Happy Halloween from the I House

When you said you had 2 Ghosts, I didn't know you meant your chairs!

How can we live here? There are no closets.

                       The coffee is good though... 

                          Justin Bieber! Now that's scary...

So What'll it be tonight? Pizza or Chinese?

 "Hon, do we REALLY have to watch 'TrueBlood' again, I want to watch 'The Good Wife'." 
 : 0 CM

credits: all items are listed in earlier posts except for the addition of the minimodernista bed used with the 1950's mattel headboard, the bed with the set is too big, wasting space. The skeletons are a garland from Rite Aid $2.99 for six. Yay!

Modern miniature The I house: Going Stainless

I solved my need for a modern house by buying a Imaginarium doll house.The lines are simple and the ceilings lofty and it won't fall down. I needed a bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining room and office. (because I had the furniture and wanted to play with it...)Then I could add a family room, but the dollhouse would have to  be large. More than a roombox.

The color scheme of the Imadinarium was not for me. (Fashion Dolls LOVE it!) But now that I (hacked it) spray painted it white and tan it needs some pop!
The roof and trim are silver. So I am thinking of going Stainless or galavnized steel which translates to miniatures as Tap Plastic pieces.


AND
I want this in miniature for the family room.
It is on Fab.com/ today.
Sale Ends in 2 days and 23 hours.

fire place design of Wall Flame Stainless
Designer
Michael Rösing Brand Radius Origin. I can make this in mini right?
How tempting to use a tea light?

and this was in today's Crate & Barrel Winter catalog. A table runner by Chilewich. I think Call of the Small and Mini Modern have used placemats. Wall paper? Flooring?  The funny thing is everything I do is gray. My plan was to devote October to the I House but my budget is running  low... Maybe a metallic Christmas tree? Hmmmm. CM
Update: for pictures of yesterday's earthquake damage to the I house go to http://Leftcoastmini.blogspot.com/ No 1/1 damage thank heavens! C

The I House continues

The I House is a hacked Imaginarium Glitter Suite, Barbie size dollhouse. The scale is 1/6 but many of the items are1/12 or vintage and in between.

The front door

Do you see the stainless steel handle? It needs house numbers.

It opens to the living room with the kitchen and dining room in the back.

pdr designs

Facing back to the front door is a phantom chair and coral sculpture.

The Dining room, and first floor stairs.

The Kitchen

The Office. So far. I will be adding the wall calendar when I get it from my house...

Stairs from office (2nd floor) to bedroom (3rd floor). Barbie is a therapist and yes, she deals with a lot of people with eating disorders. Body dismorphia...

Outside patio and yes, there will be an infinity pool.... :) C

Before: Eek! Happy Halloween!

Update: Total House, ok roof struts not done, walls not finished...
Don't tell my little granddaughter I took her roof and set of stairs...

Modern Minihouse: Livingroom, Fooling around with the I House

The Goods: Mattel 1950's wooden furniture, umbrella tip planter with bamboo from Michael's, Tap plastics window shade, Jonathan Alder lamp, minimodernistas' pillows, orange pharmacy  lamp and shell art, Sindy black lamp, rement starbucks cup, 1960's keychain princess phone charm. Mousepad rug. Baby announcement boots picture, coral art is a finial from a lamp on a piece of an old trophy. Chartreuse pillow Bozart. Moma sticker. Antique vase from Japan.

And the ideas? I got the placement of the couch from Maryann Roy on Coming Home blog and saw the SFMOMA sticker on Modern MC's blog Mini Modern. Plant idea from Mini Dork who has Modern Mini Houses blog.

Just fooling around on a Saturday afternoon. Cheers CM

Miniatures in the Media

credits: Spot on couch. chairs and TV, Doltoi fireplace, herringbone paper for floor, minimodernista ball clock. Color xeroxes of Jean Miro paintings.

I was just contacted by a Production Company interested in doing a series on the Mini world. They had talked to Peter Tucker but not Paris Renfroe yet.


