Desig House: A Georgian House in miniature

From the hand-painted chinoiserie walls and miniature marble chimneypieces to a tiny tree and turkey, Philippa Devas's doll's house is an exquisite recreation of a Georgian country house full of detail and charm - especially at this time of year

In one corner of the elegantly furnished sitting room in the Chelsea town house owned by interior designer Philippa Devas is what might be described as a labour of love. 'On and off, it took us about 15 years to finish,' she says. The object of this devotion is a beautifully restored antique doll's house that Philippa bought from the now-retired dealer Peter Collins. Over the years, Philippa had picked up many pieces for her own home, as well as her clients', from Peter - a specialist in painted furniture, chiefly from the eighteenth century. Philippa is not a collector of doll's houses, or even an enthusiast per se. 'But I was intrigued by this one when I saw it,' she recalls. 'I love Georgian houses and I love decorating them.' She had never decorated one on this scale, however.

Peter had bought the house from a dealer in the West Country, who in turn had sourced it from a dealer 'up north'. 'We think the house was built sometime between 1790 and 1820,' explains its current chatelaine. Other than that, its provenance remains a mystery. Nonetheless, it captured Philippa's imagination and, with Peter's help, she set about bringing the neglected house back to life. What a marvel it is today: about 90cm tall and 106cm wide, its architecture is simple and symmetrical in the neoclassical style, with big, Venetian windows allowing tantalising views of the interior. At the moment, its pilastered and pedimented front door is hung with a tiny wreath: it is nearly Christmas, after all.

Like many a life-size house of its period, a somewhat austere exterior belies the warm and luxuriantly decorated interior. The front of the house hinges open to reveal four rooms over two floors, as well as a central entrance hall and staircase. As you would expect from an interior designer and an antique dealer with exceptional restoration skills, it is the details and the clever ideas that are the greatest causes of wonder.

Not only did Peter make every piece of furniture, but each is a replica of a full-size version that he either owns or has sold to clients. The green Windsor chair in the doll's house kitchen, for example, is based on one that Peter has in his own kitchen. In most cases, he has also used the same wood from which the original would have been made, so there are elements of beech, sycamore and elm. He says each piece took about 10 days to make.

In other instances, Philippa and Peter devised clever 'cheats'. In the recreation of a working kitchen, a keen eye will recognise a painting of the nineteenth-century Craven Heifer. As with the other artworks and rugs, it was cut out of an issue of the Antiques Trade Gazette. The challenge was then to find pictures of frames that were of the appropriate size for the paintings. Red beads and green pipe cleaners became holly on the Christmas pudding. 'I was quite pleased with the ham,' says Peter. It is carved from a piece of wood and 'glazed' with crushed brown glass.

Of course, textiles and pattern are an important part of any country house, so Peter drew the __design of a chinoiserie silk wallcovering for the dining room, which was then coloured by his wife Judy's sister-in-law, the artist Anna Sweeten. Philippa opted for Claremont silk for the dining-room chairs and a Zoffany toile de Jouy for the bedroom.

The doll's house is not a work of perfection, but therein lies its beauty. When it comes to furniture and interiors, Philippa is not one for anything over-restored. Nor is Peter, whose professional restoration work always required a light touch. Instead, the finished project has the feel of a house that has been lived in and loved, and this is what gives it its charm and unique character. Philippa points out that the chinoiserie wallcovering has a few air bubbles in it, but it is the kind of thing you might see in any eighteenth-century house that has suffered from the effects of years of damp or central heating.

The decorations will come down after Christmas, from the garland around the 'marble' busts to the tiny Christmas cards that Peter made. The (store-bought) turkey will be returned to Philippa's friend who also has a doll's house and who had lent it to Philippa as a finishing touch for the House & Garden photo shoot. But the house won't lose any of its magic come January 6. It is a wonderful ornament in its own right, and one that Philippa can enjoy the whole year round.