Craft Contemporary Farmhouse Doll Tables

       Our sample doll living room is decorated with an eclectic mix of contemporary and country furnishings, a modern farmhouse look. Below I give brief descriptions of how two of the tables were constructed from cardboard boxes and popsicle sticks. Any number of style variations may be put together with the following craft supplies, whether you choose to copy our doll furnishings or alter them to please yourself in unique ways; the supplies should be considered necessary for general use in projects such as these.

• See the blending of contemporary and country styles 
• How to Decorate Like Joanna Gaines
• A Look Inside Our Farmhouse

Craft a Sofa Table

To finish this table, I painted the popsicle sticks with a warm white ivory color. Then a covered every surface with
white glue to seal the finishes and keep them clean. There are also two faux drawers on one side with tiny silver
buttons to suggest drawer pulls.

       Sofa tables are similar to Pembroke tables and usually have longer and narrower tops. They were specifically designed for placement directly in front of sofas for serving tea, writing, dining, or other convenient uses. A sofa table may also be a tall, narrow table used behind a sofa to hold lamps or decorative objects.

• Craft a 1960s version of a Mid-Century Modern sofa table - it comes with a template

Photos of our farmhouse sofa table in progress. The top is made
 from popsicle sticks glued to the cardboard surface. The rest of the
 table was then decoupaged with white/grey woodgrain
 scrapbook paper.

Supply List:

• popsicle sticks
• small cardboard boxes
• Elmer's school glue
• masking tape
• decorative paper
• acrylic paints - ivory
• Mod Podge (optional)
• tiny silver buttons for drawer pulls

Craft a T. V. Stand or Cabinet

The cabinets here are only decorative. They are glued directly onto the front of our box using the same simple
 steps we used when crafting the sofa table above. The modern looking doll T.V. sits directly on the top of this
 cabinet. Eventually, we will craft a movie player for it's interior. The faux doors were finished with an ivory paint 
wash, justas the sofa table top, to make the surfaces look rustic. The cabinet door handles are matching silver
 buttons to those drawer pulls used on the sofa table.

       A cabinet is a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers for storing miscellaneous items. Some cabinets stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (solid or with veneers or artificial surfaces), coated steel (common for medicine cabinets), or synthetic materials. Commercial grade cabinets, which differ in the materials used, are called casework, casegoods, or case furniture.
       Cabinets usually have one or more doors on the front, which are mounted with door hardware, and occasionally a lock. Cabinets may have one or more doors, drawers, and/or shelves. Short cabinets often have a finished surface on top that can be used for display, or as a working surface, such as the countertops found in kitchens.

You can see here that I am checking to make sure that the sizes of both the cabinet and television work
 well together.You can make furniture like this quite simply from a few, basic recycled waste materials like
 cardboard, paper and tape.

On the far left, is the backside showing how I made the T.V. stand upright. Beneath it is the cover for the front
 of the television. Center is the cabinet in progress. Far Right, a closeup of the faux cabinet doors.

The finished television set is made from cardboard and 
paper in much the same way that we made a T.V. from
 craft foam.

Craft a Television (T. V.)

       Television (TV), sometimes shortened to tele or telly, is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome (black and white), or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a television set, a television show, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports.

       Our paper television sample is made to fit standard sized postcards (5"x7") so that the dolls may view places they have visited along with their human companions on vacation. 

• An earlier T. V. craft made with black craft foam

More Tips For Working With Cardboard Boxes:

1. Use small amounts of glue and clamps when possible. The use of too much glue will cause the cardboard to warp.
2. Reinforce corners with masking tape if you intend to decoupage the cardboard furniture. This will make your projects hold up with play and also support heavier dolls if needed.
3. Double up walls of cardboard furniture to add strength.
4. Begin projects using boxes that are proportional to the size of your doll. This makes the project seem easier to a novice crafter (child) than beginning from scratch.