Tag Archives: architecture

The Bungalow: Once Bitten

Posted on April 14, 2012 by smallhousepress

Somewhere in the late 70s we ran across a copy of American Bungalow magazine. Inside its covers lurked photos of the Craftsman bungalows of Pasadena, CA designed by Charles & Henry Greene. One look and we were smitten, or more … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Memoir, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

With a Little Help from Our Friends

Posted on October 8, 2011 by smallhousepress

Being our first commercial building, the 20thSt. Emporium required a jump-start for our learning curve. The three-story structure would include a 7-stool soda fountain and mirrored backbar. To show it off we wanted gold-leaf lettering embellishing the reflective surface of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Houses, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

Posted on September 20, 2011 by smallhousepress

We may not be making miniatures houses any more, but we don’t seem to be able to leave this house-finishing business alone. About the time of my last post, two months ago, a swarm of ladder-and-crowbar-wielding men began tearing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio | Tagged , | 7 Comments

The Bear and the Secret Room

Posted on July 21, 2011 by smallhousepress

The third house we completed in 1979 we called the Bear River (there are a lot of rivers in our neck of the woods, but this is one we had an up-close and personal with–blackberrying one summer’s evening on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A Brick in Time

Posted on July 16, 2011 by smallhousepress

Last week the Den Mother of THE CAMP (the irrepressible miniatures chat group found at THECAMP@Yahoogroups.com) asked if I’d ever written about our bricks. While giving her the short answer, I remembered a brick story from the 80’s. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Dirty Little Secrets

Posted on July 1, 2011 by smallhousepress

In 1979 the world tilted in our favor–Mork & Mindy came on the air, and Suzanne, a new customer, asked for an aged house. Not just a hint of age, but old. “Show all the bumps and wrinkles, I love … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

On the Trail of The Astorian

Posted on May 29, 2011 by smallhousepress

For better and worse, over the years our houses have begun to wander. One of the happy stories is of The Astorian, which got off to a rocky start, found a good home for 30 years, and now resides at … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

It’s All in the Numbers

Posted on May 19, 2011 by smallhousepress

Miniature house #17 was The Oysterville, the second of three houses we built in 1978. #18 would make that 18 houses in 5 years—or 3+ per year. I think this was the first $6000.00 house, which boiled down to each … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Beach Walks & Saturday Night Live

Posted on May 11, 2011 by smallhousepress

In 1978, while we were building The Loomis Lake house, the world was watching Saturday Night Live (with Steve Martin’s original King Tut performance) and Saturday Night Fever. Gas cost .63 a gallon, and new homes went for $54,800.00. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Further Dirt on Basements

Posted on April 28, 2011 by smallhousepress

First of all, pardon the italics below—some WordPress code gremlin has entered the blog which will take me some time to figure out… Backstepping a bit to last week’s post, titled For the Love of Basements, where I included not … Continue reading →

Posted in Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments