Cathy’s Flower House

Several months ago I accompanied my wife to a strip mall. While she visited several clothing stores I spotted a Michael’s and decided to look around.

I’d been to Michael’s before. One of my favorite things to do is to immediately go to the model kit isle and then to the miniatures isle.

In the miniatures isle are small packs of plastic animals along with slightly larger, unwrapped creatures that are sold separately.

I also like looking at the small bags of miniatures used to furnish doll houses. Furniture, accessories, wall-hangings, appliances and such fill the entire side of the isle on a large pegboard.

As I was leaving the miniature isle I spotted something I had never seen before.

A large, clear-plastic acetate box divided into six sections contained an array of fully-furnished (in miniature) themed rooms and small store fronts.

Intrigued I took a closer look and was amazed at the amount of detail of the small objects in each of the small kits. Superbly crafted and painted small appliances, books, plants, furniture, windows and lights all combined to make scaled down versions of fully decked out rooms and stores.

Wow! I love miniatures. Ever since I was a kid I marveled at plastic model sets, toy soldiers with full military equipment, die-cast cars and vehicles and the like amazed me with their intricacies and details.

Who made these small rooms and business miniatures? I spotted the name Rolife and immediately wrote the name down on a piece a paper I keep in my wallet.

I decided to contact the company in the hopes that I might review some its products.

Fortunately for me I was contacted and several of the kits were provided for review.

The first kit I want to review is Cathy’s Flower House.

Both my wife and I come come from a long line of farmers. Our ancestors came from Tennessee and Kentucky. Both my wife’s parents and mine were born and raised on working farms.

While neither my wife and I are farmers our daughter is an avid plant lover and grows her own edible and decoration plants in her small greenhouse, back yard and inside on a multi-shelf plant display.

She provides us with a lot of vegetables and small decorative plants.

Rolife’s Cathy’s Flower House DIY Miniature is an amazing miniature greenhouse loaded with all sorts of cool plants and objects.

Since our daughter loves plants so much I decided to split the Flower House build with her. She agreed.

Here are few observations. Since our daughter’s hands are so much smaller than mine she had no difficulty putting pieces together. I, on the other hand, was able to put the larger pieces together but when it came to smaller pieces I used the tweezers supplied with the Flower House kit. A small screw driver was also provided. They were really helpful.

When it came to using the small adhesive strips, again I had a little difficulty using them, my daughter did not. Instead I decided to use liquid glue used for model kits. It worked perfectly-no problem.

Opening the slip-covered, flip-lid box I was immediately impressed as to how organized the contents were. Bags were labeled for certain parts-mostly the molded pieces and all the wood cut-out part sheets had their own letter and number with numbered pieces on each sheet.

Using the directions it was easy to identify the pieces, follow the construction instructions, use adhesive, combine fabric and various accessory attachments and build using the clear Flower House windows, etc.

A small flat-head screwdriver was useful for poking out parts and scissors and a Xacto knife came in handy.

Think of the Flower House kit as a model kit on steroids with pre-painted pieces and super-realistic in a small scale.

Furniture, containers, plant pots, wiring, lighting and building construction were a breeze.

A few suggestions: take your time, don’t rush, follow the instructions carefully, pay attention to details in each piece-constructed or complete-and above all-enjoy the process. There’s no need to hurry-patience is the key.

It’s alright to goof up like dropping pieces, accidentally fudging a part or forgetting to use a part. It’s all a part of the learning process.

After a few goofs you’ll get the hang of it. Trust me-I did and I’m very pleased with the results.

Above everything else look at what you’ve accomplished and the incredible miniature Flower House you’ve constructed.

Check out the random-sized pieces of tile base, the wooden slat entryway, two-frame wooden door with windows and lattice work that actually opens and closes, the garden door sign, the large potted palm on the left of the door, the bucket and wooden grate containing a plant and flower, two stacked flower pots, a shovel, a wooden wagon wheel and an old, shaggy broom.

Inside the Flower House is a cornucopia of plants in various colored and shaped vases, a birdhouse, several shelves, a small single drawer dresser of blue, several art easels with paintings, art supplies, walls decorated with plants and art, a large blue rear door with a window, a variated wooden slat floor, dozens of books-both open and closed, fabric boxes, hanging plants, shipping boxes, a bench and upper roof beams.

Don’t forget the garden tools, small rugs, water can, a small blue basket, packing bags, a wall hook and a water spigot with a hose.

Back outside on the side of the building is a plant-in a pot, hanging roof vines and in the rear a cleverly hidden wooden compartment for the battery box.

Did I mention the Flower House has lights? Wow!

Marvel at the colors, textures, attention to detail, the perfect scaling and the sheer joy of looking at and enjoying this marvelous miniature masterpiece.

My daughter loves it and plans to place it among her plants.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.