Dollhouse Miniature Kitchen Cabinets Part 7

Watch the video here.

This week we are finally finishing up the kitchen cabinets. I know this has been a long project and thank you to those that have hung in through it all. I am really happy with how it is turning out and I am also very glad to call it done.

So this week we started by putting a coat of Matte Mod Podge onto the faux wood of our cabinets. I only put on one coat at the beginning.

Next I marked for the cabinet pulls and attached them. I was planning to use some jewelery head pins but I didn't have enough of any one size to do the complete kitchen. I think the pins are just as nice, just slightly smaller. You could use so many things for these. Pins, head pins, beads, and I am sure some of you will have some more suggestions too.

I was really excited to share my newest “glue trick” with you all this week. I came across this one a while back watching a model railroad scenery building tutorial on YouTube. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to do some experimenting so I could share it her. It is amazing how well something as simple as a dusting of baking soda makes the super glue set up immediately and I am fairly certain the bond is stronger too. I will probably do a full video on the technique in the future after I do some more experimenting. I think this will be very useful for dollhouse crafting.

The shelf in the corner was planned from the beginning although I almost decided to leave it out. I am so glad I did add it. I love how it looks in that little corner area. I can't wait to make/find something to put there.

Tips for Dollhouse Miniature Crafting- Drying Paint & Glue

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This week for our tips video I thought I would talk about something that is timely for me. You see I live in an area that is very damp and cool this time of year. So much so that I can definitely see a difference in the time it takes my glue and paint to dry. I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that I thought I would share with you.

The first it to use a heat tool that is designed for card making, heat embossing to be exact. It is a very handy tool as it blows hot air like a hair dryer but hotter. It works very well on things that are not apt to melt. I would avoid using it on things that have plastic or foam in them (like our foam core cabinets)

If you don't have a heat tool a hair dryer would also work it will just take a bit longer.

My other tool that I use on a regular basis is a small desk lamp. It has a very small wattage bulb (25 watts) so it doesn't put off too much heat. I use it often when I need to dry things though. I find it has just enough heat to dry the project without being too hot. Just don't get it too close to your project.

Obviously you need to take care and be safe no matter how you are drying your projects. Keep an eye on them and use common sense.

Dollhouse Miniature Kitchen Cabinets Part 6

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This week we add the doors to the upper cabinets and then glue them to the walls of our little kitchen corner.

The first step is to put the doors onto the cabinets, simply because it is a lot easier to do this step before we attach them to the walls. It could be done after hanging them but it is my opinion that before is better.

I didn't spend a lot of time on how to make the doors because I did them exactly like I did for the bottom doors and drawer fronts. You can find that video here.

I suggest cutting out some doors from some scrap paper and trying different sizes until you are happy. I found I liked mine to be 1/8” shorter than the cabinets are so for the long ones 2 7/8”. Use whatever size you like best for your kitchen. Remember it is just paper so play around until you are happy.

This week I used the wallpaper border paste to attach the doors, it was the glue that was drying the best in my cold craft room. I think the outside temperature that day was right around 40° F and the humidity was at 97% so drying times were a lot longer than normal. My craft areas are on the far end of the house furthest from the heat source so those rooms tend to be a lot colder than the main part of the house.

Once you are happy with the doors it is time to glue the cabinets in place on the walls. I found that my normal tacky glue worked just fine for this step.

That is all we are doing this week. I hope we can finish the cabinets in one or two more weeks. Then we will move onto the stove. After all what good is a kitchen without a stove?

Dollhouse Miniature Trash to Treasure Pan

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This week's trash to treasure project is a fun one. We are going to start out with the lid from a tube of lip balm and end up with a cooking pot. I kind of loosely based the pot on one of my favorite real life cooking pots.

We really don't need a lot of materials or tools for this project.

The lid, mentioned earlier, a clear one is best.

Some black bugle beads, a small black round bead, some 12 ga aluminum wire (from the dollar store), some clear plastic packaging, silver paint, and some super glue. You will also need a 7/16” dowel (or something similar) to form the wire edge for the lid.

Dollhouse Miniature Kitchen Cabinets Part 5

Watch the video here.

This week we are going to be starting to work on the top cabinets for our kitchen project. The main thing to remember about the top cabinets is that they are not as deep as the bottom ones are. In my case my top cabinets turned out to about 1 1/8” deep while the bottom cabinets are 1 7/8” with the counter top being 2” deep. This gives that nice set back that a real kitchen has. You can of course adjust the measurements to suite how you want to have your finished kitchen.

