Original subtitles

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the little

teeny, tiny miniature house...

These are mini moments.

IGLEHART: ...a world of magic awaits

because these are no ordinary doll houses.

Yes, that's a reveal.

IGLEHART: Each week, three different teams

of the nation's top designers and renovators

working in the miniature space...

WOMAN: I have tiny pie tins.

MAN: I'm a miniaturist, I've got this.

IGLEHART: ...compete to create unbelievable

Christmas-themed masterpieces from scratch

in the ultimate building battle.

Here's the thing, we have to win.

[ Groans ]

They will be judged by a panel of experts,

including Genevieve Gorder.

The judges.

If I didn't like you, I would hate you. It's so good.

IGLEHART: And they're competing for a prize worth $50,000

and a super-sized design surprise.

Losing my mind. Too many tiny things.

IGLEHART: Building in miniature is no small feat.

The scale is perfection.

IGLEHART: And now, we're about to find out

whose little creation makes the biggest impression.

- What? - Oh, yes.

Awesome.

IGLEHART: This is the "Biggest Little Christmas Showdown."

♪♪

Whoa! Oh, oh, oh.

Oh, Christmas.

It's Christmas.

- Ooh. - Oh, it's snowing.

When I walk into Santa's workshop,

it's large and it's shiny and it's overwhelming.

Oh, my gosh, Shanikah, look at this.

Wow!

I'm so excited with all these different tools

and all these different supplies.

There's so many things to work with.

- Okay. - Oh, my gosh.

- Here we go. - All right.

Walking into Santa's workshop

is way better than Christmas morning

because Christmas morning does not surround me

with craft supplies.

- Hi! - Hi!

I need to grab a lot of this garland.

I'm gonna be fighting over this.

[ Laughter ]

- Merry Christmas, everyone. - Hello.

Oh, my goodness, hi.

Let me gather you guys all around, please.

DES: Seeing James walk out, it's pretty incredible.

I love musicals.

I can't tell you how many times I've sang Aladdin in my car.

Miniaturists, welcome to

the "Biggest Little Christmas Showdown."

ALL: Whoo!

A tournament of miniature makers

where only one team will be chosen to advance to the finale

to compete for a prize worth $50,000.

- Whoo! - Wow.

I love my mom, but if we win this 50 grand,

I'm moving out of my parents' house.

[ Laughs ]

Christmas isn't just a day. It's a state of mind.

It's full of nostalgia for childhood memories,

cherished traditions, and cheerful moments

with family and friends.

So today, we're gonna be embracing

some of the charm of yesteryear.

We want you to make retro structures inspired

by Christmases past.

But it's up to you to decide

how big you want your retro masterpiece to be.

You were all given one month at home

to begin building your structure.

Okay, let's get going.

IGLEHART: And were allowed to complete up to half

of your project at home.

WOMAN: Just like that. You've got a backsplash.

But here, in Santa's workshop, you have 12 hours,

the help of one talented elf carpenter,

and the use of the elves shelves,

tools, and materials to complete your designs.

At the end of your challenge, you will be evaluated

by a panel of expert judges on interpretation of your theme,

creativity, and execution.

Are you ready?

- Yes. - We're ready.

Your time starts... now.

- Whoo! - Okay, where's your list?

- My tote bag. - My clay. Let's go.

Let me move some things over.

I want you to start putting together the roof

and then that ceiling plate. - Mm-hmm, right, cool.

Go!

I'm Ansel Santosa and I'm a software engineer.

I'm Sarah Santosa. I am a full-time parent.

Ansel, how much running do you think I should be doing?

We are high school sweethearts.

ANSEL: I'm feeling cartwheels.

How do you feel about car cartwheels? Cartwheels?

My favorite part of working with miniatures

is being able to explore a whole different world of design

that I can't really have in my own home.

My specialty is really honing in on architectural details.

Sometimes I haven't thought every step of the way through

and that is where Ansel comes in.

Okay!

Looks good.

I'm not a very artistic person,

but I can build her vision for her.

Do you want me to final fit this?

- Hi! - Hello.

- Joshua! - Our elf!

Having an elf is gonna make this possible

to do in a single day

because we have two structures to finish up.

- Oh, hey, we're doing 1945. - Okay.

SARAH: We chose 1945.

