Human Bean's Minis

 There are so many decisions to make when looking at the blank slate of a dollhouse, if it is a kit.  I think building from scratch would bring an avalanche of even more decisions!  Style is the first thing you have to determine.  That will lead you to other decisions.  Not just style, but the time period as well. Photo by David E. Taylor, reprinted with permission https://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/scndempr/missouri/outevgal01.html I chose to do a late 1800s Victorian style house on my Pierce.  If I ever build a Pierce again (and I hope to!), I think I would do a 1920-1930s farmhouse.  But since I chose a late 1800s Victorian I had to first research the features.  I learned red brick would be a common building material, depending on the location as brick was typically made of local materials. I wanted a tile ceiling inside.  And I would love to have some kind of ornate tiled floor. Color...color was the bane of my existence.  I'm color deaf like some people are tone de

 The Pierce is a rather large 1/12 scale dollhouse, but by no means the largest the Greenleaf sells. Assembled, the dollhouse measures 36" wide X 25" deep X 33" high, so it's important to consider the dimensions of the doorway in the room in which you are assembling it, and stairs which may need to be navigated if you plan on moving it after assembly. Original packaging I purchased my Pierce almost fully assembled but undecorated from an acquaintance. She had assembled it about 10 or more years prior and stored it in a musty, damp basement. While it smelled moldy, and there were two mouse droppings, it had also been glued together with hot glue. I left some charcoal pieces in the house in an attempt to deodorize.  Also I used a bleach and water solution, applied with a damp cloth, to clean the wood of some slight mold and a great deal of dust. Dollhouse was put together by a previous owner The kit instructions do say to use hot glue, which my friend did to great effe

  "Human beans are  for  Borrowers - like bread's for butter!” ―  Mary Norton,  The Borrowers The Borrowers and Miss Hickory were among my favorite books growing up. The idea of using BIG things to serve as functional objects in a tiny world was and still remains fascinating to me. I became interested in minis and dollhouses when my Grandma purchased two house kits when I was 12 and we spent many weekends working together to assemble and decorate them. Fast forward 40 years and I find myself drawn back to the craft as a hobbyist.  I am by no means an expert nor a high level craftswoman, but I wanted to document my journey in this hobby for my own satisfaction of documenting (hopefully) my growth in skills and knowledge. Also, as I started down this path I had so many questions, so hopefully I can leave a few breadcrumbs to help those on their own pathway to mini satisfaction. So I hope you find as much joy in this blog as I have in creating it!