Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse Update

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday, whether you celebrated Easter or Passover, or just spent time with family and friends. We all need more time to re-charge our batteries and relax.

I had a chance to do a little work on my Art Deco house. I think, however, that I should explain that I use the term Art Deco as a catch-all term for all of the modernist designs of the Jazz Age era. So, Art Deco, as I use it, can mean Art Moderne, Streamline Modern, Modernism or even Screen Deco (Hollywood's version of Art Deco, used in films of the 1920s and 1930s). I have to admit that I have a very (very) big weakness for Screen Deco films.

If you recall, my Art Deco house started out as an old radio case:





Here is what it looks like now (the pictures are not fantastic, but you can see that the radio has been turned upside down, and there are a few temporary, domino,stairs):


(The "flapper" is a dollar-store find).


Here are the stairs, the other way around.


The radio has become a 1:16 scale Art Deco bungalow. Here are some inspiration pictures:





The flat roof will house a patio (with red "ceramic tiles").





The inside will have three levels, along these lines (the bottom two photos are from "Lady for a Day."








The first level will be at the entrance, and the domino stairs will lead to the living room.








The "glass" walls are bobbin holders, and they will be used as book case, room dividers.





The second level will be the kitchen area, this will be level with the large window, and will have a stairs down to the dining area,


The large mirror will probably move to the dining area since I want to build one of these fireplaces for the living area:


(Photo from "Our Blushing Brides")


The kitchen will include many of these elements (photos from "My Man Godfrey"), but in a much smaller area:





The bedroom and the bathroom will be in a separate room, made of picture frames, that will be built on to the side of the house.

Here are some other elements that will be in the house:
(I love this color):





And this art work:








Wishing you only good things, Neen

Undersized Urbanite Art Deco Dollhouse Entry-Update

It seems that due to space considerations, my Art Deco house will be in 1:16 scale. This means that my Art Deco lady


will be too large and my Dollar Tree mermaids will be the residents of the house. If you recall, they started out as this:


It was a challenge to create an Art Deco/Jazz Age lady and not a 1980s prom queen. My first attempt looked like this:


(Confession, I have never liked Barbie dolls.).

My second attempt seems to have captured more of the era:








Yes, she has legs instead of the mermaid fins, but no shoes, yet (I will post pictures of the whole lady in the next post.) Her "mink" stole started life as a dollar store Christmas sock:


Wonderful visit
I had a lovely visit this past weekend with CM (of My Realitty), her daughter and beautiful grandbaby! Thanks to CM, I now have some great little architectural samples from her daughter's former workplace, and a piece of furniture for the Art Deco house, a Ghost Chair!


(Photo from Navy and Lavender)
It is my first Ghost Chair, and while the original Louis XV Ghost Chair


was designed by Philippe Starck
in 2002, the chair will find a place in the Art Deco house because the design seems to pay homage to the Art Deco/Modernist movement, like this Art Deco birdcage:



Art Deco Genius
Let me introduce an Art Deco in miniature genius, Sweetington. Others have written about Sweetington, such as CM at My Realitty. I bow before Sweetington's work. Take a look:














Many of Sweetington's pieces of furniture are Playmobil (like the wall candelabra which is part of a Playmobil fence) . Interestingly, Sweetington uses 1:12 scale rooms, windows and doors with 1:16 scale furniture. This adds even more glamour to the scenes. Sweetington's Art Deco scenes may be found here.

Wishing you only good things, Neen