Thank you Darice!

Flipping my mini house

A couple of weeks ago a friend let me borrow her heat tool. She thought it might loosen up the remaining part of the kitchen floor that wouldn’t budge.

Stubborn floor. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I’d been trying to tear out the floor for ~~weeks~~ months, and was at the point where I was actually damaging my house, since the remaining bit of flooring was stuck so firmly in place.

I had doubts about whether the heat tool would work because I’d tried so many tools and cleaners to loosen it up, and I’d had so little luck.

To my amazement, it worked like a charm. It turned the adhesive back into a somewhat liquid state, and the remaining bits of the floor came up in a few easy sections.

Like Pangaea breaking apart. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The final result was this:

Ready for new floors to be installed! Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Thought still a little uneven, it’s now smooth enough in my house for my new wood floors to go over the top. I am SO happy to finally be able to move on to the next step! Thanks to my old friend Beth and my new friend Darice, my house is ready for its dream kitchen to go in any day!

My husband thinks Darice looks like she needs to be hidden in a sock drawer. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Construction secrets

Flipping my mini house

If you’ve ever worked on an old house, you’ll uncover some secrets. Mini houses are no different. Yesterday I removed the baseboard trim in the living room…

Baseboard trim. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

and discovered this:

Trim with notes. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

As you can see, it’s the hand-written notes about which wall to install the trim on. I thought it was pretty cool to see the notes that someone, a little girl’s dad, I imagine, made to himself as he constructed the house. I had to save that little piece. It’s too special to toss in the garbage.

I’ve also discovered as flooring and wallpaper come out, that my house is definitely made from a kit. You can see how parts are labeled (for instance, “Part F”). That might lessen its appeal to some collectors, but it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.

Once the trim came out, I began fitting some of the new wallpaper. Unlike the wallpaper in the bedroom, I’m crazy about the one for the living room. It has gold in it, feels very Jonathan Adler-ish, and will help tie together all the metallic accents that will be going into the living room. Here’s a sneak peek at it:

Living room wallpaper sneak peek. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

A modern bed with built-in side tables

Everyday objects repurposed

There’s been a huge, unexpected benefit to installing wallpaper that I’m feeling lukewarm about. Before installing the wallpaper, I felt like I was pretty much done with the bedroom decor. I had a little bed I’d made from some Styrofoam, handmade bedding, some nightstands I’d painted, and a little dresser. They were all so-so. I was happy enough with them. Once the wallpaper was installed (And let me tell you, working in a tiny space like that, cutting out the perfect window-shaped rectangle that is positioned just so is the definition of tedium), I realized I would do whatever it took to not have to redo it. That has meant taking a serious look at everything else going in the room, and only allowing in decor that will elevate the overall look of the room. I’ve admitted to myself that some of my original plan wasn’t particularly mid-century or modern. Like the nightstands. I decided I either need better nightstands or better wallpaper, but I can’t leave both as they are, or my room will not be cute enough.

In this instance, inspired mainly by The Century House, I decided I wanted my mini bedroom to have a platform bed with built-in side tables like this, this and this, and ohmygoodness this, so I decided to create one for my mini house.

Several months ago I purchased a bottle of men’s cologne from St. Vinny’s, specifically for the awesome wood cap that came with it. The cologne was nestled in a faux wood box. Here’s a look at the box:

Faux wood box. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I decided I was going to turn this into a headboard with side tables!

The box had three parts, as you can see, that all fit together. I decided the two smallest ones would work best for my mini house.

The box is not in perfect condition since it’s from decades ago and has who knows what history. I’m not letting little issues like that stop me. No house is perfect, so a couple of scuffs here and there are no big deal.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Cut the lid in half. These will be my side tables.

You say lid, I say side tables. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

2. Next I made marks on what will be the headboard of the bed, outlining where the side tables will be inserted.

Attach side table here. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

3. Both sides got matching marks, and then were sliced through with an Exacto knife. Then the side tables’ rough cut sides were inserted into the slots that had been made. Here’s the result:

Mini headboard. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

And a view from the back:

Back of the mini headboard. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I realized it needed legs. With their light coloring and clean lines, these wooden caning pegs are perfect for mini mid-century furniture legs!

Caning pegs. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

4. I punched holes in the bases of the sides tables, and each got a leg added:

Adding some legs to my mini headboard. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Here’s a view from the front:

Mini headboard, now with legs. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Once the mattress, pillows, and comforter come into play, the imperfections will be hidden or toned down. I think it looks pretty cute! What do you think?

A mid-century brass drawer knob becomes a tiny bowl

Everyday objects repurposed

When we bought our mid-century home, the built-in dresser in one of our closets came with original, giant brass knobs. They were too cool to hide out of sight, so I swapped them with the knobs on an old cabinet from Target that we use as an entertainment center, to dress it up a little. Here’s the look:

Brass mid-century knobs make a cabinet from Target unique. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

It’s still just an old cabinet from Target, but a little more fun than it was with the original, boring knobs.

