Quick and Easy Dollhouse Kitchen Island/Bakery Counter Tutorial

Today, I'm going to show you how I make a tall miniature dollhouse counter. This is really simple and fast!  It can be used in a kitchen or bakery.  I used pieces of scrap wood for mine. Whatever I have left over from kits.  You could use cardboard for this project if you prefer.

 My 2 sides are 2" x 3" tall.

 The front is 4 1/4" x 3" tall.

The top is 5 1/8" x 2 1/2".

Glue your 2 sides to the front piece.

If you want a shelf inside, this is the time to glue it in. I just used a little piece of wood 1" x4 1/4". I used wood glue to put it in. You can use any glue.  I placed mine in the middle of the counter, but you can put it anywhere.

Now the fun part! I'm going to use scarpbook supplies to make my counter look more shabby chic.  I use this tiny ridge cardboard. If you can't find it you can use regular cardboard from a box. Just rip off one of the paper sides and you'll expose the ridges. And glue onto counter sides and front.

Next, glue your top on.  Mine is flush with the back with a n overhang on the front of 1/2" and also about a 1/4" overhang on each side.  And that's it for construction!

Time to paint the counter top and the interior. I've used an almond (cream) color. Don't forget the underside of the counter.  I use regular latex paint.

 Now we'll paint the corrugated cardboard. Your Paper will warp and bubble a little. This is a good thing. Shabby chic should be perfectly imperfect to look right! My counter will be a light Robin Egg Blue (blue with a touch of green in it). Pick your favorite color though. Notice I haven't covered every bit of the white with the blue. It's a very uneven application.  Let dry.

 After it dries, I'm now going to highlight the corrugated part with some rust color paints. I'm using 2 shades:   Folk Art Teddy Bear Tan and Folk Art Yellow Ochre.  They are both golden browns. One is a little more brown and one is a little more yellow.

I'm loading my brush with the browner(teddy bear tan) first.  Just let your brush drag on certain areas. Let the brush miss some spots.  You want a light, uneven application.

Repeat with the yellower color on top of some of the browner color(not all) and some on the blue9in my case).  Don't do too much.  Now let that dry.

Time for some aging!  All my projects you see with aging are done with the same easy technique.  I use a brown ink pad.

Just rub all your edges with it until you are happy with it.  I did the bottom of the counter too. And I inked the top by following the grain of the wood. Mine went front to back.

Now you can finish your piece any way you like.  I decided I need an edge on my counter.  I used some special scissors with a cute design to cut out a border.  The cardboard I used was the pavkaging for dollhouse columns.  It's blue and perfect for my counter.

I glued the border on with hot glue.

And I also want 2 towel racks.  I'll just use some regular 22 gauge floral wire. 

 I bent about 1/4" from the end.

 And then bent it downwards 1/8".

Do both sides.

I hot glued one on both sides.

My towels are pieces of pink/medium pink striped cotton fabric that measure 1 3/8" x 3 1/4" .

Fray the ends of the fabric.

Fold each side meeting in the center and iron in place.

Fold and iron in half.

 I layered a little Swiss Dot lace and another left over bit on both towels.

I'm ready to use my counter!  Thanks for coming by!