Wish List

We all have that list. Some call it a Bucket List inspired by a movie of the same name or their Wish List, or a To Do list, or just plain My List. Today I crossed off one item that has been at the top of My Wish List for a long time: a visit to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys. It closed a few years ago about the time I was really getting into miniatures, putting all of the artifacts in storage while they hunted for a new place. Now located just west of the city Denver limits in Lakewood, it has a nice, large building with a lot room to grow that will accommodate their Wish List for future growth.

I purchased tickets online for myself and oldest daughter and waited for the big day. I'll share just a few photos of my favorite house and a few other things that caught my interest.

Wendy greeted the morning's visitors with a lovely smile and lots of enthusiasm for the newly opened museum, and from the first glance, you know that you are about to begin a wonderful adventure back into childhood.

Right now the museum display consist of mostly grand dollhouses that have been exquisitely built and furnished, keeping in mind that they were disassembled, stored, and reassembled.

I have been thinking about adding a greenhouse to the Bellingham garden and after seeing this one, I think I can design and build one.

This farmhouse inspired my wish list for my own Bellingham Farmhouse. I now have a vision for what I would like to do with my house. It will be quite an ambitious undertaking to create such a garden. I won't go such extent, but at least I now have an example, an inspiration for what I'd like to build.

I've been trying to source this chicken wire. Any suggestions? Our own chicken pen is a recycle, rebuilt chainlink dog run, built to keep the fox and raccoons out. I've found authentic chainlink in an Etsy store, Mr. Train that sells supplies for model trains. I've messaged him to see if it will work for my little henhouse.

I love all the farm implements, but I know that they are vintage and will be hard to find and expensive.

Where do people find such old miniatures?

These old farm implements add authenticity and tell a wonderful story.

The front porch invites makes everyone to come sit a spell.

I took an extra photo of the  flower boarder to help me plant mine around the Bellingham. I need more flowers, however.

Not a weed in sight. Now that is enviable. 

This next house really is special. Some of you have met David Nelson who travels the miniature show circuit with his wife, Wendy. I got to know them while visiting his mother's dollhouse store in Denver, which closed a couple of years ago. In the store that his parents owned an operated for over 3 decades  there were two grand houses that his father, Norm, had built, one was this house. I don't remember that the house had furniture while it was on display in the store, but what a grand masterpiece it is. Originally it was built for Mrs. O'Meara,  wife of a well known Denver auto dealer. It, too, is a grand house. The mustang convertible adds a special touch, especially for me. My Blue Farmhouse Now Pink has a red 1951 Chevy Pickup, parked outside a reminder of my grandpa's old truck that I learned to drive in. The Bellingham will have a "67 Ford Mustang GT, yellow with a black racing stripe, just like my first car that now sits under a blanket of dust in the barn. 

 This has got to be the biggest bear family I've ever seen. 

When I see lovely dolls like this one, I have to think of my mother. She used to take about her dolls and how much she loved them and played with them. She admitted to playin with her dolls until she was 16. I have two her turn-of-the century dolls that I made dresses for a while back. 

Still hampered by the pandemic orders, the museum slowly makes progress in accomplishing items on its Wish List, but the young woman who welcomed guests today was so sweet and positive as she explained the future plans for the museum and how she has developed online programs and activities to keep people interested and entertained during the pandemic and until the activities at the museum such as classes and workshops can resume. She has offered some online classes, which she says have proven popular. People need something to do while they wait for life to return to normal. While not a substitute for their big fall show, now canceled for this year, which usually has 80 vendors, their small gift shop did allow us to bring home some little doo-dads for our dollhouses. 

Check out their website and if you visit the Denver Metro area, be sure to make time to visit this wonderful little museum. 

I'm a bit on edge tonight. The night air is heavy with smoke and the sliver of moon is fire  orange as the smoke filter's its silvery light. Jen called just a while ago to say that a new fire has started only a short distance form their house at the edge of the foothills. The fire would have to burn a lot of ground to get to their place and cross the river, but a bad wind in the right direction could make that more of a possibility. Evacuations have been ordered for residents further west of them, so for the moment they are not concerned. Still I reminded her gather up important papers, which she has done, and to get emergency kits ready for their animals: dogs, horses, rabbits, and hens incase they have to move them. There are now 4 fires burning in Colorado, but if you see the map of all the fires burning in the country, nearly a 1/3 of the western part of the county has fires. 

Morning Update: Fire near Jen didn't grow last night, but still has been contained.

Thanks for visiting. I do appreciate you dropping by. 

Next post I will have my kitchen counter finished along with some other projects. Right now I am waiting on a shipment of wallpaper for the Fairfield and the kitchen kits that are coming from Australia. Tracking shows that they have arrived in Denver, but it could take a week or more for them to make it to Ault!

Inspiration

One of the Facebook groups that I follow gives members an opportunity to share ideas and to ask questions to help solve their problems. New members who are building or renovating their first house often ask how builders come up with ideas for their miniature projects. 

To answer the Facebook group’s question, I always suggest coming up with a persona, someone who will live in the house with a story to tell to help form a theme for the project, There other things to consider, too: a favorite architecture style or an historical period, or a real-time dream house. 

You can look through my blog to see my collection of houses, which mostly reflect me: my love of what I call Easter Egg colors, sweet pastels, rustic, farm life houses filled with old things, heavily influenced by the Victorian period, but the miniature world is moving beyond the playhouse filled with Victorian furniture and accessories. My first build, a little Real Good Toys two story cottage inspired by my granddaughters' ballet lessons.

