DIY Miniature - Modern Dollhouse (Kit Bash)

Hi guys, it's Cath. Today I'm going to show you how to build this modern loft dollhouse kit. Unlike many of my other kit videos, I followed most of the instructions and built the kit as the creators intended. This is already designed in contemporary style so it's perfect for modern dollhouse lovers. Let's get started. First, I'll unbox this kit and show you what it contains. We have this big ziploc bag filled with wood pieces. The second bag contains fabric, electronics, and other accessories. Then we have all these wooden MDF panels that make up the structure of the loft. Lastly, there's this instruction booklet, this cardstock, clear plastic sheet, template for cutouts, and all of these colorful printouts for accessories, wallpaper, and flooring. Let's dig into the two ziploc bags. The first one has three smaller bags inside of it that contain different types of wood pieces for all the furniture. The second bag contains fabric, this random piece of paper, greenery, little plastic accessories, beads, and this lighting kit. Here are all the big structural pieces. There are a bunch of panels for the walls, floors, and windows. We'll focus on this big foundation piece first. Because this kit is a loft, the foundation is just the flooring. The kit gives you a paper template to glue on. I first cover the base with paper glue and brush it out for even coverage. Make sure it's not too thick. Then paste the paper on section by section. It looks pretty good. Let's add the walls. These are the two big walls for this kit. There is this pretty wallpaper that you can glue on but I'm just going to paint the walls white for a clean look. Once that's dry, you can glue the walls in place with wood glue. The next wall piece is this tiny rectangle. Glue it on the paper template that looks like wood grain. You'll have this little overhang of paper. Glue that perpendicular to the left side wall. The last wall for this loft is mostly a window. We'll add this black window frame into the opening of this white wall. Before we do that though, let's add some glass to the window using the clear plastic sheet. For a strong hold, I'll be using this gemtac glue. Dot it all along the window frame. Then press the plastic onto it. Don't worry, this will dry clear. Then trim off the excess plastic with an exacto knife. Position the window into the wall opening and then position the wall in place. We'll build the window seat next. For one of the ziplocks with wood pieces, pull out these bare strips. Cut out these gray wood grain images and paste them onto the wood strips. Glue the two big pieces together lengthwise. Then add in the smaller rectangle to the inside edge. Add a tiny rectangle next to it and then a trapezoid shape to finish off the step. From the same bag, take this Tetris looking shape and use it to close off the bottom edge. From the fabric bag, pull out the small green turf. It looks like miniature fake grass. Cut out a one inch square and glue it to the bottom of the opening. Then you can place this window seat structure right against the left wall. To finish off the side, we'll need one last window. Take this black frame and cover it with more of the clear plastic. Add it right on top of the white Tetris shape. With all of these windows, you'll need some curtains. From the fabric bag, pull out this ruffled sheer fabric. I cut out a three inch wide section and glue it onto the inside of the biggest window. For the top of this area, pull out the two white sticks from the first bag. Form them into an L shape. Pull out the rectangle with the hole in the center and add it to the L shape. Use this structure to act as a ceiling above the window seat. The little hole in the center is for a pendant light, so let's make that next. Take the bag with the light bulbs and a battery case. Besides those pieces, this bag also contains a tiny square of sandpaper and this long sticker. The kit uses two AAA batteries, so make sure you have those on hand. Each one of the light bulbs has a positive gray wire and a negative white one. Simply connect negative to positive to light it up. Gray to black and red to white. From the accessories bag, pull out the foggy globe shape. From the beads bag, pull out this tiny black top hat shape bead. Loop the wires through the bead and then glue the whole thing to the opening of the globe. Pull the wires through the ceiling and pull the pendant up until it's an inch away from the ceiling. To camouflage the wires, I'm going to paint them with black nail polish. This creates a look of iron. Let's use up the rest of the pieces in the first bag. Spill all the pieces out and separate out the bare wood rectangles. We'll save those for later. For the remaining pieces, paint them all black with acrylic paint. This will look really nice against the white