Art Deco House -Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse Update

I have been slowly working on my Art Deco House entry for Christina O's Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse contest. The very best part of the work is exploring new ideas and trying to make the house, the furniture and the future inhabitants for the lowest cost possible. Almost everything I am using in the house, including the house itself, has been transformed from things purchased from a dollar store, a thrift store or eBay.

I previously showed you the ladies I am transforming to Jazz Age/Art Deco sophisticates. They started as these sad looking harlequins I purchased from eBay:


Then they were changed to these:


And here is one of them turned into a polished Art Deco lady:








Her dress is composed of the material from a dollar store fan with a piece of dollar store ribbon around her hips. The boa is borrowed from an Avon doll, but I also created a white "mink" stole from the white fake fur edging from a dollar store Christmas stocking:












My camera is not that great, but you should be able to see the material and ribbon better in this photo:





If my Art Deco lady turns out to be too big for the scale I finally settle on, I will be creating an Art Deco lady using the same process from one of these dollar store mermaids:


I have been experimenting with making stairs from domino beads purchased from the sale bin at Hobby Lobby:





The beads are taped to a dollar store clear acrylic napkin holder that I will be cutting up for window "glass" and the stair well. I will be filling in the bead holes, and I might make the stairs spiral:


Or use the all white side of the bead to make piano stairs:


(Photo from designscraps.com).

I will be furnishing the house with a combination of furniture I am making and vintage 1930s furniture I either have or will find. The room dividers and bookshelves are inexpensive clear acrylic bobbin cases:


Here is some furniture that I recently purchased off eBay that I will be restoring:





What has inspired me as I move forward with Art Deco radio house?
These:





And Hercule Poirot:












And Jeeves and Wooster:








And many others:





























Including these 1920s "people" created in the 1970s for a display of the 1920s Stettheimer dollhouse:




















Wishing you only good things, Neen

(I try to give credit to the photographer and/or source of photos I use. I have been collecting photos for use in my Art Deco house for a long time and the names of the photographer or source of many of the photos have been lost, if that information was available. If I used one of your photos, or you know the source, please let me know and I will be happy to give credit where credit is due.)

And the winner is?

Thank you for participating in my blog anniversary give away! All participants' names were put on small pieces of paper that were folded several times. Then all of the names were put in a crystal bowl,




My mother mixed them up, closed her eyes and picked one name,




Elbey! Congratulations!
But, then my mother said, "Let's give away a second painting," so she picked another name,




Kikka! Congratulations Kikka and Elbey! Please send me an email (neenie8(at)gmail(dot)com) with your name and mailing address, and I will send you each an original painting.
Thank you all for participating. If I could send each of you a painting, I would!
Wishing you only good things,
Neen

Give away reminder, and Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse update (very small update)

I just want to remind you that the Give Away of one of my mother's original miniature paintings ends tomorrow, February 20, at midnight.

In order to be eligible for the giveaway, all you need to do is, 1. Be a follower of this blog, and 2. Leave a comment on any post that I put on the blog before midnight, February 20, 2013 (starting with my previous post). My mother will dedicate the painting to you, and the provenance of the painting will include your name.

My mother is a professional artist, here are a few of her miniature paintings:


Her signature and title of the painting are on the back
of the canvas.

Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse Update

Unfortunately, I have not been able to advance very far on the Art Deco house, but here are a few ideas I have been playing with.
First, I purchased some small Harlequin dolls on eBay,


They did not look very distinguished (or happy) as clowns, so I have begun their transformation,


One of these ladies will live in the Art Deco House (with 1920s or 30s clothes of course). Along these lines:


(But happier, I hope.)
I will have more photos of the house soon. It now has two stories and will look like a combination of these inspiration houses:











Did you know?

I am not the only "architect" inspired by 1930s' radio designs. Eritrea's capital, Asmara, has over 400 Art Deco buildings that were built during the final years of Italian colonial rule. One of those buildings is the "Bar Zilli" building which was built to imitate a 1930s Art Deco radio with windows made to look the tuning knobs of a radio.


Like the first story, front windows of my Art Deco house,


Last but not least
Modern is modern is modern


For a look at some beautiful Art Deco miniature furniture, visit Cyd's fabulous blog. And here is Cyd's amazing entry in HBS's 2013 Creatin Contest:


For a look at some of other marvelous entries in this contest, visit MiniDork's cutting edge, modernist blog. Here, by the way, is her incredibly beautiful, modern entry in the same contest from last year,



Wishing you only good things, Neen