Colby Students Innovate Furniture Shopping with dollhouse 

Sitting down with Joshua Varghese ’25 and Miran Yildirim ’25, it’s clear they’ve taken a simple frustration—arranging their dorm room—and turned it into something ambitious: a platform that lets users create interactive 3D models of their spaces and test out furniture before buying. 

The Idea 

Josh and Miran returned to Colby in their junior spring after studying abroad and were determined to optimize their dorm layout. “We moved our beds and desks around dozens of times,” laughs Miran. “We were thinking about Feng Shui and trying to get the best possible flow, but it was exhausting.” 

Josh remembers their lightbulb moment: “What if we didn’t have to physically move everything around? What if we could just do it on our phones?” 

What began as an app idea for Feng Shui optimization quickly grew into something bigger: a platform that helps users see how furniture would look and fit in their actual rooms before they buy it. Think of it like a “virtual dollhouse” where you’re designing your real-life space. 

Building the Tech 

The technical foundation for dollhouse is ambitious. The app uses LiDAR technology—found in newer smartphones—to scan rooms with precision. “It’s insanely accurate,” explains Miran. “You scan your room, and the app generates a 3D model where you can add furniture, move it around, and replace objects.” 

Right now, the app can scan a room and recognize furniture, but it renders objects as “grey boxes”—essentially placeholders. The next hurdle is adding realistic textures to these scans. “We know it’s possible,” Josh says optimistically. “There are research papers on it, and other people have done it. We just have to figure out how.” 

Solving a Real Problem 

At its core, dollhouse addresses a pain point for both customers and furniture stores. High return rates in the furniture industry are costly and frustrating, and they usually happen because people misjudge how a piece will look or fit in their space. For furniture stores, dollhouse could also be a game-changer. By offering customers a tool to “test drive” pieces virtually, retailers can reduce returns, improve satisfaction, and bring the shopping experience into the digital age. 

The Journey of Student Co-Founders 

Building a startup as full-time students isn’t easy. Between classes, campus life, and working in Colby’s Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship, Josh and Miran have had to get creative—especially when it comes to networking. At one point, Josh even struck up a conversation with a furniture store manager at a poker table in Bangor. “We talked for over an hour about his business and how dollhouse could help. He gave me the owner’s number!” he recalls, laughing. “You never know where a connection will come from.”

What’s Next? From Grey Boxes to Full-Scale Sales 

In the next three months, the team plans to start small: offering furniture stores a service to turn their catalogs into 3D models. “It’s a much lower barrier to entry,” explains Josh. “We can help them modernize their websites while building relationships and credibility.” 

Within six months, they hope to have dollhouse fully functional, ready to test with customers. Beyond that? “We’d love to work on this full time,” says Miran. “Even as seniors, we’re really excited about where this could go.” 

A Message to Fellow Entrepreneurs 

If there’s one takeaway for other Colby students dreaming of launching a startup, it’s this: “Just start. Reach out to people, ask questions, and be open to learning,” says Josh. “There’s no perfect roadmap. You figure it out as you go.” Miran adds, “You don’t have to know everything on day one. Even if your idea is in a niche space—like furniture stores—people will have something valuable to offer. You just have to put yourself out there.” 

Interview by Carter Friese ‘27.