DIY 1/12 Scale Doll House Mini Furniture | How to Make a Modern Miniature Side Table, Lamp, Vase & Stool

I love creating miniatures...but what I love even more are miniatures I've made by transforming mundane oddments I've found in everyday life.

Suddenly, a button can become a lamp! Or a peg forms the legs of a stool! Trying to figure out how to turn random items around the house into a mini creations is so fun, and I hope you'll join in :)

1. A large flat button without holes going through. I found a leather-covered metal button in my collection with a shank on the back. It's just over 1"/2.5 cm in diameter
2. Wooden Duffle coat/toggle button; I bought vintage buttons off Ebay.
3. Wooden clothes peg; or use just a scrap of wood if you prefer
4. Large paperclips; I used 2. You could instead just use other wire you may already have
5. Strong, clear all-purpose glue; I used UHU
6. PVA glue
7. Wood glue; I started with PVA but it wasn't really strong enough for wood, so I switched to Gorilla wood glue
8. Wood sheet; obeche, basswood or similar is ideal, and you should find this in modelling shops. You could use wood a little thicker than the 1/8"/3 mm sheet I used. You'll need a piece at least 3 x 5"/7 x 12 cm to make the table
9. Wood strip; this is for the table legs and frame. I used both 3/16"/5 mm square strip and 1/8"/3 x 3 mm square strip
10. Small scraps of a translucent material, such as organza or voile. Woven, not stretchy.
11. Wire cutters & jewellery pliers
12. A small vice (optional but useful)
13. Craft knife & cutting mat
14. Pencil
15. Scissors
16. Cocktail stick or similar
17. Metal ruler
18. Drill (optional)
19. Superglue (optional)
20. Fine saw blade and a sawing block; I used a razor saw and a mitre box.
21. Sandpaper in at least a couple of different grits; I used 220 for removing material, and 1000 for a fine finish.
22. Breathing mask
23. Paper or fabric; a small piece for the lampshade
24. Stain/oil/wax/varnish (optional); as a finish for the wooden items

The first step is to saw the wooden toggle button in half (ish).

To do this, hold the button inside the mitre box so it's pushed up against one side. Place the razor saw in the middle slots and line it up with where you want to cut.

We need to cut on one side of the indentation in the centre of the button, so we'll end up with one piece with a curved top, and the other piece with flat ends. See photos for more info.

Once the saw is lined up correctly, saw straight through.

Make sure to wear a breathing mask to do all of the woodwork (particularly the sanding) during this project, and also ensure you're in a well ventilated room.

You don't have to drill these pieces, but it gives you more options if you do; for the vase, it means you can put a little flower inside, and for the lamp it means there's the option to wire it up at a later date (or now) if you want a working LED lamp.

Clamp each wooden piece in position, line up the drill bit, and drill straight down. I drilled partway into the top of the vase using a 2 mm drill bit, trying to make the hole as centred as possible.

Then I drilled all of the way through the centre of the lamp (from both directions so the holes were easier to place in the centre at each end), and also into the back of the lamp so both holes joined up in the middle.

Use sandpaper all over these pieces to get a nice clean finish, and sand the ends flat. I used the 220 grit and then the 1000. Remember the breathing mask etc.

Take a large paperclip and use your pliers to staighten it out (or just start with a piece of regular wire).

Shape the wire into a circle shape that's around 7/8"/2.2 cm in diameter. It's useful to find something cylindrical to shape this around - I used a glue stick.

Then repeat this so that you have 2 rings the same size. Squash them flat between two hard surfaces.

Then glue each of them (using strong clear glue) onto a piece of translucent fabric. Leave to dry.

Cut the remaining pieces of wire into 3 short identical lengths. Mine each measured 5/8"/1.5 cm long. The proportions of your lamp are of course up to you.

Apply strong clear glue (or superglue) to one end of each piece of wire, and use your pliers to help you position these upright evenly around one of the rings - on the inside of that ring.

