Dollhouse Decorating – Beige Is Beautiful, IF

You have more than one shade of beige in the room. That's one design concept when working with a neutral as your primary color. Go from light to dark hues on the walls, rug and large pieces furniture. The walls could be the lightest shade; curtains, a filmy darker hue; the rug a much darker shade. Be careful to keep these secondary colors compatible. Because of the compacted spaces, unfortunate choices in color are more obvious in a miniatures than a real dwelling. But it's a lot easier and cheaper to fix the mistake. 

Varying textures are important too. If your sofa is beige leather, the pillows and throw can add color and varied textures. Mix it up with velvet, burlap, long hair, rope or large weave fabric. The rug could be sisal or long shag.   

Since beige is so neutral, you could take any favorite color and use it for a color “pop” here and there. If blue is your favorite color use art on the walls with your favorite shade of blue, then make sure this accent color is the same shade wherever you use it. The blue in the art work should be exactly the same blue as in the vase on the side table, or the blue in the flower arrangement on the coffee table. 

Beige can be beautiful, if you give it some help.

Dollhouse Decorating – The Neutrals: A Room With White Walls

Consider your miniature white room a blank slate, an opportunity to do whatever you want, and go wherever your creativity will take you! This positive approach is a lot better than being intimidated by what at first glance looks like a colorless space.

Not so! There are hundreds of potential color schemes in a white room because every wavelength of the visible spectrum is in white. The rainbow is a fractured white. That’s right! Take white light and fracture it into a spectrum and all of the rainbow of colors appear. White will go with any color. There are bluish white and whites with green, pink or beige undertones. Winter white (gray) and Bone (beige) are so popular that designers and paint manufacturers conspired to give them a name. That's marketing.

In decorating, we to let the room inspire us to see what the room wants us to do with it. Are there wonderful ocean views? Then a color pallet of water tones is indicated: blues, greens, with pops of fuchsia and orchid for accents. Does the client live in the desert Southwest, with a terrace facing mountains that reflect every imaginable earth tone at sunset? The color scheme could have deep red, burnt-orange, gold, bronze-like browns.

in the real world, where the decorator has to deal with whatever property is presented. And the owner. Miniature enthusiasts have no such hurdles. We have in total control of our projects. Where do you want your dollhouse to be?

One of the greatest assets of working with the color white is the ability to showcase your 

own personality and style in your interiors, without having to compete with the color on the walls If you love artwork, sculptural pieces, consider displaying it on an all-white wall, over an all-white fireplace mantle or over your all-white bed. All eyes will go right to your one-of-a-kind artwork without you having to try! The same is true with any elements that commands attention.

You have the entire universe of color to allocate between the walls, furniture, floor coverings, accent pieces and trim. What do you do with all this freedom of choice when you're 

in the Home Depot shuffling the paint swatches and feeling like you've got a loosing hand in a card game? Use the Internet. There are a number of interior design and paint manufacturer sites that have free tools to play around with color combinations. Better Homes & Gardens has a neat tool called Design A Room Online. 

Here's a link: https://tinyurl.com/os8gqpn

Using such tools can give you a starting point, but that's all, just a start. What you see on your computer screen is not what you're going get in the paint can for all sorts of electronic reasons. But it sure makes changing your mind about combining colors easier.

Have fun!

Dollhouse Decorating – The Neutrals, Beige vs. Gray

Working With Beige 

As with any neutral color, I like to have more than one shade in dollhouse miniatures. Go from light to dark hues on the walls, rug and large pieces furniture. The walls could be the lightest shade; curtains, a filmy darker hue; the rug a much darker shade. Because of the compacted space, making an unfortunate choice in color in a miniature is more obvious than a real dwelling. But fixing is a lot cheaper. Remember those sample cans.

The room box in the Helena Rubinstein collection shows various shades which might be labeled a rich creamy-beige, with spots of darker color in the flooring, curtains and wall art.

Varying textures is important too. If your sofa is beige leather, the pillows and throw can add color and varied textures. Mix it up with velvet, burlap, long hair, rope or large weave fabric. The rug could be sisal or long shag.

Since beige is so neutral, you could take any favorite color and use it for a color “pop” here and there. If blue is your favorite color use art on the walls with your favorite shade of blue, then make sure this accent color the is same shade wherever you use it. The blue in the art work should be exactly the same blue as in the vase on the side table, or the blue in the flower arrangement on the coffee table.

Gray Is The New Beige

For dollhouse miniatures, beige or gray is strictly a personal choice. You still want to use more than one shade of the primary color in the room. Make sure your secondary and accent colors are compatible with that primary color.

Melanie Fletcher took a different approach in the Cape Cod salt box she made for her niece. All but one of the rooms has the same shade of gray on the walls, with a few strong accent colors. The overall effect shows a subtle unity rather than a kaleidoscope color leaping out at you.

I love working with this new-again neutral color because it seems so fresh, and because of the 

emotions it can evoke. Log onto the Benjamin Moore website an look for Shades of Gray. For a warm cozy feeling, you can't beat Cosmopolitan. Need a quick cool down? City Shadow is for you.

Of course you can have both gray and beige with a pop of gold leaf in the same frame, as in the Josie Bout selfie.

If you choose your accent colors carefully, you can do wonders with gray. How long before beige reappears as interior decorating's “exciting new thing?” Who knows, and who cares, really. In dollhouse decorating, the latest fad is irrelevant. We deal with decades and eras, right?

To know more about working with neutral colors, Renate Herring-Shepherd as a terrific e-Book you can download 

free. It contains a color wheel training video I like. And its free! Look for the Stylish Neutrals link at the top of the right sidebar.

http://www.dreamhomedecorating.com/.

Did I say, It'S Free?

Amazing Miniaturist – Henry Kupjack

The son of famed miniaturist, Eugene Kupjack, Henry Kupjack is a master artisan in his own right. 

Click on the image of the spiral staircase in Miniature Room No. 5 for a link to a video produced by Ileana Ottini. It shows many of Henry's miniatures. 

Also, here's a link to a show aired by WTTV Chicago station about Henry. In  one clip he tells how his father, Eugene Kupjack went to work on the Thorne Rooms:
  

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/12/18/thorne-miniature-rooms

Susan Downing