DIY Dollhouse: Bathroom furniture (Part 6 of 6)

Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I furnished the entire dollhouse with things I found around my own house. Junk, recyclables, scraps and other random pieces. Here are the details.

The toilet is probably the piece I'm most proud of in the entire house. It took a long time for me to find the right shapes, but in the end, the solution was easy. I used an empty dental floss container and an oval-shaped shampoo cap (from Pantene). I glued them together and painted it white using a plastic-friendly spray paint. Voilà! Toilet!

The vanity is a wooden stand for a set of coasters turned upside down. The sink is the bottom half of a plastic jewelry box. The mirror is a wood cutout painted white with a piece of metallic foil duct tape layered on top. It's not completely reflective, but close enough.

For wall art, I decoupaged a grouping of the "take a number" tickets. Like I've mentioned previously in this series, I wanted to include small, real-life items to give it that collected or "found" look.

The bathtub is one of those mini ceramic loaf pans they sell at the craft stores around Christmastime. I debated whether to add a faucet to it and the vanity, but ultimately decided they weren't needed.

See all the dollhouse posts

Before photos >>

Part 1: Whole house after photos >>

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

DIY Dollhouse: Bedroom furniture (Part 5 of 6)

Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I furnished the entire dollhouse with things I found around my own house. Junk, recyclables, scraps and other random pieces. Here are the details.

The bedroom came together the easiest out of all the rooms. The bed started with a wooden crate (from a set of Melissa & Doug play food) that I painted, then filled with bedding made from fabric and batting scraps. I sewed a couple of mini pillows too.

The lamp base was previously a ceiling fan pull. The shade is a spool from a roll of scotch tape. The end table is a block from an (incomplete) wooden brainteaser puzzle. The chair rail is a length of a mini measuring tape that wouldn't wind back up. And, as in the rest of the house, the rug is a FLOR carpet sample.

The sea lion art pieces are playing cards mounted on thin cardboard and hot glued to the wall. The other rainbow piece is a used paper paint pallette from a kids paint book that I saved because I loved the way the colors bled and bloomed.

See all the dollhouse posts

Before photos >>

Part 1: Whole house after photos >>

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

DIY Dollhouse: Landing / sitting room furniture (Part 4 of 6)

Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I furnished the entire dollhouse with things I found around my own house. Junk, recyclables, scraps and other random pieces. Here are the details.

Initially, I wasn't quite sure what to do with this space at the top of the stairs. It didn't seem right to turn it into the bathroom (though a three-sided house is short on privacy anyway). And I wasn't sure I needed two bedrooms, so it became a sort of sitting room. 

The wooden armchair was actually a picture frame that I repainted. I inserted a scrap of fabric and batting where the photo would be to make it "upholstered" seating. The rug is another FLOR carpet sample that I trimmed to size. The "oversize" tree artwork is a photo print that I backed with some thin cardboard and hot glued to the wall.

I pulled out the shelving piece to take the above photo since it was impossible to see from any camera angle. It was originally an unfinished wood piece from the dollar store. I painted it and filled it with found treasures from my coffers. All of the pieces are glued down so they won't get moved or lost. I guess there is a reason I save all this stuff!

See all the dollhouse posts

Before photos >>

Part 1: Whole house after photos >>

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

DIY Dollhouse: Kitchen furniture (Part 3 of 6)

Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I furnished the entire dollhouse with things I found around my own house. Junk, recyclables, scraps and other random pieces. Here are the details.

It's weird, but I found the kitchen the most difficult room to furnish. Weird because all the shapes are so boxy! Should be easy, right? I had the entire rest of the house planned out before I even had an idea about the kitchen. It wasn't until I ran across a bunch of trimmings from some 2x4's that I realized I could cobble together a simple set of cabinets from the wood blocks.

The sink is the bottom of an Altoids tin glued to the top of a wooden block. None of the blocks are glued to the kitchen itself, though. I wanted to keep it flexible and imaginative.

The backsplash is a strip of tickets from a raffle and the French posters were cut from an old calendar. I mounted them on some thin cardboard with Mod Podge and hot glued them to the wall.

The stove is another painted wooden block with a bit of the reflective metal duct tape on the front. I glued mismatched buttons to the top to resemble burners. I was going for a collected look throughout the entire house and made sure to include small things that might have been repurposed by the imaginary inhabitants.

I crafted the refrigerator from an iPhone box. It's technically cardboard, I guess, but it's super sturdy and practically plasticized. The bottom of the box I left as-is, but I trimmed the sides off the top to create the door and hinged it with some metallic duct tape to resemble stainless steel. The door opens and closes!

See all the dollhouse posts

Before photos >>

Part 1: Whole house after photos >>

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

DIY Dollhouse: Living room / dining room (Part 2 of 6)

Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I furnished the entire dollhouse with things I found around my own house. Junk, recyclables, scraps and other random pieces. Here are the details.

The couch and pillows were made from fabric and batting scraps. I sewed them but also used a bit of hot glue to get the back of the couch to stay upright. The coffee table is a plastic cap from a bottle of orange juice and a metal frozen juice can lid. The end table is one of those takeout pizza protector things painted and with another metal lid on top. The rug is a FLOR carpet sample.

The TV is a small silver photo frame with the glass removed. It's sort of hard to see in the photos above, but I inserted a printed picture of The Muppets (one of Elise's favorite movies). The TV unit is a wooden block.

