How I Made the Bathroom Fixtures- Toilet

Bathroom, finished

In the $5 dollhouse, everything in the bathroom was made from scrap wood and found items.  This dollhouse is for a 4 year old child with even younger siblings, so everything has to be sturdy and kid-safe.  No tiny or dainty, fragile fixtures here!  ;-)   See previous posts for how to make flooring, sink and tub.   Floor tiles, towels and door between bathroom and bedroom were all printed out and glued on.  The baseboard trim and window trim is cut from white craft foam.

The toilet was a challenge.   How do you make a modern toilet from a piece of wood, short of being a master carver?   I guess I could have modeled it out of air-dry or polymer clay, but I didn't think of that until after I finished making the one shown below.  But this came out OK and was quick and easy.  Next time I'll do better.   Maybe I'll make a new one out of clay when they're a little older.  *G*

The bottom, base, of the toilet is a miniature wood flower pot. It was just the right scale!  The toilet llid is a ready-made wood disk.  The tank is a small rectangular block of basswood.   I drilled a small hole on one side of flower pot and a matching hole in bottom of tank block.   A sturdy wire was threaded thru the holes and bent to connect the 2 parts.  Before glueing, the bendy piece of a flex-straw was added to cover the wire.   Everything was painted white and a flush handle was painted on.

How to attach the lid was a challenge.   I thought it might be fun if the kids could lift the lid....but that wouldn't happen if it was glued on.    After attempting a few different things, I ended up using a couple of pieces of scrap magnetic vinyl.   One piece was glued to flower pot as the toilet seat, the other piece was the hinge and also glued to the lid.  To make the hinge work, the wire that connects the base to the tank was passed thru the hinge before straw was added.    Now the lid open and closes magnetically.    How fun is that!  LOL

Stay tuned ....almost finished with this project!