I still have plenty of photos from the Chicago show last month I haven’t had time to post. Here are some of PRD Miniatures. Also, here’s a link to the PRD Miniatures story.
Artist Paris poses with his mom.
PRD Miniatures at the Chicago Miniature Show, April 2015. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
To make your floors fit, create a pattern or stencil using paper, the way clothing designers create patterns before putting scissors to their fancy fabric. This works for wallpaper too. Here are the steps I took to install my living room floor.
First I cleared out my living room. Next I began constructing my stencil, basing it off the shape of the far wall. See (below) how it fits like a puzzle piece against the wall? This required a fair amount of adding and subtracting to get it right. I’d slice a little bit off here, tape in a little extra there, until I had it just right.
Create a stencil to lay on top of your flooring. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Next I added another portion for the section of flooring that is by the railing. Then I put the stencil on top of my flooring and taped it into place.
Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Next I carefully cut out my floors. I ended up with this:
Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Now came the moment of truth. Would this amorphous shape fit just right into my mini living room?
Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Yay! It fits! And since the floor is actually made of individual slats of wood affixed to a paper backing, it’s flexible enough to maneuver into place.
Below, if you look to the left of the stairs going up to the bedrooms, you can see one small piece going the wrong way, where I stuck in an extra piece since the flooring was just a bit smaller than the length of the room. Once I install wallpaper, white baseboard trim, and put furniture in place, this will be practically unnoticeable. Chip clips are handy for holding the flooring in place as adhesive dries.
Use chip clips to force your floor flat. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Finally, I’ll pile some books on top to help ensure it stays flat.
Keeping newly installed floors flat. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
Living room wallpaper is going in soon! I can’t wait to show you the results!
I’ve created a little staging area on the dining room table (My husband really appreciates stuff like that) since my mini house is thoroughly under construction. It’s filling up with the little maybes and probably-nots I’ve been creating.
Whenever a person embarks on any creative project there are hits and misses. My dollhouse project is no exception. This (non-functional) lamp made from a Keurig individual coffee serving and some wooden doodads, for instance, looks a little bit more like its components than a lamp. A little chain hanging down might help, but maybe not enough. I’m still debating its ultimate destination, be it in my mini house, or in the trashcan.
I’m up in the air about whether I am going to keep the modern plastic chair I made from a Klarbrunn bottle. I’m not sure if it reads more as a modern chair, or more as the bottom of a bottle.
Since people seem to like to decorate with bowls of balls orbs, I decided this would be a realistic addition to my mini house. Inspired by this design element in my own home as seen below…
… I used the shiny lid of an Anthropologie candle as a tray, and filled it with wooden beads, and these shiny brass buttons I recently picked up at a garage sale.
The result is a little tray of decorative orbs, much like you’d see in a real living room:
Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
I think this works pretty well and will probably end up in the finished product.
The coffee table I showed you here now has a matte black top, like much of my other furniture. I might repaint it all glossy. I thought the flatness would be a nice juxtaposition to the shininess of the brass that will be in the room, but I’m not sure I’m loving the look.
The bookshelf and rug you see here are Ikea Huset miniatures, as seen here. The shelf is definitely going to be in my finished dollhouse. I’m still debating about the rug.
I had the highest of hopes for my end table with a geode slice top. At $5 for the geode slice, it was a big splurge, and I thought would make a really amazing table. However, I am not loving its look or tippiness. I think I need to remove the wooden ball base and glue four little legs on. More about that later. I still know it’s going to be great.
The little staging area helps me see if the varying, imperfect scales are working together. I knew early on that I was not going to be a stickler about precise scale, in part because my dollhouse itself has scale issues, with some doors being one scale, others being another, but also because I think embracing this quirkiness makes it look more fun in the end, and more fun to work on during the creative process.
When you see the finished house, however long from now that is, I think several of these elements will have been altered or edited out completely. Taking a step back to evaluate, and not getting too committed to bad ideas makes for a better finished product. This is true or writing, design, and unfortunately, I’m afraid, that lamp.
Here is an in-progress project:
Pom-pom love sign by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.
This groovy little pom-pom sign will be a great addition to my mid century house! The tiny pom-poms and backing are available at most crafts stores. It’s easy to sew them onto the backing. You can write or draw your design on ahead of time, or just wing it. Make sure you have enough of each color to complete your shapes or letters. I ran out of light blue on the “e” and had to finish it with white, but I think it turned out pretty cute anyway. This is a quick, simple, inexpensive project. I’m still deciding if I’m going to turn this into a wallhanging or the face of a throw pillow.
flipthis(mini)house 