Exterior painting in progress!

A decision has been made. After much hemming and hawing, I’ve chosen this shade of deep teal and given my house its first coat of paint. To get the perfect shade, I mixed it myself using a variety of tubes and bottles of art and craft paint. Here is a little peek at the secret formula:

The magic ingredients. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Final product. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I tried to make a lot since matching that color is going to be really tricky. Still, I didn’t end up with nearly enough. I’ll mix another batch soon on a bright, sunny day so I can have the best chance of getting a close enough match.

Here is a look at my house now. It’s splotchy and definitely needs another good coat, but you can see how cute it’s going to be. I’m still debating on trim colors. I’m considering leaving the front door alone and just adding a cute doorknob, and maybe some mid century miniature doodad like this backplate.

New exterior color. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

To remind you, here is the ‘before’ version of my house:

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Here is a view of just the front panel of the house now:

When I’d gotten to the point where I barely had enough paint left to continue, and I was losing my enthusiasm (especially on the side with the carport), I got reinspired by this artwork on HGTV:

Frozen HGTV art inspiration. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I realized that the wall inside what will be the office needs a little art, so I made this mural using a Sharpie marker and some of my leftover paint:

Mini mural, step one. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Future office. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mini mural, painted. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Having accent colors inside the house that match the exterior will make the finished project look much more cohesive.

While I still had my paint and paint brush out, I painted the seats of these clearance chairs to match. I’m not even sure if I’m going to use them in the house since they aren’t much of a style match, but they might work someplace.

Mini chairs before. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mini chairs and mini mural. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The mural will get cut down to fit on the wall of the office. The chairs will get sanded a little and… who knows.

Coming up soon: Another coat of paint, trim to be painted, shingles to be applied, and chimney to possibly get a facelift. It’s exciting times in Flip This Mini House land!

A tiny room divider

Handmade decor for my mini house

The bathroom in my mid century dollhouse has no door, so I knew I needed to find a way to give any miniature visitors to the space some privacy without blocking the view too much. My solution is this modern, beaded curtain, made of a rustic twig and four strands of pre-strung beading from the jewelry section of a local craft store (Sharpie shown for scale). The divider will be hung at ceiling height to fill the entire space going into the bathroom:

Boho chic room divider for my mid-century dollhouse. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

A cute little plant holder

Handmade decor for my mini house

Here is another quick, practically-free mid-century miniature project:

Tiny crocheted pot and thread macrame plant holder by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I am on the hunt for a leafy little plant to put inside. I think this will likely end up in the bedroom, since it matches the little comforter I made for the bed.

An inexpensive, artistic way to personalize a mini house

Handmade decor for my mini house

This small wooden easel and stretched canvas were found (both unpainted) at a local craft store. They were about $2 each. I painted the easel a sunny shade of yellow, and painted an orange sailboat scene on the canvas. I had a little trouble getting a shot of it without a glare, but you get the idea. It’s a quick, simple project that will personalize my dollhouse. It would also be cute displayed on a bookshelf or end table in a human-scale house.

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

The easiest way to make small-scale weavings

Handmade decor for my mini house

Almost every kid owned this potholder loom at some time. They’re still available for just a few bucks at many craft and toy stores. I picked one up the other day and since then I’ve created a small rug for my mid century marvel, and now I’m working on another:

Simple weaving projects using a plastic potholder loom. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The top one was created with a regular 90 degree by 90 degree pattern. For the one in progress, I’ve incorporated 90 degrees x 90 degrees x 45 degrees, just to see how it looks. This one will also end up being a rug, most likely. I plan to create another weaving using a lightweight thread next, so I can have a table runner for my mini kitchen.

Here is another picture of the completed rug, when it was in progress:

Dollhouse rug, in progress. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The advantage to using a 90 degree by 90 degree process is that you can easily squish the lines of thread together to make the appearance as tight as you’d like. With the one I’m working on now, the threads running at a 45 degree angle prevent me from having that option. I’m going to have to keep filling in the gaps with more thread, instead of being able to just smoosh them together.

