American Architectural Styles And Suggested Colour Scheme Pt 2

COLONIAL REVIVAL

 Following the patriotic celebrations of the 1876 Centennial, a new interest in American history inspired a revival of American Colonial architecture. Designs for houses for such fashionable architectural forms as McKim, Mead and White incorporated distinctive Colonial-era features, including the Palladian window, columned porticos, doors and windows pediments, and classical swags and urns. In its early phase, beginning in the 1880s,  the Colonial Revival was limited to opulent, large houses in exclusive neighbourhoods and summer resorts. By the 1920s, it was the favoured style  for more modest and suburban houses and has been popular since. The traditional colours for the early Colonial Revival houses was white, cream or pale yellow, with trim and shutters highlighted in a dark shade, such as green, blue, red or black. Red, brown, grey, blue and green have also become popular body colours, use any of these with contrasting trims.

GEROGIAN REVIVAL VERNACULAR OR FOURSQUARE

These plainspoken houses were built around the simple principle of the Georgian square or rectangular block, usually with a front porch and a sensible floor plan of four rooms on each floor arranged one in each corner. Foursquares were usually covered in clapboard, but there are certainly examples of the style in stone,  brick and stucco. The style predominates in the small towns of the Northeast and Midwest, but at least one classic American foursquare can be found in most older residential estates.

EARLY SEARS PREFABRICATED

Between 1908  and 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Company sold more than 50,000 precut homes- kits that included everything from blueprints to lumber and nails. The kits were shipped by rails, so most Sears homes were built in the Northeast and Midwest, the areas best served by rail lines. Styles were wildly eclectic -buyers paging through a Sears' "Catalogue of Modern Homes" could choose anything from a simple bungalow or cape or English or Spanish Mission-style cottage. Many Sears homes still stand today, particularly in the Midwestern farming communities that were once so dependent on mail-order goods.

BUNGALOW

From its birth in the 1900s through its boom through the following two decades, Americans were crazy about the bungalow. These solid, snug, one or one-and-a-half storey homes fed the need for affordable, modern housing, and they became one of the most popular housing styles. The typical bungalow featured a deep porch, incorporated under a wide, overhanging roof; a long, low profile and a simple interior with lots of built-in cupboards and nooks. Cheap and easy to build, bungalow designs were published in magazines and sold through the mail. Their porches and shady interiors were intended for warm-weather Southern and Western climates, but the styles spread into far frosting regions before its popularity faded.

CRAFTSMAN

Inspired by the English Arts and Crafts Movement, the Craftsman style is closely associated with the furniture maker, and designer Gustav Stickley, who published numerous designs for modest houses and bungalows in his Craftsman magazine (1901-16). The style, which reached the peak of its popularity in the 920s, is also identified with the works of such California  masters as the architects Greene and Greene, who rejected mass-produced materials and emphasized fine craftsmanship in wood and stone. The braod overhanging roof, deep porch, often sheltered by pergolas or trellises, and the horizontal lines of the Craftsman bungalows are the distinguishing features.The typical palettes incorporated natural greys, browns and greens to blend with the natural settings. 

American Architectural Styles And Suggested Colour Scheme Pt 1

In this book is a chapter on the different styles of  historical American architecture with suggested colour schemes for the buildings.  I see American dollhouses and  thought dollhouse lovers may be interested in a list of the brief descriptions of the styles and recommended colour combinations. There are altogether 17 styles. I will cover them in 3 posts.  All the words and images are from the book.

CAPE COD

As the name suggests, the Cape Cod cottage originated in Massachusetts, with the first English settlers of Cape Cod. Typically one and a half stories high, the basic shape is low and broad to deflect  seaside winds, with a pitched roof that slopes almost to the window tops. Capes were widespread through the first half of the 18th century, then underwent a revival in the mid 1920s, and they remain one of the most prevalent house styles in America. A popular Colonial colour was Spanish brown, a reddish brown often used on trim; white pale grey and pale yellow with black and green shutters have become favoured choices. 

GEORGIAN

The term "Georgian " refers to the first period of formal architectural design to America, and is named for the succession of kings on the English throne before and during the Revolution. The classical-inspired style originated primarily in Britain, and was popular in the country from about 1700 to 1780.  The uniform facades often feature matching end chimneys and symmetrically placed windows and doors trimmed with elegant classical details. The Georgian style resurfaced as part of the Colonial Revival around 1900 and remains extremely popular today. Many early Georgian houses were white. Dark browns and greys were also popular colours. Later in the eighteenth century, the fashion appears to have shifted from the darker shades to the lighter colours: creams, pale yellows, and more of the favoured white. Dark green used primarily for shutters, came into style around 1800. 

