If It Were Mini: All Creatures Great and Small Vet Exam Room

 

When the producers of the PBS series All Creatures Great and Small wanted to create a veterinarian's office inside a 1930's home, they had to source an authentic old exam table and deal with lots of live animals.

There was a lot of construction involved with making the soundstage look like an older home. Walls of windows and doors separate two small office spaces in the front of the house.

When I recreated the rooms in miniature, I had my own challenges. Like them, I had to make my walls moveable so that I could get the camera angles I needed. I also had to work around live animals -- our two "helpful" cats.

Here's the front room I created that serves as a private workspace for the vets:

Siegfried's pipe and tobacco tin are on the shelf above the sink.

With the wall removed, we can see more of the front half of the office:

Here's a pulled-back view. There's a fireplace on the set, although we don't see it very often. 

I made the floor lamp. The shade on it and the other lamp are pistachio shells, and so is the soap dish in the other room. 

I'm not sure what the tank on top of the card catalog is used for, but it makes a nice prop. I made the leather case on the floor, and found the scale at a miniatures show.

One of the books on the desk is All I Need to Know I Learned From My Cat. 

The bulldog under the desk is from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Missouri. The pictures over the desk include one of Tricki Woo the Pekingese. 

Here's how the room used to look when it was decorated as a kitchen and I didn't have Zoom-era lighting and camera equipment to take pictures:

Speaking of kitchens, I'll be working on the show's kitchen next. Unlike on the show, I think my Aga stove will be easier to install than my moveable walls were.

The YouTube video is here.