Productive, on a Large Scale

It's been a long time! I have had a ton of distractions that have prevented me from blogging, but mostly all productive. I have missed communicating with my readers and the larger "mini" community, but the time provided me with some clarity about my collection and its organization -- it's difficult to create scenes and work with your houses when things are in complete disarray.

One huge obstacle was flooding in our basement, which is where my collection lives. Our hot water heater decided to break and we had a real mess on our hands. Luckily, very little of my collection was affected, but it did impact the entire basement space. So, we've been spending the past few months on cleaning, mold remediation, painting, and reorganizing. This work forced me to *really* look at my collection and how I was maintaining the houses and accessories.

The results are really nice so far...I'll have more to share once we complete the last room, but here are a few snaps:

Ignore wire

New Worktable!

 Yes, lots of sorting...

This process has provided a nice opportunity to reconnect with my collection, too.

While my work continues, I managed to set up a quick scene in the Loft to Love house from Target.

See those stairs? I made some carpeting from remnants of FLOR tiles that my husband used in his home office. They work pretty well!

Hopefully, more soon!

Credits: Chair is Reac; table is by MitchyMoo; wall shelving is by Dragondee; rug is a dollhouse plant is by AG Minis and it is in a napkin holder from the Crate & Barrel outlet.; wallpaper is from Paper Source. Accessories are Re-ment, Dragondee, Manor House Miniatures, Paris Renfroe, AG Minis.

Loft to Love Dollhouse

The new Loft to Love dollhouse by Our Generation, still available at Target, is one of the more fun modern structures to come along recently. (Having said this, I must admit that I have not yet cracked open my Cubic House by Djeco, which l believe will be equally as fun, if not more so.)

The house is part of the "Lori" line of 6 inch dolls, so it is scaled for 1:12. I've actually had the Loft for a few months now, having bought it on impulse from Target; somehow, a trip for deodorant ended with a dollhouse and a boxed set of desk furniture! The house cost $49.99, and the furniture was $14.99.

You can see Modern Mini Houses's post on the house, which includes links to other reviews. As she notes, the house is being sold on eBay for double the retail price, so I'd recommend snatching it up from Target if you are interested in adding this to your collection.

The layout of the house is very open and simple. It comes with the stairs already built-in, along with a kitchen set and island, which has two chairs. The kitchen area also has built-in ceiling lights, which are plastic and bright yellow. All the kitchen furnishings are plastic, as are the stairs. The rest of the structure is heavy pressed wood, including the interior flooring and walls. The roof is covered in a green felt, and the exterior walls stylishly mimics concrete and wood. The floor-to-ceiling windows are quite nice and impart a very modern vibe.

Overall, the house is well-made, although the plastic imparts a cheaper and less realistic look to the kitchen set. I ended up using the set and island, but used different chairs.

For the upstairs, I did use the new desk set, but minus the yellow chair and some of the accessories like the globe and bulky computer. The set comes with a piece of chalk as the black area is chalk-ready -- clever!

I used a Lundby light for the stairwell, which worked well. You can capture some dramatic angles -- not bad for a house marketed at 3 year olds!

So...did I need another house? No. Am I glad I bought it? Yes. It's sturdy and has options for versatility; there is a lot that could be done to give the stairs, floors, and walls a different look. And the price was right!

Credits: Kitchen: chairs are Bozart; plant is TOMY; rug in kitchen is from the Paper Source; cork rug by front door is from a Con-Tact roll of adhesive cork paper; hanging light is Lundby. Upstairs: desk set is Lori Loft to Love; chair is Reac; couch is Brio; stool is vintage German; rug is paper from the Paper Source. Accessories: Bandai, Re-ment, miniatures.com, Dragondee, LiLu Shop on Etsy, Shopping Sherpa, and eBay.

The time it took me: 1 hour, 10 minutes