Mansions in miniature

Peering through the stained-glass window of this dollhouse is irresistible.

What do our wondering eyes behold? It’s an exact replica of a billiards room. Mentally, we run our hand over the green felt of the table. We imagine racking the balls, picking up the cue stick and with one smart stroke, putting the balls into play. We smile with amusement at the thought, still marveling at what we see … but, is it some itsy bitsy guy in there, or is it ourselves we’re imagining in the scene?

That’s the question I posed to Bea Johannessen, Coeur d’Alene resident, dollhouse aficionado and the creator of this miniature Tudor mansion. She laughed and answered, “That’s a good question … I’m in both places at once. As I create an environment for living, it’s just automatic for me to be in there … it’s a real room.”

Johannessen has created many such rooms in real life, in her career as a restoration specialist, and now she does it in miniature.

To most of us, restoring an old Tudor dollhouse may seem like small potatoes when compared to some of this creative woman’s monster rehab projects of the past, such as the recent restoration of a century old Tudor mansion – a project that squeaked in just under $1 million.

But small potatoes it certainly is not to 70-year-old Bea Johannessen, she’s completely smitten with her miniature world.

Her graduate work in Environmental Design from UCLA prepared Johannessen for her lifelong career in creating livable space for people. Her creations have ranged from gutting and redesigning the interiors of lovely old yachts to building and running apartment buildings, to working one-on-one with the artisans and construction crew in the restoration of grand old mansions – a job that required knowledge of historic architecture, woods, paints and finishes, plus the artistic vision required to return these homes to their authentic and former magnificence.

One would think she gets enough of “fixing-up” in her real world as the owner of 18 premier rental units in downtown Coeur d’Alene. And she says she does, but adds, “It’s a different ball game with my dollhouses … I get completely lost in them.

“Unlike real life projects, my dollhouses don’t have leaky toilets or showers, sagging floor joists, untrue walls or dry rot lurking under the eaves. And, I don’t have to undo the bad work done by previous owners who in an attempt to update these spacious, well-designed older homes, covered up their beautiful old wood-beamed ceilings, hand-milled woodwork, pocket doors and exotic hardwood floors. This type of restoration is backbreaking, totally labor intensive, and exorbitantly expensive.

“My dollhouses, however, are all fun and none of the headaches,” she confides. “It’s an outlet for my creativity that allows me to design and decorate with complete abandon. It’s an arena where mistakes never cost more than a few dollars, whereas in big construction projects mistakes can cost tens of thousands.” When she carpets the living room in her dollhouse, it costs 50 cents; in a real apartment it’s closer to $1,200.

Johannessen found other “dollhousers” when she joined the Itty Bits, a local chapter of the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts.

They meet monthly for workshops on making miniature furnishings for their dollhouses. Itty Bits just made teeny, mahogany wine racks in which they put even teenier wine bottles. To see the finished wine rack, complete with a doily, a wine bottle and stemware setting on the top is to be blown away … yet, charmed.

At one Itty Bit event, Johannessen spied a sad old dollhouse sitting in a corner with a note attached, “Free to a good home.” Johannessen didn’t see a dilapidated fixer upper … she saw her Tudor dream house and immediately adopted the “grand old lady.”

It now dominates her sitting room – a room that’s become “too busy for any sitting,” she says. It dominates Johannessen’s life, as well.

The Itty Bits enter their dollhouses in the Kootenai County Fair every year and this year, Johannessen won a Blue Ribbon for her Norwegian Christmas Gingerbread House. Being Norwegian myself, I can relate to the authenticity of her Norsk Pepperkaker Huset with its Julebuk on the roof, pulling a sleigh with the Christmas elf, Nesse, in it. There’s even a detailed miniature Gingerbread House sitting on a teeny table inside the “Pepperkaker Huset.” Incredible.

Working on dollhouses is a captivating hobby and can be started on any level. One can start by creating a one-room dollhouse – using a modified cardboard box with one side and the top removed. Windows can be cut, walls painted, papered, floors carpeted (use velveteen.) At the fair, there are many beautiful, one-room dollhouse entries, even an outstanding Victorian Gazebo.

Problems? Go work on your dollhouse … they’re gone in 30 seconds.