The Miniaturist - Life In A Doll's House

It all started with a box which arrived with the postman at the beginning of the week. I know that describing somebody as inspirational is a phrase often done to death but, when I discovered Linda's incredible miniatures on her Instagram page (see HERE) I was captivated. Her tiny interiors weren't just good, they were so cool I wanted to shrink myself down and move in. You may remember me mentioning rescuing Mum's childhood doll's house just before Xmas, but other than dusting off the decades of dust, I'd had zero inclination to do anything with it - that was until I'd seen Linda's creations. When she sent me these wonderful pieces she'd made herself, that was it, I was inspired to get cracking and create a miniature interior I'd be happy to live in.

When I first started the task of clearing The Cottage I came across a box of doll's house furniture in my old bedroom but, assuming the doll's house had long gone, I sold it all off as a job lot on Ebay. I could have kicked myself when, five years later, Jon found the house in the attic. Luckily there were still a few bits of the original 1940s English-made wooden Dol-Toi furniture inside - on the tatty side after being loved and played with by both Mum & young Vix. 

 I suppose a vintage purist might have been tempted to leave the pieces original but I wanted a doll's house that reflected my taste so I sanded them down, patched them up and painted them with some bright & cheery Wilko's tester pots of emulsion I already had.

Dressing table & stool are original to the house as was the brass fruit bowl, Linda made the vase of roses. The stool is covered with a piece of card cut from a box of Pukka tea bags. I borrowed the bangles in the bowl from one of my Spanish dolls.

Discovering the world of miniatures is a bit like falling down a rabbit hole. Over the past few days I've entered a previously unknown - and at times, almost surreal - world of blogs, fan pages, forums and a billion Pinterest pages. Scrolling through eBay's Doll's Houses & Miniatures listings is mind-blowing - flat screen TVs, surround sound systems and DAB radios ....who knew such things existed? There's pages and pages of blogs offering free printables of paper ephemera from scaled down vintage wallpaper, books smaller than postage stamps, dressmaking patterns and magazines.

I found the hardwood floor and 1970s wallpaper HERE and the teeny tiny mock leather-bound antique books HERE which I printed and padded out with bits cut from a household sponge. The mahogany bench was another surviving piece of furniture.

The guitar was borrowed from one of my Spanish dolls as was the Fedora hanging from the mirror. I bought the Trimphone back in the 1970s. The original legs had fallen off the bed so I used beads for feet. I bought a kid's pink fake fur hat from a charity shop yesterday for 50p and cut it up to make rugs. I made the bed cover & pillows from some of the scraps of vintage fabric Sarah had sent me with the bag I wore on my blog last week.

I've always wanted an original Woodstock poster. I found this image on the internet and scaled it down to miniature size, gluing it to cocktail sticks and suspending it with thread. The bedside table is made from an old match box with cut down matches for legs and a glass topped dressmaker's pin for a knob.

Like the bedroom the living room also has a hardwood floor - in the same shade of Jacobean Oak as our own house - and another scaled down printable 1970s wallpaper. 

The kidney-shaped settee was another piece from the doll's house but the covering was drab rather than fab so I recovered it with some of the groovy fabric Sarah sent me. The titchy pompom trim was salvaged from a poshly-wrapped birthday present. I crocheted the blanket and made the orange & turquoise felt cushions. 

Tiny cushions are a perfect way of using up scraps of vintage trim and odd buttons.

Can you believe that the light box actually works? The silver Buddha used to be attached to a necklace and I found the Whitbread tankard in the pocket of a vintage jacket we'd bought from a charity shop. The brass candlestick was another treasure from the original doll's house.

How cute is this pineapple table lamp?

Linda's Mid-Century rocket lamp is sheer genius.

The 1960s magazine with Jimi on the front was another free download from one of the miniaturist blogs I've already linked to. 

And can you believe what arrived five minutes ago? Only this incredible gift from my lovely friend, Lynn, who I sometimes think must have a sixth sense. It's probably just as well we're not working this weekend as I'll probably have my head stuck in this book for most of it.

I'll let you into a secret - the rooms might be furnished but the actual doll's house is still a wreck. Prettifying over practicality - that's me all over.

See you soon!