walls. When all the paint is dry, add the windows into the opening on the walls. Take the upside down L-shape frame and add that against the right wall between the wood and the tile flooring. While that dries, let's finish the ceiling. Push the bolt wires into the corner and glue them down. Then cut out this rectangle shape from the paper template and glue that to the top of the ceiling to hide the wires. For the shower, cut out a section of the wallpaper that we didn't use. We just need half of the tile image with the window area cut out. Glue that next to the frame we put up. Then from the fabric bag, pull out these two acrylic pieces. We only need the big one. It's covered in paper so rip that off to expose the glossy acrylic. Glue that to the right side of the small window to close off the shower. Next, cut out a three inch by two and a quarter inch rectangle from moly clear plastic. Glue this piece to the front of the shower to look like the sliding doors. Next to the shower is the kitchen. Let's build that next. Take bag B with the wooden pieces and spill it all out. Pull out these pieces for the kitchen cabinets. Use wood glue to assemble these frame pieces, the three small rectangles for the look of drawers, the square piece for the oven, and then the last two rectangles for the side edges. This is the basic shape for the kitchen counters. The countertop is made of this L-shaped bare wood piece. I'm going to stain this for the look of a butcher block counter. Take some dark brown chrome paint and mix in a bit of water. Brush that all across the wood. Before we glue it on, let's finish off the base of the cabinets. Cut out this oven image from the template and glue it to the inside of the right square piece. Add a dowel image to the top of it. For the inside of the two frame openings, the kit gives you this vintage floor image. However, I'm just going to use the back of the image which is blank. Now you can add on your countertop. Last piece for the kitchen, we need the sink. Pull out the metallic silver paper from the bag and then glue the cutout to the back of it. Cut out that shape. Use the lines on a printout to fold the metallic paper into this half box. Super easy sink. Add it under the opening on the countertop and it's done. Simply slide this kitchen into the corner of the room. For a very simple rug, cut out this rectangle with a geometric pattern on it. Glue it to some cardstock for thickness and cut that out. Glue it to the right side of the kitchen. Right behind this rug will be a fridge. For that, pull off the entire accessories bag and pull out the green block. For a more modern look, I painted this entire piece with metallic silver acrylic paint. A few coats will give you this uniform look. Slide that right next to the kitchen cabinets. It's a perfect fit. While we're at it, take the toilet piece we spelled out and add it to the right side of the shower. In order to separate the bathroom from the living room, the kit comes with a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Take the second letter B bag and fill out all the contents. Pull out all the long cream pieces, the smaller cream rectangles, and the three bare rectangles. Use four of the long pieces to form a square. Then add the two remaining lengths vertically inside of the square to create three equal sections. Glue the bare rectangles to the bottom of each section. Flip that around and add the remaining pieces horizontally to the unit to add to the shelving. Add three pieces to both the outer sections and two pieces to the middle section. For a contemporary look, I paint all the cream areas white. Then I stained the bare wood areas with dark brown paint I used for the kitchen. Because this is a bookshelf, I decided to turn the included dining table into a desk. It's just a matter of gluing the legs together and adding on the tabletop. I painted the legs black to match the top. Glue the table to the middle of the bookshelf. To close off the back of the bookshelf, cut out these two images from a template sheet. Glue the tile image to some cardstock and cut it out. Then glue the striped wallpaper image to the other side. With the striped side facing the bookshelf, glue this backing on. The back of this bookshelf would be the wall of the bathroom, so let's finish it off. For the bathroom sink, we'll need these pieces. Glue the small white rectangle around the bare wood piece for the counter. Then paint the wood white. Take the little sink from the accessories bag and add it to the top of the counter. Glue the sink to the back of the bookshelf which acts as the wall of the bathroom. For a mirror, cut out one inch by one and a half inch rectangle for more of the metallic silver paper. Glue that to the wall right above the sink. Glue on the tiny black stick for a drawer handle and the sink is done. Place this