Wood Model Construction

I have the privilege of teaching a model building class at a local college.  The final class project was a kit of this two story home.  It is built of balsa wood and is 3/4"=1'-0".  I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I opened the box and saw a bunch of bundles of wood and a set of scale plans, but it turned out being a great project.

The view shows the large open living space below and the kitchen underneath the upstairs bedroom.

The side elevation shows how the open stairs are placed in the large vaulted living room.  There is a half/bath tucked under the stairs.

 The rear of the house - note the kitchen door and window on the first floor and the bedroom window on the second level.

The front of the house

Tin Lithos

My two tin lithographed houses reside on the palm-lined street in the study atop some book shelves.

(The palm trees were a 75% off after Christmas find and are made of painted metal also.)

 One of the things I liked about these two houses when I purchased them several years ago, was that they are from such different era's - the 1940's and the 1950's.  The decor is radically different inside and out. The one from the 40's uses bright and bold colors and the one a decade later is mainly pastel colors.

In 1948, T. Cohn introduced this elegant Spanish themed, tile roof home as their first dollhouse.  The detail is wonderful.  The lattice windows, which are fully functional are a wonderful touch.  The house was unique with its tiled, pitched roof with it centered chimney and lots of flowers and shrubs decorate the exterior

The master bedroom has a floral print wall paper and featurs a floral rug set near the front opening of the house so that no matter how you arranged the furniture in the rooms, it would be visible.

The nursery has a sort of circus theme with toys on a shelf on the wall.

The kitchen is bright with its yellow and red walls and a geometric linoleum floor.  The walls are decorated with a a shelf and clock and a large fruit wreath.

The large living room in the T. Cohn house has dark green walls, a roaring fire place and built-in book shelves.  The light colored floor also has a tradition green border.

The patio is on the second level and is filled with brightly colored floor tiles.

This house was first produced in 1959. It reminds me a lot of the Brady Bunch House. This one sits on large base that was lithoed to look like a patio and provide the 'Split Level" look. My research showed that the house came with plastic front, back and inside steps, and a plastic grill/bbq that was built right into the wall adjoining the patio and kitchen. There were various models of this house and they all came with some, none or all of the following: playground set, pool set, Corvette or T-Bird car, split rail fences, plastic trees and shrubs, bird bath with birds, dogs, rock fence, vegetable garden, boxwood hedge, horses with riders, 18-20 dollhouse figures, lighting, working doorbell, and an opening front door.

The kitchen is this house is also a bright yellow, but features modern applianced of the day including a built-in oven.

the family room and dining room are done in tones of blue with modern built-in cabinets of yellow and blue.  There is a wonderful harliquin pattern wallpaper in the "breakfast" area.

The master bedroom is decorated in kind of mint color and is relatively bare compared to the other rooms in the house.

I really like the living room.  It has wood paneling on the walls, built-in shelves, a mid century modern fireplace with modern art hanging on the walls.  The pattern on curtains is great too.

The outdoor pation on the modern house is pastel colored flag stones.  There is a great website which features both of these and a whole lot more:

http://www.barbigirl.com/marxhome.htm 

Another thing that I think is so great about these houses, is that there is so much detail, it is pretty easy to imagine a family living in each of these rooms even without furniture.

Arcade Laundry Room

Arcade made cardboard rooms for each of the sets of furniture. My family surprised me with the complete Arcade laundry room pieces for Father's Day this year, so I have been working on creating a room to display them in. I bid on an authentic cardboard room a few months ago, but the price soared far above what I could pay. I was able to snap some pictures and create a reproduction of the room myself. Hopefully this didn't break any copyright laws!  The cardboard rooms were produced between 1925 - 1936.  I used foam core instead of cardboard.

I was amused at the details in the room.  Even though it was just a cardboard lighograph, ( 4 color) it has items like electrical outlets at each corner above the base board, a water heater, wall sconces, windows with with curtains and crown molding.  I also like the random pattern of the tile floor.  The detail on the door with the cottage-like hinges are pretty interesting too. 

 The Thor washing machine has a wringer that swivels, and a nickel plated agitator inside.  The double boiler has 2 burners on top and a giant cast iron pot.

The double laundry sink has "Standard" logos on each side. 

The ironer or "mangle" has a large nickel plated press on a spring and a white wooden dowel that spins.  It also has a "Thor" label on the front ( and the Arcade sticker on the back)  You can see the stand for the laundry sink from the side.

Take A Seat

 Over the years I have picked up a Willitt's resin chair here and there. I snagged a couple more at an estate sale last week and realized that I have acquired quite a few!

I like this one because it reminds me of our family trip to the Biltmore Estate a few years ago!  It is a copy of Mr Vanderbilt's Chair from his bedroom and the original dates from 1885.

 This chair is also from the Biltmore Estate, it is located in the Billiard Room and also dates from 1895.  It was a reproduction of a 17th-century chair.

