PROJECT: Making a Doll Armoire out of a Jewelry Armoire

I can't seem to stop buying jewelry armoires from my local "antique" (read: junk) shop.  They come cheap, too: $8 for small ones, $12 for large ones, $15 for the best ones.  That's pennies to the dollar compared to what real doll armoires cost.  They aren't outfitted for dolls though but the potential is there so I keep buying them. (I know you can all relate to my OCD tendencies)  They have been stacking up in my doll room and I have finally decided to figure out how to convert them.

Let's get started.  Here's what you need for this project:

1) jewelry armoire
2) wire clothes hanger
3) small screwdriver set (I got this one at The Dollar Tree for...$1)
4) wire cutters

and you may need:

5) small wooden spools, found at Michael's in the wood craft aisle.  Here's a close-up:

That's a pretty small list of supplies!  Here's a jewelry armoire I bought at said shop for $8:

It's just the right height for Poppy Parker.  I know this is supposed to be about Evangeline but Evangeline's official armoire is too big for my attic scene so I need to make some of my own.  Evangeline's backstory says that she lives in an attic filled with armoires filled with old clothing.  You could just as easily get a larger jewelry armoire and do the same thing for Evangeline.   In fact, I have several that will work for EG but I am practicing on this one for Poppy first.   Anyway, the inside of these armoires usually look like some version of this:

They have little spin-y things that spin around and you hang your necklaces on them:

You need to remove these first.  This is easily done.  Put your thumb and index finger at the bottom of the spin-y thing and push it up.  This will expose a little plastic knob that is holding it in place.  Use the wire cutters or a strong pair of scissors to cut off the knob and then the spin-y thing will just fall off.  Once the spin-y thing is gone you will be left with the vertical rod that it was attached to.  It will look like this:

The little rods are held in by screws.  Use a small screwdriver set to easily remove them.   Next, take your wire cutters and your wire hanger.  Hold the long straight part of the hanger up to the armoire.  You want to cut the wire hanger ever so slightly larger (like 1/16 of an inch) than the width of the inside of the armoire.  Using your wire cutters, make like you're going to snip the piece of hanger at one end.  You'll never be able to cut through a hanger with normal wire cutters but just keep squeezing as hard as you can.  After you have squeezed hard enough to have cut little notches in the hanger you should be able to snap the piece of hanger off.  Do this for both ends and you will have created your clothing rod.

Most of these jewelry armoires are lined with velvet and that's good because then you can just push the rod into place and the velvet gives the rod something to hold on to.  In other words,  you don't need any glue, screws or other hardware.  Just be sure to cut the piece of hanger ever so slightly larger.  I did it by holding the hanger up to the armoire to get the correct size, I did not use a ruler for this project at all.  This project took about 5 minutes.  Here's a pic of Poppy's new armoire:

The little earring dividers on the bottom make perfect storage for gloves, purses, and shoes!  I have about 6 more of these things to go.  I will post pics of them in later posts!  By the way, I have seen armoires like this at Walmart, Target, yard sales, everywhere!

NOTE: If your armoire is smooth wood or glass inside then that is where the mini spools come in.  Paint the spools if you wish to make them a more appropriate color or stain.  Glue one of them into the armoire where the clothing rod will meet the armoire wall.  Once it is dry insert the piece of wire hanger into the hole in the spool.  Then slip the other spool over the other end of the piece of wire hanger and then glue that spool to the opposite armoire wall.  Once that dries, you're set!