Miniatures make me happy

It’s taken a couple of years, but I’m over the moon with how my latest project has turned out. During the pandemic, I was seconded to a communications team within the NHS for 17 months. Obviously you get to know people well during such a lengthy, not to mention intense, time but I was still really surprised – and absolutely delighted – when part of my leaving gift was a 1:12 kit for a beach hut, as well as some lovely bits and pieces to go inside from Shepherd Miniatures .  Just before I left, the team headed to a beach hut to celebrate the NHS’s birthday so it had a special meaning. I immediately decided I would be painting it in ‘NHS blue’ but it’s taken a while to complete it. My first attempt at decorating and overall, I love it. As usual, my dad was very efficient and built the kit for me almost immediately but I was nervous about the painting so put it off for a while. That’s not to say I wasn’t scouring every exhibition and website for things to go inside in the meantime...

I love modern miniatures - and that’s not something I ever thought I’d say. When I first started collecting more than 30 years ago, all the modern miniatures you could buy looked very unrealistic. They were plastic, tacky and made me think it was an era I’d never collect. Fast forward around 25 years and things started to change. Even mass-produced pieces have improved but the advent of 3D printing has meant miniatures have become far more realistic. Once I realised how beautifully made a lot of the pieces are and the huge range of things you can now buy, I knew I was going to need to somewhere to put them. I had my eye on Dolls House Emporium’s Lake View  or the Malibu Beach House  but neither is cheap. I set up searches on Facebook Marketplace and eventually a brand new, unopened Malibu Beach House kit popped up just 45 minutes away. I’m not sure my dad shared my excitement, but he did very kindly agree to build it for me. I’m still deciding on the internal decoration...

Alice – our Havanese dog – is the centre of our world. She’s full of love, fun and has a huge personality so of course it makes sense to have a miniature version of her. She’s a tiny dog (which we only realise when she’s with other breeds) but not twelfth scale – yet. I’m lucky I married someone who ‘gets’ my love of miniatures. Tim got a replica made of Alice which is one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever received. Finding a little bowl  (thanks, once again, to Shepherd Miniatures) at Miniatura  for her was just the icing on the cake.  Eventually she’ll live in comfort in my modern house but for now, she’s just guarding the doorway during the renovation works.

I love the 50s – from the furniture to the fashion – so I think my diner might be my favourite room box (at least for the moment). My 50s style 1:12 scale diner - built from scratch by my dad. The inside of the diner - still lots of space to fill. I’d been looking around for a kit for a long time but couldn’t find anything I liked, so my dad came to the rescue and designed RK’s diner from scratch, including the amazing electrics. I absolutely love turning the main lights off, switching on each individual element and watching it come to life.  The juke box is actually a toy I found on eBay but it was the right scale and I think it fits perfectly. The ‘clock face’ is a watch that my dad added LED lighting to, while the sign in the window is actually meant for model railways. The buttons are labelled so each element of the lighting can be controlled individually.  The doors are another favourite element, something he spent a long time over but I think it was worth it to get...

This weekend my mum celebrated her 70th birthday and as it was a special occasion, I'd decided on a special present. We're very lucky to share our love of miniatures and I thought it would be nice to give her a room box that reminded her of all the things she loves. So without further ado, here's the completed room. The accessories won't mean much to other people but most of the items in the room mean something to us. The completed room box The photo above was taken in the middle of the day so the lights aren't having much of an effect but in the shot below you can see they do really light up the room. A homely feel with the lights on When I started this project I had the idea that I would do all the work and that would make it more special. Then I realised that actually it wouldn't be much of a present if the walls fell down and there were bubbles in the wallpaper so after buying a kit and the necessary items to decorate, I handed it all over to...

A few years ago I mentioned we had 'accidentally' begun a new miniature hobby . As this one is seasonal it's a slow burner but our Christmas village is growing little by little, year by year. We still go to a garden centre for the annual post-festive sales and pick up some half price bargains. Amazingly, this year I escaped having only spent £3. This little horse and carriage fitted our specification of 'nothing too big' as storing the village from January to November is a bit of a challenge. The village sits just in front of our TV, largely because it's an empty surface but the fact it's white means it adds to the snowy feel. As you can see, it's still a manageable size - for the moment... We were hoping to pick up a 'firework display' my dad had seen online but unfortunately we couldn't find one. The film below is something to aim for next year!

I love going to dollshouse fairs but it's not quite the same when your current projects (my house , pub and shop) are almost completed. Window shopping is all very well but if I don't come home clutching a tiny paper bag that cost me a fortune, I don't feel quite the same level of happiness. With Kensington Dollshouse Festival  fast approaching I've been wondering what to put on my shopping list. It's also that time of year when my husband is nagging me for Christmas present ideas and picking up a couple of things at the show has become tradition. I joined a few dollshouse groups on Facebook recently, partly to nose around other people's houses and partly, I admit, to promote this blog. It's been really inspiring to see what everyone else is making and I've also spotted a lot of bargains in the 'For sale' sections, particularly for beginners. So what's this got to do with my shopping list? Well something caught my eye in one of the gro...

I can't tell you much about it yet but I've been playing with Lego again (as if the first time wasn't time consuming enough). This is the state of our dining room after weeks of waking in the night with a new idea, immediate eBay searches and lots of late night bidding. It's all for the work Christmas competition so I'll tell you more in December...

These days it's possible to buy almost anything you can think of in miniature. There was a time when choice was limited to a Victorian or Georgian dollshouse so it wasn't too hard to pick a theme and get going. Not any more... One of the ongoing projects in our house is my husband's castle. He had seen a kit for sale but my dad knew he could make something far superior so for Tim's 40th birthday, my parents gave him the three room building below. Quite rightly, they didn't decorate it as that's such a personal choice they wanted Tim to decide how it should look. He was thrilled with it (still is) and it meant a lot to me that we could share the hobby. I was pretty lucky to marry a man who not only tolerates my miniature obsession but also joins in. The problem is Tim's going to be 50 next month. Yep, that's 10 long years the poor castle has been nothing more than MDF.   There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, we're perfectionists when...