Do you like your houses accurate or quirky?

[redheadL]

So amazed by the skill of many of you! I just wonder...being new to this world in general, despite loving dollhouses my entire life and having gone to a few shows...if it is  more popular for a house to be super accurate, almost a scale model of a real place OR do you like a little whimsy and quirk to your houses? I find I am drawn to the really high level artisan work but I always want to populate it with some antique pieces that might not be to scale, or I find a "resident" who looks more like a doll than a realistic human model (or I want the three bears to live in the house!) Are there different schools of thought on this (pure vs playful)? 

[KathieB]

Th house pretty much tells me what it wants to be. Marie Laveau's house is historically accurate at the pure end of the scale, and the Beacon Hill, Quilt Shop, and Pierce Bohemian Inn & Restaurant are realistic. On the playful end of the scale there is the Haunted Hangout populated by skeletons and the Greenleaf Houseboat bashed into a 1:24 floating home for a family of Calico Critters frogs. Sort of in the middle, realistic/playful is the White Orchid Christmas house inhabited by some of Santa's elves.

 

[LeeB]

My first house was already assembled when I got it, but needed some restoration, finishes and decorating. It is Victorian but we had already amassed a rather eclectic collection of furnishings and accessories that weren't all in keeping with that style. At one time we owned a real full sized Victorian home and had furnished it similarly, so our backstory was that a contemporary family was living in this vintage miniature house and had filled it with a combination of family heirlooms and newer pieces.  The décor honored the period style, but included modern conveniences such as a gas stove, electric refrigerator, etc. It is “quirky” in that it reflects our personal interests and taste.

My second house is bashed from a kit that was missing about a third of the pieces. It is still in progress – first floor done and second floor about half done. I call it the “Quirky Cottage” so that answers the question for you. The kit was intended to be a Victorian, but I decided to redesign it as a transition between late Victorian and Arts & Crafts. It represents a home owner who lived at that time and was rooted in the earlier style but wanted to incorporate elements of the newer fashion. It combines elements that wouldn’t otherwise have appeared together in a pure example of either style. It also incorporates lots of my favorite things just because I like them. but things that could conceivably coexist at a particular point in the past.

I am planning my third house – a Greenleaf Glencroft which I intend to do as a relatively authentic Tudor cottage both inside and out. There will be no bathroom or plumbing. The main room will be a multipurpose space that combines kitchen, sitting, and dining areas. The finishes will combine a variety of materials such as brick, stone, stucco with half-timbering, etc. The furnishings will be of the appropriate style. But I can’t resist letting the whimsy creep in. I have planned stained glass windows, tapestries, and other ornamental details that are the right period but a higher class of items than would be found in such a modest structure. So I guess that could be considered quirky.

Since I am not creating these houses for a museum or a commission, I just want to have fun with them and not be slavishly restricted to absolute historic accuracy. they are one place where I can be free and have total control so I let my imagination go. I guess I come down in a category that combines historic precedent with quirky touches. 

[rbytsdy]

Great question! Depends on the house and its intended recipient. Current house has definite whimsical bent, being for the Calico Critters mouse family. I think one of my favorite "quirky" builds was the Shadybrook cabin for the Calico Critters hedgehog family.

[CheckMouse]

I think I tend towards accuracy. I like the tiny replicas of real things. I also seem to prefer public buildings to personal houses. I have a Garden Bistro with Mom 'n' Pop owners' quarters attached. I have a Bed and Breakfast, a Mountain Retreat, and a Publishing House. But I also have a couple houses - one is a 120-year-old rehab. I love that one, and I tried to keep it close to the early 1900's when it was originally handmade. I also have a big house that I haven't had time to work on for a long time.  One of these days ...

[jdodyd]

I've done several houses very realistically and enjoyed doing it and the final product.   But my heart belongs to my Christmas-themed house lived in by cat and bunny figures, furnished realistically but with an animal family enjoying the holidays with friends.

[Tinkerbelle]

I would say i prefer to have it bit a bit more whimsy and quirky than realistic. I have always admired the really realistic miniatures and dollhouses but I just know that looking at a dollhouse of mine everyday having it being more fun is much more enjoyable. 

I am a bit of a perfectionist so I do want things to sorta look natural together so same theme/timeperiod/contrasting colours but otherwise realism is not always my main concern. 

[havanaholly]

I build what the kit tells me it wants.  I build them to play with them myself, so they are what they are.

[grazhina]

I scratch build, but since I've always been interested in how people lived through history, I tend to build houses or rooms in historic eras. I have files of information about historic periods that I'll probably never get around to using, but I find myself always collecting more. I'm working on a model of an actual historic building right now, but I'm putting my own spin on it.

[Island-Shack]

I like mine to be realistic, the more the better. That's part of the fun for me, the challenge of making people go wow! I set "scenes" so you can use your imagination when looking at it.

I'll admit, I play with them too though. Move stuff around, add new stuff, etc. They're adult toys - no kids allowed! HaHa!! But seriously, kids aren't allowed in that room... and they all know it lol

[Kells]

I prefer mine to be realistic and historically accurate but I very much enjoy the creativity others put into whimsical houses. I could never come up with some of the things they do!

Speaking of whimsical, my grandmother had a tree trunk dollhouse from the 1950s. I wish I knew what happened to it; it vanished ages ago. It was a multi-story mouse house in about 1:24 scale with that colorful old German painted dollhouse furniture I'm sure most of you have seen. She'd made curtains and bedspreads out of small print fabrics, tea sets out of beads, plates out of antique buttons. My family's love of miniatures goes back generations. I come by it honestly!

[Elsbeth]

I often build smaller scales in a quirky fashion. I often do it unintentionally, lol.

But I buy the accurate beautiful detailed houses that sometimes appear for good prices - at shows or auctions.

Accuracy and detail will always get my $$$ - but both get my heart.

[havanaholly]

I freely lift ideas for decor.  One of these days I shall combine George Mason's gorgeous yellow dining room with the handpainted Chinese bird panels with George Washington's wondrous green parlor.

[Railroader]

My only experience has been with the Greenleaf Buttercup, a 2 room, 2 story house. with no stairs between the floors. Obviously the manufacturer was counting on the owners to use whimsy or magic to get from one floor to the other. Dkdreamweaver and I let that guide us as we designed the interior. Our first iteration had a kitchen on the ground floor, living area on the 2nd (no way to get from one to the other). Our second iteration added a wall and kitchen to the ground floor and converted the second floor to a bedroom and sewing area. Still with no way to get between floors. Our 3rd iteration added a greenhouse/solarium addition off the kitchen. In keeping with the whimsy and magic of the missing stairs, we put a door on the outside of the kitchen window to act as the iimaginary entrance. So I guess I agree with havanaholly...build what the kit tells you it wants.

[havanaholly]

One way to deal with nonexistent stairs is to realize that they are likely in the invisible rear half of the house.

[rodentraiser]

I want my houses to be a little more realistic. However, they always end up a little quirky and I swear the houses do it on purpose.

[blueirishmoon]

I prefer realistic. I want to fool the eye and make people think it's life size.

[shamrockgirl18]

Most of mine are pretty quirky. I base a lot of my creations on my favorite books/stories/movies, so they are already not 'real' to most people, just to me.