This weekend I decided to organize and rearrange my home office. In the process I brought down my 4 miniature boxes that have been displayed on top of my office armoire for years. Back in the late 80’s, I spent a lot of time enjoying my hobby at the time; miniature building. I hadn’t picked up my 4 boxes in SO long, so I became instantly captivated by the work I had done so many years ago. I must’ve had a lot more patience back then!
Most people don’t even know that the hobby of miniature building exists. But I assure you, there are thousands of people that spend thousands of dollars yearly on this borderline cult hobby. There’s NAME, the National Association of Miniature Enthusiast, plus yearly shows, conventions and Tom Bishop Productions has been putting on the World’s Finest Dollhouse Miniatures Shows for the past 37 years!
“Upstairs / Downstairs” was my first introduction to miniature building. I friend encouraged me to sign up for a several week course to build this “Upstairs/Downstairs” miniature box. We were building it in 1/4″ scale! We started with a blank empty wooden box, then transformed it by installing the flooring, wallpaper, paint, chair rail, staircase, everything!. Although everyone in the class was doing the same box and design, we each got to select the colors, fabrics and finishes for our own unique design.
The miniature furniture was preselected for the class, however, all the pieces had to be stained or painted, assembled and uphoulstered. The drawers and cabinet doors are all functional. Believe it or not, I even lined the drawers!
The hand painted headboard was done to compliment the bedding fabric. We also installed the electrical so that all light fixtures were functional.
After I learned the basics in this class, I went on to design and build 3 more boxes on my own. This one is “A Door For All Seasons”. Unlike the first one, this one I built in a 1/2″ scale. It’s a lot easier to handle 1/2″ scale pieces than 1/4″. For a few years I would change the wreath and miniature decorations to correspond to all the major holidays. As you can see, Thanksgiving was the last time I changed it up!
My third box: “The Sitting Room”, also built in a 1/2″ scale.
Outside the window you can see the light from the back porch.
For the 4th box, I went outdoors,”The Patio”. I had found the white patio furniture and loved it. It became the inspiration for the design.
Hope I’ve Inspired.