[Featured] Home is where the heart is
Passion projects // Turning a pastime into a profession
Written by Amy Wilkinson
Photographs by Rusty Williams
Robb Coffee enjoys renovating and decorating houses—both big and very, very small.
THE FIRST dollhouse Jessica (Craik) Coffee made wasn’t exactly worthy of the pages of American Miniaturist magazine. But, then again, Jessica was 7 years old at the time, and her construction materials were limited to a large cardboard box and pages from the Sears catalog.
“I built some really terrible dollhouses as a child,” Jessica recalls. Though she outgrew the hobby—or so she thought—her creative spirit never waned. After earning a technology degree at Walla Walla University in 2003, she became a graphic designer— and amateur home renovator.
Fast-forward to 2019, when Jessica, now married to Robb Coffee (att.) and a mom to three young sons, stumbled across a listing for a used dollhouse on Facebook Marketplace.
“I kept telling Robb, if we ever have a little girl, I will build her a dollhouse,” Jessica says. “Robb finally was like, ‘I think I’m onto you. This has nothing to do with a little girl.’”
Robb recalls the moment well: “Just get yourself a dollhouse!” he told her.
So the San Francisco Victori-an from Facebook found its way to the Coffee’s home, and Jessica went about sourcing tile and sundry finishings to complete the home.
“She put it on Instagram and got a little following,” Robb explains. “People were asking her where she got some of the things that she designed.”
To meet demand and earn a few bucks, Jessica opened an Etsy store for enthusiasts to purchase her peel-and-stick wallpaper and thumb-sized wall sconces. The business, Jessica Cloe Miniatures, began to grow.
The Coffees’ miniatures are full of detail, right down to fresh-baked treats on the table.
By early 2020, the Coffees were faced with a decision: Stay in their jobs—Jessica as a graphic designer; Robb as an X-ray technologist on-call 15 to 20 days a month—or quit and pursue Jessica Cloe Miniatures full time. Burnt out, they decided on the latter. It would be a fortuitous choice, as the COVID-19 pandemic closed down brick-and-mortar businesses and schools just a couple of months later. Being able to stay home with their boys and run their online enterprise was a boon.
“They are well aware that we’re going to be sitting with them doing homework and sanding lampshades,” Jessica says.
That flexibility would again prove invaluable as the couple moved their family from College Place to Summerville, South Carolina, with little disruption to their business. Now, nearly three years into running Jessica Cloe Miniatures, the couple have found a good rhythm. Jessica is the ideas person, while Robb tries to make those ideas come to life with his garage full of tools.
“Because I just love working with my hands and creating things, it leaves her able to go on to the next thing,” Robb says. (Still a work in progress: Fulfilling Jessica’s dream of a miniature-sized Eames-style molded chair.)
Also evolving is their design aesthetic, which started out as farmhouse modern and now leans more into Scandinavian simplicity. Scroll their Instagram page, and you’ll see miniature homes painted in pristine whites with black and gray accents and tasteful pops of color from bespoke wallpaper and lush greenery. No detail is too small, down to the miniature Trader Joe’s grocery bags and Wellington Boots that look like the real things.
Their precision work has earned them clients beyond fellow hobbyists. Last year, The Washington Post commissioned them to design a “cloffice” (that’s an office in a closet) to illustrate an editorial on the growing trend. And the couple recently designed a room box for a Samsung campaign, showing off miniature versions of the tech company’s latest products. Their work has also been highlighted in numerous magazines including Dolls House & Miniature Scene and, yes, American Miniaturist.
Turning her enthusiasm for dollhouses into a career hasn’t come without its downsides, Jessica admits.
“If you convert a personal hobby to a business, you definitely lose the hobby part of it,” she says. “There’s no way for me to now scroll miniature accounts and just enjoy the cuteness.”
But, she adds, spending six hours on a Sunday renovating a dollhouse to post on social media still feels like a moment of zen for her, and when she needs a break, she happily turns her attention to the real-life renovations taking place in her home.
“I love changing out stuff in our house,” says Jessica. “We bounce between big-time renovations and designing little stuff.”
Ultimately, the couple’s hobby-turned-business has given them something a typical 9-5 couldn’t: the ability to be present with their family.
“We can go experience life in different areas in different places with our three boys and just enjoy life,” says Robb. “Not a lot of people get to do that, so we’re trying to take full advantage.”