Marie Knight (Interior Motives) DHM88

The Ultimate Design Studio in Miniature

by Pam North

Marie Knight always has enjoyed the concept of decorating, even wishing at times that she had become an interior decorator. She was introduced to the miniatures hobby with a subscription to the HOM Kit of the Month Club back in the early 1990s. Once she had a healthy collection of finished furniture kits, Maries’s mom presented her with her first dollhouse kit, and the rest is history. With no formal training in any aspect of miniature making, she is 100% self-taught. With each subsequent build, she always made an effort to try at least one new thing she’d never done before. When she isn’t playing with miniatures, she works full-time as an IT Help Desk Coordinator.
Her family understands her addiction to miniatures, and are all extremely supportive, but her biggest fan is probably her father, who shares her love for miniatures. “I know he absolutely loves watching and following along with each new project,” Marie said.
After accumulating a healthy stockpile of scrap flooring, trims, light fixtures, rugs, and miscellaneous supplies a few years ago, she saw some photos of design studios on Pinterest, which inspired her to recreate one in miniature. The result was a project she calls Interior Motives, which is constructed in 1:12 scale. Her concept was that it was a mini home business with a residence attached to it. Its nucleus is the Malibu Beach House kit by Dollshouse Emporium, to which she says she did a “fair amount of bashing” to get the spaces she needed. About 60% or more of the project’s contents were designed by her in her favorite design software, and then 3D printed. Many furniture items were either handmade or 3D printed. She made a sizeable dent in that stockpile of supplies she had accumulated.
She changed a large portion of the upper floors to gain more living space. Opting not to use the staircases that came with the kit, she designed her own. The floating stairs at the first floor were made using stripwood, brass rods, and 3D printed components she designed. Underneath that staircase is a faux water feature made with clear resin, artificial plants, and rocks. The second-floor staircase was made using small, thin slabs of natural wood salvaged from fire pits at local campgrounds, sanded, and then varnished. Resin 3D printed items, however, make up the bulk of the project.
She had spent months accumulating notes on the design studios on Pinterest, and she continued to make notes throughout the build, allowing her ideas to change as her project progressed. “I pretty much just winged it when I started assembling the kit, taking my time and going one floor and room at a time,” she explained. “I prefer to finish all rooms of a project before ever adding a piece of furniture or décor. It’s like walking up to a new, turnkey home that is just waiting to be filled.”
“I suppose the hardest part of this project was turning the original third floor terrace area into a bedroom to gain living space.” she continued. I didn’t want this space to look like it didn’t belong, so I worked very hard to make sure it blended in with the rest of the original design of the kit. For the first time, I needed to bend stripwood to match the curve of the original structure in order to make the window framing. I did this by placing the desired stripwood pieces through a complete cycle in the dishwasher; being sure to remove them the instant the steam-dry cycle was complete. While the stripwood was still damp and pliable, I bent the pieces to the appropriate curve and held them in place with heavy clamps for three days. which worked perfectly! I think the bedroom space turned out fabulously, matching the rest of the structure as closely as possible. As luck would have it, creating the bedroom space on the third floor allowed me to have an enormous rooftop terrace.”
Marie won’t start a project until she has a very good idea how it’s going to look at completion. It gives her a goal, and she feels that this project turned out exactly as she envisioned.
While making Interior Motives, she also learned to construct a working pocket door. “It was my very first one and I winged it. The door actually slides in and out of the wall. I am so chuffed at how it turned out!” 
The kitchen also ranked high on her list because of the appliances she designed and 3D printed. “I never thought there would be a day when I would have modern wall ovens in one of my dollhouses! The modern, rooftop, outdoor kitchen is also a favorite. It’s definitely a space I could see myself using a lot if I had it in real life.”
Using a 3D printer is unique for many hobbyists, since the method is still fairly new in the miniatures realm. “More and more miniaturists are using them, so it won’t be long until the tool is even more mainstream,” Marie commented. “It’s a free, very straight-forward approach to learning 3D modeling, and I prefer it to others I have tried to use so far. The tools most valuable to me are design software and my 3D printers.  I can literally create anything I need, and make it for less than paying retail prices, if the pieces I need even could be found in the retail sector. I suppose that once my needs start to really exceed the capability of my design software, I will have to make the time to really sit down and devote time to learning a software that is more robust.”
For anyone interested in seeing this build from beginning to end, they can follow Marie on Instagram @marieknightminiatures. She writes about all of her adventures in miniatures there, and is happy to answer any questions her followers might have.
She currently has no plans to sell Interior Motives. 
Marie sees a lot of potential for the future of miniatures. “I see more and more folks venturing away from the traditional Victorian or Edwardian style dollhouses, and moving toward more contemporary, and modern builds, which really open up new textures and design styles just waiting to be tapped. More and more, it’s also the tools, such as 3D printers, die-cut machines, laser cutters, and CNC machines, that will contribute to the longevity of the miniatures hobby.”
Up next on her agenda is continued work on her French manor house renovation, She had recently started a complete overhaul of a custom Tudor-style dollhouse that she had started building in 2004. “I had only gotten about 60% through it before a newer, more exciting idea came along and relegated it to a back-burner for 17 years! Last fall, I finally got it out, dusted it off and removed the cobwebs, and started giving it the love it’s been lacking for so long. It’s now slowly turning into a 1:12 scale modern-day French manor house. It’s pretty exciting, and I don’t imagine that I’ll even recognize it when 2022 comes to a close!”
She also is starting to venture into 1:6 scale builds as time and room permit, with a new loft apartment for her 1:6 scale modern doll collection.