5 Ways to Make A Dresser for A Dollhouse

Back row left, handmade, paper mache box dresser with working drawers. Back row
center, paper mache, box dresser with false drawers. Back row right, working drawers
 in pre-fab boxes stacked from a dollar store. Front row left, chalkboard painted block
with paper mache mirror. Front right, painted pre-fab doll dresser from a dollar store.

      I've included five simple ways to make a doll's dresser in this post. The dresser in a dollhouse collection sometimes has working drawers and sometimes the drawers are merely decorative. If the dresser is for a very young child, parents may opt to include the latter in order to avoid the tiny drawers getting lost. In either case, small dressers make a charming addition to any dollhouse and these five examples are very easy to craft.

Doll Dresser 1. -  Purchase and Paint

This tiny dresser can be found in the toy sections of dollar stores. 
There is also a matching table that goes with it.

       I painted this first doll's dresser with bright yellow acrylic paints, glued on a decorative paper to hide some of the flaws in the wood and applied a bright red color to the tiny drawer knobs and around the wooden feet.  The unfinished version of this dresser may be purchased at the Dollar Store and is the least expensive of all our dollhouse dressers.

Doll Dresser 2. - Paint a Block and Add a Mirror

Left, you can see that I had only just attached the mirror after photographing this example.
 The glue will dry clear. Right, is the finished example of a chalk painted block dresser with
 plastic gems for knobs and aluminum foil for the mirror. The woodgrain is drawn on with
 chalk markers and the drawers do not open.

       I made this second dresser with a block from our toy box. It's drawers are only painted on but, it can survive rough play and would be the best choice for a enthusiastic toddler to handle, had I left off the dresser mirror. This particular dresser is part of a larger collection of hand painted, chalkboard furniture that I will post later after I have finished it.

Doll Dresser 3. - Stack a Few Boxes

Stack and glue your dollar store box purchases together. Don't forget to apply a bit of
 pressure to the interior of the boxes so that the glue will spread and dry evenly.

       It doesn't get any easier to craft than this third dresser example. I purchased two identical boxes with two drawers each and then stacked them on top of each other using some extra tacky craft glue to make this simple transformation permanent. This quick fix cost me two dollars at the local Dollar store!

Doll Dresser 4. - Wrap a Box

Dollhouse furniture doesn't need to be so serious. Dress up a dolly's dresser using
polka-dots and cartoonish lines if your prefer!

       To make the fourth dresser, you will need decorative paper, white glue and scissors to first wrap a small recycled box. Then add a bit of detail using beads for false drawer pulls, scrap cardboard for the pretend drawer fronts and a black permanent ink pen to draw on wood grain. Brush on Mod Podge to keep the surfaces clean.

This paper mache doll dresser is lent a bit of strength and
 durability by stuffing it's interior with cardboard.

Doll Dresser 5. - Craft A Box Dresser

       I manufactured the fifth dresser from three little soap boxes, all having the exact same proportions. These boxes became the functioning drawers of our doll's dresser. If you wish to make a dresser similar to this one, you will need the following supplies and measurements:

The finished paper mache doll dresser with
drawers that actually open.

Supply List:

• three small boxes of equal size for the drawers
• extra cardboard (for the cabinet portion)
• decorative scrapbooking papers
• three small buttons (for drawer pulls)
• wire or pipe cleaners
• white school glue
• Mod Podge
• ruler
• scissors
• masking tape

       The size of my paper mache dresser was dictated by the proportions of the small boxes that I used for the crafting of the tiny drawers.

Photos of the small drawers in progress.

       I took these three small soap boxes and cut off the top portions of each to form the cardboard dresser drawers. I reinforced the sides by lining the interior walls and bottoms with thicker cardboard and masking tape. Each of these drawers measured: 1 /3/4" x 3 1/2" x 3/4".

Left, I am checking to make sure that I have cut the cabinet correctly to accommodate
 the drawers. Center, I don't want the space for each drawer to be too tight! Right,
 everything is measured twice.

       Measure and wrap cardboard to fit the drawers. This part of the dresser is the cardboard cabinet and it measured: 2" x 3 3/4'' x 3 3/4".

Left the cabinet portion of the dresser is finished. Center, the foot details on the sides of
my dollhouse dresser. Right, the top 'collar' of the dresser. Furniture designers don't
 include these on dressers anymore, but my version is a very old design.

        I also cut little legs into the side walls of the cabinet to give the dresser a bit of character and cut scalloped lower and upper trims for the space between my cabinets legs and to also make a 'backsplash' for the cabinets top.
       Then I covered the outer parts of my dresser's cabinet with a decorative paper and the interior of the cabinet with white typing paper.
       Next, I covered each of the little drawers with white glue and typing paper prior to cutting cardboard drawer faces with decorative paper. Firmly glue the drawer faces in place and let these drawers dry over night. 
       It's important to let the dresser drawers 'cure' or harden overnight so that the walls will shrink and harden. Cardboard swells just a tiny amount when it is wet. So it becomes impossible to tell if the fit for the drawers is right until this swelling goes down. Do not leave the cardboard drawers inside the cabinet while they are still swollen and wet or they will stick!
       On the following day, I punctured the center face of each drawer with the tip of my scissors to create a hole big enough to push a wired button through. Twist the wire once inside the hole of the button itself. Then thread the button through the drawer hole. Pull the wire ends open across the backside of the drawer's interior wall. Glue and tape this wire down so that the button is firmly attached to the drawer.

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