Dollhouse Miniatures

 

 My Own Little World

 Welcome to my very special little home where many happy times have been had by myself and quite a few visitors.....it was also in the local newspaper - that was fun.

 

When I had to retire early from teaching due to health reasons, I was quite upset. But...as the good Lord closes a door..... somewhere he opens a window. I could not face doing nothing for the remainder of my days without something to do. As a child, I had always wanted a dolls' house but we can't have all we desire in life so I made one from a shoebox and I loved it just as much as anything we could have bought from a store. The enjoyment of creating then decorating it with scraps of wallpaper which were way out of scale - priceless. 

 

Anyway, one day my daughter who I had told once about my dolls' house wish, found a Miniatures magazine in a newsagent on her way home from Uni and bought it for me. I found it fascinating, I had not seen this hobby before.

These dolls' houses I decided, were not toys - instead, building a miniature home was a craft to be enjoyed and cherished with the potential to unleash highly creative energies and for me....a lifelong dream. I looked at the images of dolls houses in the magazine and bought a few more over time I looked at the size of the rooms in houses and kits and thought they were a little small...I needed something much bigger. 

 

Many scribbled plans and notes later and I had the makings of my dream dolls' house.....I started with the basement and decided it must have a garage - a special place to store my lovely Edwardian car and where laser cut spider webs coud hang from beams....

 

 

 

....the facade has a quoin stoned arch to drive through. It doesn't really matter there is no road there....:-) For those who like golf...you will find a tiny pair of beautifully crafted real leather golfing shoes made by a friend of mine and a tiny miniature golfing bag with irons on the back seat whilst a map lies on the front passenger seat. At the back of the car, there is a scrumptiously filled picnic basket.....sitting in an open boot. There is also some coal storage by the garage wall needed for the next room.....

.......which just happens to be my favourite room, the laundry. I think this is where I may have belonged...lol.

Right at the back is my proudest invention...I made a tiny iron stove with flickering bulb...where the maids would heat the irons in a bygone age. Look closely to find an old washboard and tub, the ironing table and there are even some tiny bars of carbolic soap next to the sink taps.

 

 

 

Then next to the laundry....there is the kitchen. The table is laden with food. The huge black stove at the back of the kitchen may not have lasted very long in real life... I made it from wood.

 

 

 

My uncle built a table with cabriolet legs for me to stand this first part on. Then I built the main body of the house with 10 rooms. There is a conservatory at one side with French doors leading to the lounge.

 

 

 

 

 

......and a balcony at the other also with French doors opening out from the sewing room.

Next the attic with Dormer windows where the servants sleep which you can just see from the main image.....and the huge lift off facade door where tiny window boxes adorn each opening sash window.

 

Of course, the gardener needed a cottage which I built on the right of the basement. You can just see the edge of it in the main image...the house is a little wide for a full shot, the bedroom where it stands is just not big enough. Above the cottage, there is a garden and a greenhouse which is one of the first miniatures I ever made. It is filled with tiny pots, tools, seed packets and growing trays plus a heater to protect the seedlings in cold weather.

Outside the greenhouse, some wellingtons have been discarded and there are some pretty plants, a hosepipe and a box of freshly harvested veg.

 

 

 

 I made tiny garden furniture with pretty cushions. A working lampost allows for relaxing evenings in late summer.

 

 

 

My last addition to this part of the garden was the dovecote adorned with various flowers. I painted it to match the house itself.

 

 

 

 On the bed in the cottage, there is a very special patchwork quilt made in the same way as a real one, with card templates. The patches are just under 1/2in square......it took a while.

 

This sort of unbalanced the building so I built another for the left side.....well, I had to otherwise anyone leaving the conservatory would have fallen off into space - never to be seen again. I made this room into a music room. (Can't have the music disturbing the occupants of the house)

 

 

 

.......and it allowed me to have another little garden with a little winding path leading from the conservatory. To the right of this image, there is a bee hive where a tiny bee the size of a pinhead....hovers on a thin piece of wire.

 

 

 

The finished house is 9 feet wide and nearly 8 feet tall...well, if you are going to do something - do it well is my motto.....being only 4 ft 11in tall myself, I have not seen the upper floor and attic for a long time.

The entire construction was just made from the simplest of boxes with hallway dividing walls and fire breasts to hold the floor above in place....all made from sturdy 8mm and 12mm MDF......I worked out the pieces for each separate building extension and off I went to the local wood supplier who cut all the pieces I needed. But that was just the beginning. The box is easy.....it is what you do with it which brings more joy I could ever describe.

How I loved shopping for wallpaper and carpets, lighting the rooms and adding flickering fires plus garden lights and street lights 'outside', adding the furniture, some homemade but beautiful Bespaq pieces from the US too....the tiny details...the dining room with permanent lit Christmas tree...where it is always Christmas but never winter..... and the little cats everywhere hoping to steal a titbit from the table...

 

 

 

 I will show the remaining rooms below as there are too many for here - this introduction is just to whet the appetite. It truly is a very special hobby and I do hope you enjoy reading all about it and looking at the images of the little rooms as I post them below in stages.......The icing on the cake for me was when I was sitting creating a little piece in my study with my cats beside me sleeping....priceless moments, peace, harmony and happiness. It really doesn't get better than that and anything in the real world you have to deal with...simply melts away. Take a little trip with me through my miniature world and allow your troubles to disappear for a while as I do often.....Enjoy.