Cottage Style White Table and Stools

 Cottage style furniture is one of my favorites because even the financially challenged like myself can design a beautiful cottage style home.  All that is required is a few trips to the second hand store (with an open mind), some paint (preferably milk paint) and little bit of work (more likely a lot of work) and you have a cute cottage style home that looks like it is made up of cherished pieces handed down for generations.

Some people choose to use the traditional white and others use bright colors but the end result is always homey and inviting.

Cottage style is very popular with the 1:6 scale crowd as well.  This is my latest cottage style kitchen set.  They are both made of alder and finished with white water based paint.  The dimensions are 7 inches long x 5.5 inches wide x 5.5 inches high.  The paint has been distressed to give the furniture a lived in look.
 

 The table is available in many colors.  Contact me on Etsy or directly through email to discus your options.  The table and stools are available in the paint colors below.

Roombox Plans

 Minimalism appeals to me.  The less is more philosophy allows for organization, cleanliness, and frugality all wrapped up in beautiful ideals of simplicity and environmental conservatism.  I would love to be that person.

Now to reality...I run a business from home that requires things, lots of things.  Saws, drills, sanders, wood, adhesives, stains, and varnish to make furniture; sewing machine, fabric, thread, scissors and so many more things to make pillows and sofas;  cameras, lens, props, shadow boxes, lighting and computers to show off my work in it's best light; and then there is the shipping boxes and packing materials.   Much to my husbands chagrin my small (and not so small) stuff can be found in nearly every room in my house, but I can and will conquer my piles.    No war is won with out going to battle so the first front I am planninng to attack is the piles of props that fill boxes in my work room.  

The first step in controlling my clutter is to come up with a neat way to display my items that can be used as storage and for photographing items for my shop.  The next two images are so charming and inspiring.  I love the idea of storage below the room box like the dresser drawers and the legs lifting the dollhouse up off the floor.

 What I would like to do is make rooms like the one bellow and stack them on top of each other and maybe put legs on them like the one above and maybe a drawer for storage.  That way I could keep everything in a neat stack in the corner of the work room yet it would still be functional for photography and display.

  

 The image below is of a roombox that I made.  The tv holds an iPhone so it can play movies.  

 

 Next step is to make roombox's that stack.  Wish me luck.

My Customers are Awsome!

What are my most successful items on Etsy?  The ones that started out as custom orders.  Really.  The Mad Men style series now available in my shop started as a custom order.

A few months ago a guy contacted me through eBay to asked me to make a chair that looked like the one Don Draper had in his office in the first few seasons of Mad Men.  This is the office furniture he liked:

The sets on Mad Men are beautifully detailed, the actors clothing have started fashion trends, and Don isn't too hard to look at.  Most importantly no matter what our questionable behavior of the day, after watching an episode of Mad Men we feel morally superior.

There are several artist that have recreated scenes from the show.  This being my favorite:

Some day I hope to make my photos look this real.

My interpretation of the Draper Chair:

It took two builds but the end result was something I was proud of and my customer was very happy to receive.  This quickly became a favorite in my shop until a wonderful lady on Etsy asked if I could make the matching sofa as well.  This was the result:

Now the sofa and chair combo are a favorite.

To the people out there that allow me to be part of your creative process, thank you so much.  You help make my shop better.

The sofa and chair can be found in MiniPlacesStudio.

Weathered Grey

Weathered stain used on Restoration Hardware furniture is so beautiful I thought I would try to capture the look in 1:6 scale with these chairs and table combination.  Honestly I started trying to make a deconstructed chair like this

Funny how mistakes can be quit wonderful.  I am still in search of the right stain but this grey has a soft glow to it that I like.  The shape of my chair is only reminiscent of the original but I really like the legs and the high back.

You can find at eBay or Etsy

Stop Motion Animation

I came to 1:6 scale furniture building in a very circuitous  way.  When I started I had no idea what I was doing and no one to ask how to do it and although it seems simple, shipping these items without having them break is an art in and of itself and I wasn't that good at it yet.  So when I got an email from a man in Hollywood asking me to make furniture for his stop motion film I didn't believe it was real.  I decided to check the guy out and to my complete surprise he was real.  He was involved in the animation for Katey Perry's 'California Girls' video and commercials that were run on prime time TV and he wanted props from my shop, MiniPlacesStudio Etsy, for a stop motion film 'Onward' he was trying to fund through Kickstarter. 

 Not sure what to make of the guy I sent him my usual short 'Hi what can I do for you email' and receive a very long animated email about his stop motion movie and what he wanted from my shop.  Like many of my custom orders he wanted something in my shop with a few tweaks,. He wanted the sofa below, but not exactly:

The first thing that had to go was the leopard print.  The sofa above turned into this:

The sofa is similar but the rest was a whole new frontier for me.  Those are the first bookcases, books, and coffee table I ever made.  As you can see I hadn't figured out photo shop to well either because my photo is a bit cockeyed.  My bookcases are much better now as you can see below.

Next he wanted a desk and chair:

 

This was the end of the jobs I could do well, but he kept asking for things and I didn't know how to say no.  Story of my life. He would sometimes ask how to put together an item that arrived broken.  He was very nice about it, but I felt terrible.  A year later and I finally feel confident with my shipping.

Then he wanted a room, three walls, that could be put together and taken apart.  The wall paper just wouldn't stick the way I wanted it to.

 I am kind of proud of this wood panel wall.  Made of coffee stir stick and plywood. 

 He also need a 1:6 scale tombstone that he could us CGI to make words on

 and airline seats.

Onward didn't fund in Kickstarter, so my items never made it to film, but I made some money and learned a lot of new skills.  I guess the take home lesson was to take opportunities when they come.  The skills I acquired from doing this assignment made me a better builder and designer.  It has been close to two years since I did this project and I have sold the same furniture to several new clients who were thrilled with the furniture ...  and it all arrived in one piece.  

Frankie Stien Repaint

 Hello all!  This is my first repaint.  She was a Frankie Stein Doll and now she is a ... I guess softer version of herself.  I used nail polish remover to remove all the paint from her face and body and removed the 'bolts' in her neck with a razor blade and light sanding.  Then I used oil paint and oil pastels to create the facial features and then sealed it.  She is wearing Bratz doll jacket and skirt, socks that I re-purposed from a sweater my daughter no longer fits in and monster high shoes.  I am thinking about painting the shoes.  For a first try she isn't too bad.  I think when I do it again I will make the eye lids bigger.  Her eyes are a bit too big.  Oh, then there is the hair.  If anyone know how to get it laying flat again I would love to know.  Her hair is beginning to look a bit like mine (grey streaks and messy).  Maybe dolls are like dogs they look like their owners after a while ;)

The furniture is available at MiniPlaceStudio