Citadel Rink Table

A trip to the Crate & Barrel outlet in Cranbury, NJ, never disappoints...for 1:12 and 1:1!! We were shopping for some new pieces for our kids' rooms, and I left with a few cool items to repurpose from the clearance bins. I cleaned out the main living space in my Citadel house and set up a scene guided by a new silver and bronze-edged metal circular votive holder ($2.50). Looks like a magical skating rink! I filled the center hole with a vintage wooden bowl and moss, and for a base, I used a lava lamp cover, which suited it pretty well (its previous incarnation was as a modern pendant light fixture).

I wanted to bring together all sorts of textures, so I added a piece of burlap from the Paper Source and covered my Kaleidoscope House kitchen counter unit in one of my favorite papers from Kate's Paperie. The artwork on the wall is a silicone coaster from Crate & Barrel, also on clearance (.75). For the other side of the room, I used a vintage German table and chair and some Fisher Price tables on the wall, with a sweet Eames elephant and an AG Minis plant.

Like it? The lighting was totally rigged, by the way. One of the beauties and challenges of the house is the dramatic overhang -- the space below can be a bear to photograph without some light through the windows. So...

Ugly, but it works!

Credits: Table and wall art are from Crate & Barrel; chairs and kitchen counter are Bozart; bike is Maisto; desk table and chair are vintage German; Eames elephant is Reac; light fixture and green rug are by minimodernistas; burlap rug is from the Paper Source; plant is AG Minis; wall shelves are vintage Fisher Price tables; magazines and file holder were handmade by The Shopping Sherpa; books were a gift from Margaret. Accessories are Re-ment, doll house store finds, craft items, Mighty World, ELF Miniatures, and vintage German eBay finds.

Re-ment: The water bottle is from Sushi Bar #2, and is good for 1:12.

Stroke Chair by Diatom Studio

Isn't it great when you can clear your head and focus solely on one task and on nothing but that task? I had a nice half hour of brain task time putting my new "Stroke" miniature chair together. The chair was a "thank you" from the London-based Diatom Studio for donating $25 toward their successful SketchChair Kickstarter campaign, which was for the creation of a free, open source software that allows you to design your own furniture. The concept is pretty great: provide people with a cool digital tool to design and create functional objects, and at the same time, those people share that knowledge with a broader community who can contribute further. And...there is potential for miniature designs as well!

I'm glad that I made my little contribution to help Diatom reach its goal -- they raised over $30,000 on Kickstarter, and I was among 100 + people who got to choose one of five miniature chair designs. You can see all the contributor names on their website -- I am 96, and my chair was numbered accordingly.

I chose the "Stroke" chair for its beautiful, undulating lines. According to Diatom, it is sized to 1:9 scale. I'd say this is accurate, since it is definitely larger than 1:12. The chair comes on a die-cut sheet of wood with instructions, and was packaged beautifully.

I should have paid closer attention to the numbers and letters and worked more systematically, but I was too excited to put it all together. In my eagerness, I had to re-do some of the pieces, and broke a few. Luckily, the flaws are not too noticeable in the final product, and I took it for a spin!

Thanks, Diatom! Any other proud owners of these mini chairs out there? Show your stuff! And THANKS to the wonderful Mini Modern for sharing news of this opportunity back in May (and thanks to Paris Renfroe for tipping her off). See, there's already a community of interest! Just wait, we'll be cooking up our own miniature chairs yet!

You have until 11:59 p.m. EDT this Wednesday, August 31, to win some Re-ment and storage containers! Go to this photo on the Call of the Small Facebook page for the August ***FREE ALERT***and leave a comment for your chance to win!

Credits: Stroke chair by Diatom Studio; round table is vintage Brio; low table is by Mitchy Moo Miniatures; planter is a condiment vessel from West Elm with an aquarium plant; shoes are AG Minis; car is a miniature Mini Cooper from our local dealership (gift from my hubby). Accessories are Lilu Shop on Etsy, Manor House Miniatures, ELF Miniatures, Mighty World, and Ryan's Room.