Last week I shared how my girls and I made a house from a shoebox. Naturally once the house was complete, the next step was to add some furniture. Jessica had a clear idea of what items of furniture she wanted in the house. All I had to do was work out how to make them using the craft items we had around the house. Craft matchboxes, hot glue, washi tape and an egg box were the main starting points for most of the items of furniture. Here are all the different items of furniture we made for our house, and how we made them.
Bedroom
We made four items of furniture for the attic bedroom of our shoebox house: two beds, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. To make these, you will need:
- A small cardboard box
- Patterned paper
- Washi tape
- Two small pieces of cardboard
- Six craft matchboxes
- Brads
- Scraps of felt
- PVA glue
- Scissors
Bed – Glue two matchboxes together along the long edge. Glue a small piece of cardboard at one end to make a headboard. Cover the cardboard and matchboxes with washi tape and cut a pillow and blanket from scraps of felt.
Chest of drawers – Glue two matchboxes together, one on top of the other. Cover the matchbox sleeves with washi tape. Push a brad through each of the matchbox drawers to make the drawer handles.
Wardrobe – Cover a small cardboard box with patterned paper. Cut out two doors on one side of the cardboard box and use brads to create door handles.
Bathroom
There are three items of furniture in the bathroom: a bath, a sink and a toilet. To make these, you will need:
- A toilet roll tube
- An egg box
- Two matchboxes
- Scissors
- White tape
- Foil
- Black cardboard
- Washi tape (optional)
- PVA glue
- Tape
Sink – Glue together two matchboxes on top of each other. Cut a circle shape in the top matchbox. Cut the basin from an egg box and cover with foil. Insert into the cut-out circle in the matchbox. Roll small pieces of foil to make the taps and tape in place. Cover the sink with washi tape or white tape.
Toilet – Cut the top off a toilet roll tube. Cut along the length of the tube and push the ends in to make a smaller cylinder. Cover with white tape. Cut the bottom off an egg box and cover with white tape. Push this inside the cylinder to about halfway down and glue in place. Cut out the toilet seat and lid from black cardboard and glue in place.
Bath – Cut the top off the rest of the toilet roll tube. Cover in foil (or white tape) to make the bath shape. Roll up small pieces of foil to make the tapes and tape into place.
Lounge
There are three items of furniture in the lounge: two chairs and a TV. To make these, you will need:
- An egg box
- Six buttons
- Hot glue
- Scraps of felt
- One matchbox plus the drawer from another matchbox
- A small piece of silver cardboard
- Black tape
- Scissors
Armchairs – cut the chair shapes from the egg box. Cover with scraps of felt and cut small square of felt for cushions. Glue three buttons underneath each of the chair shapes.
TV – Cover a matchbox with black tape. Tape a small piece of silver cardboard to one side to make the TV screen. Cut the top off the drawer from another matchbox and cover with black tape. Glue to one of the long edges of the other matchbox to make the TV stand.
Dining room
We used craft sticks and hot glue to make the furniture for the dining room, plus a scrap of fabric for the table cloth. You will need about sixteen crafts sticks to make a table and two chairs.
Table – Glue together five craft sticks to make the table top. Cut four equal size lengths of craft stick for the table legs and glue in place.
Chairs – Glue three craft sticks together and cut to size to make the seat and back of the chair. Glue another three craft sticks together and cut to size for the front lengths. Glue together to make the chair. Cut two pieces of craft stick to the same length as the seat of the chair and glue underneath the seat.
Kitchen
The fridge-freezer, sink and cooker in the kitchen are made from matchboxes covered in white tape with details drawn on with a marker pen. Â You will need:
- Six matchboxes
- An egg box
- Foil
- White tape
- Black marker pen
- PVA glue
- Scissors
- Pencil (optional)
Fridge-freezer – Cut a matchbox in half horizontally. Glue to the top of another matchbox. Cover in white tape and draw the fridge-freezer doors on the front.
Cooker – Glue two matchboxes together, one on top of the other. Turn so that the two matchboxes are vertical and cover with white tape. Draw on the hob rings and oven doors with a marker pen.
Sink – Glue two matchboxes together, one on top of the other. Glue a piece of foil to the top matchbox and cut a circle through the foil and cardboard sleeve. Cut the basin from an egg box and cover in foil. Insert the basin into the cut-out circle and glue in place. Make ridges in the foil next to the basin using a pencil, or fingernails. Roll small pieces of foil to make the taps. Cover the matchboxes with white tape and draw details on with a marker pen.
Most of the furniture items were a little too fiddly to make for the girls, although they were able to glue the matchboxes together. They loved the finished result though and are still having fun playing with the house and its contents a few weeks on.
