Childhood Love Achieved

Warning: The following post is not about 1:12 miniatures. So for all you mini fans who aren’t into 1:6 scale….avert your eyes!

My childhood was actually spent in two places – I grew up in the provinces in the Philippines until I was about age 7. By then, my mother – who took the risk to come to the United States to pursue the American Dream – returned to take my siblings and I to this strange new world. Which has now become more home to me than my native land.

But in both places….I remember the toy I commonly played the most were Barbies. I remembered loving the idea of dressing them up, coming up with stories of adventures they’d have. But outside those things…I guess something never seemed right with my dolls. Even when I came to the U.S., and my mom (and future stepdad) gave me more Barbies to play it..it always felt like something was missing. I could never put my finger on it.

I guess my parents picked up on it because the birthday and holiday presents got a little more elaborate. I remember receiving furniture sets, fashion sets…even a townhouse with a elevator for my dolls to live in. They were awesome and stuff from what I remember (thanks Mom and Dad!)….but still something was missing. It wasn’t until I started working with miniatures that I started to realize what it was.

I was trying to insert the wrong things in the worlds I created. In a way, my dolls didn’t fit in the environments I worked so hard to envision.

Have to say, was relieved I didn’t come to that realization until I was older. At that point, I knew what my preferences were. And I definitely realized that while I love miniatures and dolls…I couldn’t connect with Barbies. Maybe it was their body shapes and proportions. Maybe the choice of fashions weren’t my thing. Or maybe I thought Barbie should be dating GI Joe versus Ken with his weirdly molded hair and kinda sketchy smile/leer.

Then along came Lammily.

Lammily Doll.
From the official Lammily Doll website.

I actually came across Lammily in early 2014 when its creator Monsieur Nikolay Lamm set up crowdfunding via Kickstarter. I was intrigued at Monsieur Lamm’s idea of creating a “fashion doll” but using actual healthy human proportions. In a way, he wanted to create a doll with realistic dimensions to provide children with a positive view of one’s body image.

And given how many of my friends and I struggled with self-image perceptions and what not….it was refreshing to hear it. Plus, I was sold seeing the denim button down and shorts Lammily was wearing. I could totally relate to that!

Without hesitation, I donated the minimum requirement. I figured, why the hell not? Next thing I knew, I got the emails saying the fundraising was a complete success…and that I’d be getting my Lammily in the mail. Looking back, I think it was the latter part of the previous sentence that officially made me consider entering the 1:6 scale realm. If the Barbie playsets of my childhood didn’t reflect the realities I wanted to conjure…then I was going to make my freakin’ own stuff. Which I managed to pull off I guess with my first 1:6 roombox.

So remember those crazy piles of boxes I got in January? Yeah….Lammily was one of them….and what I (finally) just finished setting up as her bedroom. The way I would have imagined it. Once again, advanced apologies for the poor lighting. My work schedule pretty much restricts me to doing most mini work, blogging, and photography during the evenings.

Welcome to Ana’s bedroom.

When I got word that thanks to my donation, I would be getting my doll in the mail, I was already formulating what she’d be like. That her name would be Ana Letizia Reyes. That she was born in Madrid but attended college in London and got her masters in journalism in New York. That she decided to move to Washington DC to work for CNN as a journalist. And that she lived in a small but cozy studio apartment in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. And is not a fan of the city’s Metro system. <laughs>

And I thought of all the above while I was sitting in a meeting at work. Ah well, at least I wasn’t the only one day-dreaming during that particularly long event. 🙂

But enough rambling — onward to sharing the wealth!

The roombox was purchased from Minimagine’s shop on Etsy. If I’m not mistaken, this might the same roombox Mlle Milena posted on her blog. I thought it was a weird case of providence given how I fell in love with this specific roombox. Who knew several months later, I would be purchasing the same exact one! I love everything about this room – the wide wooden floor planks in white, the pink fabric wall. And most importantly – the big window. Where Ana could place her plants to get as much sun as possible.

Left side of Ana’s bedroom.

Along with the roombox, I purchased a wardrobe that Mlle Milena painted white per my request. This type of wardrobe was something I had dreamed of having when I lived in my studio. But after meeting BK…and seeing him gradually move into my place…I had to give up on the dream and resort to installing a closet system to accommodate our stuff. So while I was $^@# out of luck on having such a piece….at least I can provide one for Ana’s needs.

Close up of the stool from Minimagine. Wardrobe also from same shop. Bags are part of Lammily’s fashion packs. More on that later.

Little did I know that along with the wardrobe, I got a cute little wooden stool! Again, talk about providence — I can see Ana using for extra seating. Or maybe to help her reach the top of her wardrobe. Above the stool, I hung Ana’s bags on the wall by pressing some white map pins to act as hooks.

Ana’s (current) fashion selections.

Inside her wardrobe, I took a huge splurge in December and purchased a couple of fashions available for the Lammily doll. While I didn’t get all of them (I only got all but two), I thought it was enough to populate Ana’s closet. Heck, her collection of shoes is way more impressive than mine! It’s a bit hard to see in the pic above, but you can see a shelf near the bottom of the wardrobe — she has a total of 5 pairs of shoes. That is way more than what I have in my own closet!

But again, it goes back to what I thought was missing in my childhood: now I have a doll that I want to dress up in the clothes I want to wear. Seriously, I’d love to have a yellow jacket like hers! That is if I could ever pull off that color tone….

Good thing I have plenty of extra hangers on hand. If my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, I think I caught Ana on my laptop scouring Etsy for more clothes. Oi…that crazy gal. I’m not paying for her dry cleaning bill that’s for sure!