So far my houses do reflect my personality, my tastes, my life style—the farm girl who grew up in old farmhouses with old furniture, raised by frugal parents. So I’ve done all that. I love my two big farmhouses, especially the Dura-craft Bellingham which is more modern than the Blue Now Pink Farmhouse that is getting a modernized kitchen that well reflect the the 21st century. 

After I tore off that first piece of faux metal roofing on the spire of the half Scale Fairfield,  I began fretting about how to make the Fairfield, filled with the Victorian furniture that it came with  different from my other houses .  I began by researching the Fairfield's architecture.

 

It is a a classic Victorian with all of its lacy porch trim. As it turns out there is a perfect example down just down I-25 not far from here in Boulder, CO, on Pearl St. just down the street from the Pearl Street shopping district. Building began in 1822 and was finished by a second owner in 1877,  the year after Colorado gained its statehood. Today on Zillow it is priced, though not for sale, at $1.2 million. 

ictorian farmhouse. 

 

I found two houses as I searched Pintrest for abandoned farmhouses. Then driving home the other day, forced to take a different route to avoid a bad storm, I saw a newer version of this Victorian out in the country.

I will use the Victorian period furniture because I don't want to reinvest in all new furniture, so the house will be, as many are, caught in the transition between the old and the new, the past and the present with the renovation of the kitchen where by today's standards the resale value of the house relies on  an updated kitchen and bathroom.  Thus, most of the house will have its old Victorian furniture melding with a bit more modern kitchen.

The creative wheels began to turn as Goggle searches revealed more; soon I had my idea. I decided that rather than a personae, I’d focus on a year, 1920, the age of Modernism, a time when art, music, literature, fashion, and architecture were emerging in rebellion of the strict, ornate Victorians. Charles Dickens novels like Hard Times and Bleak House were left on the shelves as readers embraced F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby written in 1925. I thought about my mother during I my 1920s search included images of the Roaring Twenties and the fashionable  flappers. While she was only 6 in 1920, she would have as an adult enjoyed the night life in the speakeasies were it not for her strict Lutheran upbringing. At the same time, my fraternal grandmother would be married and have her first son by January 1917, living on a Kansas farm.

Art Deco, Mission Revival, and the Craftsman styles began to emerge, along with a shift from the wood and coal burning cook stoves, fireplaces and room heathers to gas powered stoves and heaters. 

Houses from my own family history could well serve as inspirations for miniature projects. 

I found my mother's home that she grew up in on Google Earth in Ottumwa, Iowa, not quite a craftsman, but a departure from the Victorian house that her aunt lived in just down the street. I have some childhood memories of the house and photos of the living room decorated probably in the 1940s by a step- grandmother. I think I took this photo as a kid or my mom did.

In 1960 we drove to Washington, Kansas where my father and his family before him were born. This is the house where my grandparents lived on the farm with my grandfather's parents.  No photos of the interior, but it was probably build in the mid to late 1800s.

In 1960 we moved to this little farmhouse in Golden, CO from another old farmhouse; this one sightly better. That's my bedroom on the right and my little sister on Jack, a paint cow pony. 

I am focusing on the kitchen as the center of household, trying to decide on flooring—wood floor or linoleum? I’ve run across a collection of Armstrong flooring ads that give a great look at the 1920s décor. I’ve ordered pieces for the kitchen from an Etsy shop in Australia, so it will be long wait while the items are being shipped. I’ collecting images of artwork, wallpaper, and accessories and keeping them in a digital portfolio Word. where I can create and plan my rooms first; I’ve never been so organized. I think as a miniaturist, I am beginning to grow up. So far, green seems to be most popular color of the 1920s kitchen. This example goes beyond what I can comprehend. While my kitchen won't look this one, the stove will reflect the more modern gas burins cook stove.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3017/2601456613_637ae174c3_b.jpg

 

The house has been painted on the exterior periwinkle—certainly an Easter Egg color,  and I am waiting for new gingerbread trim to be shipped from the Tennessee that I ordered from eBay. A few days ago I received an apologetic email saying that shipment would be delayed due the hurricane. I placed another order for supplies July 26th with HBS that still has not arrived. The tracking has indicated for the last week that it is in Denver on it’s way to Ault. Our postmistress says that the Denver distribution center is short handed. Maybe today it will arrive.

I like frilly florals in sweet pinks, so I am really challenging myself to go beyond my limits by experimenting with colors and patterns that I might not ever choose for my own home. Inspired by looking at the vinatageArmstrong ads and other Victorian decor, I decided to use navy in the dining room instead of the dark reds so popular in the period. I like to use good quality scrapbook paper for wallpaper, so I found this navy card at Michaels' and printed the sample from Itsy Bitsy to test my imagination, coming up with a lovely result, I think. Itsy Bitsy also has matching fabric, so I'll be able to coordinate a beautiful dinning room. 

 

As I digress more, the hobby shop supplies are running low, too. Facebook users are complaining about the shortage of acrylic craft paint, and they are right, as I have noticed at both my local Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, and Joann’s. Shopping these days isn't much fun. We must be patient. 

I have plenty to accomplish this week as I work on my Maker created kitchen cabinet for the Blue Farmhouse Now Pink. My parts to create the dishwasher and the oven have arrived from Elf miniatures in England. At first I had no clue as to how to assemble them. I emailed Elizabeth and she emailed me the instructions for assembling the oven front. They won't be working appliances--that is the doors won't be opening, but they will look great. 

As I close, I'll ask you what inspires your miniature projects? 

So glad that you dropped by. Have a wonderful, productive week.