Fruit Crates

Most people don't realize this, but California is an agrarian powerhouse. If you live in the States and have canned tomatoes in your pantry, there's a good chance they're from Sacramento. If you have a jar of applesauce in the refrigerator, it probably came from Sebastopol. California is the only US state that commercially grows almonds, and one of the few that produces rice and olive oil.

In the early to mid 20th century, more and more California produce was shipped to other states, with growers realizing that labeling their crates was an easy way to advertise (those of you who've read Steinbeck may recall Adam Trask's failed attempt to ship Salinas Valley lettuce back East). The labels gradually became fancier and more colorful (the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica had an exhibit on fruit crate labels in 2005). I used a real vintage "Sebastopol Apples" crate as the model for these crates. They'll be scattered in and around the house, serving various practical storage purposes.

Incidentally, my 1:1 crate was used as shelving in Acres of Books, a Long Beach landmark, for decades until the store finally closed in 2008. I'd link to Ray Bradbury's 1989 essay immortalizing Acres of Books ("I Sing the Bookstore Eclectic"), but it sadly seems to have vanished from the internet.

Little Tips for Armchair Research

The next time you're trying to recall exterior details on a building (or in an entire neighborhood) that's not close to you and don't have reference photos handy, try pulling up Google instead.

If you know the address, enter that into Google Maps. If you don't know the exact address but know the street and a nearby cross street, try that. If you aren't sure of the street name but can think of a local landmark, enter that and go from there. Then, open up Street View and use the arrows to "explore" until you find the right building. Turn, re-position, and zoom in or out as needed. (Google Image Search can also come in handy if referencing a historically or architecturally significant building, since interior images are likely to come up as well. That isn't the case with Street View.)

So far, I've used Google Street View to research Greene & Greene houses in Pasadena, midcentury modest houses in Orange County, pre-1930 cottages in Santa Monica/Venice, modest bungalows in Echo Park, and Storybook Ranch details in my family's old neighborhood. It can be a bit time-consuming (especially since I'm looking up neighborhoods that have older, and therefore fairly large, trees blocking some details from Google Street View's cameras - this wouldn't be a problem in a newer neighborhood with younger trees, but then, I wouldn't want to miniaturize a newer house!). That said, it definitely beats spending hours and hours (and lots of money on gas!) driving to all of these places just to look at tapered columns and faux dovecotes.

Incidentally, since my current build is meant to be a 1920s beach bungalow that saw a few additions and minor "improvements" circa 1962, I've also been poring over the archives at Retro Renovation. Many of the houses seen on the blog have been "updated" over the years and are often being restored to match the house's age, so the "before" pictures are a good resource for seeing two different eras mixed in real homes. Retro Renovation is also a goldmine for pictures of original details that newer houses just don't have. Definitely visit the site if you appreciate early-to-mid-20th-century North American houses, but be warned: it's addictive.

P.S. If Google Street View creeps you out for privacy reasons, look up your address and ask Google to blur the image.

P.S. I've gotten a lot done for the Spring Fling...but I can't show you, of course ;)

Spring Fling 2013 Teaser

What the heck IS this?!

All kidding aside, it's an in-progress shot of something I had to scratch-build, having never seen anything similar in miniature.

I don't want to reveal TOO much, so there might not be a new teaser for a while. I'm still sorting out some of the details in my head.

Are you completely stumped now?

Bungalow Progress

Hello, what's this?

The bungalow has grown another room!

I added a kitchen area, plus a walk-in pantry and half of an open staircase (I will install the upper half of the stairs after building the upstairs landing).

How it all fits together (the doorway at the top leads to the living room).

But wait - there's more!

I bashed together two of Greenleaf's mini greenhouse kits to make a screened-in porch. In smaller, older  homes, particularly in coastal areas with small lot sizes, it's not unusual to see porches screened in - or converted into rooms - to add precious space without changing the house's footprint. I have seen former porches converted into bedrooms, and in one case, a living room.

I originally planned on a stone floor, but wound up not liking the way it looked. My grandmother's midcentury house had a huge screened porch not unlike this one, but with a brick floor. I felt that brick walls and a brick floor would have been overkill, especially in 1:12 scale. So, a gently distressed wood floor fit the bill.

Next time: Spring Fling 2013 spoiler.

Scratch-Built Couch

Please forgive my recent absence. My grandmother passed away, so I paused work on the bungalow to help clean out her house.

Inspired by Josje's modern sofa, I wondered if I could make my own for the bungalow. Thankfully, she posted her sofa-making method (I also referred to Pepper's tutorial).

This red velvet two-seater sofa, previously glimpsed in my Minis Modernas contest entry, is meant to be a miniature version of my real-life sofa (well, okay, my sofa folds out into a bed and this one doesn't - now THAT would be a feat).

It does look a bit battered, but so does the real sofa. (Note to self: make throw pillows.)

Spoilers!

As I've mentioned, I'm building the Craftsman/Midcentury house in stages, as a series of room boxes. The living room is fully built apart from the ceiling, so I couldn't resist arranging some very 1950s-looking pieces I'd chosen for the room, taking pictures, and entering it in Minis Modernas' second anniversary contest (psst...there's still time to enter. Go for it!).

Imagine my surprise when I checked their blog tonight and saw that they'd posted my picture! I'd planned to post it here after the contest ended. Instead, I'll post a "bonus photo" I didn't include in my submission...this is the living room on my patio, where the pictures were taken. I can never get the lighting right in my work area, but it's always perfect outside on a sunny day (you can start envying me now, John).

The stones on the fireplace and patio are real (and I'm sure it's obvious where they came from). I had to have a stone fireplace with built-in planters because my grandmother's 1961 home had one, as did a 1966 apartment I lived in after college.

Now I just need to find a coffee table I like and fill the bookcase area...

Bungalow Sneak Peek

I've mentioned that this house is going to take a LONG time to build.

I'm building it as a series of room boxes, and will insert them into a shell when complete. Building the interiors of the French house was not easy, even though I worked on them as flat boards before installation. I keep changing the exact layout of this house as I go along, so this method is working very well so far.

I couldn't resist putting a few things into the mostly-complete living room and taking this preview shot. You can really see the "midcentury modest" influence here...