ANSEL: We're making two large structures,

a beautiful farmhouse, and a barn.

Upstairs, we have a main bedroom,

bathroom, and a nursery.

Downstairs, a big open living room

and a kitchen.

The big design choice that will stand out right away

is the barn that's painted red.

The classic barn roof

brings back a nostalgic sense of Americana.

So this is... This is the big glue up.

The first thing is finally put all these walls together.

ANSEL: This corner is gonna be the hardest, for sure. SARAH: Is the hardest one, okay.

The house has been flat-packed and, you know, not put together.

- Yes. - Oh, there we go.

Yeah.

To have it on the bench and actually be able

to see it all come together, it really feels like

we're making a huge amount of progress.

Feeling better now. It's all together? Yes.

Ow. - Sorry.

Yeah, here's the brick.

Let's take a few.

But we need like a grout.

My name is Shanikah Andrews and I am an artist and designer.

I'm Raquel Bennett.

I am a social worker and I also love to do design.

We're gonna put a fireplace right here, okay?

How wide is a fireplace, normally?

You have almost 10 inches to work with,

so we'll make it five inches.

So it'll be like a five-foot wide fireplace.

My back garden miniatures comes from my degree

in architecture.

For every project and design we had to make a model.

And my mom has a eye for design as well.

I'm not a professional designer, but I love to be creative.

I'm working on the fireplace. So far, so good.

So when we first heard that it was gonna be

a retro theme, we were excited.

Our retro '70s-themed Christmas miniature

is going to have three floors,

a, kitchen, living and dining room,

bedroom and bathroom.

And we're gonna have an atrium area,

mid-century modern furniture, make it groovy.

We're gonna bring out the retro style

with the pop of color.

We love patterns, we love stripes,

we love polka dots.

I have to put this other piece of the roof on up here,

so I have to fix all the gaps, repaint.

I have my shingles here.

To make this roof,

I just take cardboard and I rip the paper off

and it just reveals this rigid center

so that when you paint it, you can replicate shingles.

Let's hope that this thing stays.

- Should I start flooring? - Yeah.

- Gluing it down. - All right.

I'm Savannah Soza and I'm an iOS developer.

I'm Des Johnson and I'm a mobile app designer.

Savannah and I work together

and we've been friends ever since day one.

Do you want this my pokey tool? Yeah.

We may be new to miniatures,

but we are incredibly competitive.

We're just laying down the floor tile

to make sure that it's centered.

In college,

I studied architecture and interior design.

A lot of that requires model making

and that's how I got into the miniature world.

I'm a craftsperson, so I do a lot of painting,

a lot of sculptures.

Most of the time is the decorative elements.

That's what I prefer.

We need to cut a hole for the tree. Do it.

Finding out we had retro Christmas was pretty great.

We already had an idea of our aesthetic.

What we decided to build for our structure

is a house inspired

by Frank Lloyd Wright from the 1950s.

So the house is a large living room area

with what would be 17 feet ceilings in full scale.

This massive glass window flanked by two smaller rooms.

We'll have the kitchen and a little foyer area.

And we're really going for high detail,

but not as much stuff.

This is our detail-orientedness coming to bite us in the butt

because... - It's not squares.

That's not squares.

I'm working on the flooring.

The tiles are made out of illustration board.

And because we chose an odd shape, a triangle,

we have made a little bit extra work for ourselves

in cutting these edges,

in cutting these odd angles.

Gonna look so good. At what cost?

♪♪

I'm using a glue right now.

For the fireplace,

I'm using tiny bricks from the elf shelf.

I'm laying the bricks on wood in the shape

that I want for the fireplace.

I'm gonna use this... [ speaks indistinctly ]

To fix my gaps.

I custom made this plaid wallpaper

to match the color scheme of our house.

Oh, God, I don't know if there's gonna be enough tiles.

As I'm laying down these tiles,

I'm realizing that we did not make enough.

We are majorly in trouble.

The boat is sinking.

[ Sighs heavily ]

This is not happening.

We're like, so screwed.

I know.

IGLEHART: Coming up...

RAQUEL: We gotta go.

[ Sighs ]

Third time's the charm, right?

It was all the little details for me.

RAQUEL: Awesome!

Whoo, I'm, like, shaking. Let me see. Ah!

These are the winning touches.

Mike drop.