You'll need to hold them still for a short time before you can leave them to dry.

Once they are dry, apply more glue to the tops of these vertical pieces, then place the other ring on top. Double check the wires are all inside the rings and placed vertically, then leave to dry.

If you want to use fabric for the lampshade, you can cut out a strip to wrap around the frame instead (and hem the edges if the fabric is the type that frays), but I'm going to use regular white printer paper.

Cut a length of paper approx. 1"/2.5 cm wide and 5 3/4"/14.5 cm long.

Gently score widthwise across the paper every 5 mm, then fold back-and-forth along these scored lines to make a concertina. Glue together the ends of the paper strip by slightly overlapping them. I applied PVA glue using a cocktail stick for accuracy.

Trim the excess fabric off from around the rings, then apply a little PVA to the outside of both rings. Attach the paper concertina around the outside of the rings. Position the paper so it's evenly folded all of the way around, and level.

Leave to dry. Then glue the top of the wooden lamp base to the centre of the fabric in the lower ring of the lampshade. Once dry, the lampshade is complete :)

First, remove the shank from the button using wire cutters and pliers. I accidentally dropped a small piece of the shank inside the button, so I had to squeeze some glue into one of the holes to stop it shaking around in there!

Disassemble the wooden peg, lay each leg on its side in the mitre box, and use the saw to cut off the point. Cut each piece of the peg just before the indent that's for the spring to sit in.

Draw a pencil line down the centre of the widest side on each of these points, and cut along the lines. This will give you 4 legs.

Sand then briefly to neaten them up and ensure they are all the same size.

Use the strong clear glue to attach the legs to the underside of the button. I decided to only attach 3 legs in the end, rather than 4, as I thought it looked better.

Make sure the legs are all orientated with the same tapered side facing inwards, and they are evenly spaced.

Leave to dry. If there is excess glue, you can remove it with your craft knife to neaten it up.

Mark out and cut 4 x 2 1/4"/5.7 cm lengths from your 3/16"/5 mm square wood strip.

Sand the ends flat, making sure all the legs are the same length.

For the tabletop, cut a square out of the 1/8"/3 mm thick wood sheet that measures 2 3/4"/7 cm square. First mark out the square in pencil, then use your craft knife and metal ruler to cut along the lines. You'll need to go over the lines with your knife a fair few times before you cut through. I went most of the way through on one side, then turned the wood over and completed the cuts from the other side.

A saw can be used instead (along with a bench peg) if you have those available.

Sandpaper the edges briefly and slightly round the corners by smoothly rotating the wood as you drag it along the sandpaper.

Then for the shelf, cut a smaller square out of the same piece of wood sheet; this time measuring 2"/5 cm square. Briefly sand the edges but don't round the corners.

Use your craft knife again to cut the corners out of the smaller square (the shelf). The size of these cut-outs needs to be the same as the cross-section of the table legs i.e. 3/16"/5 mm square.

You now need to cut 4 lengths of wood from the 1/8"/3 mm square wood strip, and these pieces will be supports that fit between the table legs.

These need to be cut so that they are the same lengths as the outside edges of the shelf.

In preparation for the glueing step, get some wood glue and a cocktail stick ready, and also faintly mark where these supports need to be glued; do this by centreing the shelf on the underside of the tabletop and drawing lightly alongside the edges.

Use wood glue and a cocktail stick to attach the support pieces and the legs to the underside of the tabletop, making sure everything is centred.

Make sure the legs are all spaced the correct amount apart by lining them up with the cut-out corners in the shelf (as shown in the photo). Then leave the glue to dry.

To remove the pencil marks you can use sandpaper.

Finally, use wood glue to attach the shelf in place too, making sure it is level. I just eyeballed the placement of it; attaching it 'a bit' below the middle of the legs.

And that's it, you have now created your little furniture set!

Feel free to apply some kind of finish to the wood as a last step, whether that's paint, stain, oil, wax...whatever is your preference.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable :D