7 years and counting

7 years ago I started this blog after purchasing the Antrim dollhouse from Earth and Tree Miniatures & Dollhouses (stay tuned for details on a contest to celebrate my blogoversary later this month). Here is what it looked like, and the exterior I added to it with the help of Paris Renfroe. The Antrim has been discontinued but my first blog post showed the other contemporary dollhouse sold by Earth and Tree, the Merrimack (you can see more pictures of the Merrimack here when I visited the store last summer).

1:12 scale Merrimack pictures from Earth and Tree Miniatures

Here are photos of the 1:12 scale dollhouse and an updated living room that JaNeen sent from Earth and Tree.

1:24 scale Merrimack pictures from minimodernistas.com

Doris from minimodernistas.com has been in love with this house for years but didn't have the room for the 1" scale version that is 48" wide x 22" deep x 35" tall. So Doris bought the 1/2" scale version that is only 24" wide, 11" deep by 18" tall. The house inspired her to shrink her designs for a new line of 1:24 scale miniatures. The kitchen is a prototype and is not currently for sale.


You can see all of the new 1:24 scale furniture and accessories that Doris has added to her website here.

It's been a great 7 years of blogging and collecting modern miniatures. I've finally cut back on other obligations and am making more time for this blog and miniatures. Please check back or submit your email in the top right to hear about upcoming contests and mini news. Thanks for sharing the ride with me!

mini smiles,
megan

Any builders in New Jersey area?

I have someone looking for help to assemble this 4-Story Miniatures Showcase and 3-Story Miniatures Showcase from Real Good Toys. If you know anyone able and interested to assemble these kits that is near Ocean County New Jersey please contact me and I'll connect you with the interested party. modernminifan @ gmail.com
Thanks!

LEGO Ideas

Every time I walk through my kids' room, there is inevitably a random LEGO to be stepped on. When the LEGOs make their way to the rest of the house I find myself pulling my hair out wanting to through them all away. Then I stumble upon the LEGO Ideas website, and I'm reminded of what great building blocks they are for the imagination. (pictured above is White Lake House)

LEGO Ideas is another brilliant idea by LEGO. Anyone can submit an idea to be built. They just have to gather 10,000 votes of support and then their idea will be reviewed and possibly turned into a LEGO product and sold around the world. Genius idea for LEGO to not have to pay designers nor advertisers. I mean they've convinced millions of people that they need tons of tiny pieces of plastic and now they are getting us to do their work for them too, sheer genius. (pictured to the left is Box N)

Some of the designs are truly impressive. Click on the links to see more about the designs and projects. This Modern Modular Furnished Beach Front House is one of my favorites. It was originally designed in pink, but I love the grey shown here.

House of Incredibles and Lego Architecture Studio Project were two other fun ones that caught my eye.

Madoka's House is another of my favorites. None of these designs have enough needed support to become a product, but I really appreciate the efforts of the designers and love seeing more modern design out there. Now maybe the next time I'm screaming as I jam another LEGO brick under foot, I'll think of what cool creation it could have been.

THIS COULD BE YOURS! PRD Miniatures Workshop at Chicago International

Come meet me in Chicago! Mini2b and I will be spending Wed and Thurs, April 15-16 taking the PRD Miniatures workshop to make this incredible Mid-Century Modern room box. Space is limited so sign up and join us! Here are all the workshop details:

25. MID-CENTURY MODERN ROOM BOX
Lisa & Paris Renfroe Wednesday, Thursday 9:30am-5pm $595

"Students will participate in the assembly of a 15”d x 15”w x 11”h mid-century modern room box and select from a variety of finishing materials to complete the inside of the structure. The room box will feature lighting, a window wall with interior access, and a fireplace. Included are hands-on instruction for setting up the recessed can lighting, installing a fireplace with actual flickering lights, installing flooring material and applying a variety of finishes to the interior wall spaces and fireplace surround. The finished room box will be a perfect prelude to shopping the Chicago International Show for your own furnishings and accessories. A box will be provided for transporting or shipping the finished room box. Reservations must be received by April 1, 2015."