♪♪

♪♪

As I'm laying down these tiles,

I'm realizing that we did not make enough.

There's not enough tiles.

What if we did the wood foyer? Pivot, let's go.

I'm feeling pretty nervous right now with the house.

We have nothing in this house

because the floor has to go down first.

So pivot time. - Hey!

Let's lay down wood flooring.

Straight wood planking across the entire floor.

It's already stained. Cut it. Use the miter snip.

There's no time to be fancy right now.

We just got to get something down.

We needed to pivot.

This is mat board that I've glued

some fun scrapbook paper to.

For the retro look, I know I really want this

iconic curved metal chair

and kind of like a funky pattern.

I traced an outline for what I want the metal armature to be.

I used this thick gauge wire, but it's very bendable,

so it's easy to work with even though it looks kind of bulky.

So I just go over that,

bend it to try to make these things all the same.

I've never worked with metal before,

but they help the look of the kitchen

and they're important to the retro theme.

This one is finished and it looks cute.

You need burning wood during Christmas.

We have a fireplace and you can't have

a fireplace without fire.

So this blow torch is gonna give this kind of burnt effect

around the edge of this brick.

There we go. That looks nice.

So these wooden sticks, they look exactly like logs.

So I think they're just the perfect size

and look for a chimney.

[ Bell rings ]

SAVANNAH: Why are you doing that?

All of a sudden I hear a bell

and I'm not quite sure what that means.

And I'm kind of nervous.

Uh-oh.

What's happening here?

Are you feeling the old school Christmas spirit, everyone?

ALL: Yes.

IGLEHART: Time for a festive challenge

to put a little twist in your tinsel.

What age-old holiday would be complete

without a decked out dining room

with a lavish Christmas dinner for all to enjoy?

Oh, no.

- Uh-oh. - Oh.

You will have just three hours to add a dining scene

complete with a Christmas feast to your miniature.

And it must be seamlessly incorporated

into your overall design. - All right.

But it doesn't have to be edible. Okay.

The winner of this retro challenge

will get a huge advantage that the other teams won't get

to help you finish your overall structure. [ Speaks indistinctly ]

Your three hours starts...

...now. [ Bell ringing ]

Um...

What one are we gonna do?

Where is the sketchbook?

You can spend three hours on one dish,

so three hours for a full Christmas dinner.

Who came up with this? [ Laughs ]

Better design the table.

So dining room. So this is the kitchen.

This is the only place it's gonna go

chandelier above the table. - All right.

We have three hours to not only make a full

Christmas dinner, but a full dining set, additionally.

Des and the elf are gonna tackle the dining room.

- You want me to use this? - No.

I'm tackling the food.

Food is really hard. - Yeah, and it's '50.

So it has to be, like, kind of disgusting.

Disgusting. That'll be easier.

I need stuff that will scream the 1950s.

So like deviled eggs, I really want to make

like the tree of, like, weenies sticking out of it.

A weenie tree is a real thing

that is in a real 1950s cookbook.

It is hot dogs sticking out of a Christmas tree.

Turkey, the centerpiece of our dinner.

This is the only normal food we're making.

Figure out what we're going to do.

And let's do a table for a family of four?

The plan is to make a checkerboard table top

and to some red accent chairs to tie it all into

our overall '70s retro theme.

Let's talk about the food.

Because we have that Caribbean background,

you know, we cook Caribbean food at home.

We could integrate my Caribbean style with the American style.

So I've been given the task to make all the miniature food

for this retro Christmas dinner.

I'm gonna entrust my mom to make this table and chairs.

I'm counting on you on those chairs, Mom.

You may have to help me with the chairs. Okay.

You're the artist, remember.

We have a little 1945 farmhouse

and there is not a grand dining room.

What if we had a big dinner in the barn? Okay.

We decide to repurpose the barn

into a community dining space.

What I'm gonna have you do is make the tables.

We're gonna do like real rustic tables... Okay.

...because it's in the barn.

- Great, I'll get to it. - Cool.

I'm gonna start on the food.

Miniature food takes just as long to make

as real food, if not longer. - Okay.

I'm making all my food out of clay,

chalk pastels, and nail polish.

I got to get faster.

Three hours to make a feast is not a lot of time.

So I am making deviled eggs, bundt cake,

lemon meringue pie, berry pie.

That sounds like a dinner to me.

