DIY Dollhouse and Miniature Furniture

A few years ago, I saw an adorable dollhouse at Target that made my inner-seven-year-old-self giddy with excitement. I got it for myself as an early Christmas gift and had so much fun decorating it (we decorate it for every holiday). My husband and kids were super weirded out and thought I was kidding about it being my dollhouse. Well, I didn’t want to creep them out too much, so I eventually gave it to my daughter.

Over the summer, my son mentioned wanting a dollhouse for his birthday. He saw how much fun my daughter and I had customizing hers and he wanted to be involved too. While I wanted to support his wishes, I didn’t want to spend a lot on a dollhouse that he may or may not play with much. During a trip to IKEA I saw this awesome dollhouse shelf (under $40!). If you search on Pinterest, you will see so many dollhouses created using this very shelf. I set off from there to see how I can make this into his dollhouse without spending a lot of money (if you fall down the dollhouse miniature rabbit hole you will see how expensive these items can be).

Make Most of the Furniture Yourself

When I was searching for dollhouse miniature furniture I saw how quickly the costs add up. Some of the items linked below are affiliate links, which means I make a commission at no additional cost to you. Here is a list of what you can use and make yourself:

• Scrapbook paper– use this as wallpaper, flooring and/or artwork
• T-shirt/fabric scraps- I used jersey pieces to make pillows (you can stuff them with batting or cotton balls), blankets and the bed
• Balsa wood– this craft wood is thin enough to be cut with a sharp pair of scissors. I created most of the furniture you see (media cabinet, kitchen, shelves, bed, desk, etc) with this wood
• Burlap ribbon- this is great for creating chandelier pendants (I glued onto a plastic dipping cup and poked a hole in the top for yarn to go through), bathmats, rugs and baskets.
• Buttons- we found some fantastic detailed gold buttons in my mom’s sewing drawer that made for the best frames. We also used them as decorative pieces throughout the house.
• Coffee stir sticks were also used as frames throughout the house. We painted some of them and left the others natural. Old Christmas cards were used as the pictures and we also created hanging frames using string.
• Round craft mirrors were mounted on the walls with foam adhesive. I used twine to create a decorative accent to one of the mirrors.
• Contact paper in marble print was used to create the kitchen and dining table.
• Faux plants were taken apart to create greenery throughout the house.
• Craft wooden pieces were used as planters and also glued to a rectangular wooden slice to make a dining table.
• Empty condiment containers from fast food restaurants to use as a sink.
• Half of a clear ornament globe to make hanging chair. Used a little piece of marabou from an old costume to make fuzzy pillow.

Buy Basic Furniture Pieces

I bought quite a few of the dollhouse miniature furniture from Hobby Lobby. Some of the pieces were on sale online (but not in store) so I purchased there and other times I would use a 40 percent coupon. Here are the pieces I ended up purchasing

• Black and White striped living room set- we did not use the arm chair from that set (saved it for another project). We used the two tables and couch.
• TV and remote (the remote is already lost – inset eye-rolling emoji here)
• Dresser that we kept natural for now.
• Chairs
• Bathroom pieces
• Small decorative items like jars, cloche, books, etc.

Etsy also has a lot of various dollhouse miniature pieces that are worth searching through.

Tips

Make sure to check the scale of the items that you are purchasing. The appropriate scale for this dollhouse is 1:12.

Create your own art work/kitchen backsplash by printing out things you like in small scale.

Use leftover button scraps as knobs, etc.

Double sided tape and foam mounting adhesive are your friends when it comes to sticking on paper and decorative accents.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is for fun and your kids will love it! A lot of the items I made aren’t perfect, but the look on my son’s face when he sees items I made is worth it!

With love,

Shahla