Habitat: The start of a mini, modern love affair

This week Habitat went bust and I'm gutted!

LOVE this old catalogue cover, + it was only 20p!!

After hearing the news I was saddened, initially for purely selfish reason but also the huge, gaping hole I think it will leave in the British High street. (Also gutted that there is no Ikea store near me to ease the loss.)

I'm sad that now,when I eventually have a grown up life, I won't be able to go and splurdge in there for my grown up house. Sigh.

Also sad because I worked there when I was studying and had a great time and met some lovely people.

However, on the plus side there is now a fantastic closing down sale which I have already indulged in ( if I was still staff there I would be seething at all the circling vultures, instead I consider myself a savvy spender in the throws of recession, ha!)

But, that's enough of real size houses, that's not why we're here is it?!

For a while now I've been excited about the evolving area of modern miniatures.
They are so much more realistic looking than they used to be, and there are a growing number of talented miniaturists bringing this modern style to new audiences. It's all very exciting.
So, with this in mind and the sad news of Habitat's demise let's channel a bit of iconic, contemporary design into the mini world!


For thoroughly modern miniatures head to Elf miniatures for a range of off the peg and bespoke minis.
I was drooling over their made to measure furniture in another recent post, In the kitchen

These are some particularly Habitat-esque pieces to be found there.

For inspiration and great read, check out Call of the small for a fab insight into the versatility of modern minis.

Finally, for the most amazing example of contemporary miniatures that I've found to date go get lost in Modern mini houses.

I've literally lost hours of my life on this blog.
I think what's most engaging about contemporary style dolls houses is that, when done well they could pass as our actual, real-life present day homes.
Don't get me wrong, the traditional, historical dolls houses will always have their charm, but for now, I will be having a mini love affair with all things modern.

Dirty Dolls houses

To those that know me it won't be news to hear that I am not the most house proud of people.
I like the 'lived in' look and will generally only do a deep clean/thorough sort out if there is some kind of official/ Royal visit looming.

This attitude has been reflected in my dolls houses lately (you can currently write quite extensively in the dust of the big house) Sigh. I know I'll get around to the clear up eventually, but for now, let's embrace all things grubby and a little bit out of place with these fabulously filthy minis!

Dirty dishes by Lory

www.embaxter.com

Hungarian miniatures

I have a little chap very similar to this one residing in the kitchen of big dolls house, mine is wearing a chilli pepper on his head as he hides behind the clutter of a shelf.  I heart clutter! 

Does pink in a dolls house always = Barbie?

Crikey, why are Mondays such an ordeal?!
Just about made it out of the office with my sanity. Thank heavens for gin.

Thankfully there are minis for me to bury my head in, so with out further ado, lets talk colour schemes.
I'm still un-decided on the kitchen. While those lovely little fitted numbers were AMAZING, they also came with a large scale price tag.
At least for now, I'm going to have to economise / rope in Dad to help build my own!

However, the current dilemma troubling my mini mind is this;
Will a pink kitchen look gross/fake/very Barbie?

I guess it's down to a matter of opinion, secretly I would love a real size kitchen much like this one when I'm all grown up and have found a money tree or two to fund it...

That said, I've been quite taken with this one...

Hmm, that's a lot to mull over for a Monday night. I shall ponder with a glass of Gordon's and get back to you.

Toodlypip! x

A lick of paint...

Still in a tizz from planning what's next for the Little House so for now will just share a little update on how it's all looking.

It's not pretty, but it's progress.
What do you think?

I went for a Dulux tester pot in 'Dusted Cappucino' for the new exterior. Went on very nicely, needed 2-3 coats on various panels, not bad considering how dark that murky old blue was.

Needs some tidying up around the quoin stones and windows but getting there slowly!
More to come!
Now, time for Thai food and a Disney DVD I think. Easily pleased!

In the kitchen

Today was the final phase of moving. Hurrah!
(It was a full sized, tiresome and sweaty affair, and no where near as quick as when I decided to move the dolls house about. hmmph)

Anyway, the worst is over and now I'm virtually unpacked it's time to get back to more important things, like planning my mini kitchen!

Now, I wont lie, I've never really given a lot of thought to the kitchen, in real life or otherwise, so the revealation that you can have an entire mini kitchen made to measure to your exact requirements was a bit much!
Elf miniatures seem to have it covered, they do bath rooms and bedrooms too but that's for another day.
Fallen a little bit in love with this one, made for a Karen S by Elf Miniatures it's one of many that you can drool over on their website.

www.elfminiatures.co.uk

10 minutes in and I am in fully fledged dolls-house-weirdo mode, pondering the storage needs of a 1:12 scale home.
How many cupboards?
Do the cupboards doors need to have glass doors? Well you would want to see the plates etc, maybe not the food though, that would look untidy,... but I at least, would know that the cupboards were fully stocked.
And most vitally, WHAT COLOUR??!
....
I need a designer, like on the magnet kitchen ads. Sigh.

Think I'll just leave it there for today, any mini-kitchen tips would be greatly appreciated!

60 Minute makeover? Not likely.

So, I've finally started the ransacking of the Little house.
If you haven't seen the Little House home page here's what it looked like before I decided to savage it.

It wasn't bad, but I just wasn't happy with it.
I filled it with stuff I'd stockpiled since I was about 10 years old so needless to say it's not quite my cup of tea anymore...and I never really liked that blue paint. (Sorry Dad!)

Getting started was a bit like when you hesitate before ripping off a plaster.
...Dare I?
...What if I make a pigs ear of it?
Sod it. It's coming out!

I was an unstoppable, wood sanding, wallpaper stripping force, for around 10 minutes anyway, then it got fiddly.

Hmm. I tried soaking the wallpaper with warm water and scraping it off.
Messy, sticky, never ending.
An hour passed before I stepped back to survey the damage and was immediately struck by one thought.

"What the eff have I just done to my dolls house?!"

Did I mention I also took a wodge of sandpaper to the exterior and stripped off all the paintwork? Another marvelously messy job.

After an afternoon of working on it periodically ( I had to walk away from it numerous times) I 'm feeling a little more positive about the transformation.
Sure it looks like a dogs dinner right now and I've destroyed the hours of effort put into it by my 11 year old self and some very patient family members, ( sorry Dad!!) but it's gonna be fab when it's finished! Gulp.