How to Build Miniature Furniture & Room Settings
- 1). Build miniature wooden pieces such as tables and chairs using balsa wood. Think in terms of shapes. Tables are made with four legs of identical length and a rectangular top. Chairs are made with a square seat and four legs, with the back two legs taller than the front pair. Connect the tops of the extended back legs with a piece of balsa glued across to form a back rest. Cut all the furniture pieces to the appropriate size for the space where you plan to use them, stain or paint them, and hot glue them together.
- 2). Make upholstered furniture with a wooden base covered by a layer of quilt batting and outer fabric. Cut wooden rectangles from balsa wood for the bed and sofa. Cut two straight pairs of front legs for each. For the bed, extend the top legs into a rectangular headboard with rounded edges at the top, cutting them as one piece. For the sofa, extend the back legs into a rectangular back with a curved top, cut as one piece. Cut rectangles for sofa arms. Before assembling the sofa, pad the seat, back, and arms by gluing on pieces of quilt batting. Then cover the sofa with fabric, joining it underneath the sofa to hide the seam. Next glue the sofa back to the seat and glue the arms in place. For the bed, glue down a layer of quilt batting and cover it with a rectangular fabric bedspread.
- 3). Get a dollhouse to display your miniature furniture; for a single room setting, use a shoebox or turn a small drawer or other type of box on its end or side to make a diorama . Prepare the rooms by staining wooden floors and painting or papering walls. Buy miniature wallpaper in a hobby shop, or make your own by cutting paper to the size needed. Give wallpaper a design using stencils or tiny stamps and an ink pad, or use small-print wrapping paper. Apply double-sided tape to the back of the wallpaper, or use spray glue for an even coat of adhesive.
- 4). Hang draperies and add rugs to your miniature room setting. Use narrow wooden dowels as curtain rods that sit on simple hooks cut from balsa wood and glued to the wall. Make drapes from rectangular pieces of thin fabric that hangs in realistic folds. Make carpets from pieces of velour or fleece to give them thickness.
- 5). Add accessories to your rooms by using small items that can double as miniatures. Transform the cap from a tube of toothpaste into a flower vase by filling it with soft clay and adding tiny silk flowers. Turn the cap upside down for a lampshade attached to a wire on a wooden base. Caps can also serve as bowls.
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