modern mini houses will surprise us this year. Keep on building!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

20-30% off Sale @ PRD Miniatures

Paris and Lisa Renfroe are kicking off 2012 with a storewide sale up to 30% off until January 10th at PRDMiniatures.com. I am drooling over the new Cole Entertainment Console from PRD Miniatures. I could design an entire room around that red; the suspended wire in the metal base is simply blowing my mind. The new LCD Flat screen TVs are really cool, and I'm digging these Nested Coffee Tables.

Paris has added a ton of new accessories, picture frames, driftwood sculptures, and more under the Decorative Accents section of his website, that would look great in any room. I think I need one of everything. You can check out all of 100 plus new items on PRD Miniatures.com here.

(all image from PRDMiniatures.com)

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I'm a Giant crazy person


It has been a mad dash to the finish line, but for now, all I can say is PHEW!!!

After more snafus (I'll tell ya later), the Fashion House was in one piece Tuesday night (the 13th) at 11pm. I ransacked all of my minis and started decorating. At 2am, I tore the garage to pieces trying to find my mini rugs (we moved a few months ago and I haven't unpacked everything yet). After 20 minutes of pillaging, I found my rugs in the bottom of the last box. Sigh. After many variations and changes these are the final rooms I came up with. Most of the minis are PRD miniatures or minimodernistas along with accessories I've made and other ebay/dollhouse show items. By 4am I was able to take pictures (I'll post more later) for the challenge and contest. Then I cleaned up the giant mess before the kids woke up at 6:30am. After 2 hours of sleep I packed our bags and the kids and we flew cross country for the holidays. I am still tired. I wish I had more time with the house, but I won't see it for a few weeks. I will post more details when I return, as internet access is limited out here in the sticks.

Emily, thank you for the motivation, but I'm so glad the challenge is over. HBS Miniatures, my contest submission is on its way.

Now to enjoy visiting family for the holidays. I'll post more pictures when I can.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Giant Tears

Since my last update, I finished cutting out the second story walls and floor. It took about a week of nights in the garage after the kids were asleep to paint and add the windows.

Thursday night, I was finally ready to assemble. I glued and clamped up the ground floor. First problem - my sliding doors are 1/8" but the wood from the kit was just shy of 1/4" so the upper track I added to hold the doors in place, snapped off when the doors overlapped to open. I'm going to replace two of the four panels with 3/32" and that should give enough room for everything to move smoothly. The big disaster came the next morning. The glue didn't hold. It cracked when I moved it and one wall fell down and another was disconnected.

I assumed I didn't clamp well enough, so for the second floor, I clamped the heck out of it on Friday night. I used almost every clamp we had. But come Saturday, despite being super clamped, the long wall was only connected to the floor a quarter of the length. After some Giant tears, I read the back of the wood glue bottle, and it recommends 45 degrees or higher. It was definitely closer to 40 degrees in the garage, so I think it was too cold for the glue to set properly. Tonight, I brought both floors inside and am praying the warmer temperature will set the glue properly this time.
At this point I figured I would be a lot further along. I'm not sure I'll finish in time, but I haven't thrown in the towel yet.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

East Bay Mini Meet Up

NEW DATE

It's been a while since the last Bay Area meet up, and Doris (minimodernistas) just moved to town, so if you are near Oakland next Sunday, December 11th and want to join us for lunch or coffee email me at modernminifan @ gmail.com (remove spaces).

Carol, I promise we'll meet up in the East Bay again when you are back.

Email me if you can meet up with us and I'll send you location details.