Bundt cake time. This is a silicone mold.

Gives me the shape, but I got to use all these fun,

different tools to make it look like

it's actually just been baked.

I've shaved off some pigment from chalk pastel,

so I add a mixture of three colors

where it would naturally be golden brown from the oven.

I want to bake my item because the shading for my chalk pastel

will adhere to it.

I will be out of your hair in three minutes.

That's okay.

My mom's making me make this Jamaican food

and I feel a little bit stressed.

When making miniature food,

everything is super detailed and it is super tiny.

So you have to make sure

that you're handling the polymer clay with care.

This chicken like it's looking like a mushroom. [ Laughs ]

If I miss this fried chicken out,

my dad will say, Shani, something is wrong with you.

My fried chicken are looking like a little dry rocks.

It may be small food, but it's giving me a very big problem.

So third time's the charm, right?

A real Christmas dinner. Yeah, I can do that.

But this miniature Christmas dinner? No.

SARAH: This is my runner out of some vintage ribbon

that I got the thrift store.

It's my favorite place to shop for miniatures.

Smells like burning.

SHANIKAH: Something's burning.

Not trying to burn down Santa's workshop.

Time is running out and I smell the smoke.

And I'm wondering, did I burn my food

and can we even have a Christmas feast without food?

Oh. [ Blows air ]

You put me in charge of Christmas dinner,

which is not a good idea.

Maybe it's the paint?

And I realized that the paint

is what's causing the smoke.

So I'm relieved that my food isn't burnt.

I'm gonna let it cool and then I'm gonna see.

Ah, the guests are getting hungry

only an hour and 15 minutes left.

I'm very worried about the tables and chairs.

One of the difficult parts about miniatures

is scale and proportion.

We're very much trying to get this one 12-inch scale

to a photorealism level.

Savannah, how tall you want the stools to be?

This is 30. Just kind of like counter-height.

Table and chairs, they have set heights,

but when you're in Santa's workshop,

you have to figure it out.

So remembering how do I sit in a chair holding up a ruler

to figure out the height?

24.

- Measure it. - Two inches.

Lunge.

Frank Lloyd Wright made these really beautiful origami chairs.

So we're creating wood legs that interlock with one another.

So I'm just using a file

to knock off any of the gnarly edges.

Definitely a lot of pressure with the judges

because I know that they're going to be very picky

about the scale,

but I think we're very much trying to get the scale perfect.

I don't know how well the stains gonna take all this.

We're gonna find out.

My chair legs, I did it out of wood,

so I'm trying to glue it.

I really like the design of these retro chairs

for my dining room.

My kind of action is just to go all wood

but I'm having a very difficult time.

It's not gluing. It's not staying.

I'm feeling a little bit under pressure right now

because time is against us.

I'm using up time, feeling frustrated but the glue

is finally sticking and the chair looks good.

There you go.

That a chair. Shanikah, here's my chair.

Sit or stand?

Ma, just get at least four done.

Definite. At least four.

SARAH: Don't run with scissors.

Set a good example for the children. Okay.

I'm painting the checkered table now.

♪♪

We got us a weenie tree. [ Laughs ]

♪♪

More deviled eggs. Oh, it's so cute.

Miniaturists, you have two minutes left.

Wah.

RAQUEL: You done, Shanikah?

- No. - Time is against us.

- Where is this going? - I don't know.

Just leave those out.

This weenie tree, it's amazing.

SARAH: I'm dead.

♪♪

SAVANNAH: Ridiculous.

I don't even know what to do right now.

We got to go, Shanikah.

Oh, God.

- Can you wind that up, honey? - Yep.

Whoo, I'm, like, shaking. Let me see. Aah.

SAVANNAH: Help, quick.

10... Shanikah, where's the brown? Where's the brown?

9, 8... The smallest Christmas tree.

7, 6, 5, 4,

3, 2, 1...

Hands up.

[ Groans ] Okay.

Good job, honey.

I think we have a good shot.

I think our Christmas dinner looks really great.

I have no idea what the other teams have done.

- Okay. - We did good.

Okay, miniaturist,

it's time to meet your judges for the mini challenge.

I do not care about the advantage is,

but I do want to win it.

IGLEHART: Coming up...

The moment of truth.

- Ooh! - Whoa.

When I walk in that door, it is picture perfect.

