How to: doll room in a bookcase

If you were following my blog back in 2020-2021, you might remember a series called Mix and Match backgrounds in which I made interchangeable floors, walls, and accent elements to use as backgrounds for my doll photos. To assemble the scene, I would stick the wall to my craft table's peg wall and set up the scene every time I wanted to take photos. The problem? I use the same table for both craft projects and photos, so if I want to take photos, I need to remove whatever I'm working on. I don't always have time for that, specially during the school year when I've been quite busy (and the table was often occupied with school stuff). So, I needed to come up with a solution: a diorama that fits inside a bookcase.

I've had this idea to make a permanent or semi-permanent diorama scene for quite some time. First, I wanted to build a room box, but since space is a problem, I thought I could make it so it would fit inside my Billy bookcases. Then I couldn't make up my mind about the design I wanted, so I thought I could make separate walls and floors in order to be able to switch it around and not have to compromise on just one design. Maybe using some Syntra boards and hold them together using pins or needles. But then I realized I have a lot of gray cardboard/ chipboard that I hoarded during the pandemic in case we went into another lockdown, so I better use what I have at home first before buying something new. 

So, these are the supplies I used for this project:

• Gray cardboard/ chipboard/ binding cardboard. You could use Syntra boards instead.
• Gesso primer, or any other primer you like for the cardboard.
• Craft paint.
• A cutter with a sharp blade.
• Brushes.

Before we start, I must preface by saying that I'm going into this project thinking of it as an experiment. I don't know if it's going to work out or if it's going to be a flop. I am aware that there are some issues with using chipboard. Because it's very thin, it won't probably hold on its own, so I will have to hold it to the bookcase using poster putty. If you leave poster putty on for too long and then try to remove it, there's a risk it might rip the wall or worse, the back of the bookcase. Also, the "joint" of the walls might not look very neat, as chipboard is very hard to cut and you can end up with jagged edges. Knowing this, I still decided to go with the chipboard and wing a solution for those problems as I go. So, basically, the mantra for this project is that quote from Bob Ross that says: "We don't make mistakes, just have happy accidents".

Before starting crafting, we need to figure out our measurements. I am building this on the second shelf of one of my Billy bookcases. I moved the first shelf up and the second shelf down to make room for the doll. I took photos with the dolls to see what would work best. Finally, I thought that a distance of 43 cm (16,9 inches) would be perfect. Turns out that all the photos that I took look terrible, but they gave me an idea for the right size.

Now it's time to cut the board. I'm going to cut 3 pieces: one for the back wall, which will be 42 x 37 cm (16,5 x 14,56 in), a side wall, which will be 42 x 26 cm (16,5 x 10,24 in) and one last piece for the floor, which will be 37x 26 cm (14,56 x 10,24 in). The floor is a temporary fix for display purposes until I find the time to make a hardwood floor.

Once the pieces are cut, it's time to prime them. I like to use gesso as a primer, but if you prefer other types of primers, go for them.

Now it's my favorite part, which is picking a color to paint the walls. I've chosen to go with Blue Mist by Americana Acrylics, which is like a muted teal or duck egg blue type of color. I picked this color online, looking for something in line with the colors we have in our actual house. Turns out this is much darker, but I still think it is beautiful.

For the other side of the wall, I went with Purple Petal, also by Americana Acrylics. I wanted something bright and colorful, especially now during summer.

For the floor, I went with just plain white, but added a drop of gray, so it wouldn't look so bright. Like I said, this is a temporary fix, but I need to have a floor piece, so my back wall won't slide down, as there's a gap between the shelf and the back of the bookcase. If you do this using a thicker material, you won't have this problem. I can't find any photos of this part, but you'll see it once the diorama is set up. 

Before I gave the second coat to the purple wall, I took some test photos with no furniture and just my little phone ring light to see the general effect. Much to my surprise, the walls stayed in place with no poster putty, so I won't have any problems with it tearing the wall. It does look much darker than I expected, but I was hoping it would look better with the big ring light.

I set up a quick scene with whatever decor I could find, set up the ring light, and took a few photos with my dolls. The color does look a bit darker than I was expecting, but I still think it's a nice color and looks quite realistic.

Honestly, I really like how it looks. While the corner doesn't look 100% flawless, it does look neater than I expected. I feel like the corner makes the scene look a bit less "flat". 

Let's try the purple wall. For this color, I didn't make a side wall, so all the photos are going to be taken from the front. One of the reasons is that the edge on the back of the side wall looks a bit jagged, so I want to try to do something with texture to hide it. It does look a bit different on camera than it does in real life, but still, I think it looks really pretty.

One of the main issues I'm finding with this is actually taking photos. There's less space, so my ring light is in the middle all the time. I have lightning issues on some of the photos, in which one side looks much darker than the other. I did have some trouble taking photos with the ring light when I first got it, and I needed to figure out how to work around it, so I hope with time I'll get the hang of it.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the results of this project; it really did turn out better than I expected. Of course, you can go much further with this, we're just scratching the surface with this post. I have an idea for another wall, but I need to buy some supplies for it. I also want to wait until the eczema I have on my hand heals completely before I craft again. 

Some of you reading this might be wondering why I didn't just cut down the large walls I made before. The reason for that is that I want to keep using those, but right now I don't have the time to pull them out of the box and set up the scene. This new method is great for saving space, but it doesn't allow you to set up big scenes, and that's when the other walls come in handy. Plus, this allows me to experiment on a smaller scale with things that I could translate to the larger walls later on.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you are planning to make something similar and what your plans are to make it. If you have any suggestions or ideas, just let me know.

I don't have any plans for my next post. I do have a couple of new dolls to unbox, but I don't feel like doing a review. Probably I'll save that for later on, when I'm busy with the school year. I might try to sew something, because I'm pretty sure I won't have time for that later on in the year, and my dolls are in desperate need of a new wardrobe. Whatever it is that I end up doing, I'll make sure to blog about it.

See you soon

Monster Crafts

This post was first published on themonstercrafts.blogspot.com. If you see it published elsewhere, it's been plagiarized without my consent.