This loom is great because it’s cheap, light, and small. You could use it (in your human-scale life) to make small wallhangings for your home, coasters, little weavings to set a potted plant on, etc.

Are you feeling creative and artistic, but on a small scale?

Blogs and websites that inspire

If you’d like to flip your own mini house, here is a contest you might be interested in:

The 21st Annual Creatin’ Contest from miniatures.com*

Everyone must use the Starting Point Garage Kit as their structure, and the entry deadline is December 16, 2014. Click the link above for more information.

If you need some inspiration, check out the 2014 Undersized Urbanite dollhouse contest website, showing results from this year’s (already completed) challenge.

*I’m not affiliated with this contest. Please direct all inquiries to the people at miniatures.com

Souvenir ornament repurposed into a light fixture

Everyday objects repurposed

This trinket that someone purchased in Jamaica is going to make a fabulous light fixture! Here is the “before” version of it:

Jamaica ornament. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

It was filled with blue sand, little shells, a tiny starfish, and a little pail. My initial attraction to it was based upon the tiny shells, which I thought might be cute sitting on a shelf in my mid century marvel’s bathroom one day.

The only thing keeping the sand and shells inside was a small, easy-to-remove plastic cap at the bottom of the ornament.

Evidence that people spend way too much money when they're on vacation. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I separated the stuff inside from the ornament:

The materials to turn my mid century marvel's bathroom into a tropical oasis of beachiness. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Next I cleaned up the ornament with some nail polish remover. Without too much trouble the word Jamaica was erased. Here is a picture of it after about thirty seconds of scrubbing at the ornament with a Q-tip and polish remover. After another couple of minutes, the word was gone.

Using finger nail polish remover to erase the word printed on the ornament. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The word and the price sticker all came cleanly off, leaving me with this little globe:

Light fixture for a very small house. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

With a little more work, this small globe is going to be a great light fixture one day!

Back to the exterior color palette…

Flipping my mini house

A week or so ago, I was describing the West Elm measuring cups turned planters here, and shortly after that I was considering exterior paint choices here. I realized that I should have included my planters in the illustration I created, to get an idea of how their color would go with the house. Here are a couple new ideas to consider, along with a few more swatch combinations below. At this point I’m leaning towards a teal house with some combination of lime, olive, orange, or cream for the trim and front door.

Don't forget about the planters! Illustration by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

More color scheme ideas. Graphic designed by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mini house demo time

Flipping my mini house

The tiny sledgehammers have been unleashed. I’ve been tearing out wallpaper, removing tiles, and prying away miniature baseboards. Here’s an in-progress view of the work zone. I’ll admit, a part of me thought it was ironic/stupid to remove actual mid century features like the wallpaper, only to replace them with my 2014 ideas of how mid century decor should look. Once I saw the back of the bathroom tiles (is that… rust?) and the wallpaper, all covered in mildew splotches and reeking of yesteryear, I knew I’d made the right decision. I have no idea how I’m going to smooth out the bathroom walls, but I guess I’ll figure out something.

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Bottle cap turned modern planter or end table

Everyday objects repurposed

This real wooden cap from a bottle of men’s cologne from the 1970’s or 80’s is going to make a great planter or end table. Flipped one way it has a spot for a plant. Flipped the other, it has a smooth table top. Here it is shown beside some books, to give you an idea of the scale. I found it at a thrift store for 90 cents, and it even came in a faux wood grain box (made of cardboard) that might come in handy for another project at some point. The only downfall is the stench of the cologne that I had to endure for the photo shoot.

Everyday object repurposed. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

flipthis(mini)house

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

design

Exterior painting in progress!

A tiny room divider

A cute little plant holder

An inexpensive, artistic way to personalize a mini house

The easiest way to make small-scale weavings

Are you feeling creative and artistic, but on a small scale?

Souvenir ornament repurposed into a light fixture

Back to the exterior color palette…

Mini house demo time

Bottle cap turned modern planter or end table