Dollhouse Bookcase

[Marvin Keys]

My wife found a "Dollhouse Bookcase" in a Pottery Barn catalog for $349.00. After I quit laughing, I told her that I would be able to make it from the leftovers from one of my previous projects. Even though I made it out of nicer wood than was necessary (oak plywood), since it was leftovers that were oddly shaped, this project fit it nicely. Here is my daughter helping out with the assembly process. She is learning the important principle of "Measure Twice, Cut Once".

[Marvin Keys]

Here you can see the assembled bookcase.

[Marvin Keys]

Finally, you can see the finished project being used by my daughter.

[Jim Becker]

Nice job, Marvin! Very cute and just the ticket for the job at hand!

[Karl Laustrup]

That is way kewel Marvin. While your daughter may not know it now, she will appreciate that bookcase much more than the one from the barn. And I'd venture to guess it'll last a lot longer too.

What was that you were teaching your daugher? Measure how many times and cut how many times? :D

Karl

[Vaughn McMillan]

Nice job. Marvin. If you run into anyone else who wants one, tell them I'd be glad to make one for $348.00. ;)

- Vaughn

[Marvin Keys]

You will have to get in line behind me. If someone wanted to pay me $348 for these, I certainly wouldn't say no. $20.00 worth of materials, a couple of hours of my time... Maybe if I get too busy making them, I can send the excess over to you.:D

[Jason Tuinstra]

Marvin, great idea. It looks perfect!

[Harish C. Mathur]

Very nice! How are the pieces joined? Biscuits?

[Peter Pedisich]

Marvin,

Great job, and much better made then the original I'm sure.

Thanks for sharing.

Pete

[Marvin Keys]

The shelves are all dadoed, but where the roof angles meet each other and where the roof meets the sides, there are biscuits and finally, the little wrap around at the base of the unit I used pocket holes.

[Frank Chaffee]

Marvin,
Your daughter’s memories of the adventures she has in that space will be with her forever. The picture of her looking at a book while sitting in Her space is so touching that I saved it to my Creek photo file.
This Dollhouse Bookcase is woodworking at it’s finest!
Frank

[Matt Kennedy]

Nice job! Cute daughter.

- You know you're a parent when you like looking at pictures of people kids as much as their woodworking projects :)

Matt

[Marvin Keys]

I did find a picture of the original online, so I thought I would post it so you could see the inspiration. For what it's worth, it is currently on sale for $299.

[Charles McKinley]

Nice job Marvin,

It looks like you have quite the helper there. When I made my kid's shelves it used a whole sheet of ply making it to the PB specs. The next one I make will only have 8" shelves insted of the 11" like the one in the catalog.

Did you attach it to the wall so it can't tip over?

[Marvin Keys]

I didn't end up making it as wide as the original because my wife thought the 42" width was a bit much. I ended up with 36" width. Otherwise the depth and height dimensions are pretty close. It's a good thing too, because some of those children's books are tall and/or wide.

[Steve Beadle]

My niece saw the same dollhouse bookcase in that Pottery Barn catalogue and asked if I could make one for her daughter. Of course I could! And here is a picture of the (unpainted) result. I used scrap melamine that came from my grandniece's grandfather's cabinet shop (he's gone now, so it made the project all the more meaningful). I thought about adding a little chimney, but haven't gotten around to it.

[Howard Rosenberg]

Thank you for sharing these photos.

May I ask you some design/assembly questions?

How are the shelves joined?
How about the back?

Thank you.
Howard Rosenberg

[Marvin Keys]

I routed out a 3/4" dado for each of the horizontal shelves and clamped and glued them in place. The back was 1/8" backerboard painted white and stapled in place with a staple gun. I figured it was much easier than those annoying little nails that I can never hammer in.

[Roy Hatch]

Marvin, It was fascinating to see the picture of your dollhouse. It prompted me to look through some old photos and compare with one I helped a friend build in my shop. In this pic, his granddaughter is lounging on one of the shelves. (I have grave doubts that my first attempt to post a pic will work.)