When I found the house at the thrift store, there were a few stairs missing. I repaired them by gluing some small pieces of a yardstick in place. Surprisingly, they seem pretty sturdy.

The dining room table is made from a couple of wooden blocks (from an incomplete brainteaser-type puzzle) and a white countertop sample. The artwork is a 4x6 inch photo print mounted onto some cardboard with Mod Podge, and then I hot glued onto the wall.

I should have known that the laptop would be the first thing Elise would go for when she saw the house for the first time. I started with a tiny hinged plastic case for a camera memory card and then took some buttons from a broken calculator and glued those in. For the screen, I printed a snapshot from Miyazaki's Ponyo (another one of our favorite films) and used Mod Podge to glue it in place.

The black chairs were made from L-shaped plastic bracket covers and a couple of pieces of scrap wood for the legs.

See all the dollhouse posts

Before photos >>

Part 1: Whole house after photos >>

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

Modern DIY dollhouse with homemade furniture (Part 1 of 6)

This is the story of my $2 thrift store dollhouse makeover and how I furnished it for nothing. That's right, I didn't spend a dime on furniture or decor.

After spending so little on the house itself, I couldn't bring myself to throw a bunch of expensive dollhouse furniture inside. Especially not for a less-than-careful three year old. So I challenged myself to furnish this fixer upper using only things I found around the house: junk, recyclables, scraps and whatever materials I already had.

This isn't one of those fancy, fussy, grown-up lady dream doll houses. It's meant to be played with, but that's probably obvious. I ruled out making any pieces out of cardboard. Apparently, this is very common in the world of homemade dollhouse furniture, but I didn't like the idea of putting so much time and energy into delicate things that won't withstand my daughter's blows.

Once again, it will be revealed just how much of a junk hoarder I am, but I am confident anyone could pull something like this off with a few months of saving recyclables.

The exterior went from the haphazard Disney contact paper look to a clean and fresh coat of aqua paint.

(See more before photos. >>) I shingled the roof using 2x2 inch cut pieces of some leftover window blind slats.

Truthfully, that was the most tedious part of the entire makeover process. I am digging the white roof for wintertime, but may end up spray painting the roof a darker shade next spring or summer.

The inside got a coat of bright white semi-gloss paint before I wallpapered with fabric and Mod Podge. Due to the dimensions of this house (and the odd angles on the second floor), pieces of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper just weren't going to cut it. The walls were too long or too tall and I didn't want to tile the paper. But that's OK, because using fabric works so much better for projects like this.

Fabric comes in larger sizes (obviously), but it's also easier than applying paper because you can peel up the fabric and re-position it if needed. After cutting around all those doors and windows, I think I earned a black belt in decoupage.

I put many, many hours into this house. More than I care to admit. If there is a reason for my decreased posting frequency (besides being pregnant and having a non-napping three year old), it's this. But it has been such a fun exercise in creativity to repurpose items that would otherwise be thrown out.

See more!

Part 2: Living Room / Dining Room >>

Part 3: Kitchen >>

Part 4: Landing / Sitting Room >>

Part 5: Bedroom >>

Part 6: Bathroom >>

Fixer upper dollhouse: Prepped and primed

I started fixing up the dollhouse I found at Goodwill last month. Looking better already, right? This is one of those basic dollhouses that probably isn't intended to be painted or decorated, but it had so many battle scars, something had to be done. 

I couldn't wait to rip off that ugly contact paper and start cleaning this thing up. Luckily, it came off without a fight and didn't leave much stickiness behind.

After tightening all of the screws holding the house together, I filled the holes with wood filler and sanded them smooth.

I actually ended up lightly sanding the entire house just to rough up the surface. After that, I wiped the whole thing down with mineral spirits to get rid of all the dust. I used to just use a damp rag, but mineral spirits work so much better.

I primed the whole house, inside and out, with a stainblocking primer. There were pencil and marker scribbles and a layer of grime that didn't wash off, and I don't want any of that peeking through the paint later. 

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, next up is the fun part -- planning, painting and decorating. I know that I want to do something simple and cute (nothing super fussy). And having spent so little on the house itself (just $2!), I'm not interested in gussying it up with a bunch of expensive extras. Dollhouse furniture is surprisingly expensive (even on eBay) so I might have to get creative.

Another Goodwill find: Fixer-upper dollhouse

I found one more bargain at the Goodwill Outlet last week. A dollhouse! Honestly, I didn't really ever picture myself buying a dollhouse for Elise. They take up so much space! (The footprint of this one isn't too bad at around 15"x24".) But seeing it languishing in the bins at the Goodwill Outlet and knowing it was a quality piece, I felt compelled to rescue it. It's made of super sturdy classroom grade birch plywood and is nice and heavy.

It wouldn't fit in the cart, so my brother (who was along with us) carried it up to the register to ask if they could hold it until we were ready to check out. They wouldn't hold it, so he bought it on the spot and took it out to the car. I was out of earshot, so I didn't hear how much it cost. I figured it would be around $10 or so, but after he came back in, he told me it was only $2. TWO DOLLARS!

I'm pretty sure it's an older version of this one selling at Amazon for $139, so hooray for deals!

Of course, my fixer upper needs some cosmetic work. That Disney contact paper is pretty horrible. I actually peeled it up a bit in the store to see how easy it would come off, and I don't think it's going to be much trouble. There are also some marker scribbles and it's missing half of the floating stairs, but I can take care of all that.

Elise keeps asking to see her "doghouse," but girl's gotta have patience! There's a lot to do here!