I’ve got an awesome craft prepared for you guys today: a shower made out of an American Girl doll box. Enjoy!
Supplies:
-American Girl doll box
-masking tape
-paint (gray, white, red, and blue)
-kebab skewer
-pencil
-scissors
-hot glue gun
-thin fabric (for shower curtain)
-small drawer pull (round)
-Mod Podge
-milk jug lid
-silver spray paint
-metal coathanger
-wire cutter
-glass/ceramic tiles (small)
-medium-sized pom pom (any color)
-cord/yarn (same color as pom pom)
-self-adhesive hook
-Sculpey (any color)
-cardboard
-old towel
-sewing pin
The first step is to prepare the box. Rip out all the pieces of tape stuck to the inside. Don’t worry if some of the paper peels off, too. If that happens, just paint over it with light gray.
There are two holes at the bottom of the box and a slit near the top. Cover them in masking tape and paint over them.
Next, hold a kebab skewer across the front of the doll box. Mark where it meets the inside of the box (7 5/16 in.) and cut there. This is the shower rod.
To make the shower curtain, first pick the fabric that you want to use (mine is from an actual shower curtain). Cut it to 16 ½ in. x 7 ¼ in. Then fold the top over about half an inch and hot glue it down, creating a loop. Feed the dowel rod through it.
To keep the fabric from unraveling, fold every unfinished edge over about ¼ in. and hot glue it down.
Attach the shower curtain to the box by hot gluing the ends of the rod.
For the shower dial, take a small drawer pull and paint a line of red on one side and a line of blue on the other. Once it’s dried, brush Mod Podge over it so it won’t rub off.
Use a pencil to poke a hole in the side of the box (I made the hole on my left). Stick the drawer pull through the hole.
Next, make the shower head. I covered a milk jug lid with masking tape and spray painted it silver (the tape was so the paint would stick better). But if you don’t have spray paint, I think acrylic would work, too.
Using wire cutters, cut the top off a metal coathanger just above the curve (you might need an adult’s help with this). Then hot glue the end of the hanger to the lid.
Glue the shower head to the box above the dial. Try to get it as close to the top of the box as you can, or else your doll won’t be able to fit in the shower without hitting their head on it.
Now we’re going to do the floor. Draw a circle on the bottom of the box. Paint gray lines across it for the shower drain.
This part takes a long time, but the results are worth it. Glue small glass/ceramic tiles to the floor around the drain. If you don’t have tiles, scrapbook paper or paint will look nice, too.
I used tile nippers to break some pieces apart so I could glue them into small spaces.
Now that the shower itself is done, it’s time to make some cute accessories!
Loofah/poofy scrubby thing:
All you need is a pom pom, cord or yarn, and hot glue.
Cut the cord to the length you want, but make sure it’s long enough that a doll’s hand can fit through it. Then hot glue the ends of the cord to the center of the pom pom.
Glue a self-adhesive hook (or bent wire) to the same wall that the dial and shower head are on. Hang the loofah on it.
Soap:
Make a rectangle out of Sculpey (mine is 1 ¼ in. x 15/16 in.). Bake it according to the directions on the package. When it’s cool, cover it in Mod Podge so it will dry shiny.
To make a shelf for the soap, cut a piece of cardboard that’s 2 in. x 1 ¼ in. Paint it light gray and glue it to the wall by the loofah’s hook.
Towel:
Take an old hand/bath towel and cut it to 15 ¼ in. x 7 ½ in. Wrap it around your doll and secure it with a sewing pin.
These tiny bottles of soap and hair products are freebies from hotels.
Now you have a cute shower for your dollhouse!
Hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial! If you make this, I’d love to see pictures. Email them to me at happyhouseofag@gmail.com.
It took me two days, several burnt fingers, and three broken nails to make this shower. I ran out of tiles when I was almost done, so I had to go buy some more, but they weren’t the same size. I ended up having to tear out nearly all the tiles and redo the whole floor. Moral of the story: make sure you have enough tiles before you start!
xo
Loren