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 Then driving home the other day, forced to take a different route to avoid a bad storm, I saw a newer version of this Victorian out in the country.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.