Contrasting your Colors: Making things Pop

The definition of a contrast is two distinct or different items that draw attention to one another. In this fashion you can generate movement of the eye from one area to another, or concentrate the focus of a room on one particular aspect. If you are planning to use color as your primary medium for contrast then refer to a color wheel - the colors opposite from one another will bring the most contrast. And remember, one can put too much contrast in a room very easily. In order to prevent yourself from creating a mess, focus on setting up one contrasting element in the room and no more.

Dollhouse Flooring Options

It is the small things that once changed make the biggest difference, and in this case flooring is a great small change for a big difference. Flooring is often overlooked because it is the base, but that only means that it is really the foundation for your furniture and design choices. Just as with new flooring in any house, new flooring in a dollhouse will increase the value and appeal. There are several types of flooring that you might want to consider: Carpet, linoleum, tile, stone, and/or hard wood. Carpet for dollhouses is very compact and comes in sheets similar to dollhouse wallpaper. A quick fix to bathroom or kitchen rooms is linoleum and tile. The hardest type of flooring to add is a stone or hard wood option, but in the end these are the best from a designing standpoint.

Making your Miniature House Better: Floor Trim

As you are building and tweaking your dollhouse you will discover some great time saving secrets. In my last dollhouse building adventure I came across something that I know helped out my interior look tremendously. I simply created a floor board to use for the trim around the floor of the dollhouse. Floor Trim is not a new creation, but what I found is instead of buying it, to use a very thin balsa wood found in most craft stores. I applied this balsa wood to the floor of each of my walls to form a great outline along the bottom. What I found is that they covered up the tiny bumps between the walls and the flooring. The wallpaper walls were also trimmed and I was really happy to see that it prevented fraying due to covering the edges. It was a little addition that was fun to install and really added to the look of my dollhouse.

Planning and Preparation with your Miniatures

If you fail to plan you plan to fail. A plan of action is crucial because it will keep you on a track leading to success. With miniature design a plan of action will consist of a floor plan and budget. A floor plan is a drawing, picture, or print of a dollhouse room that you would like to coordinate. There is a plentiful supply of examples of good room designs both online and offline. Take a note book and jot down things that you would like to add, modify, or change with your plan. Take these notes and modify your plan. Now budget those items that you are interested in and try hard not to go over it. It does not matter how great a miniature is, if it makes you overspend you probably will regret it when you need that money for other items. In my opinion it is better to save up for a nice piece of furniture rather than going ahead with a cheap copy.