doll kitchen previews

[*meg*]

yeah, I'm building the cabinets. I wish I could buy them, although they'd be pretty pricey I'm sure. Everything takes awhile to do now especially since I have a little baby. But then I think of all the fun times we'll have playing in the doll rooms when she is older.

Tracy, Your doll house idea looked really cool. I liked the sketch. Originally that's what I wanted to do as well, but my dad and husband thought it would be too big of a project for me. Well I would up building pretty much a whole doll house room by room anyway. My next room will be a bathroom and I want to get the Ag tub and sink before they retire....

meg

[musicismyradar]

You never cease to amaze me! You make the most beautiful rooms. You have a true talent and eye for creating the most magnificent things. I can't wait to see the finished product! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[AGTeacher]

Excellent job, love the kitchen!!! Cannot wait to see the finished project. [img]cool.gif[/img]

[TrvlLin]

Meg, this is SO cute! Did you find patterns for these cabinets someplace, or did you design your own? I am dying to create a kitchen, but I don't have any experience or tools. Does your functional drawer have miniature drawer glides, or does it slide on a solid base? What material did you make your cabinets from? Are they glued together or nailed? I have that stove also, so I used it for scale and kind of designed a pattern with toe kicks and all, only I was going to use a solid back (which would be full height and form the upper cabinet backs also.) My room box is not so tall as yours and the upper cabinets could not be to scale if I attached them to the wall, so my unit will have to be freestanding. I'll find a corner to set it up in! I figured I could wallpaper the backsplash, and I have some leftover Corian from an ongoing remodel job which I think I could get the installer to cut it to size for me IF I knew exactly what I wanted. It's 1/2 inch thick, so I think the finished appearance would be about right. How did you get the raised panel look for the drawer and doors? (I'm afraid you're going to say you have a router and know how to use it!!!) I have also been trying to buy a refrigerator of some kind, but the Wolverines and the newer Fisher Price My Pretty Kitchen ones are too short, only about 13", so there's another whole project!! Ack, so many questions, but if you have a minute, could you fill me in on some of these construction details? Thanks, Lin

[*meg*]

I have uploaded some photos of the doll kitchen I am working on. It's far from done. I am still working on making a fridge. I found some cool metalic looking contact paper to put on the front of the fridge so it looks like it's stainless steel and will match the microwave and stove.

I also still need to make the counter tops. and then I can add the silver fimo sink I already made.

Then I will start working on the upper cabinets. I have left space at the edge next to the larger lower cabinet because I hope to some day get a dishwasher made by the same company that made the stove and mocrowave. They are incredibly cute. They were from e-toys.com they also sell a washing machine for clothes. Unfortunatley I think I am only able to get the dishwasher from the UK so shipping will be pretty expensive. So I'm holding off on that for now.

I also still need to make the floor which will look like a tiled floor. And also need to add windows.

once all of that is done then I can have fun making little cereal boxes and food items!

here's the link:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2109444508

meg

[Kit_Girl]

Meg I love your rooms!! I cant wait to get my doll house build!

Tracy

[stacird]

The kitchen looks great, Meg. Are you building the cabinets yourself or can you buy them at the right size? If you're building them, you are a wonderful craftsperson! They look so professional.

Can't wait to see more pics as you go.

Stacird

[*meg*]

I posted a couple more pictures of the kitchen with the newly added corner cabinet. Hoping to go to home depot this weekend to get the wood for the counter top!


TrvlLin (and anyone else interested in making their own kitchen), I looked closely at the cabinets in my own kitchen to see how they went together. Then I made some sketches and also based the size of the cabinets off of the little stove.

The cabinets are made out of 1/4 inch luan which is some type of plywood. I was going to make the toe kicks too but forgot to adjust the height of the cabinets to allow for that. So I left them out so the cabinets wouldn't be taller than the stove. I also plan on having 1/2 inch counters. The corian sounds really nice. I found some marble-y looking contact paper which is what I was planning on using. Hopefully it won't look too bad.

I made the raised panel look by cutting the door to the size I wanted and then cutting another piece of luan about a 1/2 inch smaller on all sides and used wood glue to attach it to the front. Much easier than routing and it also seems to be the way my real cabinets are made.

The cabinets are held together with wood glue. This requires a lot of patience and some huge clamps. I tried using brads, which are really small nails but the 1/4 luan was just too thin. I also used some glueing blocks inside the cabinets in the corners to help hold everything together. Glueing blocks are 1/4 x 1/4 x 2 inch bits of wood that help stabelize the pieces while they are being glued together and also add some strength. I think you can buy them in stores but I just made my own out of scraps of wood. Just be really carefull cutting them!

The drawer rests on a thin strip of wood that runs the depth of the cabinet. The strip is about an inch long. I can get pictures of the inside of that cabinet and post them soon.

I had thought of making the upper cabinets the same way you are with wood running up the back wall, but my husband (who is really into wood working himself and give me lots of advice) knows about these little devices that I can attach to the back of the upper cabinets and then hang on screws on the wall. I guess similar to what picture frames are sometimes hung with. I wanted the cabinets to all be easily removable so that I can make the kitchen into a livingroom as well.

After the kitchen I'm going to try making a fireplace... and maybe some bookshelves for the livingroom version.

I'm just so happy that my husband really likes to work with wood b/c we have pretty much everything I need to do this with-table saws and meiter saws and such. I am planning on trying to route the edges of the counter to make them rounded so that will be my first time using a router. but it should be a simple cut (I hope).

If anyone else has any questions or wants differnt more detailed pics let me know. I'm more than happy to help anyone out. I think half the fun of having these dolls is making cool things for them. I'm not much of a sewer but I like constructing things. I wish I could make doll clothing though... maybe if i had more patience.

meg

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ February 09, 2006 11:39 AM: Message edited by: *meg* ]</font>

[Melissa*Olivia]

What are you using for the boxes?

I would like to do a big bedroom set-up to put in my daughter's room. We have all the furniture for it, but now we need the actual room/backdrop.

It needs to be able to house 2 sets of those yellow bunkbeds, the nightstand, the computer desk and chair, 2 of the orange flipchairs and the lamp -- and, of course, the girls need a little room to move around!

[*meg*]

Melissa*Olivia,
I made the boxes myself from plywood. I have a website with instructions in my signature under "see my doll rooms"

So far I have made 4 rooms and a platform with fake grass for Kaya. It's been lots of fun!

The rooms are all in my attic against one of the walls and Kaya's platform is against a different wall.

meg