wall unit right in front of the bathroom, making sure the flooring lines up. Last accessory for the bathroom, a little towel stand. Using these four pieces, assemble the stand with the rectangle and the shelves. For the towels, we'll use this thin white fabric. With fabric glue, glue the fabric over a few times. Cut off the excess and then cut out two half inch sections. Stack them together. Add this little stack of towels to the stand and then add a stand next to the sink. With the remaining fabric, I glued it to the side of the sink to act as a hand towel. The bathroom is now fully complete, so let's move back to the living room. The kit comes with the pieces necessary to build two dining chairs. Add the little half inch square dowel pieces to one side of the bracket shape, then add a second bracket shape to it. Glue the square wood piece for the seat and then the other bare wood piece for the back of the chair. All done. Here's the second chair. Paint them white or whatever color you like. To accessorize the bookshelf, I take this tiny blue goblet from the accessories bag and paint it with gray nail polish. Add that to the shelf. Next, I cut out this cute post-it from the image template and glue some cardstock to it. Add it to the middle section of the bookshelf. In the window seat area, the kit comes with a little table. It's made of this little wooden square and these tiny dowels. Glue one dowel to each corner to form a simple table. For the front of the window seat, let's add some greenery. These three pieces will form the planter box. Then cut out these images. Cover the whole planter with these images for the look of brick. Cut a rectangle from the miniature turf and use it to close up the bottom of the planter. From the greenery bag, pull out some of these paper plants. Add a lot of paper glue inside a planter box and then fill it up with greenery. And don't forget to add a bit of these yellow plants for some extra color. Once you have your planter box full, flip it over and glue it against the side of the window seat. Almost done with the living room guys, just two more pieces of furniture left. For the coffee table, take these pieces. I first named the bare wood to match the rest of the house. Then add these little black sticks to the corner of one of the black rectangular frames. Add a second frame on top of it. Glue the table top on and your coffee table is complete. I didn't love the couch that the kit comes with so I made my own using some jumbo popsicle sticks. I also used the included white felt and the included fabric that looks just like leather. This couch is super easy to make and you can get the full instructions in my modern couch video linked below. Add the set to the living room and the first floor is all done. We can move on to the loft area next. This big wooden panel is the ceiling on the first floor and the floor in the loft area. This white side is the ceiling and we need to add this flooring image to the bare side. Before I can fully glue this image on, I need to put in some wiring for all the lights. One light will be a floor lamp. It's made up of these four stick pieces. Glue the bracket shapes to the center of the trapezoid. Then add a tiny stick right on the top center. Then take a bulb and glue it to the top stick. For the lampshade, I cut out a two and a quarter by three fourths of an inch rectangle from cardstock. Glue it to the cream linen fabric from the fabric bag. Cut that out leaving a quarter of an inch fabric to the two long sides and one of the shorter sides. Fold the fabric over the two long sides and then glue them down. Roll the rectangle into a cylinder and then glue the ends together using the excess fabric on the end. To attach it to the lamp, I take a coffee stirrer and cut out a three quarters of an inch segment. Glue that to the inside of the lampshade. Then place the lampshade on top of the lamp. How cute is this? Pull the wires of the lamp through the hole in the paper flooring. Guide the wires through the grooves of the wood and glue them down. For a second light in the bedroom, take this globe and a top hat shaped bead. Like we did for the pendant on the first floor, loop the wires through the bead and add it to the opening of the globe. The light will sit on top of a little stand that's made up of these four pieces. Glue the two small rectangles to the middle and the right side of the biggest rectangle. Then add a small piece with the cutout right on top of it. Loop the wires through the top cutout. The globe will sit right on top of this. Make sure to push the wires through the tiny groove to make it look neat. Pull the wires through this hole in the paper. Okay, one more light. This one will be the ceiling light of the first floor. Using these two beads, assemble a simple lampshade by pulling a bulb through both holes. Now push