I few months ago, I agreed to decorate a dollhouse for an auction to benefit Evergreen House in Baltimore, which is one of my favourite places in town. After much deliberation and lots of cough medicine, I decided on a Paper Doll House.
I decided that all of the pieces in the house and decorating the house would be made out of paper. I would find images on line, download them, photoshop them and print them out. With my trusty glue sticks, I’d attach them to the wooden doll house, et voila! I’d be finished.Well, the reality was not quite that simple. I spent hours finding the right images, ones that had the right perspective, no clutter in the background and that fit the period of the house.
Once I found and downloaded them, I had to scale them to fit the size of the house. Then I printed them, and spent ages cutting them out, making sure that there none of those pesky white edges showing.
I did have a bit of a meltdown when I saw a picture of my amazing friend David’s house. I took to bed with a bottle of gin and sulked for a while. But then I realized that David’s an artist and craftsman, and I just have a glue stick, so it’s not really comparable. Check out his blog with some pictures of the house and more of his amazing works.
So, I got back to work and at 2:00 this morning, I finished it, and delivered the Paper Doll House to Evergreen just before the rain started. The room on the left is the main hall/reception room. I forgot to take a picture of the fireplace that’s on the right wall head on, but you can see it below. The house is made to be looked at from a perspective of someone standing looking down at it, so when you’re looking directly, it’s a little off. That’s me and my faithful dog and the pictures are of my old dog, Frank, my grandmother and my niece. The library is next and has a wall of books, two comfortable chairs, the Toile de Baltimore wallcovering and the infamous Turgot Plan de Paris on some linen-fold wood walls. The bedroom has a canopy bed and large dresser. The pictures are a Chinoiserie pattern and a field of black-eyed susans, the walls are gold paper and the ceiling is blue and white tiles. The rug is Aubusson. The attic has rough wood floors and some old rolled up rugs.
The outside of the house is brick with Georgian details, and some boxwood topiaries.
I did get a peek at the other entries this morning and they are spectacular. I think that Evergreen is having pictures taken of all of the houses, so when they do, I will share them with you. Just promise me that you won’t laugh too hard at mine!
Holymoly woman! How sweet is that! I'm loving the puppies in there...no one will be as original!
ReplyDeleteMeg this is wonderful. I love the wallpaper of course and your dress! Lovely! Your friend's house it amazing! What a great idea.
ReplyDeleteMeg is there anyone as talented as you!!! How delightful!
ReplyDeleteDo Come and Enter my $200 giveaway from Fifi Flowers!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Meg, I think you did a really great job! I love miniature houses!
ReplyDeleteOh, Meg - this is such a labor of love and a huge success! I think your idea is amazing - probably the most original. I'm a dollhouse fanatic, so I truly appreciate all the effort you put into this!!!! Huge kudos.
ReplyDeleteDavid's house looks awesome, as we all could have predicted it would, but your house's flattened furnishings have their own kind of originality & charm. It's like a gigantic version of a pop-up book.
ReplyDeleteAnd how clever to skew the perspective of the cutouts to make everything read correctly when viewed below eye-level. Hey, if the trick worked in the Baroque theater, it ought to work in Baltimore. And speaking of Baroque trickery, the perfectly scaled dummyboard figure of you is genius.
WOW!! Staggering the amount of work you had to put into that!!! It is wonderful! Very proud for you! I know you are so glad to have it behind you!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're crazy... your house is fabulous and your idea was brilliant!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a job very well done/executed!!! I've never been a fan of dollhouses until I saw yours :)
xo
You are AMAZING! What detail - and Connor and Frank to boot! Love it!
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
Wendy
Wowsa... That's freakin' fantastic, complete with shadows. Love it and what a great idea for a fundraiser!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Meg! And you included the toile of Baltimore wallpaper!
ReplyDeleteCathy
I am seriously amazed by your house - the paper concept is fantastic and it looks wonderful! I can only imagine how much time it required, too!
ReplyDeleteI's gorgeous! The patience and execution, it is absolutely lovely and my imagination is running wild...
ReplyDeletexx
Victoria
"He's an artist and I just have glue sticks" Hilarious Meg, like all artist, we are our own worst critics. Yours is fabulous! Love the personal pictures.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the others.
Your dog takes my heart.
ReplyDeleteLove the house.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
BRAVA, mon amie! C'est magnifique!
ReplyDeleteo.m.g. Such perseverance! A great job Meg.
ReplyDeleteLove it! I think you did an amazing job. Such attention to detail! I especially love the dog.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out GREAT! All that fussing and you did a wonderful, creative job. I thought it was a really original approach to doing a doll house. The cut outs almost have a Monty Python feel to them, as in how Terry Gilliam did those wonderful animations in some of the shows. Well done hon...
ReplyDeleteLove the photo of you and the dress -love the pair of fauteuils, just slightly askew - amazing perspective - stellar job!
ReplyDeleteterrific concept...and i hope they take the pictures from above. I love the chairs especially. I'd want to have filled a room with chairs!
ReplyDeleteBarkinglips is glad to see a couple of dogs too! dog hairs add a lot to decor.
Couldn't and wouldn't laugh - I think it's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteWhile your friend David is amazingly talented your house is adorable and shows a tremendous amount of thought and work. I wish I lived locally so I could see this exhibit. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI love the reflection of the entryway in the overmantel mirror! Details details details....well done!
ReplyDeleteTrue attention to detail: the rugs in the attic. I can't imagine how many hours this took.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! It looks fantastic. I can't only imagine how cramped up your hands must have become after spending all that time cutting! It exhausts me just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteAngela Williams