The House of Tomorrow

The other night, my son was watching a classic Tom and Jerry Cartoon.  You know one of those where they actually drew a picture for every frame? After it was over a cute little cartoon about the House of Tomorrow was on.  I thought it was so funny...and modern.  It is directed by Tex Avery and made in 1949.  It's a little sexist for today, but still pretty cool.

 Click to see The House of Tomorrow.  Enjoy!

Lovely Loot!

Recently, Anna-Maria...AKA The Shopping Sherpa and I decided to do a little swap.  I got mine a few days ago, but haven't had a chance to post about it until now...Wanna see?

Awesome mailing label...

Her wonderful calling card...

Loot still in the box....

Even the tape she used has a great design!

A cute little Asian inspired ceramic cat.

What I thought was fun artwork... turned out to be...

My name and a few Fornasetti style decorative plates...

Some great post cards from the California Design show she went to, some art cards, magnets and books.

A George Nelson styled clock (I've been wanting one of these).

A table, a couple of her hand made poufs, a hand made and extremely soft flokatti rug and a few magnetic picture frames.

Cool little laser cut outs, beads and alarm clock bells (I'll be able to make some super cool lamps with these)

A great Mid-century book with lots of ideas.

Isn't it funny how you get to know someones personal taste just by reading their blog?

I just love it all, I can't wait to use them in a scene.  Thanks, Anna-Maria!

Aiming for Eames

I'm trying my hand at making a mini Eames styled shelving unit.  Here's what I came up with.

I made the unit out of brass angles, brass tubing, laminate samples and bass wood.  The drawers aren't quite even, but I'm working on getting better at that.  This one won't be for sale because there is glue that I couldn't remove on the laminate panels...besides that I really like it!

The sofa is Kaleidoscope house, the lounge chair and ottoman are Reac, the plant in the corner is from my swap with Mandy at Mini Modern Mind. The rug is an Eames dot pattern fabric sample from The Shade Store (free!), the art is a Matisse post card, the coffee table, lamp, drift wood sculpture and shelving unit are by me.

This is a picture of the real Eames shelving units.  You can get them in many different configurations and color combinations.  The metal in the real thing is steel, but I could't find any small scale angled pieces in a silver color. I made another one in a black, white grey color way. I will probably make more, but it won't be for awhile because the angles are difficult to procure since the company doesn't make them any more and the fact that it was a real pain in the butt to make!

Making Friends in the Mini World

Through the last couple of years I have "met" an amazing group of people through blogging about miniatures and Etsy.  It never ceases to surprise me that these people are the kindest and most generous people I  know. Some I have gotten to know through e-mailing, some through Skype and some I have met in person. 

Most recently, I have been "talking" to Patie from Minisx2.  Although I do make miniatures, my skills are not nearly to the level of hers.  I had asked her to make some chairs for me and she offered to give me a chair lesson.  Ideally I would have liked to get away from this snow and to fly to California for a personal lesson, but this was the next best thing.

She went to the trouble of putting together a chair making kit for me so to speak.  She sent me explicit hand written instructions, one already made chair, one partially constructed chair and two chairs for me to put together. I nearly cried because I was so touched that someone would go to that much trouble for someone that they have never actually met.

  The instructions she sent me were wonderfully detailed and helpful plus there are many tips that will help me in making other miniatures. I have a tendency to fly by the seat of my pants and rarely make two things the same.

Here are the finished chairs.  If you look closely, you can see that they didn't all turn out exactly the same.  A couple are a little wobbly, but that's my fault.  I think I need some more practice, but I think I'm going to try to make one or two on my own.

Cheers and a HUGE Thank You to Patie and to making new mini friends!!!!

Funky Floor Lamp

Just a funky little floor lamp for the funky 70's pad.

More later!

Undersized Urbanite Update

Ahhhhh...relief!  The holidays are over and the decorations are put away!  We have had about 18" of snow  and a few days of sub zero temperatures and the kiddos got an extra week of winter break because of it.  I have finally gotten a chance to work on the Undersized Urbanite Groovy 70's pad.

I ditched the brittle wood parts and flimsy plastic that came with the A-Frame kit to make this sliding glass door.  The doorway is short so I couldn't use a pre-made door.  It's about 6" tall and 9" wide.  In real life this place would be perfect for someone like me (I'm a little "vertically challenged")....or a Hobbit.

Being the 70's, there has to be some paneling on the walls.  I'm doing a prettier updated version of paneling though.  I found this beautiful burled wood veneer in a lot I bought on Ebay some time ago.  I'm going to trim it all out in a lighter wood like the trim around the sliding glass door. I started thinking about the flooring.  I pulled out a couple pieces from my stash of bamboo floor mats to try.  I like these two but I'm leaning toward the stripes.  I think it's just a little more funky...any thoughts?

Upstairs, there will be a wall that goes about 3/4 of the way to the ceiling to divide the bedroom from the bathroom.  The bed will be a little smaller and will have a built in headboard the accommodate the angle of the wall.  I also added some partitions to make some tall windows both upstairs and downstairs.

I've been looking as some Lundby bathroom sets on Ebay, but to get the one I wanted would have been more than what I wanted to pay.  I did find this great vintage German set though.  I actually already have another set that I modified to make more modern. You can see it here.  I'm planning on using this wallpaper, but I only have one sheet so I may have to tile the bottom half of the walls.  I'll probably make it orange..or maybe navy blue.

Downstairs on the left will be the kitchen. The oven will not be next to the angled wall...we don't want a fire! I may also have to make a narrower fridge.  To the front will be a little eating area.

Sale at Minisx2

Just FYI, Patie is having a 20 % off sale at hew Etsy shop Minisx2

For thise who are not familiar with her work, she makes amazing mid-century modern furniture mostly in 1/12 scale.

Here are some of my favorites:

 Her work is excellent quality and her prices are quite reasonable.

Would visit her shop and get the goods while you can.  They go quickly!