DIY Blog - A Dabbled Dwelling

Easily Access Both Sides of the Dollhouse with This Useful Stand

March 28, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

I got an adorable dollhouse from Melissa and Doug for my middle daughters birthday. She desperately wanted one, and plays with it a lot. When I redid her room I wanted to make the dollhouse accessible with a way to contain all of the pieces that go with it. It was hard to find exactly what I was looking for, so I built a stand that would accomplish what I needed.

How I Built a Dollhouse Stand

I started with an idea and a sheet of plywood. Since I needed to build a space for a storage drawer I started by building, well, a box. I cut the plywood to size and used wood glue and my nail gun to build the outside of the box.

I made sure to add a face and a back to the box, and then added these adorable feet. After the glue was dry I sanded the entire piece to ensure that it would be a smooth finish when I painted. I built a drawer box to fit in the face of the box and then added soft close drawer hardware.

Woman attaches furniture feet to drawer box

I built a drawer front using plywood and 1x4s, and then painted the entire thing white. A word of warning, keep the paint out of reach of your toddlers! When the paint was dry, I used construction adhesive to attach a lazy Susan to the top of the drawer. The dollhouse sits on top of the lazy Susan and viola! The dollhouse spins and is easily accessible from both sides.

Rotating Dollhouse Stand Success

This project kind of started as a whim, but I think it was super successful. My girls can easily play with both sides of the dollhouse and when it’s not being used we can have the cuter front side on display. I love the drawer because it is a place to keep all of the little pieces. This is such a cute addition to my girls’ room and it gets used A LOT. Click here to see it in action!

How to Make a Half Bath Remodel Take the Look From Gloomy to Glam

March 26, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

The downstairs half bathroom felt like a dungeon of doom. I switched out the hinged door to a pocket door a while ago but was waiting for the right time to address the rest of the dungeon. After I finished the girls’ bathroom upstairs and my teenager’s closet, it was finally time to address the downstairs half bathroom. I am so excited about this half bath remodel, it has been a long time coming!

Easy Updates to Take it to the Next Level

There is so much I wanted to do in this bathroom. Like I said, dungeon of doom. It needed: new floors, updated counters, better paint, and stylish decor. I really had my work cut out for me and I also really wanted to keep this remodel affordable. I started the remodel by painting the ugly, outdated granite countertop. The Dwil Paint kit was so helpful, it included everything I needed to update those counters. It was a very inexpensive, easy way to update the look of the dark countertops.

Once that was done, I painted the walls a beautiful, clean white. I wanted to add some natural feeling touches to the bathroom and decided on a natural wood slat wall on the back wall. For the slat wall I stained 1x2s and cut them to length. I used a spare piece of wood as a spacer and hung the boards on the wall using my nail gun. To add a little more pizazz I built a floating shelf to hang on the slat wall. For the shelf I built a simple frame using 1x2s. Then I used plywood to stain and cover the frame.

Woman builds frame for floating shelf using 1x2s

The final touch in this bathroom is another gorgeous accent wall. I used peel and stick tiles by Smart Tile to get this amazing wall. It was simple and inexpensive and so so beautiful.

Woman peels backing of peel and stick tiles

Woman applies peel and stick tile to wall

Budget Half Bath Remodel Success!

Half bathroom success! The moody green tile and asymmetrical mirror add a fun accent to this bathroom and the slat wall gives it some texture. The room got new floors, clean counters, beautiful accents, and stylish decor. I spent a total of $600 to update this bathroom and it was well worth it! Click here to see the whole project.

Update Your Dingy Granite With a Super Easy Kit

March 16, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

It was time to update my downstairs half bath. The house is overwhelmingly brown, since it was updated sometime in the early 2000’s and was totally not my style. This half bathroom had dark walls and super dingy brown granite countertops. With the room being so small, it felt even tighter with the dark color on the walls and the brown cabinets and countertops. I set out to makeover the bathroom, but I really wanted to keep the budget for this bathroom low to allocate my resources to more important projects.

Woman stands in front of old granite countertop

The Dwil Kit Makes it Super Easy to Update Your Granite

The Dwil Paint Kit comes with everything you need to paint your granite! It has the paint, brush, roller, plastic, and even the tape. I started by taping off the area that I wanted to paint. After that I draped plastic to protect the cabinet and added the hardener to the paint and stirred according to the directions. I used the included brush to cut in the edges and around the sink, then the roller to paint the rest of the counter. The paint is self leveling and dries pretty quickly, so apply thin coats and you can repeat in two hours. I did four coats, and then let it cure for 24 hours.

Woman tapes edges of countertop to prep for paint

Woman painting edges and corners of tile

So, How Did It Turn Out?

I love it! It looks great and dried into a super durable hard finish. This paint kit was amazing and I would 100% use it again. It has everything you need and comes in different colors. I have used other tub and tile paint kits and this one made the whole process so much easier. Painted tile has always worked well for me, and I am so glad that this painted granite turned out so nicely. It opens up a whole world of DIY possibilities for doing projects on a budget! See me paint the granite here.