All Miniature Models

This Taiwan UFO Houses inspired miniature has that exact energy. It is part space-age resort, part lush modern hideaway, and part “I swear the house is judging my patio furniture.” I love the rounded concrete shell, the massive front window wall, the warm living/dining room glowing inside, the planted roof slit, and the lower level with curved little windows that look like they belong to very stylish astronauts...

Welcome to Palazzo Lucerna delle Rose, founded in 1724 after Countess Viola Lucerna won a card game against a silk merchant, a glassblower, and a suspiciously well-dressed pigeon named Ottavio. The palace became famous for three things: its glowing arched windows, its balcony gossip, and the annual Festival of Misplaced Keys, during which every resident insists they “just had it a moment ago.”

Locals know it as Maison Bellaflora, though the postman still calls it “that balcony house on the corner” because he refuses to carry four separate sacks of tiny seed catalogs up the steps. According to neighborhood lore, the house was commissioned in 1899 by Madam Celestine Bellaflora, a widowed botanist, part-time collector of strange orchids, and full-time believer that a house should bloom as enthusiastically as its owner. She wanted sunlight in every room, air on every l

I visited Pasadena for a garden bloggers conference, and it lodged itself in my brain in the most pleasant way. The architecture, the gardens, the weather—honestly, it all felt a little unfair to the rest of us. This miniature brings that same feeling back. And later in this post, I’ll walk you through how I’d approach building something in this spirit, so keep reading before you run off to glue a cereal box into a villa...