How to Make a Dollhouse Out of Drawers

I wanted a beat-up nightstand.  Not for traditional nightstand use, which, in my case, would mean holding an absurd amount of water glasses.  I need water every night, but refuse to be a responsible adult and deliver my glass to the kitchen sink every morning.

I needed it for another project (which I will reveal to you soon, I hope).  But, I didn’t need the drawers.  Hmm, what to do, what to do.  Stood the drawers on end, back-to-back, and heyheyyyy.  That would make a pretty sweet dollhouse.  Here’s how I did it.

1) Get some nightstand drawers.  Get a tetanus shot, then bring the drawers to the deck all other decks forsook.  Scuff ‘em up.  I lightly sanded the drawer fronts.  (See the polka-dotted cardboard?  It’s recycled from the magnet project.)

2) Measure and cut plywood to fit as shelves.  I took the measurements to my local Home Depot, and they cut it for me for free.  The guy in the orange apron was extra nice, and somehow only charged me a dollar for the wood.  Lightly dampen the edges of the plywood; apply a thin bead of Gorilla Glue.  I popped the shelf in and used a piece of wood to prop it up.  Clamped the playwood with a vice, then tapped in a couple of finishing nails.

3) Attach the drawers together.  This will vary by the type of drawer, I think.  I (and by I, I mean the person I conned into doing it for me) simply screwed a 1×4 in on both sides.  (Thanks, Dan!)

4) Spray paint!  Then spray paint more!  And then more.  And then… more.  In between coats, I ate a snack, checked my email, peeked in on my napping offspring, and threw a load of laundry in the washer.  If you deviate from this pattern, you will probably still get the same spray painting results, but no guarantees.  Sorry.  :(

5) Mod Podge some cutie wallpaper, carpeting, a roof, a few windows.  This is actually my very first time using Mod Podge, and I really struggled with the paper bubbling up.  (Any amazing tips?)  So, this step was the longest (and maybe the most frustrating for a Mod Podge newbie like me).

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Before I show you the final results, a little sidebar.  I found little wood game pieces at the craft store and thought they would make cute little dolls.  I did a little search on etsy and there are a ton of awesome little dolls made with these!  I can surely make some, right?  Right?

Wrong.  I can’t paint to save my life.  They’re so bad, I can’t show you.

Okay, fine.  I’ll show you.

“Why so serious?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You know.  The Joker?”
::::blank stare::::
“Never mind.”

These extremely frightening dolls are being banished to the deck we do not speak of in hopes that they’ll be eaten in the middle of the night by raccoons or baby pterodactyls.

Alright, moving on.

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The two-sided dollhouse: perfect for sharing with a friend.  :)

Thanks for looking! :)

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