GREEK REVIVAL

Inspired partly by archeological discoveries in ancient Greece, the Greek Revival was fashionable in America from about 1820 to the 1840s. Architect's pattern books spread the style to rural areas, where country builders and carpenters adapted it to the familiar "temple front" house. This form is often fronted by a classical portico, one of the style's distinguishing features. Early 19th century promoters of the Greek Revival style advocated the pale creams and whites they associated with classical architecture and these remain the favoured colours, shutters in a dark colour add a traditional accent. 

CARPENTER GOTHIC

Carpenter Gothic was part of the general Gothic Revival movement, which took off in the 1830s and lasted until around 1875, and feature steeply pitched gable roofs (often with elaborate decorated trim) arched Gothic windows and intricate "gingerbread" porch and cornice decorations cut with a jigsaw (hence the term "carpenter"). Although the European prototypes were stone, American builders were also happy to use the abundant supply of native wood. Andrew Jackson Downing, an early advocate of the style, recommended grey and fawn to harmonise with "any situation in the country". However, less conventional colours were not unheard of. One of the best known Carpenter Gothic-style houses in New England, the Bowen House in Woodstock, Connecticut, was painted bright pink. 

STICK

Stick is perhaps too stark a word for this picturesque style, named for the elaborate, decorative criss-cross stick work. The Stick style probably developed as resort architecture in the mid 1850s and some of its most famous examples are found in New Port, Rhode Island, and seaside communities in New Jersey. But the style spread across the country and remained popular well in the 1870s. These lighthearted often brightly coloured buildings can still be found in resorts, suburbs and small towns, mostly in the Northwest and Midwest. Typical body colours were pale pastels, pinks or light blues or sea greens, with the trim in a darker shade.

ITALIANATE

True to its name, this elegant, old-world style was meant to evoke the country village of Tuscany and Umbria. Italianate houses were popular from about the 1830s to the 1870s, and featured a square profile and very low roof with deep overhanging eaves and often a "belvedere" centered on top. Typically, the body colours were natural shades, inspired by their European prototypes, such as pale tan and greys, beiges and light browns with dark doors and windows sashes.

QUEEN ANNE

Queen Anne-style houses, popular between about 1870 and 1910, feature ornate asymmetrical facades distinguished by bay windows, towers, protruding gables and large verandahs. The eclectic style was rooted in the work of the British architect Richard Norman Shaw, whose highly original designs incorporated a free mix of many styles.Among the favoured colours for this style in America is muted browns, maroon, olive and terracotta. It was not uncommon to combine as many  as three different colours on the main body of the house, with still more colours used to pick out the elaborate ornamentation typical of the style. 

Flowers For Ira's Garden Swap

Material: Plastic, paper (stems & leaves) 

 Measures 3" (flower portion) + stem is 4" each 

(not assembled)

Plant on resin log (assembled by me)

Measures about 1 1/2"- 2" (depends on size of plant)

Clay Flowers (beads-not assembled) 

Leaves (plastic) (available separately) 

Sizes of each flower ranged from 1/2" -3/4"

Cactus plant not available, just flowers.

Mahendra's Roses and my 1st attempt at flower arrangement (clay flowers and plastic leaves)

 (from way back when..)  

Paper Flowers (Last Year's Giveaway) 

Limited Numbers (Roses Only) 

Miniature Museum of The World- Salzburg

This is not exactly a miniature museum but it is a museum nonetheless. This is Mozart's Geburtshaus or birthplace in Salzurg and the exhibits posted here are scaled stage models built for Mozart's opera.

La Clemenza di Tito

Don Giovanni

Magic Flute


Mitridate, Re di Ponto!

The Abduction From The Seraglio.


Can't keep my eyes open already , see you real soon.

Miniature Houses For The Dead

I always turn on the news channel as I prepare myself for work in the morning. Multi-tasking, it usually takes a lot before I stop my make-up or whatever I am doing to stand before the TV for a particular news item.

Well, Skea Design not only got my full attention this morning, I am posting about it now. See the house in the picture above, they built it, entirely with paper in a very luxurious 1:12 scale and get this, for the Dead!

Let me go back a bit further to tell you about this Chinese tradition of burning effigies for the dead. A long, long time ago, a dead emperor would be buried with whatever he would need to make his afterlife just like the one he had on earth. Sometimes, they would even throw in a favourite concubine or two while they were alive and kicking (and screaming too, I am sure) . That of course was a terribly wasteful exercise and soon, some very very clever people invented paper effigies as substitute offerings.

