Room Boxes by Denise Morales

​Another DIY box theater kit is at the top, and below is a Robin Betterley Rosie Radish Children's Shop interior.  To the right is a market stall by Volker Arnold.  At the very bottom, I made a long room box to place the interior furnishings from the Cynthia Howe Tranquility Cottage kit, which is the pink 1/144th house seen in the photos below.  

Above and to the left of the baby house is a house purchased through AliExpress. I bought  5 of a total of 6 different DIY box theater kits that are close to 1/120 scale. These kits were only $10 each with free shipping from China and I believe are some of the most creative and satisfying kits to assemble.  They make great beginner kits for micro scale crafting and are extremely affordable. If you are a seasoned miniaturist with lots of supplies, these kits can be altered in a variety of ways.  The hyperactive blond little girl, a Bonnie Justice doll, is holding a 1/12th scale mini tea cup scene which is a True 2 Scale kit. 

I made a shadow box frame and arranged pieces of Cynthia Howe's sewing room kit to make a quilter's room.  Below it is a 3D haunted house kit by Ginger Langdon Siegel.

Several years ago I spotted this shoe house kit by Sue Herber in the Miniature Gazette.  I added it to my box of unfinished kits because I knew that one day I would find the perfect place for it.  

Now I can finally say that I have completed a miniaturist's room box even if it is only a 1/144th scale piece. Maybe one of these years I will get around to creating another one in full scale. This box was a class offered by Fran Sussman of Some Like it Small.

Here is a closeup of the completed, very detailed and beautiful Cynthia Howe Dutch baby house  kit which was the reason for and starting point of the room box.  My daughter Sage painted the pink roses on the top and drawers of the hutch.  






Many Mini Miniatures

On the top right is a small cabinet that was converted into a dollhouse and was originally designed by Sherrill Regier.  Immediately below it was a group project made with instructions from a house kit designed by Pamela Junk.  To the left is a True 2 Scale micro scale German gingerbread bakery.  Instead of placing the bakery's interior furnishings inside the structure, they were arranged on rectangular wooden shelves so that they could be easily visible.

Stacked on top is another Volker Arnold kit, then another Robin Betterley secret book, Frosty, and on the bottom is a room box housing the interior furnishings of a Cynthia Howe kit.

On the top left is a Robin Betterley Easter-themed Teeny Weeny Secret Book, the center is a Gibson Girl room box kit and the last is a Raggedy Anne box kit that I have had in my stash for decades.  I chose to convert the DIY Snow Dream Box Theater Kit into an Easter scene and thought that all of the pieces in the kit would make a beautiful display in a simply designed micro room box.  Inside the box you will spot two incredibly minute bunnies that are hand carved by Etsy artisan LALittle Artist from The Netherlands.

This was the last of the box theater kits that I created for the large room box.  I decided to turn it into a gnome Christmas hotel and used a few 1/144th scale metal minis to add more interest to the scene. The two gnomes were made many years ago using Shrinky Dink plastic and baked in the toaster oven.

contador de acesso

Ten years ago I purchased a Dutch baby house kit from Cynthia Howe Miniatures.  Shortly thereafter, a fellow miniaturist and I began putting our kits together, but because this was a very comprehensive kit, other distractions and interests interfered with the house completion.  Then eight and a half years later we decided to commit time in the summer of 2016 to the kit's completion and success was finally accomplished.  Instead of boxing up this completed project, I kept this special piece sitting on my desktop so that it would continuously remind me to prioritize in designing a room box for it. While I was completing other room boxes, for an entire year I kept wondering what box and with what other miniatures should be displayed along with it. In order for the minuscule details to be appreciated, I found a shadow box frame at Hobby Lobby and built a box out of gator board and foam core to fit inside.  Since I had enjoyed working in this 1/120 scale, I decided to do more of the same.  I chose to display the Dutch baby house with other micro scale miniature houses and boxes as if they were being presented to the public either at a miniature show or library setting.  Along with the miniature miniatures, six girl dolls, made by Bonnie Justice and found on eBay, are integrated into the scene to provide an interesting and comical point of view.  Box completed in November 2018.

Thank you for visiting!

The yellow 1/144th scale La Maison De Ville kit is sold by Petite Properties in the UK.

To the lower left of the baby house is a second box theater kit.  The bark of this stump house is made with a lightweight corrugated cardboard and crepe paper that I layered, scrunched, and then painted (washed and dry brushed) with various colors of chalk paints.  Above it is a Volker Arnold bunny egg painting scene.

In the top right side is a storybook cottage kit designed by Karen Cary. Underneath it are two Robin Betterley secret books, however, I chose to turn them into room boxes by omitting the book parts.   

The French salon is another fabulous kit by Cynthia Howe.  

This mischievous child sits on top of a Northeastern Scale Model dollhouse kit, gifted to me by Patty Caster.  A runaway walking table was designed by Barbra Lopez and Linda Hughes and holds a Valentine's Day kitchen scene.