 This one is a model of an Adirondack chair from the 1940's

 This one is called "Red Heart" and is a reproduction of the contemporary chair from 1999.

 This model is of a mission style rocker from 1908.

 This chair is called Form & Function and is from 1999.

 This purple chair looks pretty modern, but is actually based on a design from 1944.

  This chair, although called Mexican Leather, reminds me of an old Egyptian chair located in the museum in my boyhood town of Ely Nevada.

more to come!

My Biggest Miniature Yet

Pictured above is a Tynietoy Chippendale sitting on a miniature carved Chippendale Chair.  The larger version here was a recent purchase at an estate sale.  It measures about 2 feet tall and 12 inches across.

 The chair is carved from oak and the seat is upholstered in red velvet.  I am considering recovering it in a more traditional fabric.

 The chair seemed like an interesting place to display my smallest miniatures.  I have a 1/144 scale house and all of its belongings.

 I acquired most of the pieces from a fellow miniaturist who had recently purchased in bulk, 'tons' of the lead miniatures.

Everything you would need to set up house - from kitchen, living room, bathroom, even a bassinet and a vacuum.   There is even a small wishing well for the yard.

Mini Apartment Projects

I had the great pleasure of constructing two model apartment units.  The owner wanted something in the office to show prospective tenants.  It was great getting paid to do something that was so much fun!  The project is located at a university so the units are seldom vacant ( or tidy) when someone wants to see what they look like inside.  The architecture firm that I worked for designed the units and I served as the  project manager during construction of the project.  The models are built at 1"=1'-0" and I was able to use some dollhouse furniture and scale parts, doors and some of the other pieces.  I had to build the windows to match the actual units.  I used 1/2" plywood for the walls and floors.  The upper area of the exterior also has wood siding.  All of the colors and materials used, match those in the actual building.

The first model is of the two story 2 bedroom townhouse unit.  It has a living area, kitchen, 1/2 bath, stackable washer and dryer and storage closet on the first floor and two bedrooms and a shared bathroom on the second floor.

 This view shows a closer look at the second floor, bedrooms, closets, bathroom and hall.

 This exterior detail shows the recessed front entry.

 Here is a shot of the interior living/dining area, stairs and storage closet near the front door.  I scanned in the actual carpet and printed it out at a small scale so that the unit would look pretty close to the real thing.  The paint colors were the same as the actual project as well.

 This view shows the kitchen.  I scanned in the plastic laminate for the counter tops and scaled in down and printed it for a realistic view.  The door under the stairs has a half bath while the louver door in the kitchen screens a stackable washer and dryer.

 This is a view of the front elevation of the townhouse unit.  I used scale dollhouse bricks and painted painted the cast stone pieces with a sand texture paint.

 This is a view of the rear of the townhouse unit and the back door.

 Here is a photograph of the actual apartment complex.  It gives you a better idea of how the 2 story townhouse units fit together.

The Studio Apartment

 This is a view of the studio apartment model.  It features, a large open plan for the kitchen and living area, a bathroom, and a large storage closet.  I put a small framed picture of the university president in the hall !

 This view shows the kitchen layout.  I scanned in the carpet, tile, laminate counter tops and matched the paint colors on the walls and the stain color on the cabinets so that the prospective clients would have a realistic view of where they were going to be living and what to expect.

 This view shows the living area opposite the kitchen.  It was kind of a challenge to find modern looking dollhouse scale furniture locally in the amount of time I had.

 This is a view of one of the bedrooms.

 This view shows the bathroom between the bedrooms, the stairs and hallway, and each of the bedroom closets.  I was able to use a dollhouse tub and toilet, but had to build the sink unit and cabinets.  It was fun building the closet storage systems out of small scale wood.

Lastly, here is an outdoor photograph of the building that houses the studio apartments and the rental office.  It is also home to the miniature apartment models.

Smithsonian Miniature finds

I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC.  The Smithsonian was on my list of things to do.  I was surprised to find quite a few dollhouses scattered around in the National Museum of American History.

This first dollhouse belonged to the children of President Grover Cleveland and was made by the White House Gardener in 1896.  It was part of a display of the toys of the White House Children.

This green roofed dollhouse belonged to Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter.  It dates from 1979.  The mailbox had the address "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" painted on it.

This charming little bungalow was with a display of toys from the 1920's.  I have found this house in Diane Zillner's Book Antique Dollhouses and their Furnishings.  It states that the roof flips up and that that it was probably made in Germany.  The railing on the porch and the textured shingles are made from pressed cardboard.

 I was surprised to come across this display.  I had not heard of Faith Bradford or her dollhouse - but it was amazing.  It had everything from Tynietoy to homemade and antique pieces. The display also has a scrapbook that the she kept on the collection.

The collection was donated to the Smithsonian in 1951.

Here is a picture I found online of Faith Showing the house back in 1966.  It was curteousy of the Washington Star.

There is a good website here that has details about each of the rooms:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=376&pagekey=812