One of the most commonly burnt effigies are paper houses and a really elaborate one can cost as much as tens of thousands of dollars! I know of friends who had paid over S$30,000.00 for the whole works , house, cars, servants and even mobile phones. Most of these houses are terribly made, butt ugly and seriously, few would want to be caught dead (sic) living in one.

And then came Skea Designs. Go check out their catalogue which by the way is for sale at NT350 (about USD11). You will see houses ranging from

a simple "one room, one hall" type called the "Smart Space Apartment No.1" for
NT14,000 (about USD440)

which comes with 55 pieces of furnishings like " Large Storage Cabinets, more shoes, chairs, kitchen systems (including multi-function microwave oven, smoke-free infrared furnace, super Storage Systems cabinets, a set of cutlery, sinks, faucets, advanced refrigerator) the table group (including a table 2 chairs a fruit plate), TV cabinet, large plasma TV, fashion sofa group (including the two-seater sofa with pillow), fashion sofa table (including remote control, coffee mugs), toilets (including Hotel-class rule-free toilets, pot * 2, Health cartons and toilet paper, paper planes, incorporating multi-functional face wash station group (including wash basin, dual-tap group, Omo up mirror, cabinet, towel), SPA Faucet group, towels and towel racks, a private small balcony (with a lying or sitting on the tatami mat, pillow, pot), Fashion Bed Group (including a bed frame is a mat a bed a pillow 2), large wardrobes incorporating " as translated by Google from their website

BUT no parking space OR

the creme de la creme of "dead" houses, "Deluxe Bali Style Villa"
for a whopping NT160,000 (about USD5,000.00)

with a swimming pool

2 wooden decks (always wanted one for my real house), one over a pond (that too) with
a day bed

not to mention

2 floors with 2 bedrooms together with

74 pieces of furnishings and of course
your own car park.

To ensure that there is after sales service, they have also built a Skea Design Headquarters (HQ) and promptly burnt it on an auspicious day to attend to their "clients". You can watch the burning process here.

I really urge you to go have a look at their work. They are crazy amazing! Skea Design is so profitable they make in 1 month (right after they open for business) what others make in a year. Orders came from as far away as California!

For anyone of you who may want to get me one of these houses as an afterlife gift at the appropriate time, Don't Bother! I will build myself one if I have to. Don't worry about materials either.I will seek employment at the HQ so that the supplies are hopefully limitless.

*All photos (except the 2nd & 3rd) are courtesy of Skea Design.

Art, Artistry, Artisan-Johnny Two Thumbs

Ask most people who's the best tattoo artist in Singapore, someone would inevitably mention Johnny Two Thumbs who's real name was Indra Bahadur , a Nepalese who had learnt the art of tattoo in India. He came to Singapore in the 50's and passed away in the 80's leaving his tattoo business to his second son, Richard. Johnny Two Thumbs got his nickname because he had 2 right thumbs ! A tattoo artist with 2 right thumbs, how cool is that?

I am trying to fit a tattoo post in my miniature blog because I have told Kiva that if she showed me hers, I would show her mine. In contrast to her freshly inked tattoo , so bold and beautiful, mine looks puny, old and rather unimaginative .

I did this when I was in my 20s, a fresh graduate, just starting a career and feeling rather adult. I wanted to do something to mark the beginning of an "exciting journey" , a new phase in my life, and after a night of partying, me and 2 girlfriends went to the famous Johnny Two Thumbs.

I was crazy about sun-faces then and was wearing a pendant like the one in the picture. So I told Richard from J2T to use it for my tattoo. The 1st piece of "art" I bought where my body is my canvas. My 1st indelible miniature art. It cost me S$50.00 and a hell load of pain because of where I decided to place my tattoo. (By the way, many had grabbed from my foot what they thought they have dropped onto the floor only to find out that it was my body art! ) It was painful because it was close to the bone and that's the thinnest skin. I was glad when the 10 minutes was over and that I had decided against colours. Richard told me later that there were some artists who would refuse to do foot because of the pain!

My tattoo look so dated now. I realised for the 1st time when I took the pictures that it is also blurring. Despite all that, I love my tat. Absolutely no regrets! For me, my little sun face speaks of an era and a time when life was an exciting new adventure, And I was immortal, And that I could do anything. I don't know why I never wanted a 2nd one because tattoos are addictive. Maybe it's because I don't feel like my "adventure" has ended. I may no longer feel immortal but thanks to my new found interest in miniature making, I sure believe I can still do anything I put my mind to.