- This looks good. - Oh, God.

It doesn't look like anything edible.

In three hours, she ain't gonna get there. Which sucks.

♪♪

♪♪

Okay, miniaturists, it's time to meet your judges.

For your retro Christmas dinner mini challenge.

I can cook in real life,

but making miniature food is a hard task.

So we are a little bit nervous,

what the judges may say.

First up, June Clinkscales,

who's known for decking the miniature halls

of the stars.

I am a little bit terrified.

She is very, very talented.

- Whoo! - Hi.

Happy tidings, miniaturists.

And visual effects miniaturist,

Dave Asling, who has been blowing movie audiences

minds away for years.

DES: His work is incredible.

It's definitely a lot of pressure seeing the judges.

They're going to be very picky about detail.

IGLEHART: And a surprise judge will be joining us later.

Savannah and Des, we're coming to you. Okay.

Tell us about your retro Christmas dinner.

Our inspiration for this festive meal

are the housewife cookbooks of the 1950s.

Exciting items like a weenie tree, tomato jello,

also plenty of deviled eggs.

We're trying to build a very classy mid-century modern home.

Our furniture is meant to look a little rustic.

I like the shading on the turkey.

It looks like it's cooked perfectly.

With the construction of the table and chairs,

it looks unfinished to me.

ASLING: I love the use of lichen for the garnish.

The scale is really excellent with that.

Texture on the weenie tree might've needed like

maybe just a little bit of a gloss coat to say

this is not just one sort of texture all the way through,

but it's a good presentation.

- Thank you. - Thanks.

IGLEHART: Shanikah and Raquel.

Tell us about your retro Christmas dinner.

Okay, so I'm Jamaican,

so we integrate the Jamaican Caribbean flavor

with the American style.

So we have rice and peas,

we have the turkey, and we have fried chicken.

It's very colorful, which I like a lot.

I think that some of the paint finishes are a little bit

glossier than they would be in the real world.

There's some glue and things like that.

I really appreciate that she went for a whole meal,

but it's hard for me to tell what some of the things are.

It doesn't really look like anything edible.

Sarah and Ansel, tell us about your retro Christmas dinner.

We're doing a 1945 farmhouse.

And so, why not have a big potluck

Christmas banquet in the barn?

You can see that it's kind of rustic and it's got period food.

I love the idea of feast in a barn, all the food.

I can tell what everything is and it's all glazed perfectly.

Very nice.

I love the story. It does feel very sort of period and warm

and makes you want to kind of go in there.

The height of the table in relationship

to the height of the benches

feels like the table needs to be lower.

Thank you, Sarah and Ansel. We'll see you soon.

Thanks, judges.

All right, miniaturists,

the judges have made the decision

and the winner of the mini challenge is...

♪♪

...Sarah and Ansel.

[ Gasps ]

[ Laughs ]

We were not expecting this. That's amazing.

Congratulations, you won the challenge.

- Good job, honey. - Thank you.

Your team gets stockings stuffed with additional material

the other teams don't get.

Merry Christmas. - Thank you, James.

The best things come in small packages.

Oh, this is fun. It's a mold making kit.

A mold making kit.

- Okay. [ Gasps ] - Oh, big tree.

Big tree. We're definitely gonna use that.

We unpack the stockings and it's a bunch of

holiday-themed quick dry resin molds.

Look, there's like science measurements.

- I'm all over it. - That's for you. Thank you.

We did not win this dinner challenge,

but the competition is not over.

You good over there, Shanikah?

I'm doing okay.

And so, I'm gonna start dividing this cardstock

into centimeter slices.

For this farmhouse design,

we're gonna do a classic white picket fence.

I'm gonna cut this into little strips

and then we'll cut the little points at the top.

And that's one picket. What do you think, honey?

It is really stinking cute.

All right, now I just need to make a couple hundred more

of these. - [ Laughs ] Yeah.

I am trying to design some drop pendant lights

for the ceiling.

I glued two beads together to give it a pendant light.

I'll just put a little bit more glue here.

So it could drop over the ceiling.

There we go.

DES: The main structure of the house

is this massive glass window.

So I started making the beams for the windows.

But they are a puzzle.

Gotta label some of these.

I'm like what was I thinking?

Is this the thing I just cut?

I think so.

It is so important for me to get these front windows done.

