Get The Look: Minimalism in 1/12th Scale for the Dolls House

Unless you've been living on another planet for the past few years, you would have been faced with Minimalist style on a weekly, if not daily basis thanks to interior design magazines, furniture and DIY chains and home makeover programmes. For the most part, when people think of contempporary interior style, they think of Minimalism.

Minimalism does exactly what it says on the tin; it keeps furniture and interior items to a minimum and uses clean lines and a streamlined approach to decorating. White is the predominant colour, with accents of one or two other colours to give details and depth to a room's design. Popular accent colours include bold shades of red, green, orange, black or blue, but pretty much any other colour can be combined with white for this look. The beauty of this that the accent coloured items can be changed by season, occasion or simply on a whim to give a completely new look - something which miniaturists could use to their advantage to create numerous designs for one room.

                The Eazy Living media unit comes in kit form from ELF Miniatures

Waxed or darkly stained floorboards, neutral coloured floor tiles, or concrete paint effects are all good flooring choices to achieve this contemporary look. White is the paint colour for Minimalist walls. It is the perfect backdrop for displaying modern pieces of sculpture-like furniture and it gives a crisp, clean finish to all paintwork.

Depending on how far you take the Minimalist approach in miniature, depends on the quantity of funiture you actually end up using in your scheme; either only the bare essentials in terms of furniture and lighting, or eradicating all clutter. In all cases the furniture is pared down and without detail, often in gloss or chrome finishes. It comes in cutting-edge, contemporary designs chosen to create focal points in a room, and is used as a replacement for art work. As furniture is kept to a bare minimum, it also needs to be multifunctional. So a stool may also be an office chair or a coffee table might double as a desk or a dining table.

Lighting is used to add an extra dimension and comes in the form of chrome task lights for reading and using a computer, but it is also used as hidden mood lighting, where a bath or kitchen unit might be under lit, or a mirror might be backlit.

Pod chair from Middlemums Miniatures

How to Customise:

• Remove handles from existing pieces of furniture and sand flat any carved or raised detailing.
• Notches or finger holes can be cut into drawer fronts as a replacement for old handles.
• Remove cupboard doors to turn traditional units into modern cube units.
• Fill any hinge holes with wood filler.
• Re-cover sofas and chairs with plain fabrics.
• Use craft leather, cotton, canvas and linen to suit the look.
• Use extra coats of high gloss varnish on furniture.
• Several thin coats are better than one thick coat.
• Sheets of gloss vinyl are also a good alternative to varnish.
• Chair and table legs, and kitchen counter tops, can be painted with silver acrylic for a chrome-like result.

Mini Square and Queenie Wu have an array of modern miniature coffee tables

Modern chair and white cube unit both from the Dolls House Emporium

Black console table from the Dolls House Emporium

Fab turquoise roll over sofa from ELF Miniatures