Our Generation Diner Modifications for Play

The Our Generation Doll Diner has been a HUGE hit with my daughters.  Maybe the colors would not have been our first choice but they didn’t bother us much.  As a lover of older TV shows, the colors kind of reminded us of a mix of Happy Days and Mel’s Diner from Alice.  However, shortly after a few days of play my daughters became very frustrated with the back of the diner.  For one, the little shelf on the back wall was great for display, but with the slightest bump, things would go flying off the shelf.  My daughters’ often complained of not being able to see or reach the food items they had stowed away under the counter.  So modifications had to happen to the diner…and fast for better playability.

At first I removed the back panel of the diner and folded down the inner panel.  This created a half wall.  My daughter’s played with this for a week or so and still were not thrilled.

All connected screws were removed.  If facing the back of the dinner…the right back side had to be snapped off.

I wanted to keep the folding table part of the counter.  You can buy precut pieces of wood at Michael’s.  I used a piece that was already 3 inches wide. It was about 1/4 inch deep.  Using an xacto knife or coping saw I cut the wood down to 7-7/8 inches high.  I painted the wood silver.  I kept the corner bracket already in place and glued the wood panel to the side bracket and the floor with glass glue.

The phone was pried off of the back wall with a screw driver and rubber mallet.  I covered the back of the phone with duck tape. I attached the phone to the outside window with a command strip.  The phone can easily be removed when the window needs folded down for storage.

We love watching ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” so I printed a sign to resemble Granny’s Diner for them to use on the doll diner!

Come check out the “Order Up Grill” I made to go with the diner here:  http://brandyshappyhome.com/doll-diner-grill/

Enjoy!