the wires through the hole in the ceiling and across the grooves on the floor. Now you can paste the paper flooring down and glue your lamps in place. This is what you'll end up with. Position this panel right above the bookshelf on the first floor. See the wires that stick out from the side? Make sure to stick those through the hole on the left side wall. I used wood glue to secure this floor in place. I decided to add an extra light to the bedroom because you can't ever have too many lights. Drill a hole through the wall with a small hand drill and then go over it with a larger drill. For the light fixture, take this little round bead and a top half bead. Loop the wires through the top half bead and then push the bulb through the round bead. From the fabric bag, pull out a length of black wire. Fold over an inch section and twist it together. Cut off that segment. Then push one end through the top of the black bead and bend the wire over. Grab a second top half bead and loop it over the wires including the black one. To hide the bulb wires, I used black nail polish again. Now you can just pull the wires through the wall and position your wall sconce in place. For a nightstand, we'll need these pieces. Glue the two small rectangles to either side of the bigger rectangles. Then add on the white drawer front one right on top of the other. Add on the top of the nightstand and it's done. Position it right under the light fixture. Next up in the bedroom is the wardrobe. We'll need these big white panels. Glue the two decorative fronts together. Then add on the top, the two sides, and the bottom. The wardrobe will sit in front of these holes which are for a music box. Unfortunately though, the music box doesn't come with the kit. So we can simply place the wardrobe right in front of it. Last piece of furniture for the bedroom is the bed. The structure of the bed is made up of these three pieces. Glue the small rectangle to the short end of the big bed base. The other piece will be the headboard. Let's dispose of that first. I cut out a piece of white felt and glue it onto the wood. Cut off the corners of the felt for a neater look. Then just fold the flaps over and glue them down. Place this felt side down to the back of the leather fabric. Cut the fabric to twice the size of the headboard with some seam allowances. Cut some slits for a neater fold and tuck the flaps in. Trim off the longer sides and fold it over. Glue the headboard to the bed base. Cut out a piece of felt the same size as the bed base and add it on top. For the bedding, I'll use the same cream linen fabric that we used for the floor lamp. Cut out a 3.5 inch square and drip it over the bed. Then just position the bed between the wardrobe and the nightstand. For some rails around the loft, take this piece that we painted black in the beginning. Add that behind the globe lamp. For the rest of the rails, the kit comes with this fallen piece. It looks a bit fragile to me so I decided to take some thin skewers and paint them black. Cut out two 4.5 inch lengths. Add them between the top and bottom rails. Perfect. Now just glue this to the front side of the loft. No loft is useful without a way to get up there so let's finish it off with a staircase. Take this zigzag block we painted black and these bare wooden steps. As usual, we'll want to stain the bare wood with dark brown paint. An easy way to do this is to put down some masking tape, stick all the pieces on top of it, and then add on the stain. They'll look great once they're dry. With the wood glue, add the steps to the staircase. I love this industrial look. Position the staircase right behind the couch and the loft is complete. You can add in some greenery with beads for the bases but that's totally optional. I just didn't plan to add the extra pop of life and color to any scene. They're also super easy to make. Last but not least, let's wire this baby up for lighting. All you need to do is grab the gray wires and bundle them together. Do the same for the bundle of white wires. Then attach the gray bundle to the black wire and the white bundle to the red. I used the included tape to stick the wires against them all. The power box will hide away in this little opening under the window seat when you display in this house. That's it guys. Flip the switch on and watch this modern loft come to life. This is such a beautiful kit and I love how modern the style is. I had a ton of fun putting it together. I love the fact that it comes with so many accessories. However, the kit doesn't come with a dust cover or the music box shown on the box so that's kind of a bummer. If you guys want to make your own, there's a link to the kit in the info box below. I really hope you guys liked this video. Give it a thumbs up if you did and make sure to subscribe for more. I'll see you next time. Bye!