Book Review: The Dollhouse Sourcebook

It was a challenge to find a song that related to today's post!  I went with this song because it's from "Back to the Future," an awesome movie about time travel :)

Since I'm in my annual state of PCBSC (Post-Christmas Borderline Sugar Coma) resulting from the 25 kinds of awesome cookies my sister always makes and my pathetic inability to resist them, I am feeling lazy today.  So I thought I would just post a review I wrote at Amazon.com.  

I like reading books about dollhouses almost as much as I like checking out dollhouse blogs, and dollhouses themselves.  This is a hobby that gives on so many levels!

The Dollhouse Sourcebook, by Caroline Clifton-Mogg

I borrowed this from the library and loved it so much I had to buy it.

The book is organized by chapters that cover different rooms - drawing room, dining room, library, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.  Each chapter describes how the function of that particular room, and the furniture used within it, evolved over the centuries. This information is well written and informative, and accompanied by beautiful full color photos of miniature rooms representing different periods and styles - Tudor, Georgian, Edwardian, Victorian, etc. I also love how the author includes excerpts from letters and diary entries to offer glimpses of how people actually living in that time period described the various rooms - it's like a little bit of time travel!

If you are on the fence about whether or not you want to get into this hobby, I would advise you to stay away from this book - because if I wasn't already obsessed, I would be after flipping through it. No matter what style you are interested in, this book will be a source of inspiration for decorating your dollhouse. I have owned it for months and I find something new and interesting every time I open it.

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I also wanted to welcome to Ruth and Drora - thank you for following me and wishing you both all the best in 2013!!

Bed Makeover

I loved Squeeze!

Overall I like the bedroom set that I bought, even though it was cheap.  

But every time I opened the Mini House and saw the yucky pink gingham covering on the bed, it made me sad. So I knew I wanted to do something to it, but I can't sew - or to be more specific, I don't have the patience to sew. I purchased a sewing machine from Craigslist about a year ago, brand new, untouched, sealed in its box. And there it still sits. I'm kind of afraid of it. Back in junior high I knew my way around a sewing machine well enough to sew some of my own clothes. But sewing machines, like life, were much simpler then.

So anyway, the situation seemed to be at a standstill, until I happened upon this wonderful video at the Creating Dollhouse Miniatures site.  Here is a link:  "Dressing a Bed" Tutorial from Creating Dollhouse Miniatures 

This opened up a whole new world for me, in which a person doesn't NEED a sewing machine. A world in which lovely beds can be created using nothing but fabric and glue!

So that's how I went from this:

The bed:  Before

to this:

The bed:  After

This was only meant to be a practice attempt, but I'm pretty happy with it, especially considering how little effort it took. I used some satin fabric I already had; the lace is from an old pillowcase; the roses and ribbons are leftover from favors I made for my friend's bridal shower years ago.

So for an investment of very little in time or materials, the bed is now one of the many things that makes me happy when I look inside the Mini House.

Merry Christmas!

One of my favorite non-traditional Christmas songs: 

It was fun decorating the house for the holidays!

The window decorations evolved from three things - snowflake ornaments that I've had forever and didn't feel like putting on the tree this year; little wreaths that I got at Michael's; and tiny Hallmark mouse ornaments I got from my friend Sally. (Sally is mentioned frequently throughout this blog. She's kind of the dollhouse patroness.) Each mouse is doing some kind of building task, so I thought they would be cute on the newly built house.

I hot-glued everything together, and here's a close up of one of the resulting creations:

The front door decoration is also a mini Hallmark ornament, and also from Sally:

The Christmas stuff in the parlor is a mishmash of things.  The wreath and Christmas tree are from Michaels.

The beautiful miniature poinsettia was a gift from my friend Donna M; who brought it when I invited her over for a Christmas tea. She also gave me a REAL poinsettia and an adorable Christmas ornament!  (Note to self:  have Donna over more often.)

The items on the piano are more mini Hallmark ornaments from Sally!

In the dining room, we have yet more Hallmark mini ornaments, and another wreath from Michael's.

The tiny Christmas cards on the mantle are from the IGMA (International Guild of Miniature Artisans) show that I went to in Teaneck, NJ earlier this year. There were absolutely amazing things to be seen there, and all prohibitively expensive.  But at least I was able to purchase four of these adorable cards for the princely sum of $2.00.

The kitchen has evolved a bit since the first time I posted, but it is still my least favorite room in the house.  However, I do like the Christmas touch that I added here:

The gingerbread men and cookie cutters on the kitchen table!  Along with the spatula, rolling pin, and cutting board, they were a little package of buttons that I bought at Michael's. I just pried off the rings on the back with pliers.

Happy Holidays!!