Small Telephone Box Cabinet

In this Instructable I will show you how to make a small display cabinet in the shape of an iconic British telephone box. 

It's really simple to make and doesn't require many tools. Could be a great gift for an Anglophile, though you don't have to be one to enjoy it .

Just so you can get a rough idea of how small it is- If you choose to make it into a display cabinet, adding the shelf in the middle will give you just enough space to store 3-4 bottles of nail polish on each shelf (6-8 bottles total).

1) Small wooden key cabinet - I got it from a craft store, it's approximately 7x5x2.5 inches big and I saw similar designs sold internationally, so wherever you are from, you will probably be able to find similar cabinet locally

2) Filler - regular wood filler, balsa wood filler or modelling filler

3) Two wooden popsicles and a small, rectangular piece or thin wood or thick cardboard (for the shelf) 

4) Long strip of 3mm thick balsa wood (that's to make the grate # for the window)

5) Small ball of air drying clay or polymer clay and a small cookie cutter in the shape of a crown (if you don't have any of that, you can print the shape of a crown, cut it out and paint it gold or black) 

6) Hot glue gun and strong, fast drying multipurpose glue 

7) Acrylic red paint and clear matt or satin varnish 

8) Some tools- pallet knife, craft knife, sanding paper, ruler, scissors, screwdriver, paint brushes 

Originally this was meant to be used to hang keys, so the cabinet comes with hooks. If you want to keep it for the original purpose, simply leave the interior as it is.

If you want to make a shelf, you have to remove the hooks from the inside. It's easy to pry it away with a combination of flat screwdriver, craft knife, metal spatula and some elbow grease. 

Next, I unscrewed the hinges and separated the door from the main part. There should be hooks at the back, you might want to unscrew them for a time being as well. 

I then pried away the top part of the cabinet. It will make for a better proportioned telephone box. 

It's glued with a weak glue so I just wedged a metal spatula between the wooden slat and the main body of the cabinet and lightly pounded the spatula with a hammer. 

I measured the top of the cabinet and used that to sketch the shape of the dome. I cut out a paper template and then used that to cut several (5) pieces out of strong cardboard. 

I used hot glue to glue the cardboard pieces to the roof to create a skeleton. 

Then, I cut out a long strip of cardboard to cover the roof of the skeleton. This piece of cardboard had to be scored along the length to facilitate the smooth curve. 

Next, I covered the entire roof top in a thin layer of wood filler. Once it was dry I added one more thin layer and then sanded it smooth.

While I waited for the filler to set, I made the crown and the door grate, but I forgot to take pictures of the process. 

• I made the crown out of air clay and I used a small crown cookie cutter to cut it out. Painted it gold and varnished afterwards. 
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• The grate was made with a long strip of square balsa stick, approximately 3x3mm thick. I measured the width and length of the "glass" part of the door and then sketched (with a ruler) the placements of the wooden sticks. I then cut the balsa wood to size with a small hand saw and glued them with a strong glue. 
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• I printed the word TELEPHONE (outlined in a black rectangle) in several different fonts and sizes and cut them all out. Then, I played around to decide which one would fit the cabinet and when I found one, I measured the size of the rectangle and then cut two popsicles to match the size. 

I stacked two trimmed popsicles together and used strong glue to stick it to the sanded roof. 

I then glued the shelf to the inside of the cabinet.

I used masking tape and paper to protect the plastic glass inside the door and then I painted everything red.

I needed two coats before I was able to finish the cabinet off with some clear, matt varnish. 

Last step is to glue the TELEPHONE paper strip to the top, then glue the crown and screw the hinges and the hooks at the back.