Creating the rooms

So now I had a shell to work with. A plain, black cabinet whose interior was not only black, but partially glassed.

I didn't just want to display the items-- I wanted to create actual rooms. I wanted a ceiling, flooring, and walls to hang pictures on. I decided early on there would be no windows-- with so little room there really wasn't any point.

So I looked at getting plywood boxes made to fit in the space. This proved to be expensive-- in total there are eight rooms with the extension of the extra unit-- and would be heavy.

In the end I decided that cardboard boxes was the way to go. There were limitations in sizes (you can get them made to size-- at huge cost if you order small quantities), but I could find dimensions that were close enough.

Creating the shell inside a shell

What I did first was make the box as they arrived flat-packed. The box was going to go in with the base as the back wall-- meaning I didn't want to fold the flaps over each other, it was important that they were as flat as possible. You can see in the images below how careful I was to get a flat surface. They were then glued with PVA, and heavy weights added to keep it in place while it dried. I left each box for several days to make sure they had dried right through, the weights tended to retain moisture, and the cardboard would buckle if left to dry without weights.

Before:

And after:

The "height" of the box had to be trimmed so it fit into the space neatly. On some I also had to cut notches to allow the sliding doors of the main unit to open.

However, this also left another issue. The size of box that would fit left a ridge where the box edges are sealed together.

I didn't want this to be visible, so I had to cut a piece of carboard the same depth to level out the floor.

Again, this was weighted down (with a miniature fireplace and a cast-iron doorstop!) and left for a full week.

Just a note on glues, I used PVA. Apparently that isn't the right glue to use, as when it dries, the glue pulls the cardboard out of shape. You're much better off with a polymer or nitrocellulose glue. These are not water soluble glues, in case you were wondering.

Because the edge of the item is cardboard, it has a distinctive pattern.

I needed to cover it, so out came my trust gummed paper tape. I've had this since I was an art student.

I started out putting some on each corner, being careful to not create creases.

Then finished off along the long edges. Just a warning, the cardboard can warp when it's drying, so be careful how much water you put on, and try to weight it down as it dries.