Creating a miniature medicine cabinet and bathroom accessories

Handmade decor for my mini house

I decided to create a medicine cabinet for my mini bathroom. I fashioned it using a mirror from an old eyeshadow compact and a plastic box that once held pins in a sewing kit. Here are the original components in their natural state:

Plastic container that originally held needles and pins. This will the interior and door of my medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Plastic container that originally held needles and pins. This will the interior and door of my medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Side view.

Side view.

This mirror goes on the front of it. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

This mirror goes on the front of it. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I was able to snap the mirror off the eye shadow without breaking it, which was great. I glued it to the lid of the box and used regular clear tape as a hinge. I painted it with white paint (unfortunately, plastic hates to be painted). I lined the interior of the cabinet with paper and inserted a little shelf that is actually the same floorboard material I’m using for trim (also plastic-y, also hates to be painted).

Medicine cabinet interior, shown with tape so you can better imagine the scale. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Medicine cabinet interior, shown with tape so you can better imagine the scale. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

 

Next I needed some little bathroom accessories, like glass jars of cotton balls and fancy little soaps wrapped in tissue paper. For cotton balls I used the kind of mini pompoms you can buy at almost any craft store. Here’s a look:

Big jar of mini pompoms beside mini jar of mini pompoms. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Big jar of mini pompoms beside mini jar of mini pompoms. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

To create soap, I used a real bar and cut off little chunks. A couple got wrapped in white tissue paper, and one was set into a tiny ceramic bowl that will make a great soap dish.

Mini bars of soap made from a regular bar of soap. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Mini bars of soap made from a regular bar of soap. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Little soap.

Little soap.

Are you ready to see the finished product?

Bathroom with handmade medicine cabinet. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Bathroom with handmade medicine cabinet, partially opened. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

As you can see, the paint continues to scrape off, especially when I open and close the cabinet door. I’ll need to touch it up again and then leave it alone. Despite its imperfections, I think it’s pretty cute!

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Progress in the blizzard

Handmade decor for my mini house

I’ve made some progress on my house (and the creation of accessories for it) in the last couple of days, thanks in large part to the blizzard that has kept me stranded at home. Here are some updates for you.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Every mid century house needs one of these. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Here’s a look at this little blanket, in progress, with some scissors in the photo so you can get a better idea of scale:

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I also installed some tile floors in my bathroom:

Grout coming soon! Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Grout coming soon! Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I was going to go with tealish blue stone, but as I shared in a recent post, I changed my mind and decided to cut blue from my house’s interior color palette. These yellow tiles were purchased at the start of the project, and once again seemed like the best choice, so I went for it and installed them.

Here’s are some photos of the “before”:

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

and “during”:

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I’ll grout them soon, and install some wall paper. This horrible little room will be bright and cheery before you know it!

I also made a little rug/throw, using the pot holder loom I’ve mentioned in previous posts (every kid had one of these at some point, and they’re great for making mini weavings!)

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Here’s a peek at the finished result:

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Also, some of you may recall me making a thread-wrapped lampshade for my (real, human-scale) home, in my blog Holly Recommends. Well, I decided to make a little thread-wrapped lampshade for my mini house as well. Here it is:

A mini, thread-wrapped lampshade, set on top of a tiny vase makes a cute lamp. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

A mini, thread-wrapped lampshade, set on top of a tiny vase makes a cute lamp.
Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Free printable template to create a mini vintage ornament box

Handmade decor for my mini house

A few weeks ago I shared the mini ornaments I made here, along with the tiny box to store them. I said I’d be sharing a free, printable template so you could make your own ornament box. Here it is. Sorry it’s after Christmas, but better late than never, right? This box can be scaled up or down a little to accommodate different size ornaments. You could also use it as an starting point to create tiny doughnut boxes, dress boxes, game boxes, etc.

To form the base into a box, cut it out along it’s exterior border, and fold accordingly. Snip the sides just to the second line. These four little tabs you create by doing this will hold the other sides in place, once they’re folding around it. It sounds confusing, but once you cut it out and play with it you will see what I mean. You won’t need to use glue for the base of the box since it will hold itself together fairly well once it’s folded, but you can use a dab of glue if you want, just to be safe.

For the lid, use an Exacto knife to cut out a small viewing window. Ideally you should fill that window with a piece of clear acetate for a finished look. Glue it together using a glue stick.

Mini ornaments by Holly Tierney-Bedord for Flip This Mini House blog. All rights reserved.

Mini ornaments by Holly Tierney-Bedord for Flip This Mini House blog. All rights reserved.


Shiny ornaments box designed and created by Holly Tierney-Bedord. Free to be printed and used for personal use and not for financial gain. Not to be sold or distributed without my written permission. All rights reserved.

Shiny ornaments box designed and created by Holly Tierney-Bedord. Free to be printed and used for personal use and not for financial gain. Not to be sold or distributed without my written permission. All rights reserved.

