Garage sale makeovers in mini

I found this cup and saucer while garage sale shopping with my oldest a couple of weeks ago. I turned it into a mini garden. For my attempt I think it turned out well. I already have another cup/saucer set from this round of garage sales. I'm going to make some for gifts.
My middle name is Rose so the flowers on this cup are perfect. :)
I found this doily at my favorite consignment shop last week. I like it much better than the previous one for Harriet's bed in the boarding house. The scale is more appropriate and the blue looks good with her wallpaper.
This is the Avon bath oil bottle wash stand I found over the weekend. I added painted touches to the pitcher and bowl and used a brown glaze (several layers) to give a wood effect to the bottle. I love how it looks in the Victorian Cottage bedroom.
The little angel doll also got a makeover. I used her dress to make a pinafore and dressed her in Victorian style. At the moment she's the daughter of the cook/maid for the Victorian Cottage. I'm not sure if this is her permanent home, yet.

I did some rearranging

This is the bedroom in the Real Good Toys Victorian Cottage. Because of the name, I decided to make this one in the Victorian period. The bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in the cottage. I made the bed and all of the bedding and the wash stand. The pitcher and bowl, chamber pot, cat and many of the small personal accessories were made from polymer clay. The rug is a scrap of fabric with the sides hemmed and the ends fringed. The parlor stove is a salt shaker.

This room arrangement is a new one and I really like how it looks.

More from the Victorian houses

These top two photos are from the Victorian Cottage Jr. I made the bed, quilt, washstand and one of the bedside tables. The rug was printed onto a T shirt transfer and then ironed onto Aida cloth. The rugs in the parlor were made the same way. All of the photos in this room are ancestors or living relatives of either my husband or me. I made the chandelier, sofa, wing chair, table, and fern. The dining set was made from a Chrysbon kit and the black chair at the front right started life as an inexpensive import. I painted and reupholstered it.

This is the Petite Dreams parlor. I made all of the furniture in here, including the fireplace. The burgundy drapes are made of velvet scrapbook paper. It's very easy to get nice pleats - just accordian fold. The stair carpet is embroidered ribbon.

Emma and Richard in the master bedroom. I made the bed and fireplace. The hanging lantern is based on a lantern photo I found online. The "plaster" ceiling rose is an element cut from my real size kitchen ceiling paper. The dresser and vanity are refinished Dollar Tree purchases.

The kitchen tin ceiling is made of another element cut from my real kitchen paper and then painted silver. The floor and wainscot are both printed from the internet. The cook stove started life as a Spam tin. The sink was made from a Vaseline lid with hardware added. The cook is hard at work at a table I made from scratch and aged. I also made the chair at the front right.

I made most of the dishes in the hutch and the food throughout the kitchen. The best thing about miniatures is that you really have no excuse to be bored - there's always something different to try!

Victorian times

Many miniaturists' first project is a Victorian dollhouse. Not so with me. My first three houses were all contemporary and I had no interest in doing a period dollhouse. However, after that third house and the birth of my third child, I had little time for minis for several years. About 5 years ago, my husband bought me a Real Good Toys Victorian Cottage Jr. for Christmas. I decided that it would be fun to try a Victorian house and so it began. The next Christmas, I got a Petite Dreams house kit. It's very similar to the RGT Allison Jr. but reversed. It is prefinished on the exterior and I left it the original blue but added touches of darker blue for accents. I also made the dolls for both houses (except for the baby - she's a Renwal doll). Emma and Richard and their two children live in the big house and Emma's parents live in the cottage next door. Both houses have staff as well. Maria is the cook/housekeeper at the cottage. Emma has a cook, a nanny, a butler and two maids. I made or refinished most of the furniture in the two houses. I really enjoy figuring out how to make something out of bits I have on hand. That challenge is my favorite part of the miniatures hobby. These photos are all of the Petite Dreams house.