Jenn's Mini Worlds: A Dollhouse Miniaturist's Blog

Lisa’s Country Antiques

This shop started from the one-roomed kit called Lisa’s Country Cottage, from Houseworks.

I modified it a little, putting on a dormer window, and leaving off half the roof to enclose it in acrylic instead. Easier to see the goods upstairs.

I made this into an antique shop to display all the many little things that had no place elsewhere, especially all the old lamps (which I wired–they work!).

An antique shop is fun, because it doesn’t have to be logical, or tasteful. Everything is piled everywhere. I decorated it by taking each piece of furniture and composing a sort of still-life on it, then putting it all together.

The Shaker table is also used as the business desk for the owners–here’s their laptop, which they use instead of a cash register, and an old fashioned land line phone that still works for them.

The green pillows on this are buttons from my mother’s “car coat” that she used to wear in the late 1960s.

These are newer acquisitions. The pretty plates I bought at Ginger Landen-Siegal’s table at the NAME convention in 2013–they are paper printed and gloss-coated. They make nice trays for the loose silverware I got at Mainly Minis.

Carpet bag came in the boxes I bought with The Blue House. Hats are from a Chrysnbon kit. Flip-flops? Who knows?

The tavern sign I bought from Laura Crane at the NAME 2013 show. The pitcher and bowl was one of the first things I bought when I started mini-ing in my early teens.

The GWTW lamp lights. Sideboard is a House of Miniatures kit, put together by me. I painted an reupholstered the Chrysnbon chair for the scene.

Another collection of stuff on the table I acquired over the years. The tops really spin.

The stained glass window used to be on a window in The Big House.

A full shot of the hutch, with pretty glassware on top.

Underneath is more junk for sale. For some reason I had a huge amount of metal spatterware (from boxes I bought with The Blue House). I put much of it into a basket for shoppers to dig through.

Upstairs. Much easier to see all the stuff without the roof!

Vintage sewing box by Reutters, old Clare Bell Brass Works decanter set, on top of a chest from Realife Miniatures.

I had a bedstead from House of Miniatures I wanted to use, but with a mattress, it took up too much space. Solution: Put it in bare, and put furniture inside it. This would happen at a crowded, cluttered antique shop. Hat box was in my goody bag at NAME. Chairs with woven seats I bought in Hong Kong.

This was a “round table” kit at NAME 2013. It also came with more faux boxes that I have used elsewhere.

Spool box kit I also picked up at NAME.

Hey, I recognize that book! The Care and Feeding of Pirates. I have always loved that cover–a fun one designed by Judy York. This was one of my first books that sold in well, and helped build my name in the genre. I still love the story!

The wraparound porch outside holds even more antiques. Treasures range from an old-timey radio made from bits and bobs to a beautifully crafted set of golf clubs by Nantasy Fantasy (there are real, tiny golf balls in the pouch on the side.)

I tend to collect things I just like the look of (or I make) with no idea where to put them. An antique store is a great solution!