Step Inside a Teeny-Tiny House With Life-Size Style
What started with fairy villages on the playground and a deep admiration for a friend’s three-story dollhouse has since turned into a full-blown obsession with all things miniature. For artist and maker Leah Faye Gaeddert, tiny doesn’t mean any less thoughtful. In fact, her approach to dollhouse design mirrors the same care and creativity you’d expect in a full-size renovation—just scaled way down. Her latest build is packed with design-forward details: real wood floors, itty-bitty wallpaper, and carefully chosen color palettes that make each room feel surprisingly sophisticated.
Below, Leah takes us inside her miniature world, where childhood nostalgia meets big design energy, and where no corner is too small for a stylish touch.
What sparked your love for miniatures? Was there a specific moment that got you hooked?
I remember going over to one of my sister’s friends’ houses one day and seeing their giant three story dollhouse complete with tiny furniture and miniatures and thinking it was absolutely magical. I loved making tiny fairy villages on the school playground and secretly always wanted to be assigned a tiny diorama so I could fill it with miniatures.
Is this your first miniature build, or have you done others before?
This was my second dollhouse. My first was a little pink house that I set up for my daughter for her second birthday. The front of the dollhouse opens and closes, and the roof lifts up to reveal more rooms in the attic. After the blue dollhouse I made a Goodnight Moon themed one for my sister, it was an especially fun project!
Can you walk us through your creative process? Where did you begin when thinking about this project?
I wanted this one to feel like a real house. My goal was for each room to look as realistic as possible so it would be harder to tell, in pictures, if it was real or not. It was fun to experiment with the decorative side of it too! I looked on Pinterest for inspiration from actual rooms and then began choosing paint, wallpaper, and flooring that would help me recreate those styles.
What was the most challenging part of working on a miniature scale?
In this particular dollhouse I found it difficult to reach the backs of some of the rooms, and some of the nooks and crannies, when laying floors and painting, but I think it is just because it is so large!
How do you translate textures, colors, and materials into something that still feels true-to-life at a small scale?
I’ve found that sticking with the same material as large scale objects helps things feel more realistic! I use actual interior wall paint on the walls, the floors are real wood, and the wallpaper is actual wallpaper just printed in tiny size.
What’s next on your miniature-making journey?
I have another little dollhouse that I’m hoping to do some light renovations to! Maybe not quite as extensive as this dollhouse, but I plan to share about it on Instagram and then put the finished dollhouse in my new toy store!