So that my kitchen all matches I am using more of the same paper to cover my top cabinets that I used for the bottom ones. You can use whatever you want to use on yours to make your kitchen really yours. The top run of cabinets can even be a different color than the bottom ones if you want. If you need inspiration just Google some pictures of kitchens and see what is out there.

The link for making the paper I am using is in the video for part 2 of our kitchen project.

The most important thing this week is to measure correctly! Just take you time and draw a diagram like I did if that will help you. I know it helps me to get every thing cut correctly.

I know that in the photos this week the paper doesn't look smooth, that is because the glue is still drying. I am confident that when the glue dries everything will be nice and smooth. This always happens when large pieces of paper are applied with a wet glue. I decided to go with the wallpaper border paste (a wet glue) because I wanted to be sure that the paper stayed glued down. I am not as confident in the staying power of a glue stick. I did use the glue stick on the fronts for two reasons. On the larger surfaces I didn't want take chances that the glue would take forever to dry. And secondly I knew that I would be gluing over the folded over edges with the long strips that cover the sides, bottom and top of the cabinets.

If the fronts are not as securely glued down it really won't matter so much.

Tools for Making Dollhouse Miniatures- X-Acto Small Mitre Box

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For this month's tool video I thought I would talk about another of my favorite (and useful) cutting tools, my X-Acto Small Mitre Box and Razor Saw. I have had these for far longer than I have had the Easy Cutter. I do like that this set will cut thicker pieces of wood and that the cut is always very straight. They are a bit more work to use than the Easy Cutter which is why they don't get used as much.

a better look at the lip on the bottom

I do recommend that if you are looking for these you look at a local hobby store that caters to the model railroad builders. I usually find the best price on these in such stores. (take a bit of time to look at the other items in the store while you are there. I usually find several things to purchase on the average visit)

One of the features of the Razor Saw that I love is how easy it is to change the blade, and you can get many different blades for them. I think the one I had in the video that is at least the 5^th blade portion I have had on that particular handle. You can get the blade portion in very coarse to very fine tooth configurations depending on what you are going to use it for.

Here is a link the X-Acto website so you can get a better look at the tool.

Dollhouse Miniature Kitchen Cabinets Part 4

Watch the video here.

So sorry about the missing footage at the beginning, I was having strange problems with the software I use to edit and I had already deleted those parts from my camera.

As for making the pattern, all you need to do is cut some paper to small/medium sized pieces. Be sure to have some straight edges and some tight corners. Layer the pieces of paper to line up with the edges and use some tape to hold them together.

I have done this same process several other times in different videos when I have installed floor and wall coverings.

Use whatever you want for the cover for your counter top. I decided to make my own from some plain cardstock to coordinate with my tile back splash.

I used the back to a writing tablet for my counter top base. You could also use wood or whatever you have on hand. I really wanted to keep this simple and use materials that everyone has access to.

Did you notice the appliances on the counter in the photos? Those the from the video tutorials that are available to my Patreon supporters. I thought you might like to see what you are missing...

Here are the links to the Trash to Treasure videos that were mentioned in the video, the sink can be found here and the faucet here.

Dollhouse Miniature Trash to Treasure Kitchen Sink

Watch the video here.

This week for the Trash to Treasure project we are creating a kitchen sink. I figured this might be handy for those of you that are making the kitchen along with me.

I love this project since it is truly a trash to treasure project, we are using some common plastic packaging. For the single basin sink I used part of a package from some hardware I had purchased to do some home repairs. For the double sink I had some packaging from some of those wax cubes that go on the electric warmers. I'm sure you can find some packaging to use too.

The size of the single sink is 1” by 2” by about ½” deep. The double sinks are each 1” by 1” and about ¾” deep.

You can use any color of paint on your sink that you want. I wanted a white sink so I used white craft paint. Spray paint would work just fine too. I added a coat of black paint to outside to make the sink look more substantial and solid. Without the black layer some light might leak through the finish and make the sink look more translucent.

I made the mistake of adding my white coat of paint before the white was dry between the two basins of the double sink and it made a mess. I decided to leave that part in the video to show you we all make mistakes. I also took the time to explain how to fix it if it happens to you too.

For the drain I just added some standard eyelets from the fabric store. I did add a drop of super glue to help them stay put and I also added a piece of black cardstock to the bottom of the hole in the drain. That way we won't be able to see into the lower cabinets when the sinks are installed.