How To Make A Doll Desk

Hello, friends!  Today I (Cedar Wood) will be showing you how to make a desk out of…can you guess?…

DIY Desk For A Doll
Wood!

This project came about because I desperately needed something to replace the table we made for our Doll Craft Room.

Paperboard doll desk.

Although I really liked this table, its little legs were constantly threatening to snap (I told Amanda those sticks were too thin!).

So last week I decided the time had come to replace it.  However, I wanted something besides your standard ol’ table.  I wanted something more like a writing…or better yet, a crafting desk.

This is just a rough sketch of what I had in mind, but you get the idea.  So I grabbed my tools and got started.

How To Make A Doll Desk:

Material needed:

  1. 1/16-inch thick craft wood.  I used two board that were 3″ wide and 24″ long).

  2. An Exacto knife.  And remember to be careful—Exacto knives are super sharp!

  3. Glue.  I used wood glue, but any glue will work…even hot glue.   

  4. Paint.  Be creative and paint it whatever color you like!

Amanda suggested making the desk out popsicle sticks, but I insisted on using craft wood.

Popsicle sticks sometimes warp, but this craft wood is straight as a board.
It’s impossible to build anything without knowing the dimensions, so you’ll need to decide how big you want your desk to be.

Decide how tall and wide you want the desk to be.

Once you’ve decided on a size, measure and cut out the pieces from the craft wood.

Cut out pieces for the desk.
I have seven pieces:

  1. Two pieces for the sides (one right and one left).

  2. One piece for the top.

  3. One piece for the bottom.

  4. A piece for a middle divider.

  5. And two pieces for the back.

Once everything is cut out we can start building the desk.  I glued two pieces together for the back.

The desk will be about 4 1/2 inches tall and 4 3/4 inches wide.

Because this board is only 3″ wide I had to use two pieces to make the back side tall enough.  After giving the back time to dry, I then glued the right and left sides to the back section.

Glue sides to back of desk.
After the back and the sides have set, glue on the bottom piece.


And then the top piece.

Image of Cedar Wood putting top on desk.
Before going any further, I’m going to paint the inside of the desk bright white.  If you choose to paint your desk, it’s a lot easier to do this step now than it will be after adding the middle divider and shelves. 

Image of Cedar Wood painted desk.
Yes, I am using “Behr Premium Paint”!  You see, Amanda and her family are in the middle of remodeling their house….

...and when you're remodeling you're bound to have

So, when she found out I needed white paint, Amanda’s mother gave me this–and I’d be a fool to pass on “one coat coverage”!  However, you can definitely use regular craft paint for this project.

After painting the interior, I painted then glued in the middle divider.


This piece is going to act as a “third wall” and give us an area for shelves and a drawer. 

It's starting to look like a real desk!
Now, let’s get those shelves started!

Cut out two rectangles and trim them until they fit between the outer wall and middle divider.  These rectangles are your shelves.

Use an exacto knife to cut thin wood for shelves.
Paint the shelves the same color as the interior and glue them in place:

Image of Cedar Wood painting shelves for desk.
The desk looks good but needs more detail.
I don’t like these sharp angles where the back and sides connect, so I’m going to cut a couple of decorative corners from craft wood and glue them on.  I’m also going to add a shelf to the very top.

I made a few templates out of paper to see what style corner I liked best:


Hmmm, it’s kind of hard to see them.  Darn poster board!  Let me fix that…

Here we go!

Four different curved edges for desk.
Out of these four styles…

This one is my favorite.
Amanda would say making the corners is optional, but I disagree.  I’m a “vintage style” girl and like for my furniture to have character and architectural features.  Had I thought about this earlier I would have made the sides taller and simply cut the top of each into a neat curve instead of adding an extra piece.  But I didn’t, so I’ll have to add these special elements separately.

First, I’m going to trace the template I made onto another piece of craft wood:

Image of Cedar Wood tracing template onto craft wood.
I adjusted the size a little to give room for the top shelf.

Then cut out two pieces–one for the right side and one for the left and glued each piece to the corners of the desk.

Glue curved edges to corners of doll desk.
Now I can add a popsicle stick shelf to the top.

Finally, I’m going to glue a few super thin craft sticks to the unfinished edges and give this desk even more detail.

Adding thin popsicle sticks to edges of desk for trim.

I made a drawer using one large popsicle stick plus a few small ones.

Now it’s time to paint the outside!  I want this to look like an old piece of furniture so I’m painting the whole thing white.


Then “distressing” it using a dry brush and brown paint.

Perfection!

Since the supplies were handy, I went ahead and painted my storage cubes to match my new desk.


Oh yes, I also added a handle to the drawer.  It’s nothing fancy–just a small tree branch.

The very last step is to take everything outside for a good spray of matte sealer.

Then I can move into the room and put my craft supplies back in order!

Cedar Wood pushes her new desk into her room.
Cedar Wood is has finished redecorating her room and is tired.
Image of Kitty Cheshire tricks Cedar Wood into leaving then takes a nap on Cedar's bed.

4 Comments

  4. Awesome!:)
    I love watching your craft ideas come to life!:)

    -Quinley

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