Dollhouse China Cabinet Revamp
To finish out the Ikea Flisat dollhouse kitchen, I needed one more piece of furniture to fill some empty space. After completing the round kitchen table and wall of cabinets, a pre-made china cabinet was a quick, cheap find to round out the room. I started with an unfinished china cabinet from Hobby Lobby and added my own touches of stain and wallpaper for a custom look.
Since this dollhouse is meant for a 4 year old and I know things will get broken, I did not want to build a custom piece. Although this antique china cabinet is really calling for a tutorial, don’t you think?
Materials
Unfinished China Cabinet/Cupboard (I got mine for $5 from Hobby Lobby)
Wood stain or paint
Pattern paper scraps or print your own (think scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, etc)
1:12 Dollhouse Cupboard Upgrade
Stain your cupboard with whatever shade of wood stain you like. This could also be easily spray painted, too. I already had some light stain on hand, so one quick coat gave the wood a little more warmth. Let your stain dry for a full 24 hours before putting any paper near it. The oils from the stain may leech into your wallpaper if not fully dry.
I found a cute floral pattern on RawPixel and made my own patterned paper to back the shelves. Read my dollhouse wallpaper tutorial on how to make your own patterns using Canva. Print your pattern onto cardstock paper. Alternatively you could use scrapbook paper or even wrapping paper.
Measure your shelves width and individual height for your paper pieces. I suspect each of these mass produced cabinets may be a little different. But overall, my paper was about 3.5” wide, cut into strips from 0.75” to 1.5”.
Glue the paper on the back of cupboard upper shelf using tacky glue or other craft glue.
To finish the look, I purchased a basic tea set from Hobby Lobby to fill out the cabinet. I glued the tea cups to each saucer, the lids onto the pitcher and sugar, and even glued the 4 dinner plates stacked together. These pieces are still pretty small and easy for a 4 year old to lose, but perhaps we will have better luck with some pieces already glued together. I also glued the drawers in place.
Overall this upgrade cost me less than $15 and about an hour of time. Pretty good payoff in my opinion!