And right now it feels like time is just flying by.

I was supposed to spend an hour on this.

I didn't label this? What's wrong with me?

I'm literally standing there

trying to figure it out in my head.

Where's this go to?

RAQUEL: So I started making this better home.

The bed is made out of wood, a sleigh bed,

one of those styles that was very famous in the '70s.

So it's just a sponge under my mattress here

and it's hanging over a little bit.

Shanikah, you got glue gun over there? Glue?

There's a glue gun right here, Mom, just stay focused.

So now that my mattress is cut to size,

I put the cover on and it looks great.

The blanket is there. There you go.

- Are you doing the tree, honey? - Yep.

Okay, great.

The big tree mold looks incredible.

Having this quick dry resin is gonna be

a real advantage time-wise in getting this project done.

Ooh, this looks like a science lab.

I'm so glad you're doing this. [ Laughs ]

This is not something we've done before,

but I'm very excited to try it.

And I want to make sure this is all thoroughly mixed.

Otherwise, the casting might not turn out well.

The benefit of the quick dry resin

is that we can get it done fast.

I pour it into the mold

and after 10 minutes, everything is set.

All right, moment of truth.

- Ooh. - Whoa!

That looks great.

We're going to paint this tree green.

I think it's gonna be a beautiful base

for tinsel and everything.

And it's such a great piece to have.

Having this quick, dry resin is a real advantage.

We can cast these trees multiple times.

So I make another tree to go outside in the landscape

between the house and the barn.

Okay.

While I'm trying to figure out the building

of the structure, Savannah's working on pottery,

I got myself a tiny wheel

and we're gonna see if this is gonna work.

May seem excessive or not time savvy,

but I think it's gonna give us a bit of a secret edge.

We need a lot of pots.

It'll bring that nice natural element in.

It's about achieving Frank Lloyd Wright's look.

He doesn't have a lot of our work

throughout his homes,

so they need to really wow the judges.

I'm only giving myself like 30 minutes to work on this

because there's still a lot to do.

Now these pots need to dry.

RAQUEL: Just take your time, twist it, tilt it on the side.

Our retro '70s theme Christmas miniature

is going to have three floors.

Putting the flooring and is a huge challenge.

Don't move it. You moved it.

There you go. Slide it in. And just push it down.

Okay.

I don't remember what this is for.

Was this this?

I've been working on these windows going on two hours.

It's the main focal part of the house

and they are a puzzle.

Some of the angles are ever so slightly off because it is hard

to get that perfect angle.

Like, look at that stupid angle.

What is that, a 37-degree angle?

It's at a point where we're not even sure

if we're going to have a house to present.

Miniaturist, you have three, count them, three hours left.

In three hours, she ain't gonna get there.

Mnh-mnh. - Which sucks.

[ Bleep ]

♪♪

♪♪

DES: I'm feeling pretty nervous right now with the house.

SAVANNAH: We have no windows.

Aah.

So what I'm going to do is cut some beams as a support system

just for the edge of the roof

and hope that the tension that those two panels

will create on each other will hold the windows in place.

And I can have two beams holding them up.

There we go.

- Quick. - [ Groans ]

I am so relieved.

I finally got these windows done.

It's on.

I truly thought this beautiful thing

wasn't going to come to fruition.

You weren't alone.

♪♪

Looks good, though.

And now it feels like,

oh, we might actually... we might actually win. Yeah.

Miniaturists, you have two hours left.

Oh, my God.

Okay.

You're okay with posts on the steps like that? Yep.

Make these pieces and make these pieces for this bathroom.

Two inches in height.

I have to make a tub. I have to make a toilet.

And I have never made any of these before.

I'm going to use cardboard

and clay to try to attempt this look of porcelain

because porcelain is classic '70s.

I have a tub done.

This toilet, what am I gonna do?

To make the toilet,

I'm trying to cut out cardboard circles

and I'm stacking them

so they have that deep toilet bowl shape.

And then I just covered it with the clay.

I've spent too much time on this toilet.

I wanted to come out very clean and it's ripping

and I'm having a hard time just getting on my nerves.

Oh, this just too thick.

We need a bigger a toilet seat.

I never want to look at a small toilet ever again.

♪♪

I got to run this electrical for the final player.

Savannah and I are very into music.

So we really want a record player for our structure.

