A cozy breakfast room on a budget

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

Today’s room box has lots of inexpensive touches.

The dresser, cabinet, and small table (night stand) were all Dollar Store purchases or from the dollar (or so) aisle of one of my local craft stores. All were originally unpainted. The dresser and night stand have non-functioning drawers, unfortunately.

I wove the chunky rugs on a potholder loom. The flat, tan one is just a scrap of burlap.

Here’s a link to a previous post about the faux macrame wall hanging and the faux light fixture.

The white, fringy wall hanging on the far left is an earring.

This little plant goes here!

The diamond shaped wall hanging is a scrap of burlap I wove some yarn into.

The oversized wooden pot on top of the cabinet was featured here. It’s a napkin ring.

Earrings from Prague.

All photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

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1970s Style in the Flip This (Mini) House living room and bedroom

Handmade decor for my mini house

Armed with these jumbo pompom balls and scrap of burlap, I made some crafts with swanky style for my mid-century house today.

Easy Wall-hangings

Handmade decor for my mini house

It’s easy to make little wall-hangings like these recent creations.

The card that came with some earrings was the perfect backing. I started with a strip of trim, affixing it with double-sided tape, layering a contrasting trim, and repeating the process.

This little table, above, is made of a rock slice and some wooden beads. The wall-hanging beside it is made of a cardboard earring card, some wood grain craft tape, a small metal tree from a craft store, and some trim.

Chip clips are great for mini craft projects!

 

Displaying mini collections

Furniture and decor I've purchased

If you enjoy collecting in your human-scale life, why not extend that to your mini world? I love collecting tiny baskets for my dollhouse and room boxes. Here’s a look at some of them on display:

I made the little macrame owl on the wall using a Jonathan Adler pattern. The plant is made from doubled-over painter’s tape, cut to shape. The birch tree is a twig wrapped in fuzzy yarn.

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 closer look at the living room

Flipping my mini house
A closer look at the living room

A closer look at the living room

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room

Much of the art, furniture, and accessories in the Flip This (Mini) House project are repurposed objects I found for next to nothing at garage sales and thrift stores, or that I created from materials from craft stores and hardware stores.

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room. To learn how to make a bubble chair, faux modern pendant light, and much more, take a look at old posts.

A closer look at the Flip This (Mini) House living room. To learn how to make a bubble chair, faux modern pendant light, and much more, take a look at old posts.

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…

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.

Jewelry as dollhouse art

Everyday objects repurposed

I’ve mentioned how much I love small hardware items like handles, knobs, and hinges when it comes to creating miniature decor. Jewelry is another excellent source for dollhouse design. This vintage fish brooch from St. Vinny’s is going to work perfectly over the fireplace.

Vintage fish brooch. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Vintage fish brooch. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Vintage fish brooch back. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Vintage fish brooch back. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Creating a miniature medicine cabinet and bathroom accessories

Handmade decor for my mini house

I decided to create a medicine cabinet for my mini bathroom. I fashioned it using a mirror from an old eyeshadow compact and a plastic box that once held pins in a sewing kit. Here are the original components in their natural state:

Plastic container that originally held needles and pins. This will the interior and door of my medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Plastic container that originally held needles and pins. This will the interior and door of my medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Side view.

Side view.

This mirror goes on the front of it. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

This mirror goes on the front of it. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I was able to snap the mirror off the eye shadow without breaking it, which was great. I glued it to the lid of the box and used regular clear tape as a hinge. I painted it with white paint (unfortunately, plastic hates to be painted). I lined the interior of the cabinet with paper and inserted a little shelf that is actually the same floorboard material I’m using for trim (also plastic-y, also hates to be painted).

Medicine cabinet interior, shown with tape so you can better imagine the scale. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Medicine cabinet interior, shown with tape so you can better imagine the scale. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

 

Next I needed some little bathroom accessories, like glass jars of cotton balls and fancy little soaps wrapped in tissue paper. For cotton balls I used the kind of mini pompoms you can buy at almost any craft store. Here’s a look:

Big jar of mini pompoms beside mini jar of mini pompoms. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Big jar of mini pompoms beside mini jar of mini pompoms. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

To create soap, I used a real bar and cut off little chunks. A couple got wrapped in white tissue paper, and one was set into a tiny ceramic bowl that will make a great soap dish.

Mini bars of soap made from a regular bar of soap. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mini bars of soap made from a regular bar of soap. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Little soap.

Little soap.

Are you ready to see the finished product?

Bathroom with handmade medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Bathroom with handmade medicine cabinet, partially opened. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

As you can see, the paint continues to scrape off, especially when I open and close the cabinet door. I’ll need to touch it up again and then leave it alone. Despite its imperfections, I think it’s pretty cute!