Re-purposing: From Cabinet to Dollhouse

My first dollhouse was a refurbished bathroom cabinet... a medicine cabinet, no less The selection, I admit, was more by necessity than choice. I was a very young woman in a housing co-op, short on cash and short on real furnishings -- but I had a penchant for painting and re-fashioning dollhouse furnishings. I had an old cabinet on hand, and it occurred to me that instead of having it on its side, acting as a stand in or a sewing basket, I could give it a decorative finish and use it to display my miniatures.

It may not have been by choice, but it worked! A verdigris finished changed the character of the cabinet, and made it something of a display piece. My collection did eventually outgrow it -- and I was glad to find a big old Tudor at the thrift store -- but it was my one and only dollhouse for six or seven years.

There are a lot of good reasons to use a cabinet as a dollhouse. If you already have an old one on hand, it's the thrifty and environmental choice. A coat of paint, or a faux finish, and it no longer looks like a cast off. There are a lot of old medicine cabinets in the world looking for a home -- or looking to become one.

It's not necessarily a bad choice, though, even if you're buying new. Sometimes people choose cabinets, or wall-mounting dollhouses, over traditional free-standing ones. They take up less space and can be kept out of reach of little pet paws. Plus, if you're doing the papering and carpeting yourself, with limited tools, you've got an easier job. Three little shelves in a cabinet equals three little room settings. This page includes a variety of ideas for using a cabinet as a doll house. The main focus is sharing tips for re-purposing an existing cabinet, but I will also spotlight a few items I found on the web that might make stylish mounted dollhouses.