Making the ornaments is easy and inexpensive, but tedious. You’ll need just beads, wire, wire cutters, a pliers, and some kind of scrolly metal detailing like you see dressing up the top of my ornaments. The wire and metal doodads should be the same color. Just stick the wire into the doodad and bead, and use the pliers to make a little loop at the top and little bend at the bottom, then clip off excess with the wire cutters. Be careful that a piece of wire doesn’t fly in your face or land someplace where you’ll stop on it. That’s about all there is to it. It’s an easy project that just requires a little patience.

If I can make these ornaments, you can too

Handmade decor for my mini house

A few days ago I shared my Etsy Mini Wishlist. In it were these adorable boxes of vintage ornaments by Baking in Miniature:

Mini ornaments by Etsy artist Baking in Miniature. Click on photo to be directed to Baking in Miniature's Etsy site.

Mini ornaments by Etsy artist Baking in Miniature. Click on photo to be directed to Baking in Miniature’s Etsy site.

I was beyond inspired by them, so I decided to make my own. Let me just tell you, IT WAS TEDIOUS. But worth it. Here is my finished product (click to enlarge – pardon the quality; they were taken with my phone):

I will be providing step by step instructions, a materials list, and a printable template for the box, all for free, very soon!

Mini modern bed and pom pom accented bedding

Handmade decor for my mini house

Inspired by modern miniature beds like this, I have created a bed for my miniature master bedroom. The frame is made of part of a picture frame and some thumb tacks. The mattress is made of a piece of Styrofoam covered in quilt batting. It is a work in progress. I plan to give it another coat of paint and maybe add a headboard.

The sheets, comforter, and pillows are made from a fabric remnant, a curtain, and some mini pom pom balls. Since the master bedroom is not that big, this bed will be the focal point of the room. You may recognize the LOVE pom pom pillow from a project I started several weeks ago.

Make your own modern white chandelier

Handmade decor for my mini house

I came across the awesome website How About Orange yesterday. It’s filled with all kinds of 3-D papercrafts, complete with clear instructions, photos, and templates. By shrinking down the smallest template and printing it at 75% of its normal size, I was able to create this mini (non-functional) paper chandelier, inspired by modern chandeliers like this one, this one, and this one.

Tiny, easy to make light. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny, easy to make light. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

This will go in the dining area, hanging over the table.

Thanks to the clear instructions on How About Orange’s website, I was able to make two of these in a short amount of time (the first just to see how it went, and to discover that it was a little too large; the second one being the one you see here that will actually go in my dollhouse). No glue or tape is required to form the ball. You could probably tweak the template to make the petals spiky instead of round, or use something like sheets of thin plastic or felt to create decorations or ornaments (the original intention from How About Orange’s blog).

A tiny room divider

Handmade decor for my mini house

The bathroom in my mid century dollhouse has no door, so I knew I needed to find a way to give any miniature visitors to the space some privacy without blocking the view too much. My solution is this modern, beaded curtain, made of a rustic twig and four strands of pre-strung beading from the jewelry section of a local craft store (Sharpie shown for scale). The divider will be hung at ceiling height to fill the entire space going into the bathroom:

Boho chic room divider for my mid-century dollhouse. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Boho chic room divider for my mid-century dollhouse. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

A cute little plant holder

Handmade decor for my mini house

Here is another quick, practically-free mid-century miniature project:

Tiny crocheted pot and thread macrame plant holder by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny crocheted pot and thread macrame plant holder by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

I am on the hunt for a leafy little plant to put inside. I think this will likely end up in the bedroom, since it matches the little comforter I made for the bed.

An inexpensive, artistic way to personalize a mini house

Handmade decor for my mini house

This small wooden easel and stretched canvas were found (both unpainted) at a local craft store. They were about $2 each. I painted the easel a sunny shade of yellow, and painted an orange sailboat scene on the canvas. I had a little trouble getting a shot of it without a glare, but you get the idea. It’s a quick, simple project that will personalize my dollhouse. It would also be cute displayed on a bookshelf or end table in a human-scale house.

Tiny painting by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Tiny painting by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The easiest way to make small-scale weavings

Handmade decor for my mini house

Almost every kid owned this potholder loom at some time. They’re still available for just a few bucks at many craft and toy stores. I picked one up the other day and since then I’ve created a small rug for my mid century marvel, and now I’m working on another:

Simple weaving projects using a plastic potholder loom. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Simple weaving projects using a plastic potholder loom. Photos by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The top one was created with a regular 90 degree by 90 degree pattern. For the one in progress, I’ve incorporated 90 degrees x 90 degrees x 45 degrees, just to see how it looks. This one will also end up being a rug, most likely. I plan to create another weaving using a lightweight thread next, so I can have a table runner for my mini kitchen.

Here is another picture of the completed rug, when it was in progress:

Dollhouse rug, in progress. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

Dollhouse rug, in progress. Photo by Holly Tierney-Bedord. All rights reserved.

The advantage to using a 90 degree by 90 degree process is that you can easily squish the lines of thread together to make the appearance as tight as you’d like. With the one I’m working on now, the threads running at a 45 degree angle prevent me from having that option. I’m going to have to keep filling in the gaps with more thread, instead of being able to just smoosh them together.

This loom is great because it’s cheap, light, and small. You could use it (in your human-scale life) to make small wallhangings for your home, coasters, little weavings to set a potted plant on, etc.