TOMY Smaller Home and Garden Revamp

If I've learned anything in my years of dollhouse renovating, it's that it is FAR easier to make changes when the house is able to be disassembled. This is not some terrific revelation, but I am always relieved when I can safely take the house apart and gain more complete access to walls and floors. Whenever I am approaching changes to a vintage house, I try to be as sensitive as possible to the original design and features. I also think of how I can stay true to the house but inject some new life with wallpaper and flooring changes.

In the case of the TOMY Smaller Homes and Garden 1:16 scale house, I had already made some changes when I got the house back in 2011. The house comes apart pretty easily, although I had to take some extra care with the roof, and sliding the walls back in once there was paper on them. Patience, patience!

I decided to add some new papers on the upstairs wall and also in the downstairs kitchen and living spaces.

As you can see, I leaned toward pattern in shades of blue, gold, yellow, and white. The house is just so BROWN. This prompted me to take some risks with pattern and color.

Hope you like the results!

That wallpaper to the left is new; original is on the right

The time it took me: At least five to six hours total, including wallpapering and decorating

Credits: Kitchen: All appliances by Lundby; table and chairs are by Patie of minisx2; shelf is by Rement; ceiling light is by Playmobil. Living Room: Couch is Brio; chair is Reac; plant is a vintage dollhouse show find; table is by Patie of minisx2; light and pillow are by minimodernistas. Bedroom: Bed and credenza are vintage German; plant is from miniatures.com. Bathroom: Tub rug, and artwork are Lundby; sink is from miniatures.com; toilet is TOMY. Outdoors: chair is a gold spray-painted Christmas ornament from Crate & Barrel and vases are beads. Accessories throughout: Rement, Lundby, dollhouse show finds, modpodminis, vintage eBay finds, and miniatures.com.

TOMY Smaller Home Kitchen

Even though the TOMY Smaller Home and Garden house is 1:16 scale, the kitchen somehow feels bigger than my 1:1 scale one. I felt like I had so much space to fill, in what is the last room to furnish in this house (for the first time at least). I posted on the upstairs and living room, and have been meaning to get to the expansive kitchen for a while.

I do love the design of this space and the 70s vibe. I decided to put a work space in the nook under the stairs, and dedicated the other half as kitchen. While I always try to evoke the reality of living spaces in my scenes, this one is a departure...there is no refrigerator, nor a pantry, the orange shelving in between the sink and stove is actually two Bodo Hennig chairs from a nursery set (you can see it here in its intended state), and the light fixture above the sink is a vintage German table lamp that I dismantled. Oh well...these are miniatures after all, folks!

Sunshine yellow has really been an inspirational color for me lately, so you'll see those pops of color around. Perhaps the lack of a refrigerator makes this a summer kitchen, perfect for those lazy afternoons.

Credits: Table is Princess Patti, from the Petite Princess line; chairs are Reac; sink unit and plant are vintage TOMY; oven unit and abstract painting are vintage Lundby; orange counter is made of two vintage Bodo Hennig chairs on their sides; microwave is Miele by Theo Klein; garbage can and desk lamp are AG Minis; desk is from the Villa Sibi; wall board and file boxes are handmade by The Shopping Sherpa; laptop is by Lilu Shop on Etsy; vase is a bead from The Place to Bead; stool is vintage German; cat is Playmobil. Accessories are Re-ment, Mighty World, AG Minis, and many different doll house store finds.

The time it took me: 1 hour, 5 minutes