Page 106 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

Former patrons straggling in with odd jobs noticed the exquisite little models
and bought them. They sent friends who “wanted a set just like it.” Gradually
a little furniture business filled the big furniture void. One day a woman with
a pre-depression bank balance asked Mr. Cona if he could build a doll house
to fit the furniture. The answer was yes, Mr. Cona having studied architecture
along with antiques in England. He drew plans and built a house that clicked
and brought more orders. Now he makes to order houses that, as he puts it,
are “just a little better.” These range from a $10 cottage for a real estate firm
to a $300 mansion for a wealthy client’s child.

Just now he is working on a house complete with furniture that will bring
$550. The house stands in his window and the furniture is being added piece
by piece as finished. Every day interested observers pause before the shop
window to ascertain the progress made. The five-room colonial house is
white with green trimmings. It has parquetry floors of oak and mahogany and
a delightful oak staircase, with banisters, that leads to the bath and bedrooms
above. The rooms contain electric switches of postage stamp size and the
chandeliers are fitted with tiny globes. The finely wrought window frames
enclose real glass windows instead of the usual mica.

The interest in miniature reproductions of antique furniture during the past
few years has been largely stimulated by the exhibit of Mrs. Ward Thorne’s
exquisite miniature rooms at the Chicago World’s Fair, and by the $500,000
doll house exhibited for charity by the moving picture actress, Colleen
Moore. Another beautiful example of this work is the priceless collection of
Helena Rubinstein, the well-known cosmetic manufacturer. Some of the tiny
little furnishings of these rooms have been acquired by their owners during
years of collecting little objects of glass, brass, wood, and bits of furniture.
However, most of them have been made by modern craftsmen. Many a man
with a workbench in his basement and a flair for design can turn out these
tiny bits of furniture. Books and periodicals on furniture design will help him
in getting the lines of the tiny pieces of furniture as authentic as the originals.

A Rattling Good Income from Rattlers