SAVANNAH: I have to get the switch up through here.

I made the vinyl player at home. It's fully functioning.

The entire inside of that vinyl player is hollow.

That way Savannah can put all of her wiring inside.

Go in.

Des has created this incredible vinyl player

with working hinges,

and I have figured out how to put a speaker inside of it

and make a sound play with a press of a button.

And then this switch.

[ Music playing ]

At the very least,

we are presenting a vinyl player and a dance floor.

♪♪

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

This is an old poster that I trimmed to make rug-sized.

And so, it's kind of turning out hot pink.

I'm just gonna try to go to the roof on.

Okay, it's crunch time now.

ANSEL: Okay.

Just gonna make the exterior not look completely unfinished.

RAQUEL: There you go.

The wallpaper that's in the house

I created on Photoshop and like scaled down and had it printed.

- Oh, it's pretty. - It's gorgeous.

It does make me happy.

- Think it's too small? - Oh, that's nice. Yeah.

Do you want me to do the stone path? Yeah.

What do I bake it at, honey?

It should say on the package.

I'm working on the interior.

Ansel is putting together

this rustic flagstone path made out of clay.

I'm gonna cut this into 20 pieces.

This is definitely a project

that's a little bit outside of my comfort zone.

Use clay that actually has to bake in the oven.

My flagstones are ready to go into the oven.

Throw these in.

At this point, I'm feeling pretty good.

I've accomplished a task. I can move on to something else.

All right, be back in a few minutes.

One hour left, everybody.

- Wow. - Did you hear that?

This is a piece that we also started at home.

The next thing I'm working on is the shelving unit in the foyer.

And those shelves are going to house in light

Savannah's wonderful pottery.

So these are the front panels that we had cut out and stained.

And these are sliders.

Have to install the sliding doors

and fit them inside of the runners.

I have to lay these like runners so that there is something

for the door to slide in.

The shelving unit, I think is gonna really wow the judges

because they are working cabinets.

It's very difficult to have working beings in a miniature.

It's too short now. Ah, miniatures.

The fact that they slide,

I think that's really gonna wow them.

And they should slide right.

Here, can I sneak into the oven here? Thank you.

After some time passes, I go to check on the stones.

Oh, boy.

Honey. - What?

- I burned the rocks. - Oh, boy.

Ansel is not in charge of the oven duties at home.

I didn't know you could burn rocks.

I didn't know you could burn rocks either.

The clock is ticking. We're running out of time.

I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

Shoot.

IGLEHART: Coming up...

Is there anything you can do about this?

- Okay. - It's not working.

Well, it definitely brings back a lot of unfortunate memories.

SAVANNAH: It plays out of the speaker.

♪ Baby, I got moves ♪

♪♪

♪♪

- Honey. - What?

- I burned the rocks. - Oh, boy.

I have set us back time-wise

because now these things

that were supposed to come out finished need paint.

I am not qualified to do the painting.

So this is another painting task for Sarah.

All right, I'll do it when I do the chimney.

Oh, you know, I know I can get it done,

but it was not the vision of what these stones

were gonna look like.

I don't mean to be critical, but these don't look like rock.

You only have 30 minutes left.

Whoo-hoo!

Ooh...

I don't know. It's not working.

SAVANNAH: Couch isn't gonna have cushions

and that's how it is.

Des has designed this beautiful,

time-consuming couch.

I thought I was gonna have to make pillows.

I told you that wasn't gonna happen.

If I had time, I would be doing these cushions properly.

But instead, we're cutting some foam board

and we are wrapping it straight with fabric

and hopefully the judges don't notice.

Look, it doesn't look horrible.

- Oh, my God. - Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Check that.

♪ I got moves, baby, I got... ♪

- Mom. - Yes.

You have to make sure we finish that orange tree that we made.

So we're all about color for this '70s miniature.

So we went for our orange Christmas tree

out of orange pipe cleaner.

I'm going to paint the base,

then I have to hang my ornaments.

I made all the ornaments out of clay

and it's looking very cute.

So now this clear polish

will give a little shine to these ornaments.

I'm liking my tree.

It's tying into the overall retro theme.

All right, there you got a orange tinsel tree.

You only have 15 minutes left.

♪♪

We still have to do our landscaping

and we still have to put in all our decorations.

What fell? - It's not glued on, it's fine.