Get it?  A “little” DIY?  HA!  Ok, so comedian I’m not…moving on.

I haven’t done much with the house this week, but I have been working on miniatures.  I snagged some cheap furniture sets from Doll’s House Parade (for 50% off no less) that came in the mail this week.  Shipping was cheaper and faster than I expected; I highly recommend them!  These little cheap sets are everywhere.  Here’s a picture of a chair.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with the it except that it didn’t really match my decor, and they’re a dime a dozen.  That, and I have this weird thing about red velvet…just don’t like it (for the record, Magoo heartily disagreed).  So, I decided to change it up a bit.  Since I got the furniture at such a steal (seriously, my whole order was $32 with shipping, and I got a 10 piece living room set, a bathroom set, and a music room set…oh and a 1:12 tea set) I didn’t mind the possibility of  messing it up, so I took off the cushions, and sanded it down as much as I could get into the little crevices.  Then I pulled out my mahogany stain (it’s a good thing I have a huge can) and gave it a good coat.  I waited a few minutes then wiped the excess off; I didn’t want it to be completely black.  Then I recovered the cushions in some fabric I have that I thought would go well in my living room, and while the final chair isn’t as professional as I’d like it to be; I’m pretty happy with it.

My upholstery skills could use some work, but overall I’m really happy with the way it came out.  I think it fits in so much nicer now.  You can still see some of the red peeking through in the stain, so it’s not as mono-chromatic as one might expect. Now I just need to do this to 3 more chairs and 2 sofas.  Great.  Nothing like creating more work for myself.  I’ve also been scouting online tutorials (mostly clay food) and really want to try making some, but am hesitant to spend more money…on clay of all things.  I think I need to slow down, and work with the things I have.  I have plenty of time for clay!  In a fit of wanting to try my hand at making something though I saw a few tutorials on basket making from 1 Inch Minis and decided that I could certainly swing that since I already have all the materials necessary.  Yay for free crafts!  I sat down with my printed pattern, some laceweight linen I’ve had in my stash (oh, did I mention?  I’m a knitter with a huge stash of yarn) forever and got busy making baskets.  The first one I made as kind of a trial.  It’s 1:12 scale, and not bad.  Then, kinda knowing what I was doing, I downsized everything by half to make a 1:24 basket.

Sorry it’s blurry; sometimes taking pics of mini things is hard.  All my handle attempts have come out terribly, but the baskets themselves are pretty awesome.  Not perfect, but who needs perfect?

Just for the heck of it; one more side by side of the chairs.

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