Hi everyone! Long time no talk. I’m going to try getting back into blogging semi regularly about my own work and the wider world of art, crafts, and especially, specifically miniature diorama photography. Some short, some longer think pieces., we’ll see what all my brain makes available to me, and I hope you’ll stick around for the journey.
There’s a trend right now in children’s dollhouse. You see it widely on instagram in accounts like @calevie_designer_dollhouses and @enidecor and echoed in the full scale mom-blogger esque worlds of @prettypetiteco and @mikobowen and worlds more.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bph7DlSjA-x/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlXoi_lnRza/
The light toned, minimalist, modernism aesthetic is one that was created for instagram images to begin with. Modelling your home in such a way allows for your instagram lifestyle images to look trendy and clean. And then, having a dollhouse just as instagrammable within that home just makes sense.
Now would the kid like a dollhouse with more flair? Who knows, but these mini houses are undeniably cute all the same.
Target, with their ever on point toy section, has just released their own name brand dollhouses with just this look in mind, and for pre-furnished, fully wooden dollhouses, they’re not badly priced.
Now, in contrast, you have the LOL Suprise house that was just released in September. The house as a whole is an 80s Miami deco party house, there’s no doubt about that. The furniture within is super extra, with bright colors and designs. While I’m absolutely in love with this house, as Miami Vice style is my favorite by far, I’ve heard some criticism from the LOL fan community that this house should have been more pink and glittery.
(follow me on instagram to see images with this LOL Suprise house coming soon – @tourmalinenow)
Barbie houses, while twice the scale, meet that pink all over look.
All this said, adult focused collectors dollhouses seem to fall somewhere in the middle. They don’t have wild colors or overly trendy and modern furniture pieces. The range from historic to contemporary, but with a more homey feel. But maybe that is the same thing. They’re fantasies and I suppose the homes we fantasize about as adults are a bit different than those we would want as kids. And those pastel, minimal homes maybe just fall in between the children and adult fantasy.
Do you have a dollhouse? Tell me about it!
I recently got the kidkraft new york loft apartment, or whatever it’s called lol – which has painted on furniture (something I don’t like!) but I intend to paint over it because I like the structure of it. Sometimes I think the customisation element makes things more unique, even though I am not exceptionally crafty myself.
Ooh that looks really interesting. Reminds me a lot of the style of the lol surprise house. From a photography perspective I find the contrast between the painted on furniture and regular furniture interesting, but from a collectors or just cool dollhouse perspective, I’m not really a fan of the painted furniture either. And you’re totally tight the customization, no matter you’re skill level is a huge part of what makes dollhouses so appealing. I remember building my own dolls rooms from shoe boxes, fruit baskets, etc when I was little and honestly those were some of the best even though I’m sure they looked terrible.
That is cool Target creates their own dollhouses. I’ve been thinking about creating a story where a person is shrunk and lives inside of a dollhouse. That be cool. And the farm house one sorta looks like Dwight’s house.
That would be an awesome story!
Reblogged this on Dolls, Dolls, Dolls and commented:
An interesting read about the modern trend in dolls houses. I have to say that I think that there are enough pink glittery dolls houses out there already but I’m not really a fan of the minimalist dolls house either. I think the fun of miniatures is all the tiny little accessories. That’s my fantasy and I’m keeping it.
I completely agree, a middle ground is what I find the most whimsy in. Thank you for the reblog.