Kitchen Furniture - Dollhouse

Where we left off...  I just finished up the walls and the floor.  The room was looking a little empty.


I ended up making a table, chairs, turned a miniature dollhouse side board upside down for a kitchen cabinet, touched up the window and made some artwork...


So it started like this... I looked at my "master plan" and I poured out my junk craft bin... and started scrounging around!





I repurposed a candle stick, wood glued on a oval plaque from Michaels and painted it the same red as the front door.  I added clearcoat satin finish over the red paint to get rid of the dull color also to avoid it scuffing the other paint in the dollhouse during future play.  I think I will let the kids play with my... I mean .. their dollhouse...

I bought a sideboard.. some type of miniature cabinet looking thing at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby.  Painted it Hunter Green to match the floor and Granny Smith Apply for the door fronts.  I ended up snapping off the cute handles and hanging it upside down for a ceiling cabinet.

I took the triangle sides from a DIY kiddie craft kit that I never made, that was given to us by someone who never made it  (maybe a smaller point in this is never my the kiddie craft crate) and decided to turn them into the chair backs.  I bought some square 4" plaques from Michael's for $1.  I drilled holes in them and added the shaker pegs for the chair legs.

The end result...$12 for a table, two chairs and kitchen cabinet... 

Dollhouse Kitchen - let's get it started!

I decided to go with Granny Smith Apple Green for the kitchen walls.  I needed something to brighten up the big space, offset the boysenberry but still match the green of the front grass.  So here is where I started.

The pic is a little bad.  I need to remember to use my regular camera instead of my phone.


The outcome didn't look terribly bad but I felt like it was missing something  and a little too plain.  If I wanted plain I would have bought a plastic house that came in 3 shades of pink.  I am on a mission to create an heirloom here... to give my girls what I never could have dreamed of having... something that my 8 year old wont be tempted to crayon blue on... so I had to spice it up... Pulling from the days of "Trading Spaces" when two neighbors actually traded a space... I went with the following...

...a striped sheen on the Granny Smith Apple green for the back wall.  I did this by using a single stroke of clearcoat.  Since up to this point I have used the "I am not great at painting" approach... I didn't tape it.  I made it look purposefully quaint.  

I painted the kitchen floor the matching hunter green, made square brush strokes of White Linen.  That was a little too bright.  I created a glaze from the granny smith apple green and the satin clearcoat to tone things down a bit.  I painted the side walls White Linen to make the newly striped wall a back focus.  

I will have a window on the right side of the room.  I think the end effect is nice.  Looks a little empty right now.  

I finally get to utilize my original master engineering sheet and start building....

Dollhouse Facelift

I struggled with the track doors what to do with them.  I knew I wanted to keep it.  How cool would that be to have a doll house that actually closes up.  Perfect for moving it around... the darn thing is on casters as well.  The casters and closing doors, plus the free delivery and cheap price is what made this entertainment center the one!  So I started drawing...

this is where we left off...  .  I had sketched out a rough front door scene and finalized my sketchings in the white paint.  I had put on the boysenbarney and hoped for a second coat to be the trick instead of lots of primer and new paint.  It worked.   The dollhouse was officially "Boysenberry" and "White Linen"

I went with a red door to make the color pop and to pull from the red in the bins.  I also have some prelimary plans to make the lower bedroom to the left red, pink and blue... kind of a new twist on Americana but not star spangled banner themed room

After painting the door, I added a coral orange window box and pot.  Shaded in the window with a sage green/gray color and framed out the window and door in the same White Linen color as the roof.

I am stoked about how this turned out!  I further framed the window door by imperfectly adding touches of black.  I added a little foliage (Bob Ross would of have been proud).  I finished off the front yard with a picket fence.  Every perfect house needs a perfect little picket fence!  I sponged some darker green on the hunter green shown to look like grass or shag because that little green area will also double function as a family room in the weeks to come!

Getting a Little Color

As mentioned before, I wanted to use the bins from Target as my color pallet.

So I went with Boysenberry for the primary structure and White Linen (got it in the unwanted color section for $2 whoot whoo) for the roof and trip.

 ... and wow-zers it was boysenbarney..

 I am hoping with the addition of some of the other colors, lime green, forest green, mulberry, pink, orange and red..... this house will come together in a good way.  I also think a second coat will help!

Dollhouse Takes Shape -finishing the peak

I purchased two slats (is that the right word) of scalloped edging from Michael's for $2.99.  So for $6 dollars - oh and I bought a little design square.  My daughter Avery asked me a bazillion times "What is that going to be used for?"  I kept telling her to embellish the roof.  Once It was tacked/glued into place, I think she finally figured out what an embellishment was...

Close up of the scalloped molding and embellishment.  I also picked up some picket fencing with the thought that I will have that keyboard drawer double as a pull out front yard and living room.

Once again, Tokie is supervising the progress either that or he is secretly snagging wood to chew on.. not too sure.

After adding back paneling, I tidied up the rough edges from when we busted out the top.  I used the corner panel molding to cover the rough edges. Would hate for a Julie or Molly to get a splinter while climbing into their loft! I bought the perfect storage bins at Target for the under area.  I plan on using them as the color scheme for this doll house. 

Making the Perfect Roof - $20 in Popsicle Sticks Later

I scored the popsicle sticks at the half way point and snapped

After combing the internet-highways and the craft stores, I finally came up with just using good ol' popsicle sticks for the roof.  I wanted it to look like shingles.  The itty bitty ones you find for smaller dollhouses would look like random wood chips on this beheamoth.  So I scored and split popsicle sticks... in fact 750 scored and split popsicle sticks.

This part of the process took about 2 days... in fact this is how I spent New Years!


Using wood glue, a ruler and two clamps, I layered them up the 35 inches of board on each side.  After gluing each strip of popsicle sticks, you need to clamp down the popsicle sticks for a few minutes to hold them tight while the glue dried a little bit.  I found that I could easily blow through 5 rows this way and the clamp down the 5th row for about a half hour before progressing to next set.

Here is the top of the peak. 

I clamped down the final row and made sure the glue was good and dry.  I added a strip of wall molding to cover the cracks, uneven edge where the two sides of layered popsicle sticks meet.    

The molding is in place and the finished roof looks great!

Pump It or Dump It 2012

I am not one on huge resolutions at New Year's Time...  I usually think about things like --eat better -- listen more --- talk less --- love more --- give more --- more importantly forgive more and so on.  That said, this year I have decided to pump out the crafts that have been sitting in the doldrums of craft closet.

It could have been the fact that I spent all of New Year's Day watching "House Finders" followed up by a "Hoarders" marathon.  The two marathons back to back really did something for my psyche... I want to have a beautiful space and each room have a purpose-- for the most part I feel like each of our rooms are unique and have as much "family flavor" as they can given our continual moves but one space that lacks is my crafting room.  I have the tools, the supplies and even storage but it is definitely bogged down with crafts on the lingering list of "must do's!"

I present to you my list of  crafts that I have to pump out or dump out (like freecycle, donate--not landfill) in 2012.

Repurposed blue jean rag blanket circa 2002
Brown Crochet Blanket circa 2006
Hair Ribbons for girls circa 2008
Wedding Album circa 2002
Ribbon Wreath circa 2008
Decoupage Easter Eggs circa 2009
Avery's Painting circa 2010

I will tackle and finish these crafts!  so keep tuned!