We ended up with one extra oversized mid-century knob, and since I’ve pointed out in previous posts that I like the look of metallic bowls around the house, like this one:

Thread wrapped balls in a West Elm bowl. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I thought that my mid century knob would make a perfect brass bowl for fruit or other miniature goodies. Take a look:

A mid-century knob becomes a mini bowl of fruit. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Here it is in relation to a human-scale bowl of fruit:

Fruit for humans and mini fruit. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Bottle caps, particularly from perfume and cologne, and other common items like drawer pulls and knobs, often make great materials for your mini home! You’ve seen me turn them into everything from tiny sofas, to vases, to bowls, and more in previous posts. Best of all, secondhand shops have an abundance of items like these for next to nothing. If you’re creative you can do a lot with very little!

An old place mat becomes a sisal runner for my mini house

Everyday objects repurposed

If you like the look of sisal rugs and runners like this one, this one, and this one, why not make one for your own mini home? I bought this old place mat at my local St. Vinny’s for $1.00.

Old place mat. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I simply cut out the portion I wanted to use for a runner, like this:

Mini sisal mat. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Then I removed everything but the contrasting weaving, so it looks like this:

Mini sisal runner. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

What remains of the weaving will hold itself together as long I’m careful with it. There’s enough remaining of the place mat that I can make other mats or window coverings. Talk about a quick, simple, inexpensive craft project! It’s going to look great in my mini dining or living room!

Progress on my mini house, as of today

Flipping my mini house

I thought I’d share a few pictures of how the house looks right now. As a reminder, this is how it looked when I received it this summer:

Day 1 of my mini house. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Most of the carpeting, wallpaper, and trim have since been removed. Wood floors have now been installed in the upstairs bedroom, as well as some funky retro wallpaper in the master bedroom. All rooms will be receiving white baseboard trim, but a flatter version than what was originally in the house.

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A small part of the original kitchen floor remains, thoroughly glued in place. A friend lent me her heatgun yesterday. She thought it might help loosen up the floor. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Miniblinds that are mini blinds!

Everyday objects repurposed

Inspired by woven bamboo shades like these and these, I decided to make my own for my mini house. When I saw these inexpensive coasters at Bed Bath and Beyond I knew I’d found my perfect materials.

Inexpensive coasters. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I cut them to fit, and then attached another piece over the top to hide where the cord would be attached and to give them the appropriate look.

Mini blinds in progress! Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The toothpick will be used like a curtain rod. Next I added a small line of wood glue and held my blinds in place with a chip clip while they dried.

Mini blinds drying. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Here’s the finished product, with a pair of scissors added so you can picture the scale. I will show them in my mini house later, once the house is a little further along.

Mini blinds made from a coaster. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Slowly but surely…

Flipping my mini house

A look at my mini kitchen and dining area. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I finally got my breakfast bar removed. It turns out it was screwed into place. Once I figured that out I was able to remove it without breaking it, which I was really excited about since I thought it was such a cute feature. I’ll drill new holes for it and it will get moved a little closer to the bench in the dining area, so my kitchen will be a little bigger than it used to be.

The little bit of flooring that remains is coming out one little chip at a time. I almost cut my thumb off the other day when I was trying to watch an old episode of Survivor and work on my house at the same time. All I can say is, I’m glad this is dollhouse flooring and not something I’m dealing with on a larger scale.

I’m not sure what, if anything, I can do about the fact that the floor swoops down a little towards the carport. I didn’t notice it so much at first, but when you’re sitting on the floor, staring at it for an hour, it starts to become really obvious.

Speaking of the carport, I was able to get the wall propped back up to be straight. So that’s great news.

Here’s a reminder of how my house looked when I first got it:

The exterior is now dark teal. Also, I’ve decided the exterior trim will be a yellowish color to match my West Elm measuring cup planters. Photos of that coming soon!

Choosing wallpaper for my mini master bedroom

Flipping my mini house

There’s going to be a lot of wallpaper in my mini house. A LOT. Like every room. Since it’s a mini house, I’m going to pile on all the crazy things I wouldn’t want to live with in my real house. (Or in some cases, the things I would want in my real house, but don’t have the energy or money to make happen.)

I’ve been thinking about wallpaper for the master bedroom. Here are several choices:

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Originally, the second picture (green flowered) was what I had in mind. However, now I like the sparkly chevrons and the fireflies (# 9) best. Sparkly chevrons was intended to go the bathroom, in part because it’s got some texture to it and the walls in there a mess from having had tiles glued to them at one time. I love number ten, but at some point my house is going to stop reading mid-century modern if I’m not careful. I think that could be detail that takes it from mid-century with quirky touches to just plain wrong.

I’ll have to think about this.

Which do you prefer?

If I can make these ornaments, you can too

Handmade decor for my mini house

A few days ago I shared my Etsy Mini Wishlist. In it were these adorable boxes of vintage ornaments by Baking in Miniature:

Mini ornaments by Etsy artist Baking in Miniature. Click on photo to be directed to Baking in Miniature’s Etsy site.

I was beyond inspired by them, so I decided to make my own. Let me just tell you, IT WAS TEDIOUS. But worth it. Here is my finished product (click to enlarge – pardon the quality; they were taken with my phone):