When Kylie White lost her job and had to sell her Philadelphia home three years ago, she found an unexpected way to cope with the loss. The designer retrieved her 1991 Victorian Play School dollhouse from storage and began transforming it into a miniature replica of the house she'd left behind.
"It was very healing and therapeutic," White said. "I took a lot of the elements from the house that I had recently lost and rebuilt it in a miniature version."
Professional Expertise Elevating the Vision
She found an ideal teammate in her father, himself a retired architectural scale model builder. Together, they constructed the miniature home and posted their work online, quickly gaining attention for its detail.
The project also struck a chord with viewers who began retrieving their own forgotten dollhouses. White's inbox filled with questions about the miniature furniture and accessories featured in her videos. Sensing an opportunity, she and her father launched an online shop, sourcing materials from e-commerce platform Temu to create custom miniature designs.
White said traditional miniature supplies are expensive, and finding items at the correct 1:12 scale isn’t always easy. "These are so affordable, and they have such great options," White said of Temu's miniatures collection.
"I just love the quality and the variety of items that they have, from kitchen stoves and miniature plates to bowls and accessories."
White discovered battery-operated lights, porch fixtures and household items that added realism to her miniature rooms. She sources everything from tiny houseplants to silverware through the platform, along with basswood sheets her father cuts into custom furniture using his laser cutter.
"Temu has really been a game-changer for sourcing for my interior dollhouse projects," White said. "It's been a very cost-effective way for me to get my online shop off the ground."
Real-World Design Inspiration
The miniature rooms have inspired unexpected applications. While some followers restore their own childhood dollhouses, others use White's designs as blueprints for full-scale home renovations.
"One of the highest compliments I love getting is when people say they're using my dollhouse interiors as a model for their own home," White said. "That's just the coolest thing."
White said another unexpected payoff from the project has been a deeper creative partnership with her father — she as designer and her father as chief builder, creating the structures with his expert hands.
"I'll send him a design for an arched cabinet, and he'll cut it out and assemble it," White said. "Then I'll paint it and style it. It's such a fun bonding experience."