Here is the workshop page: http://www.bishopshow.com/chi15ws25.htm

To sign up for the 2-day workshop, print and fill out this form here http://www.bishopshow.com/preorderform.htm, then send form with payment to Tom Bishop, 10528 Oak Meadow Lane, Lake Worth, FL 33449.

More information on Chicago International April 17-19, 2015 can be found here: http://www.bishopshow.com/chiinfo.htm.

Last Day of Good Sam Show

Good Sam Showcase of Miniatures
goodsamshowcase.miniature.net
Largest Sales and Exhibits of Dollhouse Miniatures west of the Mississippi

October 11th & 12th, 2014

Doubletree Hotel San Jose (1/2 Mile from San Jose International Airport)
2050 Gateway Place, San Jose, California
(408)453-4000
Show Hours: Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 11am-4pm

(I went on Saturday, I'll post pics later tonight)

Last Chance! Prices increase Oct 7th. :(

It is with much regret to inform you that my prices in my shop are about to have a HUGE increase. Shapeways used to base their prices on a start up fee plus a fixed price per cubic inch of material used. As of October 7th they are implementing a new pricing structure that includes labor, material volume and machine space. The new pricing structure lowers the cost of material used but drastically increases the cost based on the size of the model. For small pieces the prices are dropping but for modelers (train scale, 1:24, 1:12 scale) we are seeing double and triple+ the costs. Shapeways made the announcement 2 nights ago with one weeks notice until the changes hit. I have been scrambling to see if there is any way to make my furniture more affordable by the new rules to no avail. My designs need to be 1mm thick to be true to scale and structurally solid. I have spent the last 2 years perfecting my designs to meet the old requirements to use the least amount of material that results in the highest quality pieces, but now the rules have changed. My goal was to make affordable, high quality, modern furniture and decor that is not available elsewhere. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I think the prices they are asking are ridiculous.


If you have ever wanted one of my bookshelves, side tables, chairs or collections, you have until Monday, October 6th to buy at my reasonable prices. On Oct 7th all of my larger items will be hit with Shapeways new increases from $10 - $40 each. Enjoy the prices before the increases at my shop: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/modernminihouses


The sets in Collections will jump in price as now there will be a labor charge per piece in the set, so there won't be a discount buying all the pieces in a collection. They will cost the same as buying each piece individually.

My dining tables will be $2-4 cheaper, so don't buy one now. Some of my vases will be 0.10 to 0.15 cents cheaper but most are increasing $1 or more.


Shapeways has been working on the pricing structure for 2 years, and supposedly designs like mine have been losing them money, but I'm furious that they never mentioned anything about a broken price structure and now we have one week to adjust to their drastic changes. There's more info on the Shapeways forum on this topic with over 13 pages of comments from frustrated designers lamenting the price changes in the last 2 days. Sigh. I'm pretty torn up over the changes but I'm still committed to designing affordable modern miniatures. I will be looking into other options, but it may mean only designing small decor items and not larger furniture pieces. I guess a good thing couldn't last forever.

Enjoy while you can: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/modernminihouses

One week left for PRD Summer Sale! Up to 50% off!!

The PRD Miniature's Summer Sale ends September 15th, don't miss out on 10-50% off the entire store. Paris and Lisa have added over 200 new products from cutting edge modern furniture and on trend accessories. The new products look like they came straight out of the high end designer magazines. Check out all of the new items here: www.prdminiatures.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=50

Among the new items, you'll see PRD Miniatures is carrying a line of my accessories and side tables. These items are in stock and ready to ship and many have been Parisfied with gorgeous paint treatments. Head on over and check them out. :)
www.prdminiatures.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=50

(Apologies for my absence, summer with the kids at home was busier than expected and then I was bit pretty badly helping recover a terrier size dog from a doberman. I can't use my index fingers and thumbs at the moment, making typing SUPER SLOW. As soon as my hands heal up I hope to be posting much more often again. So much to share. Mini smiles to you all.)