It’s been a hot minute since I last updated this blog, and I’ve decided to use it as I see fit. That means that you might get recipes, pictures of dollhouses, parenting stuff, video game rambling, or possibly even author tips. And this may or may not have anything to do with the blog post, but always feel free to check out my books!
Lately I’ve been super into miniatures. This is one of the side effects of ADHD: you become a collector of hobbies. On and off for the last few years I’ve been working on a Fallout dollhouse, which can you see on my insta (and I will eventually post an update here too). But that is a showpiece for me. For the last month or so of summer, I’ve been remodelling a dollhouse for my daughter. It will be a Christmas present for her doll, Hana.
I was very particular about buying Hana. These were my requirements for a doll:
- It had to be soft so she could cuddle it
- It had to be machine washable
- It could not make noise
- You had to be able to change its clothes
- It had to be able to sit up
- IT COULD NOT LOOK LIKE IT WAS GOING TO COME ALIVE AND EAT ME AT NIGHT
So with all that we eventually landed on the Manhattan toys playdate friend, Freddie (rechristened Hana).
Hana is well loved but has already been through a lot. She takes a lot of trips down the stairs. I figured she deserved a nice house, so I was excited a few weeks ago to find a massive dollhouse for $20 at a local thrift store. This dollhouse would retail for between $250-$300 so it was a good deal, but it was also in really rough shape. The floors were sagging, it was scribbled all over, some pieces were gone. No matter. I had full intentions of remodeling it anyway. I’ll show the whole thing at some point, but today I want to show you one specific item: the kitchen counter!
So also at the thrift store, I found a plastic stove for $2. It was about the right size and I figured at that price even if I didn’t use it and tossed it right back into a donation bin, I wasn’t out too much.
As you can see, it’s pretty dated looking. I’m not sure why the clock looks like a Christmas decoration. It would be okay for a cozy country kitchen, but I think Hana wants something a bit more modern. So here is the end result:
For those of you interested in a bit more detail, I’ll give some basic dollhouse kitchen tutorial tips below. For those of you just curious about the before and after, you won’t miss anything if you stop now!
First I extended the countertop. I did this with foam board: I just traced the cutting board from the original onto foam board, added a half cm on either side, and cut out a piece of foam board with an exacto knife. I then cut out a square for the sink and covered the whole thing in marble contact paper from the Dollar Store.
Next, I cut an identical piece of foam board for the bottom and measured and cut three more for the front, back, and side. I painted all of these with red chalk paint and went over the Fisher Price stove a few times in the same color. Chalk paint is great because it goes on thick and will adhere to plastic (more or less). I also touched up the original stove with black and silver accents instead of the original brown and pink.
Once that was done, I cut out a space for the cupboard door and used a thin piece of wood and some mini hinges to make the door itself. The other two doors are fake: they are just painted pieces of foam board with toothpick trim and bead handles glued to the front. You couldn’t really use that space because the cutting board is underneath (well, I guess I could probably go back and make the bottom one functional if I wanted to). The left door does open though, and also has a bead for the handle.
To make the sink, I used silver poster board, again from the Dollar Store. I cut and glued four pieces to make a box, then glued it to the underside of the counter. I cut a frame from foam board, painted it silver, and glued more silver poster board to the top, then glued it onto the counter. I cut a small hole in the bottom piece of silver for the drain, then glued a washer overtop of it.
The taps were the annoying part — I didn’t have anything ready made, so I used air dry clay and a piece of wood. I painted the wood silver and formed the faucet and taps out of clay. Once it all dried, I painted it silver and glued it all together. Everything in the kitchen has a double coat of glossy modge podge over top to protect it and give it a kitcheny shine.
The rest was just some cosmetic cleanup . The solid red was a bit much on the counters, so I added the white trim on the top and bottom. There were some unsightly gaps on the sides (foam board is REALLY hard to cut nicely when your exacto blade is getting dull), so I hid them with some wood pieces wrapped in wood grain contact paper. And then I added a marble backsplash. Once it’s installed in the house, it will get some tiling on the walls behind it.
I’m pretty pleased with this — I think the update looks a LOT nicer than the original dated toy, but for $2 I’m really glad I didn’t have to build the entire thing from scratch! Next up is to tackle the fridge… and fit everything into the house. I’m pretty sure this is a house for Barbie dolls so the height works for Hana, but the width is a challenge. I already had to do some careful maneuvering to give her a shower and a toilet in her bathroom, and her sink is going to have to be in her bedroom!