Tutorial: Miniature floor boards for diorama or doll's house

I've been slowly making a sort of diorama / doll's house room to display my cloth art dolls in. As with most of the creative projects I take on, this one took a lot more time and effort than I anticipated... but I've really enjoyed it and have learned a lot along the way. 

Diorama / room made using coffee-stained popsicle sticks

I wanted to make one large room with interchangeable walls, windows, a door and wooden floor boards.  I really love the way it's turned out - kind of like a cottage or cabin in the woods. I'll continue working on it - adding things like book shelves, furniture, curtains etc., but just wanted to show you what it looks like at this stage and describe how I made the floor, windows and door.  

​I'll start off by explaining how I made the tiny floor boards, and save the window/door tutorial for a later post...

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To make the floor boards

You will need:

• ​A large piece of plywood or MDF board for the base - cut to the size and shape you'd like your floor space to be
• Lots and lots of wooden popsicle sticks (paddle pop sticks here in Australia)
• Scissors
• PVA or wood glue
• Coffee grounds and vegetable oil
• Vinegar, rusty nails, glass jar
• Rag

Instructions:

1. Trim the rounded ends off each of your popsicle sticks to give them straight ends (like real floor boards).
2. Glue the popsicle sticks onto your board in rows, starting from one end. 
3. To get a smooth, worn-looking surface, give your floorboards a sand.
4. Stain your floor boards to achieve the colour you'd like (*See wood stain suggestions below).
5. To give my floor a slightly glossy finish, I rubbed it with a leather shoe wax / polish. Just wipe it all over then buff it with a clean cloth.

Suggestions for non-toxic DIY wood stains*:

• Dark grey/black: wipe with a solution made by soaking a couple of rusty nails in white vinegar for a day. 
• Light warm brown: wipe with a solution made by soaking fresh coffee grounds in vegetable oil. Each layer will darken your wood a little more.
• Any colour: rub leather shoe polish all over your floor boards in whatever colour you like. This creates a good colour as well as a bit of a shine.

One of my dolls inspecting the new space.