1/13/2014

Tutorial: How to turn a vintage tin dollhouse into a caddy to hide your printer! The obsession with tiny houses continues...

Hello everyone, it's time for my first project of the new year! A little tutorial on how to convert a vintage tin dollhouse into a rotating caddy that hides your printer and printing supplies!

I've always wanted one of these dollhouses, ever since I saw them in antique shops with my mom as a kid. Now when I see them in antique shops they're always over $40 and never in the greatest shape. Well my friends, the dollhouse gods smiled on me in the new year, as I found this little 1970's beauty at the Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland for about $20! And it had a ton of the original furniture with it too! It's missing its door and its chimney, but I'm sure I can make some suitable replacements out of cardstock someday.

She's got one gash on the edge of the roof, and was absolutely filthy when I brought her home, but a little elbow grease made her shine. I took a look in my office and decided that if it was going to live there, it would have to serve a function. I thought about storing papers and mail in the rooms, but that would have meant that I would never see the front of the house, which I like more than the inside. Then I saw my Ikea hack ironing board (made from a lazy suzan) and I had the idea to gut the house and place my printer inside, and set it on a lazy susan so I could turn it around when not in use!

I figured there had to be a way to get the walls out, and upon closer inspection I found the little plastic nuts and screws that held everything together. 10 minutes later, with the help of a flat head screwdriver, I removed them all and the entire set of walls slid right out!

I kept the walls along with the bag of hardware and furniture, in case I want to let my kids play with this someday in the event that my old balsa wood house takes a turn for the worst. And the tiny sewing machine table that came with the furniture is in my office with my collection.

With the addition of this small turntable I got at Target for about $7, and a little heavy lifting to pull my antique sewing machine table away from the wall, I had a fully functional rotating dollhouse printer caddy!

Makes me smile every time I see it! Hope this inspires you to do something fun with an unconventional item!

4 comments:

  1. That's a really great idea!! Printers are never appealing to the eye and I just love the idea of putting it on the turntable.

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  2. Cute. I really need to revamp my work space at home. It's first on my list after taxes. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  3. So cute! I love my printer but it seriously sucks the cute right out of our office. The turntable was such a good idea, and that dollhouse is awesome!

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