Make a Mixed Media Mini Room!

Build a mixed media mini room that you have complete freedom to create and design using your own ideas and talents! These instructions are a guide to help you create your own masterpiece!

Supplies

ELECTRONICS

• Micro Arduino Button (1)
• Mini Micro Slide Switch (1)
• Power Switch (1)
• Breadboard Jumper Wires
• Mini Breadboard (2)
• Arduino Uno (1)
• 5mm LEDs (2+)
• Resistor (1)
• DF Player Mini (1)
• Mini Speaker (1)
• Microchip (1)
• 9V Battery & Power Adapter
• Coin Cell Battery & Power Adapter Switch
• Shrink Wrap Tube or Electrical Tape

STRUCTURE

• ⅛ IN 30” X 30” Plywood Panel (1)
• ¼ IN 30” X 30” Plywood Panel (1)
• ⅛ IN 12” X 12” Sheet of White Acrylic (2)
• ⅛ IN 12” X 12” Sheet of Clear Acrylic (1)
• Acrylic Gesso
• Acrylic Paint & Brushes
• E600 Glue

DECOR

• 5 mm Yarn (at least 3 colors of choice)
• 4.5 mm Crochet Hook
• Fiber-Fil/Poly-Fil/Stuffing (toilet paper or tissues work great!)
• 8” X 8” Latch Hook Canvas Grid
• Latch Hook
• 3D Print Filament
• Spare Lego Pieces (preferably flowers/leafs)
• Assortments of materials, such as: paper clips, straws, colored paper, etc.

ACCESS TO:

• Soldering Equipment
• Heat Gun (optional)
• Laser Cutter
• 3D Printer (optional)
• Assortment of Tools

Step 1: Light It Up!

Grab a breadboard, mini switch, jumper wires, LEDs, coin cell battery, & the coin cell battery adapter. Plug the positive side of the battery into the positive rail of the breadboard and the negative side into the rail. Put your switch in any place parallel to the rails on the breadboard. Place a wire from one of the outer legs to the negative rail. Take your LEDs and put them into any section parallel of the bread board. Place two wires from the middle leg of the switch to where each negative leg of the LED is. Take two more jumper wires and place them from the positive leg of the LED to the positive rail. Try your switch to see if it turns the lights on and off!

Step 2: Soldering!

Cut 8 pieces of wire that are 12 inches long. Use this wire to become an extension of the parts so we can thread them through our future walls! We are going to be extending the wires on both LEDs, the small button (doorbell), and the small (light) switch. Place all of these components to the side. On all 8 pieces of wire take wire stripers and strip ½” of the plastic casing off of each side. Take 4 male to male jumper wires and cut them directly in half, then strip ½” of the plastic casing off. 

Once that is complete take any component and begin wrapping the 12” wire to its metal prongs, you can use specific colored wires to stay organized. Set up your solder station and solder the two pieces together. Take a shrink wrap plastic or electrical tape to encase the wires so there are no electrical mishaps. Take your half jumper cable half wire and solder it to the other side of the wire where you just soldered the component to. Add shrink wrap/electrical tape over top. Do this to all of the components so that you have a lengthened product.

 Take the 9V power adapter and your power switch. Cut the black wire or negative wire of the power adapter in half, strip the plastic casing ½” on each side. Wrap the wires around the metal legs of the switch and solder! You guessed it, add the shrink wrap or electrical tape around the touching metal components. 

Step 3: Add a Speaker!

You will be using the rest of the electronic pieces listed above for this step. Put the MP3 file attached below onto the microchip. Use the arduino code attached and download it to your Arduino Uno device. Grab a breadboard and connect it to your Arduino Uno by placing a jumper wire from ground on the Arduino to the negative rail of the breadboard and another jumper wire from 5V on the Arduino and the positive rail of the breadboard.

Place your DF Player Mini bridging across the gap of the breadboard and put your microchip inside. Place a jumper wire from VCC on the player to the positive rail on the breadboard. Place a jumper wire from GND on the player to the negative rail on the breadboard. Place a jumper wire from TX on the player to pin 10 on the Arduino Uno. Take a resistor and place it in RX on the player to any row on the breadboard not in use by another component. Then take a jumper wire from where the other end of the resistor is and place it in pin 11 on the Arduino Uno. 

Take your small button that you soldered wires to in the step before and place both wires into separate rows perpendicular to the rails. Add a wire going from pin 9 on the Arduino Uno to one of the rows where the button legs are. On the other button leg row add a wire connecting it to the negative rail. Taking your power adapter connect it to the 9V battery and the other side to the Arduino Uno Power Port. Turn it on, and press the button to see if your doorbell works!

Step 4: Laser Cutting!

Use the laser cutting files attached to create the infrastructure of your room. You will be using 1/8 inch wood and 1/4 inch wood as well as 1/4 in clear and colored acrylic!

Step 5: Paint!

Use a layer of Gesso to seal the wood and prep the surface for paint, this step is not necessary. Choose your favorite colors to paint the wood panels! The panels with a circle cut out is the interior, with no cutouts is the exterior. The panel with the door has two cutouts, for the light switch and doorbell. The square cutout is supposed to be on the exterior, and the rectangle should be on the interior. Use this information to decide what colors to paint the interior, exterior, roof, floor, etc!

Step 6: Assemble Wood & Acrylic!

Use E6000 clear glue to assemble the pieces together and a small paint brush to spread the glue evenly onto the white acrylic pieces (represents window seals/decor) and then set them on the correct size cutout of wood and let dry.

Do the same for the pieces of clear acrylic, which represent the windows. I glued the clear acrylic windows to the inside of the holes on what would be the inside of the house. This makes a perfect flower bed for the outer windows.

Take the thin rectangles of acrylic and glue them to frame the windows on the side that is hidden/not painted. This will fill the hole inside the hollow wall to finish. Glue the connecting side pieces to the correlating sides. Let everything dry!

Put the lamp wires in through the interior side of the hole as well as glue the button and switch in place on the wooden panels.

Now you can glue the front panels to the back panels creating a hollow wall with your electronics and wiring inside.

Add a doorknob to your door! You can use lego pieces, small buttons, small beads, etc! Use the hinges and press them on the opposite side of your door knob and attach it to the inside of the hollow wall.

Glue the walls to the floor and let dry. Flip the project over to easily glue the ceiling to the tops of the walls. It should not cover the slits in the walls, this is so the wiring can be accessed through the roof.

Next glue the triangular pieces of wood to the front and back of the room. Take the roof piece with the cutout section and flip it over. Begin gluing the small pieces of wood on the back side. This will hold up the removable hatch to access the electronics.

Place the breadboards, arduino, and battery in the roof section, begin connecting the wires to their designated spot on the breadboard. Use the doorbell and light switch to ring the doorbell and turn on the lights! Once everything is plugged in and working, glue the last two pieces of the roof onto the triangle sides, covering up the electronics and hollow walls.

You have officially built a house! Now let’s decorate! 

Step 7: Decorate!

For the decorations I used my talents in crochet, latch hooking, and Lego! I will link tutorials and files I used to create my furniture and accessories. You do not need to follow directly, the point of this project is to use your imagination and talents to design a room from several of your ideas. So pull out the hot glue gun and useless office supplies and begin to explore your creative mind to create something amazing and unique to you!