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 Home 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.

Renovation Progress on the Betsy McCall Dollhouse

I continue to make progress on my Betsy McCall dollhouse, inspired by some new paper purchases from JoAnn Fabrics. I decided that this room would be in grey tones, as a complement to the adjoining rooms, which are in shades of yellow, cream, and grey. I had actually tried to wallpaper the space a few months ago in yellow and white tones, but the paper was way too thin. I loved the patterns but they did not hold up at all with the wallpaper glue. 

This new paper with the cross pattern is heavy-duty with a nice texture. The crosses also helped to guide me as I cut the paper, ensuring even edges when I cut the paper to size. The back wall has one of my favorite textured "pebble" papers from Kate's Paperie; I've used it a number of times in my houses. In fact, the adjacent bedroom has the cream version.

For the flooring, I tried a new vinyl paper in a grey wood tone -- it worked really well!

The midcentury shelf, by Paris Renfroe of PRD Miniatures, is one of my treasured pieces. It was gifted to me by Mini Modern for my birthday a while back. It is simply the most gorgeous little piece, so perfect in its details. And it's a joy to style.

The photo below shows the reality of this hobby -- lots of hidden mess to ensure pretty pictures!

There is one room left, the main ground floor space that is intended to be the kitchen. Let's see what I come up with...! Until then, some parting shots of this new space, along with its neighbors.

Credits: Shelf by PRD Miniatures; couch by Annina Diston; table is Bozart; plant container is a napkin holder from CB2; side table is a vintage napkin holder, purchased at a tag sale; light is by minimodernistas; rug is by The Shopping Sherpa. Accessories are Re-ment, PRD Miniatures, minimodernistas, Nancy Tobey, Miniatures.com, Phllip Nuveen, and dollhouse store finds.

The time it took me: 2 hours, 15 minutes, includes wallpapering time.

Sleep Modern

I renovated another room in my vintage midcentury Betsy McCall house. I have been thinking about this room for a while, and originally thought it would work as a bathroom, but after adding flooring and wallpaper, I decided to furnish it as a bedroom with furnishings from Djeco.

First, here's a few pictures of the room when I first got the house:

I hunted down some durable paper from the Paper Source, and got to work. The flooring paper has a very waxy finish, so that worked well. And I love the pattern!

No plant here

With plant

Quite a difference!

Before

After

This is a great house -- always fun to upgrade it! By the way, not sure if you are familiar with the site Retro Renovation, but one of the founders did her Betsy McCall from scratch. It's very cool, check it out.

Photo courtesy of Retro Renovation

Credits: Bed, side table, pillows, and lamp by Djeco; bed covering and ceiling light by Lundby; plant by TOMY; wall and floor coverings from the Paper Source.

The time it took me: 2.5 hours to renovate and furnish over a period of days -- kept coming back to it!

Mini Marilyn

Ever get new goods and feel compelled to use them all in one scene?? That's the deal here.

The setting is the IKEA Lekman storage box, which serves as a great room box. Mine is purple, which is not sold anymore, and I usually need to cover the walls to mask the color and create a more realistic environment.

Brick scrapbook paper does the trick!

I'm very excited about my first items from the very talented Phillip Nuveen: replicas of Eames House birds and a Jeff Koons balloon dog. So. Cool.

And Nuveen's merchandise comes in shopping bags, too!

See my new Marilyn Monroe canvas by Andy Warhol? That came from a new line of miniature vinyl and plush pieces from Kidrobot: the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Can Mystery Mini Series.

Very, very cool!

It inspired me to add in the other artwork, which are pictures from the Kaleidoscope House inspired by artists Barbara Kruger and Lisa Yuskavage.

The little bulldog completes the scene, angling to hop onto the couch!

Credits: Couch is Minimodernistas; sideboard is vintage VERO; coffee tables are Patie of minisx2; cowhide lounger is Reac; plant is TOMY, but in a DIY planter; light is Lundby; rugs are felt pieces from Michael's. Accessories are Phillip Nuveen, Kidrobot, and Paris Renfroe.

The time it took me: 45 minutes