I told them about The Shopping Sherpa starting the craze with her pictures of her collection, mini modern's blog kickstarting it and Oese's recycling approach to miniatures. I told her about Slinkachu and the importance of Flickr picture groups.

I mentioned Susan in Toronto, Rebecca in Australia, Anina and Helene in Amsterdam and Norway. I told her the of the Bay Area mini people meeting. I mentioned Call of the Small and Mini Dork participating in the "I'm a Giant Challenge".

I told her I was shocked the San Jose Mini Good Sam Show limited it to just one modern vendor, Paris.

I suggested Tim from Brinca dada as someone who jumped into the mini manufacturing world with both feet.
They didn't know him YET. Wait till they see the Emerson House!


Guess where they are based???? New York.  I guess you DO have to move to New York to be an artist.


Anyway the only thing that worried me was they kept asking who the "characters" were in this mini world.


Don't they know we are all just normal people? So glad this pasttime is getting noticed. I told her "Some people do Sudoku, some design mini rooms..."


PS. I bought the Dylan House so I can't wait to get it. Really I am going to stop collecting. Really. Cheers CM

P.P.S. So I was thinking about this and the interviewer said, "So what are you a collector?"  and I wanted to say "No, I'm an artist"... but I didn't. Hmmm.

Rosetta Stone

Like many mini people I am attached like a limpet to 1/12 scale.

Then I saw this 1950-60s Mattel vintage Barbie furniture. After I got it I realized it is Slightly smaller than 1/6 but was too big for my 1/12 houses.

Hence the undertaking of the I House. The lamp is from the Jonathan Adler Collection and originally hot pink. I have two and painted one orange and one black.

Here is the picture in color. Love that '60's Orange. So this is the direction I want to go in for the I house.

                                      Sindy lamp before.

Sindy lamp after with minimodernistas chair. Love change!

CM

I'm A Giant Challenge watcher

                      How fun! Do we get to see updates?

Modern Dollhouse: the bare canvas

                                  So this is the frame painted.

The inspiration for this idea came from seeing 1/6 scale Barbie furniture in GREAT design but atrocious colors. 

Such as taking THIS

2/24/2011

To this. That's hacking. Mid-century shelf by Amazing miniatures, and black tension lamp from Sindy bought on ebayUK.

Hot pink Barbie Eames chair... Oh Barbie, really?

After, mailer by Delph miniatures.

What I found is the Barbie houses are foreshortened in width and long in heighth as they are made for little girls to hop Barbie dolls around in and arrange minimal furniture, as a lot is painted on the background.
So my first goal is to extend the width of the house.


If you click on her blog post to the right  or here http://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/ you can see an early Albin Schonherr from post war Germany. Really it shows how the lines for modern houses have changed very little!

Designing a Mini House: The I House's turn

Case study modern houses of the world. My inspiration.

the building in reality.

So after owning 18 houses, some antique, some vintage and some modern, I decided last year I'd like to try my hand at building my own.

I knew I could not copy the masterpiece of a Gottschalk. The charm of a Bliss, the beauty of a Tynietoy or the edginess of a Marx split level.

I knew from photographing mini scenes that you can use any backdrop, from a vent filter to a distant view. It's all how you place it because so much of mini photography relies on illusion.

In this picture from 2008 the room is a plastic Nike shoe box.

So I decided last January to take a contemporary house and hack it, which means play with it, change it. By using a manufactured form I knew it would be sturdy. So many of my constructions are temporary.  Here is the house I chose, The Imaginarium Glitter Suite Dollhouse. Quite a mouthful. (why glitter?) It is shockingly colorful but really nothing is reflective.

before

It is1/6 scale which is a departure for me. Everything I buy and make is 1/12 scale unless it is antique (Grecons, Dol Toi,  Tootsietoy etc.) And if you know me you know I had to buy my little assistant one of her own for Valentine's Day. (to leave mine alone).

during

 And so the neighbors wouldn't hear her blood curdling screams of protest as I obliterated the hot pink walls.

during...

And here it is, the "I House". Ready to transform... Kinda blah without all those lithoed walls... C