Cheering up a Gloomy Sunday: Charlotte's Room

    The weather today is dark and rainy, it is one of those gloomy Sunday afternoons. Since I don't have to work on Monday or Tuesday, I haven't given in to the gloom. Instead I am inspired to make some use of my free time to work on a room I came up with on Valentine's Day. Too bad the weather didn't want to cooperate. Anyway, I started by collecting anything I could find that was pink, red, or heart-shaped to put together a V-Day inspired theme. But it wasn't really coming together, and I couldn't seem to pull off the romantic vibe. The only remaining V-Day inspired items that made the cut is a pink candy heart on the dresser (as a jewelry box) and my favorite little heart mug from my childhood. I started putting things together that looked very kid-friendly, so I decided to make a girl's bedroom. I am imagining her as an 8 year old girl named Charlotte. She is quiet and organized, and she loves horses and reading chapter books. Her room is kind of in transition between a nursery and tween bedroom. 

      The dresser is a Re-Ment nightstand with the lamp removed. The numbers wall art is made using scrapbook stickers. I bought the horses yesterday in a mixed bag of plastic toys from a thrift store. The bed is also from a thrift store, it is from a common miniature nursery furniture set.  I used a cocktail umbrella for a parasol, it would be cool to put a light behind it and make it into a lamp. The tree is laser cut wood I found it at a scrapbooking store. The bookcase is commonly found generic furniture as well, I just painted it white and temporarily put paper on the back of each shelf. All the decorative papers (rug, floor, walls, etc) are from Michael's. The chair is Reac Japan. The origami elephant is from a Jonathan Adler origami kit. All accessories are Re-Ment, Dollhouse Emporium, handmade, children's toys, or hobby store finds.

Found: A knitted pouffe look for less

I've been seeing knitted pouffe ottomans/bean bags for a while now in CB2 catalogs and interior design blogs. Then I saw this beautiful handmade miniature version made by The Shopping Sherpa and featured by Pinch of Pepper on Flickr. I don't know how to knit, much less on a miniature scale, though a project like that may motivate me to learn when I have free time this summer. I also saw a great selection of assorted colored miniature knitted pouffes on PRD Miniatures for $12 plus shipping. While I'd love to have one, my budget is small so I started looking for a cheaper option in the form of...hacky sacks! Colorful knitted bean bags that are small enough to look convincing? I hoped it would work, but after browsing around to find one it was more difficult than I thought. Most of them had wild patterns, and it was difficult to judge if they would be the right size. By chance, I was wandering around a Party City store where they sell small, individual toys for goody bags to give away a children's parties/fill pinatas, etc. and I found some mostly solid colored bean bags for $0.97 that I could display upside-down and get the basic effect. Now I have 2 knitted pouffes for around 2 bucks. My secret is out (just don't look on the bottoms!)

Nothing much new here except the hacky sack/bean bag pouffes from Party City. Couch made by me. Coffee table from ebay. Television and stand from Dollhouse Emporium. Accessories are Re-Ment or handmade.

Picture Postcards

I wanted to play around with my new acrylic risers today and make a office scene in my Ikea Lekman roombox. I bought some Jonathan Adler origami paper at Barnes and Noble that I wanted to use as a rug. I found a postcard of an abstract painting in my collection that inspired the rest of the colors. This room is a mixture of miniatures and re-purposed items. I used my red CB2 Christmas ornament chair plus 2 from my REAC collection. The tables are acrylic risers found on ebay. The red table is a cap from a spray can. The white cube storage unit is Dollhouse Emporium. The accessories are mostly Re-Ment or made by me. The red thumbs-up sculpture is an eraser I bought at Target. I found a pack of them in different colors and poses that I thought would look interesting in a miniature scene. I only spent about 15 minutes putting it together. I like to imagine it as an office for a young, modern creative type.

The second room is in my thrifted dollhouse. I haven't really refurbished it yet, but I temporarily tacked some scrapbook paper to the walls and floors. I used a postcard image to inspire this room as well. The sofa and cushions are made by me (don't look at them too closely or you'll see how bad I am at sewing). The small bookcase is from Dollhouse Emporium. I found the other bookcase at an antique shop and painted it white. I am thinking of putting some paper or a contrasting color in the back of each shelf later on. The chair is REAC and the cubes are Garanamals building blocks. On the shelves are two tiny glass birds that were a Christmas gift. You can find them along with dozens of other glass animals at Toys R Us. They are really

cool little collectibles. It looks to me like an urban bachelor's living room.

margaret_loves dollhouse DIY

In the search for modern dollhouse furniture and accessories, the choices are few and expensive. Most are highly sought after or out of production (only available on ebay) or painstakingly handcrafted by a few artisans on etsy and a handful of other sites ($$$). I don't have the budget to pay 1:1 prices for a 1:12 item (unfortunately) so I happily resort to a satisfying, though many times frustrating and time-consuming process of creating my own miniatures. A lot of mishaps, glue-gun burns, and not always picture perfect results, but I am proud of some of my creations. I wish I had taken some photos during the process of making my sectional sofa, but it isn't too difficult to figure out. Basically, I cut out rectangles for the base, back and each cushion, wrapped them as neatly as I could with fabric and used hot glue to put it together. The mirrored tables are inspired by ones sold by the Dollhouse Emporium. They are wooden blocks, and I glued some mirror board squares to each face. Finally, I found a tutorial to make an Arco-style lamp using a melon baller and some wire. I can't remember whose blog I found it on, please comment if you know so I can credit them. Of these I am most proud of the sofa, and I have used it the most, almost too much. I really need more variety in my collection. It is based on one sold by Room and Board, one I'd love to own in real life :) I am struggling to create another couch, though. I think I must have blocked out how difficult it was. I bought a secondhand leather skirt and a blue velvet shirt from Goodwill (cheaper than buying raw fabric) and I am in the process of taking them apart and using the material to make some more pieces. This time I will try to blog my process.