My Fairy House Project

“Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.” Eugene O’Neill

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with fairy tales and mystical worlds. I would spend my time in quiet reveries, letting my imagination go wild, thinking about secret little worlds that exist under our noses, and we don’t even notice! Little people, fairies, even animals, living in hidden nooks and crannies, under leaves, in tree stumps, under rocks, and in worlds in miniature where magic is the norm, and the inhabitants are surrounded in ethereal bliss—this to me was heaven!
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As an adult, I have developed an intense interest in anything medieval, Gothic, and Celtic. I guess I am what you would call an Anglophile…obsessed with everything English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish. I adore photos of quaint little villages in the Cotswolds and absorb every tidbit of information I can about ancient people and the history of the British aisles. 

And I still love miniature worlds. Miniature houses still trigger that childhood sense of wonder where you imagine tiny people or beings going about their daily business.
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Last year, I started noticing a trend in fairy gardens and thought…Why don’t I have a fairy garden in my life? I decided to design two miniature houses made of basswood for use in indoor fairy gardens using faux florals. The basic concept was to be able to change out the florals with each passing season.

One of the houses I designed was an English cottage. The inspiration for the design concept was traditional English cottages. I spent some time absorbing photos of English cottages and gardens. Then, a design concept formed in my head. I came up with a miniature house faced with gray stones with little round windows and topped with thatched roofing. Attaching the stones to the walls and creating the thatched roofing was quite a labor of love! But I love the result!
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The second miniature house I designed was a Fairy cottage. This design concept was inspired—in equal measure—by the shape of birdhouses and images of medieval cottages from fairy tale illustrations in childhood books. I painted the exterior white (mimicking the look of lime-washed medieval buildings) and topped it with a steeply sloped red roof covered in Spanish moss. Small stones were glued into place around windows and doors and in small patches as if some had fallen off over the years.
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The bases for my indoor fairy gardens were two 12” diameter terra-cotta trays—one for each little house. I filled them with miniature faux florals, sand, stones, and fairy furniture. The house interiors (which are hollow) were stuffed with fairy lights. Even the fairies need lights at night! And it looks charming lit up in the evening.
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This was an exciting project, but I had a steep learning curve. I have learned a thing or two about constructing these miniature houses, and I’m thinking about creating more at some point…Who knows, maybe I’ll end up with a village for my fairy folk!


Related blog posts you may want to read:
My outdoor fairy garden
Spring makeover for my indoor fairy gardens