Small and Sweet: Creating Miniature Homes with Heart

For some, dolls and dollhouses are childhood playthings that become lost and forgotten with the realities and demands of adulthood. But for others, the sweet pastime of building and collecting miniatures and dollhouses is a lifelong creative pursuit. Addie Moriarty remembers fondly the dollhouse her parents built for her and her sister when they were children. "We loved it," she recalled. "It was the coolest thing, and it was very sweet. It even had the same wallpaper as our house." And so, after her mom passed away in 2022, Moriarty returned to the nostalgia of her childhood as a way to cope. "I needed a creative outlet," she said. "I stumbled upon miniature sets, and I did several of those. I fell in love with it, and I kept doing it." Eventually, though, she wanted to build something from scratch that she could design herself and she purchased her first dollhouse kit. She says she only really started building dollhouses last September. Moriarty, a married mother of three, grew up in the area and attended Keene State College. Although she's been away off and on, she's been a Keene resident since 1994. She'll celebrate her 42nd birthday on March 29 (the day this article publishes), she said, and is also working part-time and studying for her master's degree in digital marketing. Since last fall, she's completed five dollhouses and several additional smaller projects. While the smaller houses can be completed in a month to six weeks, her largest house took three months to finish, although she says it all depends on the amount of time she can devote to each one. "It segued from a hobby to something I can put a lot of time into," she added. The houses are furnished, and each one has a unique theme. She gives a lot of thought to the decor, paint, wallpaper and the items she wants to put in each one. Her themed houses include Beatrix Potter/Peter Rabbit, Hello Kitty, a Victorian teahouse and a seaside bed and breakfast with a nautical theme that she says was a tribute to her late mother. The first house she built is a teal cottage that she says is a replica of how she would ideally design her own home. As space can be a challenge when building and storing pieces of this size, Moriarty put out an inquiry on a Keene Facebook page looking for businesses that might want to display her dollhouse creations. To her joy, the idea was embraced, and she heard back from several interested retailers. Her Hello Kitty dollhouse is currently on display at Life Is Sweet on Central Square, her seaside bed-and-breakfast is at Good Fortune Jewelry & Pawn on Main Street, and both the Beatrix Potter house and the Victorian teahouse are at Syd's Carpet & Snooze Room on Saint James Street. They are all available for purchase. "Everyone's been very kind," she said of the business and community response. While there is a dollhouse supply shop in Amherst that she's found helpful for specific items, she said she sources much of her materials online, primarily from Etsy as she prefers to use handmade items as often as possible. "So many people online make things, like miniature quilts and woodworking pieces," she said. "It adds a personal touch." One thing she chooses not to add to her houses is the actual dolls. "It takes away from the whimsy," she explained of the preference. "Very few dolls tend to look right to me. I'd rather let people imagine how it could be." While she'd love to someday have a dedicated workshop, the dining room in her home is where she builds her dollhouses and being central in her open-concept home allows her to still be available to her kids and stay connected to the family. "My husband is super-supportive," Moriarty added. "He's my biggest cheerleader." While space is one challenge, she cited for anyone looking to get into the dollhouse craft, another is cost. "There are a lot of resources and great stuff out there, but it can get pricey," she shared. "I have to pick and choose what I buy to put in them." While for Moriarty the multi-step building process is enjoyable and meditative, she admits that it's not for everyone. "It takes a lot of patience, and it can be laborious and repetitive," she said of customizing all the miniature items. "It's my me-time. It doesn't bother me if I'm sanding for an hour." She has a lot of hopes and dreams about the possible paths she could take with dollhouses, from building custom creations for other people to offering presentations or workshops at libraries. She even wants to build a reproduction of the Horatio Colony House one day. "I love it," she said of her relatively newfound passion. "It's been very therapeutic and something I've needed in my life." For more information or to contact Moriarty, follow "My Sweet Dollhouse NH" on Facebook or email mysweetdollhousenh@gmail.com.