A mini book signing

A new house flipping project, Everyday objects repurposed, Furniture and decor I've purchased, Handmade decor for my mini house

I’m planning to design new author business cards soon, so I have a big stack of old ones that I was going to recycle. Lucky for me, I realized they’d make perfect mini books! Once I made a few, I was inspired to stage this mini book signing.

The tiny handbag is made from a coaster. The newspaper is an image I found online, shrunk down, and printed out.

You know how I love a tiny bunting or garland to festive-ize a room box!

These coasters are great for all kinds of dollhouse and room box projects!

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A bohemian living room with a handmade wall hanging

Furniture and decor I've purchased, Handmade decor for my mini house, Miniaturists, Tweaking store-bought dollhouse furniture

Inspired by some more clearance jewelry finds, I made this cute pink tasseled wall hanging for a comfy room box living room!

This yarn, above, looks a little too thick for this project, so I’ll try it with some finer-weight pink thread instead.

Carefully remove the tassels… (Watch out for flying bits of metal!)

A bit of a kabob skewer works great for this project!

Done!

Decorate This (Mini) Room

A new house flipping project, Everyday objects repurposed, Furniture and decor I've purchased, Handmade decor for my mini house, Miniaturists, Shopping for minis, Tweaking store-bought dollhouse furniture

I had so much fun working on the Flip This (Mini) House book that I decided to publish a shorter book devoted to room boxes. It’s filled with never-before-seen photos and projects that are sure to inspire. It’s now available as a Kindle eBook (included in Kindle Unlimited) and paperback.

Decorate This Mini Room by Holly Tierney-Bedord

Decorate This (Mini) Room

A new house flipping project, Everyday objects repurposed, Furniture and decor I've purchased, Handmade decor for my mini house, Shopping for minis

Since my dollhouse is done, I’ve been having some fun decorating a room box. This is the perfect project for a beginner, someone on a budget, or anyone with a short attention span! Any cardboard shipping box is all you need for your structure. Dress it up with scrapbook paper, mini furniture and accessories. Below are a couple of recent projects, including a bohemian bedroom, inspired by a clearance iron-on butterfly I bought a couple days ago, and a Christmasy room filled with clearance minis.








A couple of mini craft projects

Handmade decor for my mini house

I’ve made a couple of quick, easy craft projects lately, both featured on my other blog Holly Recommends. Since these are for my real house, both are a little bigger than the typical scale I’d use if I was creating something for a dollhouse. They’re a cute, quirky way to lighten up a room.

Here’s a link to a mini woven wall-hanging, and a mini crocheted plant sweater.

sweaterplant.jpg

scale
Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

From so-so to super! A new look for this tiny sofa

Handmade decor for my mini house

I picked up this sofa at a garage sale a couple of months ago.

Mini sofa from a garage sale. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

While I haven’t been obsessive about the scale within my mini house (in part because there are issues within the house itself, with differences in door frames and things like that), this sofa leaned toward being a little too big. However, I thought I’d refinish it with some of my awesome mid century fabric I got at the St. Vinny’s in Canada last month, just to see if I could make it work.

Choosing between these... and I went with...

Choosing between these… and I went with…

Sofa with fabric. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

This one.

Can you guess what these will be?

Can you guess what these will be?

Almost ready!

Almost ready!

Ta-Da!

Tiny sofa by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The end result is quite cute, but especially with the addition of the legs, I feel that it might be a tad too big for my house. We’ll see if it makes the final decorating cut…

Creating a one-of-a-kind end table for under a buck

Handmade decor for my mini house

A simple, inexpensive way to create a unique end table for your mini home is to pair a garage sale figurine with a mirror.

Here are my garage sale panda and a bag of mirrors from my local craft store:

Panda figurine and some mirrors. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Moments later, and with the help of a dab of glue, we have this:

Panda figurine and some mirrors. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Finished product:

Panda figurine and some mirrors. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Once the glue dried, I paired my table with different furniture and placed it in different rooms, seeing where it worked best.

Panda figurine and some mirrors. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

It must be the animal lover in me, but now I feel kind of sorry for this panda. Like maybe I could have left it alone and not turned it into a table.

Well, I guess it is what it is isn’t.

Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

A mid century bubble chair for under $5

Handmade decor for my mini house

I was at my local craft store the other day, taking a look around since I was running early for an appointment. I came across a glass ornament (I have no idea what it was doing out in April — maybe it was meant to be used for a little spring/Easter scene?) that looked like a perfect mid century modern bubble chair. I decided I’d hang it from the ceiling in the corner of the living room. Ten minutes later, wondering down an aisle I’d never before set foot in, I discovered an assortment of plate and cup holders. One of the cup holders was a perfect match for my ornament/chair, turning it into an actual free-standing bubble chair. Here they are:

Cup holder + glass ornament = perfect 1:12 scale mid century bubble chair! Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Cup holder + glass ornament = perfect 1:12 scale mid century bubble chair! Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

My new bubble chair works great with my other living room furniture.

My new bubble chair works great with my other living room furniture.

Bubble chair with a mini newspaper rack and a side table that's actually a container of lip balm.

Bubble chair with a mini newspaper rack and a side table that’s actually a container of lip balm.

Woven blinds for your mini home

Handmade decor for my mini house

You may not be a big fan of the woven yarn and wood slat blinds like the ones featured here in this kitchen that used to adorn homes in the 1970’s. I happen to like them, and feel that they’re perfect for the early 1960’s – late 1970’s vibe that my house embodies.

To make some for your own mini house, all you need are some skewers or similar narrow sticks, some yarn, and a small loom (As I’ve mentioned on here before, a potholder loom works great for dollhouse weavings. You can pick one up at your local craft store for usually under $5.00).

Easy to make woven dollhouse shades. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Easy to make woven dollhouse shades. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Once you have a the window covering part taken care of, you can make another piece from cardboard to top it off with. This also gives you a way to hide the knots you’ll tie on one side of the weaving, and gives you a place to install a small pull cord (not installed yet on mine).

Score your cardboard with an exacto knife or scissor edge and it will easily fold like you need it to. The score should be on the outside, not the inside.

Score your cardboard with an exacto knife or scissor edge and it will easily fold like you need it to. The score should be on the outside, not the inside.

Making mini woven shades for a dollhouse. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Simply wrap your cardboard in yarn, adding in some skewers (break or cut them if needed) to complete the look. You can use tape or a dab of a hot glue gun to hold down your yard, since the back of the cardboard won’t be seen. Finally, finish it off with a small pull cord that has a tiny knot or bead at the end (still to come on mine). I think I may add some black yarn to mine to make the top and bottom a better match.

Modern mini art

Handmade decor for my mini house

As you may recall, I made this mural for my mini house’s office…

Mid-century mural for the office. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mid-century mural for the office. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

but have since eliminated teal/blue from my house’s color palette.

Also, I realized after creating it that it would have clashed with whatever wallpaper I ended up choosing for that room.

I liked the design of it so much, however, that I decided to create a small painted canvas with a similar design.

I started with a tiny canvas from the local craft store. These sell for about $1.99 each. I drew the pattern on with pen.

Tiny canvas. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny canvas. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Then I filled in the borders using a fine tip brush and the colors I plan to have throughout the house. I painted the edges of the canvas black.

Tiny painting. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny painting. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

This is a quick, simple, inexpensive project anyone can do. The secret is to use a very fine tipped brush so you have control over applying paint to such a tiny space. I can’t wait to hang it in the office!