Bernard Lighthouse & Greenhouse

Joyce Bernard, a distant relative, sent me a few pictures of some of her other projects.

She created this lighthouse from a kit.  She said the light in the top actually works.

 She made the slicker and the hat in the entry from scratch!

This last picture shows the living room decorated for Christmas.  

She used under counter lights to illuminate each room.

Another project to pass the time in Nebraska was this greenhouse kit.

Here is a view of the interior with the roof removed.  Notice each of the plants in different stages of growth.

If you missed the Bernard Victorian House she and her husband created, click HERE

Bernard Victorian House

I had the pleasure of meeting some distant relatives from Nebraska last weekend.  I was able to show her and her husband my miniature collection and they sent me pictures of a house they have have built.

Jess and Joyce have built this beautiful Victorian house from scratch!

Joyce noted that the needlepoint rug in the entry was from a friend.

The flowers on the coffee table came from Hawaii

The library is located on the third floor

 This photo shows the third floor nursery and covered porch

 One of the items in the collection is this tiny model ship in a case. 
A great idea for a future project.

This view shows the attic which includes the sewing room, a few misc pieces and how the house is wired.  We are hoping to go visit them this summer and see the house in person.  Thanks Joyce and Jess for the great project and the great photos.

One More Tynietoy Chair

I purchased this Tynietoy Victorian chair towards the end of last year and it just arrived today and after a trip to my old address and back.  Oops!

The Victorian Chair was sold as part of 3 different room groups and it could also be purchased for individually as #229 Victorian Straight for $1.10 

I have posted some scans from the 1927 catalog for reference.  As pointed out on another website - A dollar may appear to be cheap by todays standards, but it 1927, it was also the price of hotel room for the night!

The rest of my Tynietoy Collection can be found by clicking HERE

Happy Valentine's Day

Love is in the air!

I recently won this 3/4"scale wooden bathroom set in an auction on ebay.  The seller had it listed with a few other sets of furniture by KAGE.  I am not aware that Kage produced any bathroom sets, but it appears to be the same scale and same age.

I will keep researching and see what I can find out.  If any of you know anything about this set, please let me know.  Although it is hard to see in the photo, the hamper has a 45 degree lines scored into it and the piece in front is scored to look like a medicine cabinet.  I am glad to find a bathroom set so the residents of my KAGE collection can have a bathroom of their own.  

My KAGE collection can be seen by clicking HERE.

Round Barn & POPS

The round barn in Arcadia Oklahoma is a small gift shop/tourist attraction along the infamous Route 66.

Here is a section drawing that shows how the building is put together.  It was built in 1898, before statehood.  After years of neglect, it was nearly in shambles, but loving restored in 1992.

One of the displays inside the barn is  this miniature architectural model of the barn itself.  The barn has been the subject of documentaries and even in a calendar of Route 66 attractions.

The barn has it's own website HERE

My son Cole posing by the sign out front

Here is a picture of me and my mom at the barn.

 Here is a shot of the ceiling structure inside the upstairs room.  There are no supports and the span is quite impressive.  The room is rented out for parties and meetings.

This is true reason my kids like to stop in Arcadia Oklahoma - an ultra modern soda shop called POPS.  POPS has it's own website HERE

POPS contains a restaurant and a truly amazing assortment of soda pop from all over the world, and it is a great place to find a toilet between Oklahoma City and Tulsa!

I chose a canadian orange creme soda, my son chose a chocolate soda, grandma found a sugar free black cherry soda and my daughter found a pink lemonade from France.  Special thanks to my wife taking the picture!

Cozy Cabin Porch Light

I got some great feedback on my last post about which light to use for the front porch.  You influenced my decision!  

 I was leaning towards the lantern on the left, but ended up using the lantern on the right.

 It looks great.  One of the things I like about it is that it is roughly the same diameter as the logs on the front porch and a similar shape.

 I came across these plastic deer at an estate sale for 25 cents each.  I am going to use their antlers to add to the current antler chandelier in the living room.

 I made the current antler chandelier out of paper clay

Cozy Cabin Wiring

I started the cabin project quite a while ago.  This week I have had the cabin up on the work bench and elevated on a couple of plastic bins so I could get into the "crawl space" underneath and work on the wiring.

The foundation is less than two inches tall and is a framework of supports under some thin plywood.  I have been drilling holes through the frame to gather all of the wiring and get it routed to the power strip.

 The wiring has been kind of temporary, up until this point and I didnt want the weight of the house to damage any of it.

I designed an elevated base for the master bedroom fireplace which will hide the electrical strip. Once I get the wiring all squared away, I plan to resume working on the stone.  I am going to create stone with paperclay for both fireplaces, the porch, and the foundation all the way around the cabin.

I won an ebay auction a while back with several light fixtures.  I have narrowed the front porch fixture down to these three.  I am leaning towards using the lantern on the right, which is your pick?

Cozy Cabin Couch

Things are starting to take shape in the new studio space and I took some time today to work on the Cozy Cabin project.  I have been debating on what kind of fabric to use for the living room.  As luck would have it, my favorite pair of jeans recently became available.

I have been planning on using this couch in the cabin because I have a nice sofa table that it works well with.  The couch and and a matching wing chair were some of the first 1:12 scale furniture pieces I purchased several years ago. The photo in the background was one of my inspiration photos.

The strawberry covered couch came apart pretty easily which made changing our the fabric go pretty smooth.

This is where I am at so far.  I was able to use some of the existing stitching and seams to give the sofa a more tailored look.  I added cushion to the back.

Here is a view from the rear, which is actually the side that will be facing viewers in the cabin.

Here a few of the other pieces of furniture that will be in the living room.  Some nesting tables and a bear skin rug.  I found the wood armchair at a local flea market, I dates from the 1940's.  I made a denim cushion for it too.

Next up are some throw pillows!

How It All Started

I have been asked quite often, how I got started collecting miniatures.  As far back as I can remember, I loved to play with miniatures, and design scenes.  I spent countless hours as a boy building elaborate houses with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, 
and my erector set.  I used to draw all kinds of houses and floor plans too.  My wife and I had a chuckle a while back when we discovered a few of my old floor plan drawings - each one had a large "play room" designed into it.


The first few images are snapshots of some of the first miniature furniture I was exposed to.  It is all by Kage.  These particular pieces were stored in a shoe box at my Great Grandmothers house in Parowan Utah.  I used to love to get that box out and play with them as a child.  She gave them to me as a child and my collection has grown.  To see my Kage collection, click here.

When I was around 5 or 6, I inherited a slightly used, Fisher Price Little People house and a few pieces of furniture that came with it.  I have written about it before here.

Soon after that, I also got the Fisher Price Little People houseboat.  

Early in my childhood, Star Wars hit the big screen.  I loved it, and collected the action figures.  I soon was building housed for the Star Wars figures with my Legos, Lincoln Logs, and the erector set.  I had built a working elevator with the erector set that I used over and over.  I discovered some furniture that was the same scale as my Star Wars Action Figure and began collecting it.  It was by Fisher Price also.



I removed the chalk boards from my toy box, and used them as floors, while creating walls with my Lincoln Logs and Legos.  I found a toy box just like my childhood one for sale online! 
Mine still had the hutch/shelves attached on top.  At any rate - the chalk boards pop right out and make great floors for Lego Houses and Star Wars People.

I still have the Fisher Price furniture that I used to play with.  More to follow.