Remodeling a Duracraft Heritage Dollhouse - part 3

 I bet some of you are wishing I'd get to the main part of the house, aren't you? That will come, however, I got so involved in the staircase planning, that once I figured out what I wanted to do (which was not to build a staircase at all), I really wanted to finish off the addition I had built.

Today I managed to finish the room that will be the kitchen.

Well, yeah, the windows aren't redone yet. The stuff I was planning on using for the "glass" turned out to be a problem. I'm going to see if I can find something else. It may be easier to do all the windows in the house at once anyway. Once you figure out the first few you get into the groove, and the rest are easier.

The pantry shelves, however, were a real pain in the $^#&^%8# !

Well, not so much the shelves, but the panel they're glued to.

I swear, I must have measured the space and the 3 different panels I made at LEAST 15 times. The first panel was turned out to be too big, so I trimmed it, still too big, shaved off some more, then it was too small, so I decided to start over. All the other plywood scraps I had left were all warped to some degree, so I looked for something else to use.

Do you have any old hard vinyl covered binders? I had to throw away a couple a while back, and wondered if that thick, stiff, hard cardboard would be good for anything useful, so I slit the vinyl open and saved them. I cut a new back panel for the pantry out of one, and it didn't matter if I messed up, because I had more, and it was FREE! 

I don't like to spend a lot of money on my dollhouses. If my hobby becomes too expensive I cease to enjoy it.

I digress...

Anyway, that panel turned out pretty good, so then I used some 1/16" basswood to make the front of the panel.  My worries weren't quite over, though, because with every remeasurement and recut, they kept turning out just a little bit off. 

Finally, all was perfect, the panel fit, the sides of the shelves were glued on, the 2 bottom shelves were in place, I slowly slid the unit back into place, ...... and it wouldn't fit........

Want to know what I did?

I began to laugh hysterically, that's what I did.

Once I stopped laughing I retried the unit, shaved off a little more from the top, and replaced it.

This time it was a little short......

.......which is why I installed a piece of crown molding on top of it.

I thought the hooks on the side wall were a good idea. A kitchen should have someplace to hang a mop, broom, dustpan, etc.

I took a few of my daughter's old kitchen pieces to give an idea of the layout.

I could make my own better versions of that sort of range and sink. Maybe someday I will.

I had planned on building the bathroom on the floor above next, but now I'm thinking maybe I want to do a simpler challenge, the attic.