Mini house updates

Furniture and decor I've purchased

Recent updates to the mini house include some great new eBay furniture purchases and steady process on the shingles. All I can say is, this house has a lot of roof.

Here are a few looks at some inexpensive eBay finds I picked up recently.

Trying out some cute eBay chairs with a rug I already had.

I’m having a hard time finding the right dining room table. This eBay find is cute, and it was a great deal, but I’m not sure if it’s going to make the cut.

The adorable bowls came all the way from Thailand. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

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:

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

Finished product:

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

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.

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New to FlipThis(Mini)House? Here’s a recap for you!

Flipping my mini house

I’ve always loved dollhouses. Last summer (July, I think) my friend and her husband spotted a mid century dollhouse at a flea market and sent me a text, asking if they should buy it for me. It was just $35, appeared to be pretty solid looking, and had an awesome, unique split level layout.

“Sure!” I said.

A few hours later they were delivering it to me. Here’s how it looked on the day I got it:

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

Since then I’ve been hard at work creating furniture and accessories from scratch, tweaking store-bought furniture and accessories, and making over everything inside. Here are a few of the accessories and pieces of furniture I created from things like coasters, handles, and yarn that I wove on a potholder loom:

Mini blinds made from a coaster.

Tiny love seat and a newspaper to read. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny love seat made from two wooden handles, a mid century cloth napkin, and some small wooden balls. The tiny newspaper rests in a metal doodad from Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

It took me months just to get all the wallpaper and flooring removed!

Here’s a look at some of the rooms in progress:

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

A look at my mini kitchen and dining area, in progress.

Living room in progress.

And now here’s a look at some of the rooms today:

Trying out furniture and decor in the living room.

For all the details, and to see the final unveiling which will hopefully happen in the later spring/summer, follow me here on WordPress or on the Flip This Mini House Facebook page.

Some small changes to some (small) appliances

Tweaking store-bought dollhouse furniture

The refrigerator and stove I plan to use in my house were a little too small and an icky shade of yellowish beige. After several unsuccessful looks at eBay and other online miniature shopping sites, I decided to do what I could to improve the appearance of them.

I didn’t mind so much that they were a little small — to me, it gave the refrigerator a bit of a Smeg feel to it, and the stove reminded me of a cute little 1960’s gas stove I had in an apartment long ago (my favorite apartment ever). But the stove in particular was just too small to work with the cute little set of cupboards my mom picked up for me, which I am firmly committed to using, so I decided to do what I could to make the stove a little bigger.

Stove before. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

After putting a couple of coats of paint on each, I added some feet to the stove (tiles, actually).

Stove with feet added.

The tiles/feet overhang the back of the stove, because I’m going to build up the back of it with some cork coasters. These little feet bring it up to the same height as my countertops.

Two cork coasters, painted white, trimmed to size, and glued to the back of my little stove.

These coasters not only give the stove a top portion for knobs, but they also make it so the stove is the same approximate depth of my counter tops.

I added some tape to round off the border of the stove, some more coats of paint, and some black brads as tiny control knobs.

Almost done!

My stove is almost done! It needs another coat of paint and some of the details worked out, but I’m much happier with the color, size, and general appearance. Photos of it in the kitchen coming soon!

Kitchen and Dining room update

Flipping my mini house

The floors and wallpaper are done in my kitchen and dining room! Now I just need to add some trim. Here’s a peek at the progress:

FlipThis(Mini)House kitchen and dining progress. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Floors in the kitchen and dining room

Flipping my mini house

My kitchen floor grouting is complete and my dining room floor has been installed! Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the unglamorous process, with some books, chip clips, and wedged-in tools all doing their part to make sure the floor stays nice and smooth!

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.

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.

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.

Kitchen tiles and wallpaper

Flipping my mini house

I think I’ve finally chosen a look for the kitchen.

It hasn’t been easy! Kitchens are so important. I really wanted a mainly white kitchen with orange or yellow Orly Kiely-esque wallpaper. Finally I decided it wasn’t realistically going to happen, no matter how many times I sifted through the scrapbook paper at my local craft store. So this is what I came up with:

Tiles and wallpaper for my mini kitchen. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I’m not sure about the multicolored tiles. I’ll have to put some in place and see what I think. Stay tuned!

A sneakpeek at the living room

Flipping my mini house

Here’s a look at the living room with its new floors, wallpaper, trim, and fish art over the fireplace:

Trying out furniture and accessories in my living room. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

flipthis(mini)house

Join me as I turn a flea market find into a mid-century marvel

decorating

Mini house updates

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

Follow me on Pinterest!

New to FlipThis(Mini)House? Here’s a recap for you!

Some small changes to some (small) appliances

Kitchen and Dining room update

Floors in the kitchen and dining room

Woven blinds for your mini home

Kitchen tiles and wallpaper

A sneakpeek at the living room