I have a coffee table book of the designs of Graham Rust, whose work I have always admired. I was inspired by various pieces in that book to design Seafoam House.

For this one I used a flat topped single door hutch. I debated about leaving the door, but decided against it for space purposes.

My obliging husband removed this one for me, as he did with all the other houses. (By the way, the knobs off these doors make great mushrooms!) I also asked him to remove the feet, which I felt detracted from the house look.
You can see the process I used for making this house here.
This house is simple and dignified, compared to the more whimsical ones I made first. I painted the top black and added a plain black cardstock trim around the edges.

By the time I made this house, which was the last one I did when I worked on a series, I had decided not to put a ceiling trim on the upper floor because it is such a small space.
I scanned pages from the Graham Rust book and did a lot of cutting and pasting with my PaintShopProX graphics program to combine the window with the cornice trim and the two pictures on either side from different paintings. I worked with the pictures in full size to clean up the lines and whatnot, and then reduced the pages when I was satisfied.
I loved how the murals and window turned out, and wanted to keep the furnishings simple. The problem was that I couldn't figure out what to put in the room that didn't detract from or obscure the designs I had so painstakingly created.

The first piece of 3-d printed furniture that I purchased was this table. When I couldn't decide how to finish it, I picked up my gold leaf pen and painted it with that. I recall temporarily placing it in this room for a picture. However, it sat in a little curio cabinet beside my computer for a long time, and recently when I decided to do something with my finished but unfurnished Michaels hutch houses, my eye fell on it again and I thought, aha! It worked better in front of that mural than any wood toned furniture I had tried.
The tiny plant atop it is actually a delicate, well crafted piece that I purchased, but my picture doesn't do it justice. Oddly enough, I thought that its container was black until I took the pictures. Purple! Oh, well; too late to change now. lol

All I needed was the chairs, which were purchased at Tom Bishop's Chicago International, I believe from BJ Miniatures. They are very, very delicate, and I broke one leg off when I was trying to remove them from the glue used to attached them in their plastic display box. Here is another instance where my camera altered the color slightly. The seats are not as pink as appears here.
Once I had the lower floor dealt with, I went shopping through my stash to see what would fit in the upper.

The ceiling of the second floor of these Michaels hutches is very low and it is a very shallow space. None of my beds would fit, and I finally settled on a wonderful wicker day bed by Claire Downard that had never found quite the right home. I made the simple coffee table. The tiny arrangement in the pot, as well as the books, look much better in real life. Those are strawberry bonbons in the ceramic dish!

My next choice was something for the wall, and this mirror, also from Bruce Steinke, fit well. As is so often the case with miniatures this tiny piece didn't photograph well because of the reflection.
The desk and chair were also Chicago purchases. The lamp was a swap, although I painted the shade. It sits on a tiny very delicate ecru doily made by Ruth Stewart. However, you can only see it, unfortunately, if you pick up the house and turn it at an angle.
I made the clock from a very tiny brass finding and a punched printie, coated with gloss. I also made the book. And by the way, all the books in this little house are maritime themed, but you need to use a magnifying glass at a very odd angle to tell.
I am very pleased to finally get this little quarter scale house finished. There are other illustrations in that Graham Rust book that I really like, but for the most part as yet have not attempted to do anything like this adaptation with them beyond just playing around.

I used this black pedestal candlestand to display my Halloween House, but thought it was perfect for this one, too.
Now that I am finally furnishing the Michaels houses I created in that burst of energy two or three years ago, I am thinking about displaying them together, two at a time in one of the Michaels mini football helmet cases. The other Michaels hutch houses can be found here.
I have a lot more designs, including shops, that are ready to be printed out and applied to more hutches in my stash when I have another creative surge!
NEXT:>>