Close up of the top of the wardrobe.
Wooden artwork on wall are actually laser cut beads from 3StarStudiosArts.

Because Ana does a good amount of travel (either for work or to see family/friends), she needed luggage. I picked these pair of suitcases on eBay, while the plastic bin was actually a clearance bin find at my local Office Depot (think they’re called “Really Useful Boxes” – used the 0.14 Liter size to simulate a rubbermaid container in 1:6 scale). It was the right size to store Ana’s growing collection of books.  To the wall on the right, I purchased some laser cut beads from the ever awesome 3StarStudiosArts. I want to add more to the wall, but BK thinks this  is plenty.

Close up of the wooden art on the wall.

For the window, I had initially thought of putting some kind of window treatment. Am now glad I went against it. Think it would have detracted on how big the windows look. Opted to keep it simple by putting some plants from Minimagine and It’s Perfectly Petite.

The bedroom window.

Sorry folks – didn’t have time to put a backdrop image behind the window. I had some street view windows of the Adams Morgan neighborhood that I meant to print out and use as a backdrop. But I guess the excitement of setting this up got the best of me. 🙂

Check out the cozy looking bed!

In terms of the bed, I came across this piece from Mlle Seiler of It’s Perfectly Petite. I fell in love with the colors used in the frame and the linens. And I even loved the pink and white rug. You can actually purchase just the bed or the set (you’d get the bed, the rug, table, a lamp, and a plant). For Ana’s room though, Mlle Seiler was super cool to let me purchase just the bed and rug. And it looks perfect in the room.

Close up of the awesome bed from It’s Perfectly Petite.

Above the bed, I wanted to put something as decoration. I had originally sketched out the idea of maybe hanging framed photographs of places Ana might have traveled. But apparently she had other ideas in mind because I found her pointing to some other laser beads purchased from 3StarStudiosArts. So I took what beads I had (but reserved some key pieces to use on the Neville later), and started playing around with them on my living room coffee table.

Hmm…nope.

*Yawn* Nope, nope.

Once I started to add other beads, things got more interesting. BK came home seeing me staring intently at my arrangements. He said I looked like I was playing chess with Grandmaster Bobby Fischer or Boris Spassky. Or something remotely nerdy like that.

Okay….we might be getting somewhere.

Okay, getting warmer…

Hey…am liking this…

Tadah! Insert trumpet fanfares here.

I had to refer to the above photo to make sure I could replicate the setup in Ana’s room. Though I accidentally switched the “leaves” around. Ah well.

New art installation above Ana’s bed.

Close up of the untitled wall art installation.

Next to the bed, I got a travel poster from Shed a Little Light. Have always loved this travel poster. As a nightstand, I found this Rement table lamp on clearance online. I was intrigued by it because if you click the switch at the base of the lamp….

….it glows! There’s a compartment behind the nightstand where you can put 3 AAA batteries. Given that the CC is the only dollhouse I own that has working lights….am willing to take this as another victory in that department. And man, was I glad to find this on clearance — this sucker has gotten crazy expensive!

Providing some nighttime illumination….

Once the room was finished, I let Ana come and have a look-see of her new room.

Relax Ana, I have no plans to borrow your clothes. I can’t exactly fit in them, you know. I like food too much.  But the clothes are cute and all though.

Then again….do you have a book I can borrow on the Metro ride home? I read all the books BK got me for Christmas….

Sweet! What do you have that you’d recommend? It better not be one of the 50 Shades of Grey books…dude, the first one was just (makes a face)….

Okay…History of Byzantium? That actually sounds good – may I borrow that copy? Hmm….Out of Time? Ana, is that another one of those cheesy historical romance stories? It is? Yeah, I’m gonna veto that recommendation. You know pretty darn well the only fromage* I’ll only accept are the ones we get at that fancy deli down the street!

*Fromage = french for cheese. Or in the case of my sister and I….that’s what we call cheesy romance novels.

What the…Living with Linux? Hey, that’s my book! I was looking for that!

Close up of Ana’s books. Book set purchased from MiniPlacesStudio.

Of course, before I could say anything else (or even ask how the heck she got my Linux book), she boots me out of her room. All because her best friend from Italy Giovanna is in town with her boyfriend Jotaro (one of my most favorite Japanese anime characters growing up).

Ana meeting her friend Giovanna and Jotaro (Giovanna’s boyfriend).
Giovanna is a J-Doll Via Appia doll. Jotaro (jojo) is a Real Action Heroes Jotaro Kujo figure by Toys Medikomu

Lordie, what is up with my doll cast giving me the boot? And after I finished building their places of all times! Do I need a bath or something? (sniffs her shirt to make sure)

After being unceremoniously booted out of Ana’s place, Giovanna stopped by my work desk at home to apologize. Not sure why she has to do that, but I guess that’s how she is. Giovanna’s so ridiculously sweet and polite to everyone. It’s kinda scary sometimes.

According to Giovanna, Jotaro made friends with someone that worked in a neighboring office building. And this person might be a potential boyfriend for Ana. And because of that…might I be open to welcome a new cast to join my miniature/doll world?

Huh, imagine that. Like I have a choice in the manner. Well, techically yeah I did. Given this “mystery man” will be arriving from overseas pretty soon due to an interesting find on eBay. Let’s hope Giovanna’s right that this match up works out. Cause I’m not gonna lie — I really don’t know if I want to be on the receiving end of Ana’s temper if the introductions go south….